[Redesign] The Times-News
July 2011
When the Times-News, a newspaper in the Idaho town of Twin Falls, wanted a new look, there were a few caveats: The presses were older, the staff was fairly small and the cost for the redesign had to stay in three digits. Fortunately, the staff was extremely motivated and the editor and publisher were eager to push the limits of what could be done with the medium. And it all had to be implemented in Quark XPress 6.
• A simple grid of five-column covers and six-column inside pages encourage clarity and hierarchy.
• One accent color of two-plate orange helps with press registration and forces designers to focus.
• New display typography of Chronicle and Archer creates a unique yet legible look.
• Bold, expanded decks give readers plenty of information to help them prioritize their reading list.
• Large photography helps play to the strengths of the medium and community.
• Large section letters maintains consistency with the previous design.
About the Cover
The cover featured the greatest changes, including a new nameplate, which swapped out the previous nondescript serif face with another (but classic) serif face set in all-caps. The fold-over nameplate style allowed for maximum flexibility depending on what the designer wanted to do with the page without worrying about the "disappearing nameplate" problem. The new cover is locked to the 10-column grid, allowing for half-column play for secondary elements.
Cover Variation — Photo-to-Top
When pushing a full-width photo to the top of the page, the nameplate is designed to "fold over" the image, eliminating the need for burning, dodging or otherwise manipulating the image in order to maintain legibility. Other library elements are designed in both horizontal and vertical orientations to maximize design flexibility and maintain the grid.
Cover Variation — Standard Story Arrangement
It might seem odd to call this a "standard story arrangement," yet the elements here are common to most North American newspapers: top-page promos, top-strip story, rail of content and two downpage stories with an advance to an upcoming story.
It might seem odd to call this a "standard story arrangement," yet the elements here are common to most North American newspapers: top-page promos, top-strip story, rail of content and two downpage stories with an advance to an upcoming story.
Inside Local Content
Inside pages are set on a six-column grid, with local content and columns placed at the top of the page and jumps at the bottom. In this case, the space between the local columnist and the masthead is filled with an advance to a Wednesday story.
Inside State Content
Inside pages with wire content are a bit more flexible in terms of trimming stories, so a more vertical design is encouraged wherein as many headlines as possible are pushed to the top of the page to aid readers who scan the tops of inside pages looking for items of interest.
New Nation and World Section
With section reconfigurations launching with the redesign, this opened the opportunity for greater national and international story play in the new Nation and World section. This section is designed to have a large number of story starts to make up for its limited space of two or three pages.
Nation and World Inside
The inside-page design is created to both encourage large photography and maximize the number of story elements available for readers. The brief structure at the top of the page is templated and the length of each brief doesn't change, no matter the design chosen. In theory, this allows for the briefs to be edited throughout the day, without knowing the final form as chosen by the designer — and without edits needing to be made once the page is designed.
Additional Nation and World Pages
Any additional pages are topped with briefs, which can incorporate art depending on the severity of the advertising stack.
Opinion Page
The opinion page was changed to conform to the grid, but otherwise remains unchanged.
Additional Reading: Coverage of the redesign on Charles Apple's newspaper design blog.
