It is a new, narrower format for The Wall Street Journal, but also many new content features, as well as a greater fusion between its print/online operations.
For Garcia Media, our association with Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal has been a continuous process that spans almost a decade. Mario Garcia Sr. was the chief architect when The Wall Street Journal Europe and Asia converted from broadsheet to tabloid in October 2004. He had previously worked with the WSJ design team to introduce color to the European and Asian editions in 2000. In 2001, Garcia worked with the WSJ’s team in New York for the introduction of color in the
American edition of the newspaper.
Now, the latest of the design projects culminates a 14-month effort in which Garcia worked closely with a team under the direction of James Pensiero, Vice President for Operations, with Marcus Brauchli, Deputy Managing Editor, and David Pybas, Art Director.
“This was a project where no detailed was left to chance,” Garcia said. “And it is the inside pages that are crafted to create better hierarchy, and to orchestrate more contrast between the type of story
structures presented.”
Following are excerpts from the presentation Mario Garcia Sr. made when the new format of The Wall Street Journal was introduced to the media in New York City, December 4, 2006:
As the designer of the new Wall Street Journal, I am proud that we have been able to take the world’s best business newspaper and create a design that adapts to a multimedia world, while preserving its rich 117-year history.
Designing for business readers can be one of the greatest challenges, as these are the readers of the always-on culture. If we review a day in the life of a media consumer, we see that, starting at 7 am (sooner for some), they connect to a variety of media. Notice, however, that the newspaper reading part of getting informed takes place in different seatings. The days when readers read a newspaper cover to
cover in the morning are over; now we glance at the headlines and summaries first thing, to reaffirm a lot of what we already know, and to discover new angles, such as analysis and interpretation. We connect to the Internet several times during the day, and eventually return to reading, which is considered a leisure activity, later in
the day.
We have no doubt that the modern newspaper reader, who connects to news websites several times during the day, brings with him a sense of speed and impatience. Navigational tools commonly used by websites train readers to seek news categories and to access them quickly. We must import some of those navigational strategies to print, and we have done so with this rethinking of The Wall Street Journal. I always comment about the What’s News column, started some 80 years ago, as the precursor of all navigational tools. It was visionary to have a
complete summary of the important news at a glance on page one, a feature that has characterized The Wall Street Journal as unique and functional.
Navigation is not limited to previews of content that appear on page one. When we discuss navigation we are also describing the process of moving readers rapidly within stories, and also sending them to other parts of the newspaper, and even other platforms. To that effect we have extensive use of infographics and summary boxes that will provide scanners—-readers who have less time and do a fast run through the paper—with highlights of stories.
In Brief columns will provide a quick glance to what I call “reaffirmation news”, but also send readers to other media, either to read a full text, watch a video or a photo gallery. With each medium doing what it does best, it is up to users to select how they wish to receive their information.
Basically, readers of The Wall Street Journal will encounter the ultimate functional design. The best business newspaper in the world now unveils a design that adapts to the specific needs of the most demanding, knowledgeable and impatient group of readers I have ever encountered.