The (Ron) Reason Behind The Trib's New Look

Back on Oct. 12, The Tampa Tribune launched a re-design. The effort was executed by Designer-Consultant Ron Reason, who was hired by the Trib's parent company, Media General, back in May.

With newspaper circulation in the U.S. dropping (the Audit Bureau of Circulations show average daily circulation fell 5 percent in the April-period) one wonders about the long-term effect of a re-do.

Reason offers his reasons behind the "new and improved" look:

"Tampa is the first of Media General’s three metro newspapers to adopt a refined new look that will share many (but not all) elements, in advance of the creation of two consolidated editing and design centers," Reason wrote in his blog at RonReason.com. "In December, those centers will go live, and the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch and Winston-Salem (NC) Journal will adopt many elements of the new format."

The biggest challenge Reason faced: "Getting three sets of editors and publishers from the three different papers, in three different states, to agree on a new look to be shared by all."

For more about the Trib's re-design, Click Here.