When someone calls us and asks for us to assist with the “birth” of a publication, it is always a special thrill. Redesigns and rethinks are fun, but the creation of a new title allows the creative team to think of present and future. There are no elephants in the room. There are no photos of the founding fathers and mothers hanging on the walls above the leather chairs of another century.

Such was the case when David Arkin called me about a publication still unnamed but that he described as:

“This is going to be a hell of publication, offering public service, the guide to the city, and details that help make everyday life easier. We will be digital. We will be in print. Come on board and help us make it a reality.”

And so it was the midst of winter in New York City when I started having daily talks with Arkin, Chief Strategy Officer of American Hometown Publishing, with whom I had worked on a previous project at GateHouse Media in Austin. Those talks turned into detailed briefings. As soon as I had enough information to start sketching, I asked my senior art directors Paula Ripoll and Rodrigo Fino, in our Garcia Media Latinamerica office in Buenos Aires, to join me in the creative process.

In a few weeks I made the trip to Nashville to show our ideas to Arkin and Brad Dennison, CEO of American Hometown Publishing, along with other compay executives.

These were the early concepts, many of which, as you will see, became reality in the Rover that is out now.

The prototypes

Notice that we tried various approaches to the logo, including this version:

The typography

The logo type:

The type selected for the logo is Argon.

The color palette

The digital design

Audience reception so far

The website has only been out for about a week but, according to Arkin, the response has been “over the top.” “Much quicker than I imagined, traffic is building at a pretty rapid pace and people are sharing the content a lot. It’s neat to see the business community so connected to what we are doing, sharing and thanking us for our work. (like these here)”

How about advertising?

I asked Arkin about the early progress with advertisers, as it is a challenge to introduce a new product in a market, as Rover is doing.

“We launched with a handful of ads on our site and we have anchors for our first edition, advertisers who really are buying into what we are doing. And there are dozens and dozens of advertisers who love the idea of Rover and the prototype and are excited to see the first edition. We’re anticipating amazing advertiser response this month. All signs are pointing to that.”

Other things to know:

> Rover is launching with 22,500 copies and dropping off about 2,000 in racks around town including in Whole Foods.

> The website was developed in conjunction with Town News and has a host of user friendly features including the ability to follow a story and a reporter through notifications. A timeline tool has been built to follow a specific story or updates throughout the day. Rover is launching with four newsletters: Daily rundown (an aggregate view of news throughout the region every morning), Things to do this weekend, Best Stories of the Week and Breaking News. Arkin says the newspaper will be adding more.

>Rover art director is Brian Goins.