The Mario Blog

05.30.2007—3am    Post #102
The Wall Street Journal introduces narrower format

The Wall Street Journal introduced its new narrower format to the world Monday, December 4 in New York City. Mario Garcia Sr., chief architect of the design, who worked in conjunction with Dave Pybas, from the WSJ, on the design, made the following remarks at the launch ceremony: As the designer of the new Wall […]

The Wall Street Journal introduced its new narrower format to the world Monday, December 4 in New York City.

Mario Garcia Sr., chief architect of the design, who worked in conjunction with Dave Pybas, from the WSJ, on the design, made the following remarks at the launch ceremony:

As the designer of the new Wall Street Journal, I am proud that we have been able to take the world’s best business newspaper and create a design that adapts to a multimedia world, while preserving its rich 117-year history.

Designing for business readers can be one of the greatest challenges, as these are the readers of the always-on culture. If we review a day in the life of a media consumer, we see that, starting at 7 am (sooner for some), they connect to a variety of media. Notice, however, that the newspaper reading part of getting informed takes place in different seatings. The days when readers read a newspaper cover to cover in the morning are over; now we glance at the headlines and summaries first thing, to reaffirm a lot of what we already know, and to discover new angles, such as analysis and interpretation. We connect to the Internet several times during the day, and eventually return to reading, which is considered a leisure activity, later in the day.

We have no doubt that the modern newspaper reader, who connects to news websites several times during the day, brings with him a sense of speed and impatience. Navigational tools commonly used by websites train readers to seek news categories and to access them quickly. We must import some of those navigational strategies to print, and we have done so with this rethinking of The Wall Street Journal. I always comment about the What’s News column, started some 80 years ago, as the precursor of all navigational tools. It was visionary to have a complete summary of the important news at a glance on page one, a feature that has characterized The Wall Street Journal as unique and functional.

Navigation is not limited to previews of content that appear on page one. When we discuss navigation we are also describing the process of moving readers rapidly within stories, and also sending them to other parts of the newspaper, and even other platforms. To that effect we have extensive use of info graphics and summary boxes that will provide scanners—-readers who have less time and do a fast run through the paper—with highlights of stories.

In Brief columns will provide a quick glance to what I call “reaffirmation news”, but also send readers to other media, either to read a full text, watch a video or a photo gallery. With each medium doing what it does best, it is up to users to select how they wish to receive their information.

Basically, readers of The Wall Street Journal will encounter the ultimate functional design. The best business newspaper in the world now unveils a design that adapts to the specific needs of the most demanding, knowledgeable and impatient group of readers I have ever encountered.

The Mario Blog