The San Francisco Chronicle launched a complete newspaper redesign today. The Sunday edition sports new typography (we spotted Archer, Antenna and Farnham, for starters) and two revitalized sections, along with an explanation of changes to come. We sent along questions to Nanette Bisher, The Chronicle’s deputy managing editor and a past president of SND and the SND Foundation. She graciously agreed to tell us more about the process, the reasons behind the change, and how she and the talented crew at the Chron pulled it all off. But she’s still coming up for air, so in the meantime, check out the new work and a front-page note to readers launching the changes from Ward Bushee, the paper’s top editor. Download a hi-res PDF of the new front page. Section covers follow…
Dear Readers,
Starting with today’s edition, you will find many improvements and changes in The San Francisco Chronicle, which will be transformed over the next few months as we make an exciting transition to new, full-color presses.
As we entered our 145th year, one thing was clear: It was time for a fresh coat of paint. Today, we introduce a redesign that updates The Chronicle’s look, with the goal of making the paper easier to read and navigate while retaining its distinctive, classic character.
The redesign not only makes The Chronicle brighter and more modern, but it also prepares us for the debut in June of state-of-the-art presses that will dramatically improve the paper’s reproduction and color capability.
Also starting today, you will find two additional sections in your Sunday paper - Food & Wine and Home & Garden. Datebook’s weekday editions also will provide coverage of dining and homes.
In every section of today’s paper, improvements have been made to enhance the content our readers expect and look forward to in their daily Chronicle. We got a head start on this a few weeks ago when we returned the Sunday Sporting Green to green paper for the first time in 20 years.
We know people are busy every day, but Sunday is the day most readers set aside more time to read a newspaper. We will be giving you more to read on Sunday - or to put aside for another time.
Readers also will find changes in the Monday through Saturday editions. Foremost among them is that The Chronicle will be printed in four sections to accommodate a reduction to a single printing facility, a cost-saving step.
Here are some of the changes in the weekday editions that start Monday:
Datebook will expand to include more coverage of lifestyle topics important to our readers, such as health, home, dining and outdoors. The section will continue to feature coverage of the arts and culture, columns by Leah Garchik and Jon Carroll, and the regular lineup of comics, crosswords and listings.
The Bay Area section will be combined with the Business section, which will start on the back cover every weekday. (Business has been on the back of the Sports section in Monday and Tuesday editions.)
The Editorial and Opinion pages will move to the back of the main news section, where they appear in many large daily newspapers.
A new Movies section will debut on Friday - in addition to the daily Datebook section and the 96 Hours entertainment section that is published every Thursday.
Throughout today’s paper and into next week’s editions, editor’s notes will describe what is new in each section.
The Chronicle is something of a construction zone at the moment. Please excuse our dust.
Preparation for the transition has been in the works for a year. We’ve been continuously testing design and content changes with several thousand loyal readers. We’ve made adjustments to ensure we are delivering what our core audience wants. And we will be listening to our readers as they respond to the changes. (Comments may be directed to a voice mail box and e-mail address that accompany this column.)
In June, when we flip the switch on the most modern newspaper presses in the United States, readers can look forward to a high-definition version of The Chronicle.
This means you will no longer be pulling apart creases in ads and stories or squinting at murky photos - all unavoidable byproducts of 1950s presses that were last retrofitted for better reproduction in the 1970s. Think of watching TV in the 1980s compared to HDTV today, and you can understand how different The Chronicle will look.
We are excited to unveil our changes today.
But our readers know this is an extraordinarily challenging period for American newspapers, which are further endangered by the economic crisis. At this moment, a few big-city newspapers are for sale and, regrettably, some may shut down.
The Chronicle is losing large sums of money each week and has been for some time. The primary reason for this is a decline in advertising revenue, which once supplemented the cost of producing a newspaper. Few readers realize that it costs more than $10 to produce and deliver each copy of the Sunday Chronicle. In better times, advertising offset those costs, but that has changed. The tough economy has forced many advertisers to cut back and some have disappeared through mergers or closure. In recent weeks, as you know, Circuit City and Home Depot have announced they’ll close some stores in the Bay Area.
Though times are not exactly rosy, we are optimistic about the future. The Chronicle is the Bay Area’s newspaper, and our subscribers are among the most loyal and passionate newspaper readers anywhere.
Our typical reader spends a half hour a day and an hour or more on Sunday with The Chronicle. Looked at in another way, the four hours readers spend each week with The Chronicle underscore the newspaper’s value in a world where time is money.
The Chronicle is almost as old as San Francisco. It holds a unique place in the Bay Area that makes the success of this transition critically important.
For readers, the paper is part of everyday life, a connection, community resource and watchdog.
In some ways, Chronicle reporters and editors - our dedicated and experienced staff with deep roots in the community - serve as important a role in protecting the public’s safety and well-being as police, fire and health officials.
Throughout its history, The Chronicle has been a powerful deterrent to would-be corruption by elected and appointed officials. It is true that we live in a world of digital media, where “citizen journalists” and bloggers have an increasingly visible presence, but even in the digital age, where would San Francisco be without this newspaper?
We launch our changes today to better serve our readers with an updated look, more depth and new sections as we count down to new presses.
Change does come hard, and we ask our readers for their patience as our dust clears and the new Chronicle emerges.
We also hope you like it.
Tell us what you think:
E-mail newlook@sfchronicle.com or leave a phone message at the Chronicle Tell Us line, (415) 777-7870.
Ward Bushee is editor and executive vice president of The San Francisco Chronicle.
“Few readers realize that it costs more than $10 to produce and deliver each copy of the Sunday Chronicle.”
Disclosure of costs. What a concept.
My comment is not about the new format, but the fact that the typesize is too small. Most of our friends are commenting that it is “uncomfortable” to read, even with glasses. I know it’s a financial struggle to balance the costs and production of a daily newspaper, but I worry that you will lose a large percentage of the population in their sixties or over.
Thank you. Carol Lind (415-789-0892)
Just spoke with Carol Lind — I’ll be listening to these reactions from readers and making course corrections as needed. We tested the body copy using focus groups with positive results. As we hear from our readers differently - we will change. Stay tuned. And Carol, thank you kindly for your comment.
Nanette Bisher, San Francisco Chronicle
I (as an 11 year old) hate to see my favorite comics disappear. I loved to read a majority of the comics that are not in the paper anymore. I’m sure that kids and adults that read the SF Chronicle are very disappointed. I hope you listen to this idea. You should get a vote on which comics people want. Thank you!
Carol:
You’ll come to find that most redesigns make the type too small. That’s because designers (the people controlling this site) either (1) don’t read the paper; (2) don’t think anyone reads the paper; (3) want less text so they have less text to read on the job.
As soon as this redesigned paper is available at the local library, I’ll take a look at it. But I should mention that almost every newsroom I worked in thought pages should be proofed at 70 percent of the size of regular pages, so I can generally read tiny type.
Also, I’d be interested in hearing from anyone who can’t read the new version. Have them e-mail me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or they can register to post on the forum at http://www.wenalway.com/forum.
Appreciate Nanette Bisher responding in the comments to Chronicle readers. One of the things that’s always impressed me about the management in San Francisco, even as a competitor when I worked in San Jose, is how seriously they take feedback.
I love the new look. It makes each section easy to find and gives each one a better identity. I like the table of contents for each section as well. I am also glad you put Leah Garchik back on the back page of Datebook. It just makes the whole paper easier to read and very pleasing. Congratulations to you and your talented graphics staff.
With Tuesday’s edition of the San Francisco Chronicle we responded to complaints about the redesign and increased the point size and leading of stories, among other changes.
Before the redesign was approved we put printed prototypes in front of several focus groups, including teams of longtime subscribers representing the diversity of our readership. Not once was there a complaint about the legibility of the body copy. It seemed we were okay with the choice. Obviously not, so we made adjustments.
Thanks for the feedback,
Nanette
Nanette,
Thanks for your interest in our comments. It’s refreshing to know that you are listening. I wish you the best with your new format.
Carol Lind
So, what was the previous point size and leading? What are the current numbers? What are the other changes? What prompted those?
You had me at “new, full-color presses.”
In a landscape littered with rushed redesigns and nip-tuck rethinking, it’s inspiring to see an effort executed with such elegance and intelligence. Congratulations on a 2009 evolution as fitting as the beautiful city the Chron represents.
For those interested, there is a discussion on sfgate.com about the changes today in type size: http://tr.im/eefp
At that link, though, it says only that the type size was increased. It doesn’t say what it went from or what it went to. Nor does it elaborate about other changes.
Are those details available? If so, where? If not, why not? If not not, why so? If not so, why not?
Why are you trying to improve something that is beyond repair? There are too many band aids. Try starting over. Give us a paper that will update us on current news, local
national and international. Each catagory needs objective comments/columnists.
Please give me a paper I can share…one setion at a time. Please don’t suggest I go to SFGATE for more info. I know I can do that IF I WANT TO! I prefer to read the paper. With all your fine technical equipment I still got a Sunday paper with ‘pleats’! AND, I DO NOT WANT TO KEEP THE TV SECION I RECEIVE ON SUNDAY FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK! Please print a daily TV schedule.
What needs to happen is either a HUGE improvement or some good old fashion competition…two papers for San Francisco!
I, too, do not understand why newspapers cannot run daily TV grids. It seems to me that would be a good way to fill half to three-quarters of a page, with some ads at the bottom.
The bottom line, though, is that redesigning this newspaper is the ultimate example of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Changes are a mixed-bag. Where is TV guide (a must have)? Where is Dennis the Menace” cartoon? I like local, state, national and world news summary boxes. Also, print the “Business” Section front to back not “bass- ackwards” left to right.
Gordon J. Tucker
I can’t stand the new chronicle. First, it looks like they are TRYING to be the USA today. We are not the US, we are San Francisco, California, USA. The typeset SUCKS, it is all random set. I cannot stand the new Bay Area section. The redesign is not working. So, I read it section by section; I LOVE WEDNESDAYS. Or, used to. Yesterday, as I prepared to read the Food section after finishing the Datebook I was shocked to find that it NO LONGER EXISTS. It is kind of like the NYTimes taking the Science Tuesday section out. I am so sad:(
in response to the woman who said that the chron had focus groups….think about it. people are doing focus groups for money these days, because they may be out of a job. Or, for money. Anyhow…i am thinking that the focus groups may not have been to accurate.
OK, question. We don’t often see these types of reader comments in the design threads. How are these folks arriving here?
In response to Robert Knilands: I haven’t posted a comment here, but I found the page by typing:
“san francisco chronicle” “new format”
in Google. It’s the third link.
(Well of course *now* I have posted here…)
people who don’t like the new format in a search
The Chronicle’s new look is based on new fonts (size/arrangement/type), more color, more pictures, and a different layout. I expect a newspaper’s primary goal to be the delivery of news in print. The Chronicle’s new format simply does not help with this. While some people do like the format, I suspect that people primarily interested in news are going to be indifferent in the best case, and annoyed in the worst case. People interested in flashy colors and pictures are already spending time with magazines, tabloids, TV, and the internet. The new format will alienate some of its “news” readers but will be unlikely to pick up the “entertainment” readers.
I would have been much more impressed if the changes were about how people were trying to improve the quality of the stories. That’s where the heart and soul of a paper is.
LOVE LOVE AND LOVE THE NEW DESIGN OF SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. EASY TO FIND EACH SECTION, more inviting to read each inch of it.
Thanks to your talented designers and to the whole team of the Chronicle.
Rob @ 4:42:
Sadly, page designers don’t see it your way. In their world, the stories “live or die” (as one person phrased it recently) on their presentation and their presentation alone. That includes the things you listed: fonts, color, layout, etc.
The designers have no ability to improve the quality of the stories. Many, if not most, of them, have never covered a beat. They have never line-edited any stories. They have never assigned an article or handled it from inception to conclusion. They have never worked with a city editor to improve any article; instead, they whine pitifully about all of the articles being “too boring.” No specifics are ever cited; no solutions are ever offered. They are a force of negativity among anyone who cares about writing or editing, and editors have been grossly malfeasant at their jobs for allowing this nonsense to continue.
Ultimately, this is why newspapers are dying. People can blame the Internet or TV or sunspots, but the ultimate problem is the newspapers are no longer worth reading. And a primary reason for that is the perpetual obsession with redesigns and tiny, irrelevant details that few to no readers care about. These “goals” are driven by people who would have a difficult time explaining any of the articles they allegedly read during their shift.
I like the new design a lot. It is very reader-friendly. But I REALLY miss the fact that the food and wine have been combined and more important to me is that the food section has been switched to Sunday. I will be patient, but there is already a lot to read on Sunday.
A vast improvement to be sure. In my mind, the redesign is clean and understated—something that will look appropriate for quite a few years without major tweaks. As a daily reader I am already used to it and it feels comfortable. I am surprised (but not disappointed) that a more non-traditional format was not employed. Of any daily in the nation, SF seems an ideal candidate to take large risks in news presentation (and get away with it).