  Boston Herald is Redesigned! A COLORFUL NEW NEWSPAPER EMERGES Said the competing Boston Globe on the day after the launch: "When the ink had dried on yesterday's much-heralded, $10 million Herald redesign, most agreed that the effort was both splashy and historic." 
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"Inside the Boston Herald's decision to redesign." From Presstime magazine A look at some Herald front pages from early 1999: Feb. 1 Feb. 2 Feb. 3 Feb. 4 Feb. 5 Feb. 6 Want to check out today's front page, with live links to the top stories, photos and promos? Visit the Herald's website www.bostonherald.com and go to "Newsstand Edition." A look at some dynamic Herald feature pages. Home page: www.ronreason.com |
By Ron Reason Not to be republished without permission or recirculated without attribution. On Aug.
24, 1998, readers of the Boston Herald woke up to a fresh face on their old
friend. The city's No. 2 paper retained its friendly tabloid format, but added
color, modernized typography for headlines and text, used more informational
graphics, and improved its art direction overall. The dramatic new look had been
several years in the planning and received much fanfare in local and national
media. Following is a Q&A on some key factors relating to the redesign.How long did the process take? The paper's
new design was pretty much created in about nine months starting in summer, 1996.
Then came a twist: Publisher Pat Purcell decided he liked the new look so much
that he wanted to add color. (The paper formerly had been black-and-white and one
spot color, red, and the new design was originally created in this format.) But
adding color would mean buying and installing new press units - no quick or easy
task. By summer 1998, the press units were ready to go.One of the
benefits of the delayed launch was the opportunity to re-examine the mission and
content of the paper. With the staff energized by the prototypes for the new
design, editor Andy Costello focused his attention on creating additional topics
of coverage and fine-tuning some beats that previously existed.What was the purpose of the redesign? The paper
had not been redesigned in many years when editor Andy Costello contacted me in
1996. The paper had made many improvements in content but the old look wasn't
helping to bring in new readers. Management wanted to reach out to a new audience
and say, "Have you read the Herald lately?"
The paper had acquired a
cluttered appearance - dozens of varying styles of headline fonts, logos, page
headers were examined and ultimately swept aside for the new look. But just as
important, an ambitious staff training project was created to establish new
respect for design, photography, typography, and ultimately, content. The design
and art direction of the paper became much more clear through this training
program, but the old "furniture" wasn't carted away until the redesign's
launch.What was the reaction to the new design? The Herald
staff was extremely energized by the launch of their new paper, after waiting
years for a redesign. The readers overwhelmingly approved of the new design, and it
appeared that former non-readers were being won over in the early weeks.The
Herald's main competition, the Boston Globe, wrote a story the day after the
launch stating: "When the ink had dried on yesterday's much-heralded, $10
million Herald redesign, most agreed that the effort was both splashy and
historic." The Globe article quoted Boston Business Journal editor Jay Fitzgerald
describing the Herald's new look as "very, very good - as close as you can
get to a home run with a redesign.''Where can I view the pages? A few front
pages from February 1999, are shown at the top of this page, with links to other
pages along the left side of this screen. Visit the web page showing the paper's coverage of war in Yugoslavia.[If you have a question about the Boston Herald's redesign, feel free to email me at design@ronreason.com.] © 1999, Ron Reason, design@ronreason.com. Not to be republished without permission or recirculated without attribution. Back to top of page |
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 Prototypes of the Herald's new front page show the versatility of the design on a variety of news days. Updated: April 17, 2000. design@ronreason.com
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