Kevin Roderick at L.A. Observed reports today that new L.A. Times editor Dean Baquet has freed up Deputy Managing Editor Joe Hutchinson to work on redesigning the front page, the Sunday magazine and some other projects. The design and graphics department will now be overseen by Assistant Managing Editor for copy desks Melissa McCoy. Roderick says that gossip held that Hutchinson was not a Baquet favorite but in the staff memo announcing Hutchinson's shift out of day-to-day management, Baquet calls him "the best newspaper designer in America." As Roderick notes, "read into it what you will."

>Times design shifts [L.A. Observed]