One big difference between this week's relaunch of the Guardian and the previous major redesign in 1988 was that this effort was analysed at length by critical eyes around the world, thanks to the web.
Some of the most comprehensive analysis, from a design perspective, came from newsdesigner.com, which has an entire category devoted to the new paper. There, UK designer Manuel Sepulveda comments...
"The quality of design is what surprises me the most. The sports section is as tight as one would expect from a monthly magazine. Results tables are carefully weighted and there's great use of colour photography throughout [...] Mark Porter has displayed perfect command of white space — pages don't look too heavy (or too empty) and the new font makes reading very easy and comfortable.
My only criticism is that they have totally dropped black & white photography; often the most powerful tool in photojournalism is the stark and bold black & white image, but in the enthusiasm to show-off the Guardian presses' total use of colour this seems to have been forgotten."
The white space gets less praise over at Doctorvee ("what purpose does this serve?") while Dave Cross says he's "not sold on the new masthead". Cav Scott says "it passes the most important test. It's easier to read on the loo than the old broadsheet." From Oxford, Antonia Bance liked the "unexpected colours in unexpected places" but wasn't sure about the size, or the new daily sports section.
Dan Hill, writing on his City of Sound blog, has a lengthy discussion of the new paper's relationship with the website, and says it's time for Guardian Unlimited to get an overhaul too. On Flickr he's posted an annotated front page from the first edition on Monday.
Frank Jordans posts another full analysis on his blog, saying "only time will tell whether we've lost the old Guardian forever and the Berliner Guardian is really a completely different newspaper." He continues:
"This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Long-time Guardian readers (including me) will mourn its passing, but there's definitely a gap in the UK newspaper market for a serious, intelligent, liberal newspaper that appeals to the masses. If they can haul in, say, 100,000 new readers with this redesign, I'd say it's a good move, however much Lefty die-hards moan. But the old Guardian was also one of the few papers to still evoke a distinct sense of belonging among its readers (the Sun is probably the only other one that still does), and in my opinion it's vital that the new Guardian tries to re-establish that sense of community, the sense that its readers are part of the paper, not just consumers. Otherwise, why choose the Guardian over Metro?"
Maybe blogs help. Neil Turner praises this blog, saying: "it's great to see the conversation develop and reader input make a difference in the final product." That's certainly what we hoped for.
-- You can follow what blogs are saying about the new format by searching at Technorati.
