It was in early 2022 that we were invited to work with the editorial/design/digital teams of The Hindu Group, one of India’s most respected regional media outlets. It is always an honor when we at Garcia Media get called to assist with transformational efforts on the part of a newspaper group. The honor is greater when we are invited to participate a third time in such a transformation.
Our task was to rethink all the various publications of the group. We started with a total rethink of two of its titles: The Hindu and Business Line. The new concept launched September 20, 2022. Read our blog case study about those projects here.
While our other engagements with The Hindu (2005 and 2013) concentrated primarily on the design, this time we have worked closely with the teams of both newspapers to transform the newsroom and move it to a mobile first mode. We have also created a new design concept for The Hindu, and a more radical design transformation for Business Line. In addition, we helped with the rethink of two of the Group’s magazines, SportStar and Frontline.
The launch of Frontline
Frontline, published twice a month, is usually referred to as India’s national magazine. It excels in long-form journalism. The topics Frontline covers range from politics, economics and social issues to the environment, nature, culture and cinema. Its cover stories are comprehensive. No other Indian magazine reports world affairs as exhaustively as Frontline does. Frontline was first published in December 1984.
At the start of our project, Frontline had just welcomed a new editor,Vaishna Roy, who was very open to new ideas, and to the importance of a strong digital presence for the magazine.
We were aware of Frontline as a well recognized brand, with many respected writers as part of its staff, as well as contributors. We also found out that 70% of all readers consume Frontline on mobile devices. So, our job was to create a website that was more visually engaging, created hierarchy and also offer more visual surprises, especially via photography.
Add to that list: a better presence via social media, and new branding, perhaps using the letter F from Frontline as an iconic element.
We went to work with the Garcia Media team of Rodrigo Fino and Paula Ripoll, from our GM Latin America office in Buenos Aires, assisted by a talented team from The Hindu Group, headed by Pundi S Sriram, with Jagan Ramalingam and Kannan Sundar.
The new design for Frontline launched March 24, 2023,.
Take a look here:
Typed and color palette:
See how the design flows
See article page here:
Social media presence
Reader reactions
–The new website layout is very easy on the eyes and visually appealing
–The Frontline website has improved leaps and bounds since the redesign. The readability of the articles has improved along with the landing page interface.
–This revamp on Frontline website caught me with a happy surprise. The one thing that I am really happy and thankful about is how easy this new website makes reading of the entire issue.The choice of putting the issue on left panel and all articles on the right was fantastic.
–This new version of website gives me more reasons to visit it often.Thank you very much! :)”
–Quite interesting history now brought to light. Good work
–The visual appeal of your website is already great. Keep it up
–The new website is so so good that I am getting addicted to reading Frontline. Thanks for all the redesign of the website and I look forward to the APP.
Variations presented
As we always do when first presented a design concept, there were various options for the team to evaluate. At the end, the final version is usually one that draws ideas from all that is shown. Just for fun, take a look at some of our proposals:
Our mobile storytelling workshops train, inspire teams in newsrooms, corporate communications
It is a mobile world, and 82% of all content is consumed on a mobile device worldwide, not just news, but all sorts of documents, especially pdfs. If your company is in the business of creating content, then you need to start thinking from small to large. Create that content for the smallest platform, where a majority of the users are consuming it.
Our Garcia Media Mobile Storytelling workshops are proven to introduce your editorial team to the way we write, edit and design for mobile platforms. It is a one-day program that involves a presentation (where I summarize my Columbia University class content), and follow it with a hands on workshop.
I urge you to consult my latest book, The Story, a trilogy full of tips and explanations about mobile storytelling, which represents the latest genre for journalists to explore. See information below:
The full trilogy of The Story now available–3 books to guide you through a mobile first strategy. Whether you’re a reporter, editor, designer, publisher, corporate communicator, The Story is for you! https://amazon
Volume 1: Transformation
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-i/id1480169411
Volume Two: Storytelling
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-ii/id1484581220
Volume Three: Design
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-iii/id1497049918
Order the print edition of The Story, from Amazon, here:
The Story, en español:
TheMarioBlog post # 3366