Since I learned to read more than “Dick and Jane” books, I have been devoted to my newspapers. Childhood memories of scouring The Globe and Mail, for details of the NASA space program or the latest antics and scandals in the Diefendaker-Pearson political wars still resound. It was a time when Canada Post could deliver the Globe to our southwestern Ontario farm by noon - just a few hours after it had landed on Toronto doorsteps - even on Saturday! And oh, that Saturday Globe with Globe Magazine!
Toronto’s newspapers have been undergoing design revamps that don’t go unnoticed buy those of us who love our newspapers. In an era of generally declining readership, the dailies are struggling to appear contemporary and to be relevant to changing demographics. Although I don’t think adding “Life” sections gets many 20-somethings reading the daily, reading these pieces may provide their parents with a sense of reassurance that they are doing something to understand kids today.
While the National Post seems to be in a perpetual makeover struggling, unsuccessfully, to maintain circulation numbers and chasing an elusive profit, it’s The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star that have had the most recent and extensive makeover. The Globe was out first with its redesign about a month ago; the Star showed some signs of panic in rushing its new format out yesterday.
I didn’t write, at the time, about the Globe’s new page size, type-face or graphical design. The changes have taken a bit of “getting used to“. Oddly, the new type-face, which was designed for the Globe, has been criticized as both harder and easier to read. This bifocaled 50-something definitely finds it clearer for morning eyes. The slew of vertical and horizontal lines can be a bit distracting however, or maybe it’s the ragged right margins. I guess the lines are necessary when the right margin is not justified and I like that by so-doing the Globe avoids proportional-spacing dilemmas. Lots more colour and the reorganization of some of the sections help with a contemporary look, but Globe Life is largely irrelevant and, I suspect, will not be long-lived. Such a section may be essential in the Star or Post but is hardly attractive to dedicated Globe readers. It was overdue for the Globe to stop printing all the daily stock-market numbers when anyone who is interested must have already got this information from any of the numerous TV or internet sources. The new analytical data are much more useful. The reduced page size is a definite improvement and follows an international trend, e.g The Wall Street Journal, and soon, The New York Times, while Canadians are probably not ready for a Globe in tabloid format like The Times (leave that change to the Post which wouldn't surprise me with such a reversion - the Financial Post was a tabloid before it was incorporated in the National Post).
The Star’s new design was revealed yesterday, apparently in haste. While the Star had reduced its page size a few years ago, it was challenged when the Globe went 1/2 an inch narrower, so now the Star is redesigned to another 1/2 an inch smaller! Keep this up and we may get to tabloid yet. But the Star was in such a rush that it’s new format is printed on the same old paper with extra-wide white space around the edges and it will be five months until its presses are converted to the new format. [Hmm - the Globe is printed by contractors across Canada, the Star is printed by its own employees in its own plant in Vaughn - what does this say about the merits of concentrating on your core business, dealing with unions, etc.] The Star has a new type-face and more space between the lines (no hint that it went for a custom font) and justified columns providing a very modern look. But what’s with the little coloured banners on the top of the front page of each section - the ones that used to say ”The Toronto Star“? They are blank and look like the designers are still trying to decide whether to keep or drop them. The big graphical change is a new font for Toronto Star - looking much like the National Post and - wait for it - it’s now just [the] Toronto Star. Like [the] Post, the prefix has been dropped, although the publisher’s note on the front page still referred to ”The Star“ - I guess the headline writer didn’t get the memo. Would we have been surprised if the paper had been renamed ”toronto star” or “torstar”?
Journalism being the real issue however, the telling story is the Globe’s increasing strength (yes - it’s readership is growing according to independent audits) demonstrated by a host of new reporters, beats and bureaux. The Globe is providing expanded and more comprehensive coverage of stories at home and internationally. In contrast, the Star seems to be attempting to make a virtue of necessity by focusing on local news and touting that it is the GTA newspaper by relegating anything that happens outside the local area to an international affairs and opinion section which will enjoy a small fraction of the “A” section readership. It is entirely consistent with a comment made by a friend - a dedicated Star reader for decades - that he is not interested all that world-news and analytical stuff in the Globe and only wants to read about things happening in Toronto. He’s probably not happy that GTA news lost its own section and will now be mixed in with news from TO. My first thought, when I saw the retrenched Star yesterday, along with its new design, was that it is a precursor to a merger of the Post and Star. They look alike. They are both seriously superficial. The Post needs the Star’s circulation and the Star needs the Post’s writers and the Can-West Global national and international bureaux and reporters. Both need to find a way to turn a profit to appease restless shareholders. Both could use the editorial-opinion shake-up. I might even subscribe - smaller pages and absent prefixes notwithstanding.
Toronto’s newspapers have been undergoing design revamps that don’t go unnoticed buy those of us who love our newspapers. In an era of generally declining readership, the dailies are struggling to appear contemporary and to be relevant to changing demographics. Although I don’t think adding “Life” sections gets many 20-somethings reading the daily, reading these pieces may provide their parents with a sense of reassurance that they are doing something to understand kids today.
While the National Post seems to be in a perpetual makeover struggling, unsuccessfully, to maintain circulation numbers and chasing an elusive profit, it’s The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star that have had the most recent and extensive makeover. The Globe was out first with its redesign about a month ago; the Star showed some signs of panic in rushing its new format out yesterday.
I didn’t write, at the time, about the Globe’s new page size, type-face or graphical design. The changes have taken a bit of “getting used to“. Oddly, the new type-face, which was designed for the Globe, has been criticized as both harder and easier to read. This bifocaled 50-something definitely finds it clearer for morning eyes. The slew of vertical and horizontal lines can be a bit distracting however, or maybe it’s the ragged right margins. I guess the lines are necessary when the right margin is not justified and I like that by so-doing the Globe avoids proportional-spacing dilemmas. Lots more colour and the reorganization of some of the sections help with a contemporary look, but Globe Life is largely irrelevant and, I suspect, will not be long-lived. Such a section may be essential in the Star or Post but is hardly attractive to dedicated Globe readers. It was overdue for the Globe to stop printing all the daily stock-market numbers when anyone who is interested must have already got this information from any of the numerous TV or internet sources. The new analytical data are much more useful. The reduced page size is a definite improvement and follows an international trend, e.g The Wall Street Journal, and soon, The New York Times, while Canadians are probably not ready for a Globe in tabloid format like The Times (leave that change to the Post which wouldn't surprise me with such a reversion - the Financial Post was a tabloid before it was incorporated in the National Post).
The Star’s new design was revealed yesterday, apparently in haste. While the Star had reduced its page size a few years ago, it was challenged when the Globe went 1/2 an inch narrower, so now the Star is redesigned to another 1/2 an inch smaller! Keep this up and we may get to tabloid yet. But the Star was in such a rush that it’s new format is printed on the same old paper with extra-wide white space around the edges and it will be five months until its presses are converted to the new format. [Hmm - the Globe is printed by contractors across Canada, the Star is printed by its own employees in its own plant in Vaughn - what does this say about the merits of concentrating on your core business, dealing with unions, etc.] The Star has a new type-face and more space between the lines (no hint that it went for a custom font) and justified columns providing a very modern look. But what’s with the little coloured banners on the top of the front page of each section - the ones that used to say ”The Toronto Star“? They are blank and look like the designers are still trying to decide whether to keep or drop them. The big graphical change is a new font for Toronto Star - looking much like the National Post and - wait for it - it’s now just [the] Toronto Star. Like [the] Post, the prefix has been dropped, although the publisher’s note on the front page still referred to ”The Star“ - I guess the headline writer didn’t get the memo. Would we have been surprised if the paper had been renamed ”toronto star” or “torstar”?
Journalism being the real issue however, the telling story is the Globe’s increasing strength (yes - it’s readership is growing according to independent audits) demonstrated by a host of new reporters, beats and bureaux. The Globe is providing expanded and more comprehensive coverage of stories at home and internationally. In contrast, the Star seems to be attempting to make a virtue of necessity by focusing on local news and touting that it is the GTA newspaper by relegating anything that happens outside the local area to an international affairs and opinion section which will enjoy a small fraction of the “A” section readership. It is entirely consistent with a comment made by a friend - a dedicated Star reader for decades - that he is not interested all that world-news and analytical stuff in the Globe and only wants to read about things happening in Toronto. He’s probably not happy that GTA news lost its own section and will now be mixed in with news from TO. My first thought, when I saw the retrenched Star yesterday, along with its new design, was that it is a precursor to a merger of the Post and Star. They look alike. They are both seriously superficial. The Post needs the Star’s circulation and the Star needs the Post’s writers and the Can-West Global national and international bureaux and reporters. Both need to find a way to turn a profit to appease restless shareholders. Both could use the editorial-opinion shake-up. I might even subscribe - smaller pages and absent prefixes notwithstanding.
