So
here it is. The fruit of our, and your, labours. This is the magazine
(or is it a newspaper?) that we asked you to help us to design.
Last
summer we kicked off The Big Edit project, a kind of massive focus
group in which we asked all of our readers to give us the benefit of
their experience in journalism and publishing to help us answer key
questions about the future shape of Press Gazette .
The fantastic
response gave us the clearest insight yet into how today’s journalists
want to see their profession portrayed by their weekly publication.
We
asked fundamental questions about every aspect of the title: from
whether we should change the name (87 per cent of you said we
shouldn’t), to what you thought of the format (two thirds said they
preferred its existing size and shape) or what you expected from our
web site.
Along the way we tapped in to the expertise of some of
the foremost practitioners of every field: editors, publishers,
designers, photographers, typographers, circulation managers,
distribution specialists, production chiefs and many more. Through
their advice we have learned invaluable lessons about some of the best
practice throughout the industry, and about what we can do to improve
the magazine.
One thing that became clear is that although Press
Gazette is journalism’s trade title, its readers don’t quite view it
like other trade mags. They expect more from it. That’s why we’ve tried
to give it a more consumer feel.
Press Gazette group art editor
John Rooney has been responsible for turning your thoughts and our
wishes into the pages you’re now reading.
He selected the Goudy family, modern fonts which were designed specifically for magazine publishers.
Goudy
is unusual in that it has both a sans and serif cut, which complement
each other perfectly, allowing for clean, clutter-free designs.
He
also wanted the vibrancy and energy of the content that Press Gazette
produces every week to come through with the page layouts.
Key to
this was the news pages. One of the biggest criticisms was that the
designs weren’t working hard enough to guide busy readers around the
pages. So we’ve allowed them to “breathe” a little more, producing more
compelling, easier-to-navigate pages without compromising on the depth
of coverage you like.
We’ve also added a number of new pieces of
“furniture” so that readers from different sectors can more easily
digest the big stories of the week.
Our columns have been tweaked to give them more authority, and the feature pages to give them more impact.
There
is, as I hope you will have noticed by now, a whole lot more content
too. There are a number of new regular features in this issue – My
First Editor, Reader’s Respect, Global Outlook, The Numbers Page,What I
Look For, Job Chain, to name just a few.
Look out for more new
ideas in the coming weeks and months. In particular, we’d like your
input for the new Births, Deaths and Marriages page – no community
newspaper is complete without one – on page 34.
It’s free to use, so don’t be shy to share with us the news of your lives beyond the office.
We hope you enjoy the magazine – or newspaper – you’ve helped us to build. We’d love to hear what you think.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog