Interstate helps give Mirror a fresher look

The old Mirror

... and the new

Page 6 explaining the blank pages

I woke up to a fresher Daily Mirror today ... yet another makeover in its long history. The blank pages on pages two and three caused a bit of a stir. These are a way of getting the paper talked about - and are explained in grand terms on Page 6. 

The new back

... and the old

The gimmick aside, the paper has a much cleaner look.
I was never a big fan of the excessive Spanish-influenced coloured pages, particularly on sport, or the italic black sans caps. Interestingly, the Mirror has chosen Interstate for its headlines. There are many who thought the font had its day. The typeface, designed by Tobias Frere-Jones in the 1990s, is based on the font used on American roadsigns. It was de-rigueur ten years ago, with the Mail, Telegraph and Express all using it as their main sans display font. Many regional papers also use it and by 2006 it had pushed its way into the list of the ten most used newspaper typefaces. In the corporate world Sainsbury's was one of the many companies that used it as its brand. Inevitably in the design world its prevalence quickly made it unfashionable - some said boring - and it fell out of favour almost as swiftly as it arrived. Even Sainsbury's ditched it. Today the Mirror has resurrected the font, using the full family all the way through the paper, in news, sport and features, with a slab serif as a contrast for some straplines. And it works. It's always been a clean, legible font. Its greatest quality is that it has a good count so that even with big display, the subs can write meaningful headlines. I am not sure why the Mirror goes for big caps headlines on inside pages (my thoughts on caps are here) or why sport has retained the italics. But overall today's Mirror is a neater, more modern and easier to read newspaper than it was last week.  

Editor Lloyd Embley's vision of the new Mirror is explained here ... using cats!

The Tizer: A modest dress, neat but not gaudy

Managing director Joanna Parlby with chairman and

editor-in-chief Roger Parlby examine the Advertiser's new-look

Spent some of the summer working with colleague Mike Brough on a new-look for the Newark Advertiser (the Tizer) to go with its new publication day. The changes were rolled out this month when the weekly changed publication day from Friday to Thursday to give ads a longer shelf life. The changes also had an impact on sales, early figures showing an 11 per cent week-on-week increase. Very rewarding. The redesign was a delicate operation. The veteran chairman and editor-in-chief Roger Parlby has deep knowledge of design and typography principles and had a clear view of the evolutionary approach the Advertiser needed. The changes we introduced had to be subtle. The masthead retains its Ultra Bodoni typeface, but is enlarged with a shadow while splash heading caps are dropped in favour of lower case Century Bold. Sport takes over the back page, feature pages follow a magazine format and news pages now have a modular treatment with smaller lower-case headings. It is always great to work with family-run independent newspapers where those who are empowered to make the decisions also have a love for the paper and its history. The Advertiser was no exception. The paper's editorial, in the relaunch edition, summed up the changes nicely: A refreshed Advertiser strives to please relying on the solid foundation of years long gone. Samuel Wesley said it all way back in 1700 when he wrote: 'Style is the dress of thought, a modest dress neat but not gaudy will true critics please.' Editor Chris Prime and MD Joanna Parlby were also very happy with the changes. Joanna wrote: “I am delighted with your work on our paper. The changes are subtle but make all the difference to the paper’s evolution. A fresh approach to page layout and design brings the product up-to-date and makes its read a better experience all round.” It was our pleasure - working with dedicated and genuinely nice people with real journalistic values whose motivation is to keep both readers and advertisers happy. The sort of work we would happily do every day.  

Book now for free online design seminar

I am delivering a 20-minute seminar, called How To Redesign a Newspaper, live on the web later this month. I will go through the designer's checklist, identify pitfalls, show examples and take questions. The seminar is the first of a series of training masterclasses using new Livestream technology to be offered by Press Association Training. It will be live on the web at 1pm on Friday March 19. You can watch the seminar from your office or even from home. It is free but places are restricted to 50. If you would like to book a place contact Head of Press Association Training, Tony Johnston, on tony.johnston@pressassociation.com for details.