The Calgary Herald's new evening tablet edition
Calgary Herald for smartphones
And then there were three. On the way to eight, that is.
Another Postmedia title has launched a newly rethought product.
It is all part of a project that began with an early 2013 meeting that I had in Miami with two of Postmedia’s executives, Wayne Parrish and Lou Clancy.
Wayne is COO and Lou is Senior Vice President for Content. Together, they have been mapping out the strategy for a total rethinking and revitalization of Postmedia Network, the largest publisher by circulation of paid English-language daily newspapers in Canada, representing some of the country’s oldest and best known media brands, including the National Post, Ottawa Citizen, The Montreal Gazette and The Vancouver Sun.
The mandate for us at Garcia Media was to work with the Postmedia team to develop a philosophy for a digital first approach to news presentation. The project involved a series of transformational changes for eight of its newspaper titles.
The Ottawa Citizen was the first of the titles to introduce the new rethink, followed most recently by The Montreal Gazette.
Today's relaunch of the Calgary Herald is not only a new look and visual identity. It is also a total rethinking of how news is edited, designed and distributed in the digital age.
Readers of the Herald are now enjoying a new product. The aim is to give each platform—smartphone, website, tablet and print edition—its own place in the "media quartet," letting the content and design adapt to each.
A highlight of the Postmedia project is the evening tablet edition, presenting selected features of the day in a tablet-friendly style that capitalizes on multimedia elements.
Notice that all of the Postmedia titles share a common look and feel, which is carried out through every platform.
For this project, Garcia Media involved our art director/projecct manager Reed Reibstein. Our partner in this project was the project's creative director, the talented Gayle Grin, design director for the award-winning National Post.
The flexible typographic palette
Calgary Herald print edition
Digital first strategy: via online, mobile and tablet editions.
Three Postmedia titles have already introduced their new look and rethink! From left: The Ottawa Citizen, The Montreal Gazette, The Calgary Herald
A unified look & feel across platforms at the new Calgary Herald
Working with Gayle, we recommended two main type families to lead the Postmedia visual identity in print and digital:
Titling Gothic FB from Font Bureau, an impactful sans-serif with many weights and widths to cover dramatic headlines and clear subheads alike; Shift from MCKL, a warm slab-serif that acts as an approachable counterpoint to Titling Gothic.
Benton Sans, Chronicle Text, and Georgia are used for captions and body text across different platforms.
The Calgary Herald team
Calgary Herald
Editor: Lorne Motley
Executive Producer: Monica Zurowski
Calgary Print Champion: Paul Harvey
Calgary Web Champion: David Blackwell
Tablet team
Senior Producer: Tom Babin
Producers & Designers: Darren Francey, Doug Hintz, Michele Jarvie, Jacquie Moore, Brent Morrison, Ruth Myles, Rachel Niebergal, Bruce Weir
Mobile team
Lead Designer for tablet and mobile products: Adam Martin
Smartphone Champion, Editor: Meghan Potkins
For more on Postmedia's previous launches
In Canada, a multi-platform transformation for the Ottawa Citizen and Postmedia
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/in_canada_multi_platform_transformation_ottawa_citizen_postmedia
Ottawa Citizen for iPad: Precisely what a tablet edition
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/ottawa_citizen_for_ipad_precisely_what_a_tablet_edition_should_be
Montreal Gazette: new look, new strategy across four platforms
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/montreal_gazette_new_look_new_digital_strategytablet_first
Tablet editions: 4 years later, less finger-happy
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/categories/postmedia
Postmedia unveils the reimagined Ottawa
http://www.postmedia.com/2014/05/20/postmedia-unveils-the-reimagined-ottawa-citizen/CitizenNote to readers: a new Gazette coming
A new Montreal Gazette is coming
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/Note+readers+Gazette+coming/10304103/story.html
Front pages that surprise
Thanks to our blog reader, Alexandre Giesbrecht, for sending this special page. No question about it: this is unique and surprising.
I asked Alexandre what this was all about:
Today (Wednesday, Nov. 26) is the Brazilian Cup final, featuring the two biggest teams from the state of Minas Gerais. So the front page of that Belo Horizonte (the state capital) paper is basically saying it is the only thing that matters. But, and that's a big but, at Newseum the front page is different, which suggests that it might be just wrapped around the paper. It loses a little impact, in my view. Great, nevertheless, but could be even greater!
And one thought came to mind: we read many headlines which are BLAH BLAH BLAH, even when they don't mean to.
Enjoy!