Newsdesigner.com | Tabapalooza!

Tabapalooza!

1:14 PM, April 27, 2005

Lots of tabloid talk at Poynter today. Mario Garcia weighs in with a distillation of the 24-page white paper (PDF) he's just released.

In the case of newspapers, we have had to wait a long time and climb a steep mountain to get to this exciting moment in which more newspapers are looking at smaller formats as an option. For many, it is already a reality. Conversion from broadsheet to tabloid has paid off: Readers like it, advertisers get used to it faster than anyone thought, and the "wave" of tabloid conversions extends globally. Even the United States is taking a peek into what some of their newspapers will look like in a format other than the huge broadsheet that has served as the canvas for decades.

Alan Jacobsen responds with the article you first read right on this here website.

Of course, almost all broadsheet papers have some tab sections, but U.S. advertisers and readers prefer that the core product be in broadsheet format.

How do I know? Because that's what readers and advertisers tell me. Before beginning a redesign in any market, I interview readers and advertisers to learn their preferences. They say tabs are fine for targeted products, but not the core product. Advertisers prefer the larger size. Readers cite the tabloid stigma.

Deborah Withey delivers a short little love note.

As a reader, I love the tabloid. It�s more intimate to read because you hold it closer to your body, unlike reading a broadsheet with arms spread out like an eagle. As a designer it is more challenging, a smaller canvas makes you edit your idea and your execution of that idea more tightly. That�s a magic that keeps one�s skills sharp.

And retired Poynter President James M. Naughton raises other issues.

It seems to me the shape of the paper isn't really the issue; what matters are the four Cs: the content, the continuity, the coherence and the completeness.

>Mario Garcia: The March of the Tabloids [Poynter]
>Mario Garcia: The Impact of the Compact (PDF) [Garcia Media]
>Alan Jacobson: Convert To Tab? Fughedabowdit [Poynter]
>Deborah Withey: Tabloid Magic: Intimate for Readers, Challenging for Designers [Poynter]
>James M. Naughton: It's Not About the Shape of the Paper [Poynter]

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.

It's sad that Mr.Garcia thinks Finland is not a part of Scandinavia. In his White paper about tabloid conversions he analyzes things happening in Scandinavia, in which he includes Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

Maybe he excludes us because there is a also a negative tabloidization happenenig here from tabloid to broadsheet.

A major publisher in Finland bought two free tabloid-sized free papers last year. Some of these have a 50-year history in making a tabloid. The new owner decided to turn these to broadsheets, and the conversion was executed in April.

The publisher has made similar conversions with some of its free papers earlier, which appearingly seems to have been a financially successful decision.

The goal of the broadsheet conversion is to make the free papers appear more believable and trustworthy among readers and especially advertisers.

Posted by: Jami Jokinen at May 4, 2005 2:21 AM

I have been in many talks about this in newsrooms and they will never stop until we do a paper for the readers.....yes, broadsheet has a lot of advantages as tabloid does. I think the tabloid conversion has come because of the lack of knowledge we have of our readers. I have always said that you have to be a reader before being a designer-journalist-editor-graphic consultant etc......
A better visual package is not the solution.....the solution it to do a useful newspapers, that readers get something out of it....that they get the feeling of getting something useful after reading it....if newspapers do that, the problem of being tabloid or broadsheet will be only a visual-economic problem. (I do like tabloid because of its easy way of moving around and you can read anyplace)

Posted by: Daniel Esqueda at June 8, 2005 5:54 PM

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