San Diego U-T redesign

This might be better suited for design discussion, but I'm wondering if anyone's seen the new Union-Trib design. It was supposed to debut today and anyone in Southern California with access, chime in if you've looked at it.

 

Here's a shot of today's front page:

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/hr.asp?fpVname=CA_SDUT&ref_pge=gal&b_pge=2

 

Clean, but remarkably uninspiring. Lede art is a gallery of mug shots? Really? And congratulations, by the way, to the redesign committee for completely minimizing and infantilizing the proud name of the publication.

 

I have never cared for all-cap headlines, especially on run-of-the-mill news stories.

The 1A ad, on the other hand, is a sorry sign of the times.

 

Meh. Boring.

The person who agreed to a block ad on A-1 instead of a 6x3 strip across the bottom needs to have their ass kicked. That looks like a fucking weekly and I don't care how much money it might have brought in. It looks bad.

Agree with minimizing the name and brand. It's like the big "S" at the Sun-Sentinel. Why minimize your brand, even if that is what the public and maybe the staff calls it? Don't mess with the brand.

I noticed Monday night the Colts have done this with their helmets and color, which is darker. The older blue and horseshoe is distinctive and traditional. It works. It doesn't, or didn't, need changing.

 

It just looks so damn boring.

 

Looked at it now. Not crazy about the all-capital letter headlines. Cleaner looking, but is that enough?

 

More info on the redesign:

http://apple.copydesk.org/2010/08/17/san-diego-union-tribune-launches-redesign/

 

All caps all the time is definitely a turnoff. Those should be reserved for overwhelming events, like elections, wars and championships.

 

You know, things that really have enormous impact on everyone's life...Elections, war and championships.

 

Man, that's brutal. The U-T look absolutely hokey. It's not classic, it's not modern. It's not anything. How can they not spell out the whole name? And to relegate the paper's name (okay, acronym) to one little corner on the top? Embarrassing.

I agree with whoever noted the block ad. I would assume a banner ad is just as effective.

And you launch a redesign with nine mug shots?

The photogs there must have been so happy.