The Orlando Sentinel hit the stands on June 22 with a new design. The redesign lends itself to a fast-paced Orlando citizen who no longer has time to sit down with their coffee and paper; it's got more color, more pictures and an entirely new structure.
"Our community is fast moving, very modern. It's changing and growing," Sentinel Editor Charlotte Hall told the Wall Street Journal. "We need to have a paper that feels like that, too."
There is a new feature that I am not so excited about: the advertising. I'm baffled by the huge AT&T advertisement slapped right over the flag. When I first saw the paper wrapped up in a huge ad, I had doubts that it could be the Orlando Sentinel. Without the ad covering it up, the design is very intelligible.
The release of the new Sentinel uses color similar to the USA Today. Each section has its own general color scheme allowing for easier browsing. The risky use of red on the front page seems to do its job for me; behind that ad is a beautiful, colorful, tasteful newspaper.
When it comes down to it, though, the most important thing about a newspaper is what it says. Someone at the Sentinel got it right when they chose the new approach to the A section. Today's paper is littered with reefers and bugs above the fold, some of which are larger than the nameplate itself. There is even a comic on the first page! Between the news, comics, and reefers above the fold, the Orlando Sentinel reaches out to a broader audience. There is something for everyone above the fold in this redesign, which is smart for a newspaper looking to attract more readership.
The Orlando Sentinel, owned by Tribune Co., is not the only one to go through a total overhaul. Tribune set all of its papers to be redesigned in order to overhaul its drooping sales including the Sun Sentinel, Baltimore Sun and Chicago Tribune.
*Although it has been a few months since its release, I have been dying to have a venue to discuss this over. *
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