A first-day report from the upscale suburban streets of Chicago, home to the Chicago Tribune’s core readership. I went out to see what people who were reading the Monday Sept. 29 edition were saying about the shrunk-down three-section paper and the new emphasis on graphic design.
More reaction around the Web:
- Readers speak up about the Tribune redesign at Gapers Block.
- Crain’s Chicago Business surveys readers “Trib readers say redesign lands with a thud”
- Chicago Public Radio has a podcast with Mark Fitzgerald of Editor & Publisher who says the sections need more cohesion.
- Fitzgerald elaborates on exactly what has changed in the product in the E&P review.
E&P: The change in the lifestyle/entertainment/comics section is no improvement at all.
- Chicagoan Beth Kujawski blogs about the redesign:
Beth: “It’s a tabloid that can’t bear to think of itself as a tabloid, so it’s still going to publish as a broadsheet.” But it’s a tabloid.
- Photo District News notes the irony of playing photos better while at the same time laying off four photographers.
- Sara Quinn at Poynter has filed an illustrated Q&A from staffers at three papers that have fresh designs debuting this week. The Hartford Courant, the Oklahoman and, of course, the Trib.
- Chicago designer, Ron Reason, has a write up about the changes.
- Charles Apple has more detail, pages and interviews of all the year’s rapid redesigns - he posts frequently.
- Industry trade group, SND, has a new blog post up from Steve Dorsey with a slideshow and a video interview with Steve Cavendish - a fellow SND blogger.
- The official Chicago Tribune Media Group press release - PR Newswire
Please add your reviews and links in comments
Thanks for the link, Robb. A lot of my reaction to today’s paper stems from the fact that I used to work there, and as I used to say, the Tribune is The Hotel California of Journalism: You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
So I still feel attached to the Trib, even though I left there 11 years ago. But for the nearly five years that I was there, I was proud to be a part of it.
And it’s been hard to watch the exodus of great talent but the redesign inspires particular chagrin. It’s like a middle-aged woman trying to feel better about herself by donning something young and tarty. It’s just sad.
At least the New York Times is still the New York Times.