AJC’s redesign blues
No. Not that kind of blues.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution now features a very blue masthead in a new bold font, along with other radical changes unveiled in its redesign today. The paper itself is narrower, the body copy is printed using a new font, and the redesign incorporates some content innovations.
So far at least, the reaction of readers on a post about the print edition’s changes by Editor Julia Wallace seems pretty harsh. In fairness, it’s not uncommon for readers to respond to design changes negatively, because they were used to the old design.
This is the much-vaunted AJC 2.0 project, which Wallace and her top editors had been working on for a couple of years. At the time, Wallace and the AJC brass had talked with great optimism about 2.0. Unfortunately, it’s being implemented on the heals of staff cutbacks and the gutting of the paper’s editorial board, which are likely to make the redesign feel to most readers and advertisers like a downsizing.
Fresh Loaf’s Scott Henry notes that it typically takes time for readers to get used to a redesign, but takes issue with the paper’s “promise of ‘More optimistic, positive stories” in the Living section.”
I like the idea of guiding readers toward “Pro/Con” opinion columns tied to news stories and to be a bit more transparent about sources. But one person I spoke with today noted the sports listings have become so small that they’re too difficult to read.
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