MG Redesign Blog

Launch night in Northern Virginia!

2008-10-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

It's not often you get to launch a NEW newspaper, but we did exactly that tonight. The Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger combined on Sunday night to create a new newspaper — the News & Messenger, based in Prince William County, Va., about 25 miles south of Washington, DC. MG partner Scott Goldman led the way on the redesign, with MG partner Matt Mansfield on hand

Summer in Chicago: Time Out work

2008-09-28T17:17:00.000-07:00

MG partner Matt Mansfield spent the summer with Time Out Chicago. Mansfield worked closely with the magazine on its overall art direction, developing cover concepts and designing several special sections. The magazine also undertook several large-scale projects under Mansfield's direction, including a celebration of Windy City cultural icons timed to coincide with the brand's 40th anniversary.

Magazine workshop in Asia

2007-08-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

MG partner Matt Mansfield will be leading a magazine workshop in Thailand this September, along with Time Out Chicago managing editor Amy Carr. The base is Bangkok, but the aim is to work with all the global publishing houses that are setting up shop in Asia as competition there gets more and more fierce. The workshop runs Sept. 19-21 and will be produced under the direction of IFRA, which has

A rethinking in San Jose

2007-08-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

MG partner Matt Mansfield, also a senior editor at the San Jose Mercury News, has begun an ambitious rethinking of the venerable Silicon Valley title. The base of the rethink is to use audience research to make some fast decisions about changes in the product portfolio, both in print and online. Portfiolio recently profiled the effort, calling it "uniquely clear-eyed and transparent" in a

Goldman vs. Cavendish: Let the games begin!

2007-01-22T01:07:00.000-08:00

MG partner Scott Goldman's home newspaper, The Indianapolis Star, will be busy in the coming two weeks as it ramps up for the Super Bowl now that the Colts are headed to Miami to face the Chicago Bears. The city certainly seems jazzed that Indy's team made it so far. But we're more jazzed that Goldman will be pitting his design talents against Steve Cavendish at the Chicago Tribune, which will

Good stuff about narrative + collaboration

2007-01-22T00:54:00.001-08:00

Check out the good folks at www.foureyedmonsters.com and see how these two filmmakers are great collaborators. There's a good feed of video podcasting on their site where they explore visual language, the nature of storytelling and all sorts of instructive stuff for anyone who seeks to make better narrative. And if their film has not come to your city, go request it!

Another launch for MG

2006-12-11T07:05:00.000-08:00

MG Redesign has launched its fourth redesign of the year, this time of the St. Tammany News, a thrice-weekly newspaper serving a wide area just north of New Orleans. The community was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina a little more than a year ago, and the disaster forced the hasty merger of two Wick Communications papers into one combined edition — the St. Tammany News. Since then, the

Now THAT’S a focus group!

2006-05-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

As I walked into Pierre’s small airport waiting area, waiting to board my flight back to Indy, I discovered just how tightly-knit a city Pierre is. A very nice woman asked, “You’re the guy who redesigned the Capital Journal, aren’t you?” Who, me? Well, yeah, that was me … “I gotta tell you, that’s a great-looking job you all did. It looks wonderful. It looks like a real newspaper now,” she

3, 2, 1 .... Launch!

2006-05-09T05:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the MG blog! Sorry we've been away for so long. We have liftoff! The Capital Journal debuted its new size and new look Monday afternoon in Pierre, SD, to solid reviews from a readership eager for an updated look. In an area that's very devoted to its newspaper and its traditions, publisher Russ Cannon reported three phone calls last night and several more this morning — and

Capital Journal next up for MG

2006-02-21T22:27:00.000-08:00

MG Redesign made its initial visit this week to another Wick Communications paper, the Capital Journal in Pierre, South Dakota. MG partner Scott Goldman went to the Great White North (actually, it wasn't that white!) and began the redesign process with the staff of the Capital Journal. Launch is tentatively set for mid-April and is just one of many major changes taking place in the next few

Finished at last!

2006-02-21T21:59:00.000-08:00

MG Redesign partner Scott Goldman put the final touches on the redesign of The Indianapolis Star last week with the arrival of new body copy Mercury Text (far left), from Hoefler & Frere-Jones. The new type features a larger point size but has maintained text length, even with the Star's reduction to a 48-inch web width. Reader reaction has been extremely light, which is a good thing when it

Next stop: Alaska

2006-02-08T00:33:00.000-08:00

Our next redesign project is scheduled to launch May 5 at the Frontiersman in Wasilla, Alaska. Matt Mansfield and Kevin Wendt of MG are leading the change efforts at the Wick Communications newspaper, which is about 45 miles north of Anchorage between the Matanuska and Susitna valleys in the state's fastest-growing area. The redesign includes a top-to-bottom examination of the paper's typography,

If only the Seahawks had been this good

2006-02-06T12:28:00.000-08:00

They're ready for some football

2006-02-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

The Seahawks play the Steelers in today's Super Bowl, just in case you were wondering. More importantly, at least to followers of this blog, Geoff Pinnock reports that The Spokesman-Review has its special teams ready for the big game that's being played today in Detroit. Pinnock will handle front page duties, with Ralph Walter at the mouse for the Super Bowl special section wrap. Both Pinnock

Spokesman-Review: Features pages

2006-02-02T07:15:00.000-08:00

Smallest of details

2006-02-02T06:35:00.000-08:00

MG partner Scott Goldman worked with The Spokesman-Review staff on developing multiple agate styles for use throughout the paper. Despite the reduction in page size, it was a great opportunity to increase legibility of agate styles from sports to business with the addition of new typefaces. The old agate style (left) was Franklin Gothic condensed, at an astonishing 5.5-point size and 80 percent

Rumble for the Jumble

2006-01-31T09:55:00.000-08:00

When we launched the redesign of The Spokesman-Review on Monday we knew one thing: We would get some phone calls from people who were unhappy. Change is hard and we have come to expect a few complaints with every new design. So we were ready. The biggest source of irritation was for something we had no part in, though, namely a decision by the features editor to drop the Jumble puzzle because

Spokesman-Review: First pages

2006-01-30T02:38:00.000-08:00

We're out, and so is the paper

2006-01-29T23:15:00.000-08:00

Working on features pages

2006-01-29T21:00:00.000-08:00

Things are going well. We're already working ahead on feature pages for the next week. Ralph Walter, left, and Matt Mansfield discuss color choices for the Food section cover on Sunday night. Meantime, we are about two hours away from the press starting up for the first new papers ...

Wish you were here ...

2006-01-29T18:36:00.000-08:00

MG specialist Denise M. Reagan starts her new job Monday at The Times-Union in Jacksonville, Fla., so she cannot be in Spokane for the big launch. That's a huge shame, since she was the mastermind behind the 7 redesign and has made a lot of friends in this here newsroom. Shout out to Denise from the Inland Northwest!

One big week ahead

2006-01-29T18:20:00.000-08:00

Geoff Pinnock, Spokesman-Review design guru, and Scott Goldman from MG work on the tweaks to the Super Bowl logo style for the new paper. In case you had not heard, a certain team from Washington will be playing next Sunday, so the first week of the paper's redesign will be a testing ground for the sports staff. The S-R has a reporter and columnist in Detroit this week to walk up to the big game.

Pages and pizza are flying

2006-01-29T18:05:00.000-08:00

Director of Photography Bart Rayniak peruses pages for tomorrow's first edition of the new Spokesman-Review, while Kevin Wendt of MG works on front page promos, and a celebration cake sums up the sentiment of the night.

Hard at work?

2006-01-29T16:17:00.000-08:00

MG partner Matt Mansfield puts the finishing touches on style changes for The Spokesman-Review at the Hotel Davenport in downtown Spokane. Or maybe he's just fooling around with his camera so he's ready to take some candid newsroom shots Sunday night. It's hard to tell.

Tonight's the night

2006-01-29T11:30:00.000-08:00

The redesigned Spokesman-Review rolls off the presses tonight, so expect to see us post a gallery of images after we close that first edition. We'll also try to give you a bit of background on the entire process and produce some images from the Sunday night festivities, which are rumored to include a terrific launch party for the cast and crew here in Spokane. Hoping that's not just pre-launch