The Tribune paradigm shift begins in Orlando

Beg to differ on Whitley. Bianchi is a one-trick pony. Granted, his trick is pretty funny, but Whitley can do more than throw one-liners on a page. I'd put Whitley up there in FLA with David Hyde. Gotta throw Fennelly in there too.

 

Sure, but if you're paper looked the same way it did in 1985, surely circulation would plummet, right?

You're not redesigning to add ciculation. You're redesigning, in most cases, to avoid a circulation DROP if you fall behind the times.

 

On what are you basing that? I can't think of any large papers that haven't redesigned since 1985, so you aren't basing your opinion on fact. The New York Times, though, is not radically different (except using color) in its design philosophy and neither is USA Today and they haven't had the severe drops that some others have had.

Again, are there any examples of this actually working? I think not.

To make it even easier, I don't think we can find an example of a redesign being introduced with, "We're not trying to grow; we just want to stem circulation losses." They always promise what they never deliver -- reaching more readers.

 

Lots of highly paid bullshitters have made careers successfully selling that thought....

 

He thinks that person is dead.

 

A couple things to touch on here:

1. This is virtually identical in concept to what we did in Bakersfield. It's not just a redesign, it's a culture change and a better way to give news and information. Obviously, this one looks different, but the concept is the same. And in theory, it's a great idea. It actually works from a design standpoint long-term, though many on here will disagree with that, which is fine, I understand the points there. And the change in the way news is delivered actually made a lot of our content much better in Bako. There was still plenty of room given to the big stories that needed it, but there wasn't a lot wasted on things that didn't need it.

Having said all that, clearly it didn't work in terms of finances. Layoffs hit hard there last year! So, from a journalism standpoint, I like what Orlando is doing. From a business standpoint, like others have said, not sure anything will change the current direction.

2. On the ESPNthemag guy, he would be referring to Darrin Perry, the magazine's original design director. Really was a groundbreaking designer and heck of a presenter at a couple conferences I went to. He died in 2004. Here's a link about it: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/12/10/BAGGJA9CAN1.DTL&type=printable

 

David Whitley is the most underrated sports columnnist in Florida and doesn't want to be Bianchi, who is very, very good. But Whitley could make the starting rotation of most newspapers in America when he's got his fastball. And he's easy to read because of his light touch and his refusal to take himself -- and most everybody else -- too seriously. The polar opposite of Marriotti.

 

Nevermind.

 

Perhaps not entirely unlike USA Today, which was certainly the beginning of a paradigm shift -- and I'm not saying for the better or for the worse, BTW -- in the industry circa 1982.

 

Holy freaking three-ring circus, Batman

 

Where can I buy one? I woke up this morning saying to myself, "I want to read something in a tan box..."