Newsdesigner.com | The Birth of a "Maga-Paper"

The Birth of a "Maga-Paper"

3:57 PM, January 16, 2005

The Toronto Star unveiled a radical remake of their Sunday paper today, becoming much more magazine-like.

Sunday editor Alison Uncles writes:

The new Sunday Star is an all-colour newspaper printed using a different process than the week's other six papers - to lend each page the full spectrum of the rainbow, our printing presses must run at half-speed.

It's a tidy little metaphor for the thinking that drives this new Sunday Star: a slow, deliberate process that delivers more considered writing, editing, photography and design. We believe this is Canada's first maga-paper, a hybrid magazine-newspaper that blends what is best of both mediums. From a newspaper, we bring urgency, relevancy, quick-paced thinking and the resources of a 400-person newsroom. From a magazine, we borrow a step-back sensibility, colour, the luxury of deliberation and beautiful design.

Here are a few of last Sunday's pages:

And the new ones:

I'm sure a lot of editors will be watching how this works. Especially those south of the border where many newspapers are losing Sunday circulation and are scrambling to figure out how to stop it.

It's worth remembering that in Canada, Saturday is the big circulation day, and the Sunday paper has the lowest-circulation of the week. The Star, the ABC says, sells 464,838 Monday through Friday, 658,310 on Saturday and 455,188 on Sunday.

>Editor's Note: Soul of a magazine, heart of a newspaper [Toronto Star]

Comments

Heads up: After you hit "post" things may be slow and you may get an error. Most likely, your comment did post. Apologies. I'm looking for a fix.

I love it ... can't imagine the time it takes to put together well, but this is a HUGE step.

Posted by: Rich at January 16, 2005 5:11 PM

Ooh, I love it too. It's very European. Echoes of the Independent on Sunday, Guardian and Die Ziet. I wish a paper here had the guts to do something like this.

Posted by: Francie at January 18, 2005 9:57 AM

Bravo. A good trade-off that should should pay off. Can't wait to see an American paper pull this off.

Posted by: Seize at January 18, 2005 6:34 PM

Whoa, mouth is currently agape. This is going to be one of those redesigns that either changes the playing field or, at the very least, makes other papers re-evaluate how THEY do their Sunday papers.

Posted by: Ernie Smith at January 19, 2005 11:48 AM

Yes, it looks great, stunning even. But try to find something you'd want to read in here. What a load of pretentious twaddle.

Posted by: Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid at January 19, 2005 12:52 PM

I have to say that I disagree with the previous comment. It looks to me like they went out of their way to find stuff that's in many ways more interesting than normal Sunday fare. It's a fresh look that in many ways shows fresh content.

As a viewer of Arrested Development, I was very interested in reading the article about the Blue Man Group auditions. :)

Posted by: Ernie Smith at January 19, 2005 2:01 PM

The Toronto Star's redesign is, indeed, quite nice but the one thing that's always caught my attention in European papers (and implemented here, as well) is all the extra space under the headlines. Now I understand that trapped white space can be used to attract the eye, but in some instances, like the "Where to begin?" headline on the World page, doesn't it distance the story too much from the headline? I suppose my question is, "What purpose does that white space serve, and would the extra air be better placed between headlines and their respective stories, or between story blocks? Thank you and good night.

Posted by: Colin Smith at January 21, 2005 12:09 AM

Bring back the old Sunday Star! I hate the new one, with all the wasted space and wasted ink from all the visuals and graphics of the front pages of each section, and of the shaded text boxes. I dislike the loss of a separate "World" section -- it's not even an easy pullout from the front section.

If I want to read a magazine, I get a magazine. If I want a newspaper, that's what I want to see and read.

Posted by: Ronald Kwan at February 2, 2005 11:23 AM

I had hoped it was a phase and that sane heads would prevail. Such is not the case and we are left with this rag. It is a hard confusing read. Things asre resaonably orderly all through the week. Do you think we have that much extra time on Sunday to try and make head or tail of your flights of fancy. At least allow subscribers to opt out of having this trash delivered. I do not like it.

Posted by: Fred Cook at May 1, 2005 8:30 AM

Posted by: jack3_ag at April 27, 2009 2:20 PM

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