Over the summer of 2005 I worked with Mike Swartz to redesign the paper. With long-overdue color in the paper we had to convert to a smaller 11 x 14 size.
We resisted at first, until we realized what a boon the compact size was.
Rather than try and overhaul the aesthetics of the paper, we decided to keep a consistent "look + feel" from the previous design. Thus, at a glance it can look like the only changes are color and size.
Instead, we focused on rethinking what sort of content was going in, and how we could better present it.
We preached more concise writing on the staff and the concept of diversifying the structure between short briefs and bites against longer, more in-depth pieces.
Thinking in centerpieces went beyond what was considered "acceptable" before. In the second week of the new design, the news editor ran a three-page photo story as that day's news centerpiece.
It sounds like small potatos, but in working with an undergraduate staff that has barely seen beyond their high school paper, these ideas went against all their teaching and experience.
The redesign won first place in the University of Missouri's SSND Awards.
Though the D.O. is over 100 years old. We never had a distinct nameplate that remained constant. I researched old papers and no treatment lasted more than a couple years before being ditched.
2001-2005 We heard constantly in critiques of the paper was that the nameplate -- though it fit into the paper's restrained design philosophy -- was just a little too restrained.
As the business side promoted the paper to more advertisers and readers in the community, we agreed that a new distinct logo would be an important component of the redesign.
2005- I restored a nameplate used from about 1912-1915 with the help of the Syracuse University Archives and type logo extraoridnare Jim Parkinson.
