The Mario Blog

12.01.2014—6am    Post #2087
Calgary Herald: the latest Postmedia relaunch

The Calgary Herald is the third of eight Postmedia newspapers of Canada to introduce a new look and visual identity. It is also a total rethinking of how news is edited, designed and distributed in the digital age. Take a look.

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 ProducerMonica 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

https://www.garciamedia.com/blog/in_canada_multi_platform_transformation_ottawa_citizen_postmedia

Ottawa Citizen for iPad: Precisely what a tablet edition 

https://www.garciamedia.com/blog/ottawa_citizen_for_ipad_precisely_what_a_tablet_edition_should_be

Montreal Gazette: new look, new strategy across four platforms

https://www.garciamedia.com/blog/montreal_gazette_new_look_new_digital_strategytablet_first

Tablet editions: 4 years later, less finger-happy
https://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!

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