Left to right: May 2, 2008; May 23, 2008; November 5, 2008
The top images are of the front pages of Eleftheros Tipos that display the layouts that won them snd.org's "World's Best-Designed Newspaper" award. The main images found on the front pages are simple and clean, usually focusing on one main point of the photos. However, the teasers at the top of the page are too cluttered. The images used in the teasers are compelling, but when thrown together, they fight for the reader's attention. For the first two front pages, I can't tell if the article and image on the sidebar have anything to do with the main photo. When I first looked at it, I thought they were separate stories, but on second look, I realize I can't assume that.
Eleftheros Tipos' new design:
Inside the original layout (pulled from several issues):
Eleftheros Tipos' new design:
Left to Right: April 4, 2009; April 2, 2009; April 1, 2009
The front pages of the new layout is not appealing at all. It looks like someone puked out a rainbow and decided to publish it. OK, too harsh, but I think the overuse of colors, images and text boxes create even more unnecessary clutter than the original layout. All the colors used have equal boldness, so my eyes don't know where to look first.
Inside the original layout (pulled from several issues):
Inside the new layout (pulled from different issues):
The redesign of the cover doesn't note that there was a redesign in layouts throughout the paper. Eleftheros Tipos focuses on using text boxes to section everything off. Although this may help notify readers of a new story, I don't think it works as a whole. Text boxes are supposed to be used for sidebars and supplemental information to the main article. If the main article is in a text box, what do the smaller text boxes stand for?
Also, the text boxes don't allow the paper to form a cohesive structure, especially in the first layout I posted. The first layout has four different stories with four separate picture accompanying each one. This kind of layout looks like a compilation of news stories from separate papers that were pasted onto a page like much like that of a scrapbook.
I do like how Eleftheros Tipos uses red since it is the color of their logo. But, I felt that red was being over-used in attempts to carry this color theme throughout the paper. For example, in the last layout, the subhead is in red text. Although it matches nicely with the red bar on its opposite page, the red color and the big text of the actual headline fight for my attention. I can't tell what's more important.
This is because red and black are both dark colors (well, black is a shade, not a color, but for simplicity we'll just call it a color). Dark colors come forward while light colors recede. Therefore, the newspaper had the right idea by making the background gray so that the headlines and text would pop out, but the placement of red and black text next to each other don't work. The intensity of the two fight for attention on the page.
Also, the text boxes don't allow the paper to form a cohesive structure, especially in the first layout I posted. The first layout has four different stories with four separate picture accompanying each one. This kind of layout looks like a compilation of news stories from separate papers that were pasted onto a page like much like that of a scrapbook.
I do like how Eleftheros Tipos uses red since it is the color of their logo. But, I felt that red was being over-used in attempts to carry this color theme throughout the paper. For example, in the last layout, the subhead is in red text. Although it matches nicely with the red bar on its opposite page, the red color and the big text of the actual headline fight for my attention. I can't tell what's more important.
This is because red and black are both dark colors (well, black is a shade, not a color, but for simplicity we'll just call it a color). Dark colors come forward while light colors recede. Therefore, the newspaper had the right idea by making the background gray so that the headlines and text would pop out, but the placement of red and black text next to each other don't work. The intensity of the two fight for attention on the page.
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