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After months of planning, researching and collaborating, the staff of the Cape Gazette this week rolls out a redesigned newspaper for the readers of Delaware’s Cape Region. The paper that so many thousands of people read every Tuesday and Friday will look similar in many respects to what they have grown accustomed to over the years.
We feel the redesign will allow people to navigate through their newspaper much more easily than they have in the past. And, in a world where people are increasingly accessing their information from a variety of sources, this redesign of the Cape Gazette will also provide many opportunities to go online to add to their understanding and enjoyment of life in Delaware’s Cape Region.
To assist with our redesign, the Cape Gazette employed the services of Mario Garcia, one of the world’s most respected consultants in media design. The firm, led by Mario Garcia Sr. and Mario Garcia Jr., has, in recent years, redesigned such venerable American newspapers as the Kansas City Star and the Wall Street Journal. They were more than ably assisted here by our Arts and Entertainment Editor Jen Ellingsworth who coordinated all of the onsite redesign work.
When Trish Vernon and I decided, 15 years ago, to start a new community newspaper for the market we dubbed Delaware’s Cape Region, our goal was simple. We wanted to publish a first-class newspaper for a first-class community. We wanted to be one of the nation’s finest community newspapers. We are unapologetic homies. We have a rock-solid belief that Sussex County and the Cape Region represent one of the great places to live on this planet and we want our newspaper to reflect that. That’s why we went to Mario Garcia – to give you the best we possibly can.
In just a couple of weeks, on Memorial Day weekend, we will celebrate our 15th anniversary of publishing the Cape Gazette. We can think of no better way to celebrate than by rolling out a new and improved version of the newspaper that has been so blessed by your support.
Some of the specific changes include:
• An updated flag, which is the Cape Gazette nameplate across the front page. The flag is no longer all capital letters and we have simplified the sea gull and dune art which help convey the treasured sense of place so imortant to life here along the coast.
• More items on our front page. There are always so many good stories inside the newspaper in each edition. This new design allows us to point them out to our readers in words and illustrations on our front page.
• A new type style for our stories called Poynter. This is a font developed through the famed newspaper institute in Florida, by the same name, for maximum readability.
• New type styles for our headlines. The dominant headline on our pages is called Whitney, which, in the business, is known as a sans serif font.
Sans serif means, literally, “without serif.” Serifs are the ornate touches added to type to give it extra style such as the mixture of thin and thick lines in letters like x and the droplet at the bottom of the descending line of the y. Sans serif fonts, like Whitney, carry lots of ink, are clean and simple, and communicate quickly. Whitney is a style designed by the esteemed typography house of Hoefler &Frere-Jones for New York’s Whitney Museum. Columnist, opinion and subheads on our pages are in a new font for us known as Chronicle, which, like Poynter, is a serif font.
Though it’s a new font for us, Chronicle dates back to 19th century Scotland and was also crafted by Hoefler & Frere-Jones. The mixture of Whitney and Chronicle adds variety to our pages, helps distinguish news and opinion and offers the classic blend of old and new.
• Color as guides. We have chosen natural local colors – blue for the sky, beige for sand, and green for the sea – to designate certain special items.
Blue color will be for “utility” boxes where we can highlight mug shots and information, special quotes or other small items broken out from stories.
Extra stories, or sidebars, that go with main stories will be highlighted with the sand color, while boxes that provide websites where readers can go for information will be highlighted in the green color.
When we are not working with color pages, these elements will be highlighted with shades of gray.
The Cape Gazette’s goal today – as your locally owned and locally operated community newspaper – remains the same as it was when we started 15 years ago: to be the best we possibly can be, for you.
As always, your comments and suggestions are appreciated. You can reach me by email at dnf@capegazette.com.
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