The Daily Star has ditched page three models amid a wider redesign across print and online.
The revamp includes a new trapezium-shaped logo, first used on the masthead on Wednesday’s paper, and a new strapline: “News with a wink.”
It is the first logo and masthead update for the Daily Star in 14 years.
New editor-in-chief Ben Rankin, who has been leading the Daily Star since earlier this year, said the title will “focus on more exclusive content for our readers”.
The Daily Star used to have topless models on page three but shifted to a clothed (bikinis or underwear) format in 2019 following “reader feedback”. The Sun published its own last nude page three photo in January 2015 amid the No More Page 3 campaign. The sensationalist Sunday Sport is the only remaining UK print newspaper to publish topless photos.
The last model photo and profile on the Daily Star’s page three appeared on Saturday. Since then, page three has instead featured posed photos of singers Dua Lipa and Jennifer Lopez and actress Sydney Sweeney.
The Daily Star updates have included a website refresh and new platform with the aim of being visually-led and more user-friendly.
A new website platform is being rolled out across Reach, including the Liverpool Echo and four others last year, and the company said based on testing on other sites means Daily Star pages should load three times faster than previously. Reach websites have often been criticised for having a bad user experience with slow load times and too many adverts and pop-ups.
The new design features include bolder headlines, a new colour palette, colour-coded sections and the ability to add colour to emphasise certain words in headlines – for example the word “lettuce” in green.
A new Daily Star app has also been launched with a new look and quicker loading times.
Rankin, formerly Mirror online editor and Reach nationals audience director, said: “The Daily Star is fun, cheeky and packs a punch – and now we’ve got a brand spanking new website in that image.
“Why have we done this? The Daily Star is different and it needed a website design that matched our unique take on the news agenda – to continue to allow us to punch up not down, be fun rather than gloomy, cheeky rather than unsavoury and proudly not following the crowd as we focus on more exclusive content for our readers.
“And while we like a nudge and wink, we are as serious about informing our readers as we are about wanting to entertain. When the Pope dies we need to be able to tell the story straight, but when it’s Liz Truss versus our lettuce it’s literally a different story.
“This major revamp – across print, mobile and desktop – gives us the option to do both equally well. We’ve also updated the logo for the first time in years and brought in a new strapline, ‘News with a Wink’, to reinforce that sense of cheekiness.
“Ultimately, we want our readers to spread the word about the Daily Star and tell us what they want to see at this exciting time.”
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
