Before and After - Henninger Consulting

"Our design was the talk of the convention. Everyone I spoke to bubbled over about how the paper looks. I was proud as I can be, of course. We’re setting the bar really high for all our colleagues now, thanks to the redesign." — Joe Shaw, Editor, The Southampton Press

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BEFORE & AFTER



	The Natchez Democrat The redesign of The Natchez Democrat, launched in October, 2005, brought readers a change that was more evolutionary than revolutionary. The Natchez area, with its rich history and its beautiful antebellum mansions, is strong on tradition. The approach during the redesign was to honor that sense of tradition while giving the Democrat a more readable, more contemporary and more compelling look.


					FRONT We gave the newsroom more space by moving teasers to either side of the nameplate and downsizing ancillary type. We also increased the text type size and injected more negative space between packages. The look is more open and more comfortable. The package along the bottom includes space for Who's News and a teaser to a coming issue—or to Classifieds.



					REGION Because of its two separate editions, The Natchez Democrat’s Region page also serves as a jump page. With the redesign, jump headlines carry more than just a label word: there’s a secondary headline that tells readers more about the story. And with more space between elements, the page is more open and more easy to read.



					OPINION Like other pages before the redesign, The Democrat’s Opinion page appeared crammed and somewhat daunting to readers. The new Opinion page is more inviting. Major content decisions on the page were to move Doonesbury to another page and to include a daily web poll to generate reader interaction.



					SPORTS The new sports front of The Natchez Democrat was designed to allow for greater use of infoboxes. Across the bottom, we placed a package reflective of the bottom of the front page. Here, it includes: • On Deck: a list of sports events in the area that’s updated daily. • Who’s News: a brief item on a local person in sports. • Teaser: either to an inside page or to a package in a coming issue.



					LIFE This page, renamed “Life,” is a canvas where Design Editor Ben Hillyer can create memorable packages for readers. Again, the page includes a package along the bottom where we can: • Offer a look at upcoming events of interest. • Highlight a short, positive item on a local person. • Create a teaser to an inside element or to a package coming later in the week.