TAKEAWAY: Reporting all of this week from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as the team and I launch the new look and rethinking of the New Straits Times, across all platforms. Stay tuned for a series of blog posts about the behind the scenes.
It is an 11-11-11 launch for the NST
After almost six months of work, the New Straits Times team gets ready for launch day.
From mobile to online to print to tablet, all platforms will introduce changes, not only visually but also in terms of content and how stories are presented.
Working with our Garcia Media Europe art director, Constantin Eberle, and with NST design director, Fred Mah and his designers, we are now putting finishing touches on stylesheets and templates as we prepare for the launch on 11-11-11, just a few days away.
I will report from behind the scenes of the launch this week, hope you join us.
Because of the severe time zone change (Kuala Lumpur is 13 hours ahead of the Eastern US, and 7 hours ahead of Europe) the hours of the postings of this blog may be somewhat irregular, but I hope you will bear with us, and, as always happens, at one time or another, you will be able to access the new blog post, which ordinarily will be posted when I wake up in KL around 7 am local time.
Our previous New Straits Times posts
Creating some basic pop up moments in your tablet
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/creating_some_basic_pop_up_moments_in_your_tablet/
Emphasizing the New in the New Straits Times: Part 3
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/emphasizing_new_in_the_new_straits_times_part_3_—a_new_tablet_edition/
Emphasizing the New in the New Straits Times: Part 2
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/em
Emphasizing the New in the New Straits Times: Part 1
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/monocle
Aiming for the big day
Here is a teaser promotional video as the marketing campaign kicks off for the relaunch of the New Straits Times. Marketing director Zuraida Mohammad sends us this first clip that is now appearing in the local media, emphasizing the theme of “Staying Sharp”, the emphasis of the new rethinking.
The newsroom of the New Straits Times is also going through a rethinking; the old glass enclosed “fish tank” conference room is now a thing of the past; down came the walls, to allow for a more open environment in which storytelling is made easier thru the interaction of print and digital journalists.