Newsdesigner.com | Le Nouveau Figaro*

Le Nouveau Figaro*

3:03 AM, October 4, 2005

Le Figaro, France's largest circulation newspaper, launched a redesign Monday. The newspaper hopes to turn around a circulation decline and solidify its lead over Le Monde, which has lost circulation faster than Le Figaro.

Le Figaro’s managers hope the facelift will attract new, younger readers, especially those in their 40s, executives, and women, who are rare readers of newspapers. The average reader’s age is 55-57.

Under a redesign by Jean Bayle, the paper will have a white title out of a blue masthead signifying its pro-EU ideology; a narrower format, losing 3.4 cm on the width, but retaining the same height; and have three sections, consisting of home and foreign news, the pink coloured business section, and a lifestyle section. The cover price will be held at E1.

The paper's now about the width of a standard American broadsheet, but about two inches shorter.

Update: Apparently, the economy section is printed on salmon-colored paper. Also, I forgot to note that Le Monde has a Palmer Watson redesign scheduled for next month.

>Le Figaro on top with a new look [The Business Online]
>La nouvelle formule du "Figaro" en trois cahiers veut tenter d'enrayer la baisse des ventes [Le Monde]

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.

The redesign of Le Figaro seems a lot the new design of the guardian. I don't know the pages inside the britain newspaper but the front pages are very similar. The white lettering of headline on the cyan background.

Posted by: paz at October 6, 2005 8:34 AM

The Figaro has missed a big occasion to become the key newspaper in France. They have changed colors, fonts and some organization in the sections. But at the end… it is the same product. A product that is losing readers.

In other words, they have changed the package of the cake, but not the taste of the cake… Redesign is not about decoration. Right ?

I hope Le Monde is going to have more imagination.

What is sure, it's that people that redesign/rethink newspaper, like me, need to be much more that designer. Editorial and business background are necessary.

Posted by: Jeff Mignon at October 13, 2005 7:07 PM

A first insight at Le Monde new design in Telerama this week - It seems that Le Monde will go further than mere change in colors... A new section called "Decryptage" aims at giving "sustainable information". Interesting concept ! A note on http://www.favoritechoses.com to follow up.

Posted by: helene/favoritechoses at November 5, 2005 12:51 AM

Scouting for contacts at Le Figaro I came across your site. I'm glad I did. Being an illustrator, I am a big fan of good design, and many of my clients are newspaper designers (NYTimes, LATimes, Wall St. Journal). Good design makes me look better, just as good design and smart illustration make the paper more readable, more interesting. Illustration is better than photography at conjuring up metaphor. It's also likelier to get past the more blasé reader's defenses.

So, how do I get in touch with the design staff of Le Fig?

Posted by: eric hanson at March 8, 2006 9:51 AM

Hi
I am looking for information on the figaro like for example when was the first issue? Who is it aimed at ? Who buys it,its political stance . I have to give a 15 minute presentation at college

Posted by: shirley at March 22, 2006 6:39 AM

Dear Friends from Le Figaro,

I like to invite you to explore my special arts and culture www.GTLinearArts.com Your comments and your opinion make the difference! Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

George Tansanica
Author and Linear Artist
Contact: GTAuthor@Hotmail.com

Posted by: George Tansanica at September 30, 2006 12:41 PM

Post a comment