After a year of focus groups, research and hard work, the Morgan
Hill Times unveiled a new design aimed at engaging readers and
delivering more of what they want.
morgan hill
After a year of focus groups, research and hard work, the Morgan Hill Times unveiled a new design aimed at engaging readers and delivering more of what they want.
The new paper, released this morning, has many prominent changes on the front page, including a pictorial key to the day’s content on the bottom. The paper also will feature new and expanded sections based on reader input. However, the paper will retain its commitment to local coverage while expanding readers’ options, Mainstreet Media Group publisher Steve Staloch said.
The new design is “innovative in terms of its function and the reference and entry points for the reader,” he said. “It’s more than just cosmetics. There’s a path that the content follows that makes the news more user-friendly and more relevant.”
During the overhaul process, staff ran multiple focus groups to find out how to better serve the community. In general, people wanted a larger sports section, a local business section, a summary of daily news, and increased local coverage.
The redesign incorporates all these desires while giving the paper a new appearance that includes a “very readable” typeface, said Katherine Filice, creative director of Articulate Solutions, which helped engineer the new look. In addition, the redesigned paper features multiple images that engage readers and illustrate stories, much like news sites on the Internet.
“A lot of the younger generation, they’re getting their info very visually,” she said. “Our goal was to bring the paper closer to that look and feel, but also to retain and respect (the paper’s) other readers.”
The Times will also overhaul its Web site soon to better reflect reader interests and complement the paper’s new functionality, Staloch said. That way, readers can turn to the Internet to supplement the news they get in the paper, he said.
The redesign ultimately will not change, but rather allow better access to, the quality local content that has earned the Times top awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association, Staloch said.
“As always, it’s about content,” he said.
