The News, Portsmouth, has unveiled a redesign and launched a magazine and two supplements.
The front page now sports an upright, bolder and more modern masthead, replacing the previous italicised version.
A 4cm advert across the bottom of the front page will replace the previous two-column vertical shape, giving more flexibility and allowing the introduction of an index panel pointing readers towards the main news, feature and sport content.
Changes have also been made inside the newspaper which are designed to give the pages a cleaner feel, with the main headline font changing from Garamond Ultra Condensed to Helvetica Neue Condensed Extra Black, heavy rules being ditched and more white space let in to allow pages to “breathe”.
The supplements being introduced are FreeAds and LifeStyle, and the Saturday supplement Weekend is being relaunched as a stitch-andtrimmed magazine.
FreeAds, printed on distinctive yellow paper, will appear on Mondays and carry adverts placed free by readers for items worth up to £250.
LifeStyle, which will appear on Tuesdays, replaces the previous Woman supplement and, like its predecessor, will carry real-life stories and popular features – such as the problem page – as well as new content including picture spreads on local weddings and parties and celebrations.
The new-look Weekend reintroduces seven-day TV listings to the news-paper.
The changes coincide with the launch of a new advertising campaign, featuring close-ups of the faces of readers with the slogan “We Are You”. The posters appear on delivery vans, buses and adshels.
Editor Mike Gilson said: ‘The faces are key to the promotional campaign which seeks to remind the people of our communities that there is an incredibly strong bond between them and their local newspaper.
“We reflect our readers hopes, aspirations and fears and report on the triumphs and, sadly, the tragedies that come their way. I hope the new look for The News and the new package through the week prove our commitment to giving readers an excellent service.”
In the latest ABC figures, the Johnston Press-owned News reported a circulation of 63,483 for July to December 2003, down 3.4 per cent on the same period in the previous year.
By Jon Slattery
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