Newsdesigner.com | On the Streets of Bakersfield, a Redesign*

On the Streets of Bakersfield, a Redesign*

11:17 AM, March 1, 2006

The Bakersfield Californian launched its redesign today. Consultant Alan Jacobson worked on the project.

Californian Executive Editor Mike Jenner writes:

When we embarked on this project, we set out some important goals.

First, we wanted our front page to be striking — even arresting. The new look involves design techniques more commonly found in magazines than in most newspapers, but quality photographs and the ability to print great color are two of our strengths. We think the new approach makes the page more visually appealing.

Second, we wanted to address the issues of time-starved readers. More and more readers tell us their lifestyles are busier than ever before. Many aspects of this design address this reality.

There's a blog posting, with reader comments, here.

The newspaper's online version redesigned as well. The site stopped running AP content in November, as E&P writes:

Bakersfield.com also will continue to expand its roster of blogs and community journalism. The new Current Affairs blog, begun Feb. 9, is designed to direct readers to particularly insightful or interesting coverage of national issues, partially to fill a hole left when the site stopped running Associated Press content in November. Owens experimented with dropping the AP stories in order to focus on local coverage. After receiving only one complaint about the change, the paper dropped their contract with the AP, effective today.

Although the Current Affairs blog has started out slow, with only three entries in its three weeks, Owens expects it to pick up as a portal to outstanding big-issue coverage "from The New York Times to a paper in India" rather than the "generic content" provided by AP. The blog, like several others on the site, will be run by Steve Swenson, who Owens expects to contribute much more frequently once things have calmed down after the redesign.

Update: Rich points out I've neglected the typographic details. They are: Poynter Gothic Text, Mercury Display and Dutch 811 for body copy.

>Welcome to the new Bakersfield Californian [Bakersfield Californian]
>What do you think of the new Californian? [Bakersfield.com]
>Welcome to the new Bakersfield.com [Bakersfield.com]
>Bakersfield Californian Rolls Out Web Redesign, Sans AP [Editor & Publisher]

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 like a combination of the new Toronto Sunday Star and the new Baltimore Sun. Which means, they're in very very nice company.

Posted by: Ryan.m. at March 1, 2006 12:19 PM

awesome redesign. i saw this prototype in a magazine a month or so back and was wondering if they were ever going to go through with it

Posted by: dusty at March 1, 2006 1:01 PM

Hey Mark, what are the fonts?
Franklin Gothic?

Posted by: Rich at March 1, 2006 1:02 PM

Good point, Rich. I'll update.

Posted by: Mark at March 1, 2006 2:27 PM

i don't know with you guys but i find it rather messy. the designers are right about one thing though. it's magazine-inspired and it shows. when i took a closer look i felt like i was staring at a magazine instead of a newspaper. if that's their purpose then, they've succeeded.

Posted by: jun velez at March 2, 2006 1:15 AM

Nice, bright and engaging. I don't find it too busy. The new nameplate font is an improvment, but I wonder how it will hold up over various backdrops. Will it always be in reverse?

Posted by: Malcolm at March 2, 2006 8:34 AM

I like the redesign of the Toronto Star. The Baltimore Sun took a little while to grow on me, but now I like it as well.

This redesign really doesn't work for me - at least based on the front page and the others that are shown in the newer thread.

I like the different forms of storytelling engaged here, such as with the centerpiece on cell phones. The stories featured on the front seem to be taking aim at parents of teenagers, rather than an older one - with this piece on children armed with cells and then today's centerpiece about MySpace. I also like the shorter story forms utilized as teasers in the rail.

This paper is designed to catch the reader's eye in the rack and hopefully drive up sales in that direction. But once you're looking at the product, it's not so pleasing. There is a wild splash of color and when I was trying to look at various elements on the page, my eye kept being distracted by one of the various rails.

What makes the rail the way that the Sun utilizes it works is that there is still a clear sense of hierarchy on the page. It's not so overwhelming that it doesn't drown out the stories. The rail, the way the Sun has it, is also simpler and appears easier to achieve. The one that Bakersfield has looks so complicated that I wonder what the quality will be like in a week or so once the newness has died off.

The Baltimore Sun's redesign works great on its own. So does Toronto's. Throw the two together and I'm not quite so sure it fits.

Posted by: Megs at March 2, 2006 9:04 AM

Nice. Looks a lot like a Lucie Lacava paper.

Posted by: Scot D at March 2, 2006 10:54 AM

Somehow it reminds me a White Castle menu...

Posted by: Alex at March 2, 2006 6:39 PM

HAve you seen the spanish newspaper Diario de Noticias from Pamplona. Looks alike

Posted by: Chq Esteban at March 10, 2006 8:32 AM

I like it! but the Logo is not too clear, I'm agree with the fonts and the articles look very clear, except the principal logo, the backgrounds look too busy for me!
JFD

Posted by: J. Tony fernandez at March 14, 2006 11:27 AM

What a horrible mess.

Posted by: anon at March 14, 2006 3:27 PM

Mr. Jenner: I am interested in how your redesign was accomplished: Whom did you hire for the redesign, how long did it take and was it expensive? Also, how large is your copy editing/designing staff? How long did the redesign actually take?

Thanks in advance for your answers,

Donna T. Bertoli

Posted by: Donna Bertoli at March 27, 2006 8:53 AM

Post a comment