Newspaper design: Observer-Reporter

This simple graphic is all the reader needs to understand how Americans feel about September 11 in 2003. It was drawn from the text of the story.

The old headline — “A nation forever changed” — did not accurately reflect the story. In fact, the story said that people are beginning to forget, as described in the display type above the main headline.

The main photo on the old page had little visual or emotional appeal. The new group of photos shows the range of observances throughout the country in a more compelling way.

The wire digest has room for six national or international stories, leaving the bulk of the front page for local news. The old front page made no mention of the stabbing in Sweden. The new front page included a summary of this story and a photo, as well as summaries and photos from other provocative stories.

The old front-page story about Osama bin Laden described how he appeared in a recently released video, but did not show how he looked. The new page contains the current image as well as two others for comparison.

The new version of this story is better in two ways: First, the old headline —“Baddest cat in town has some residents on edge” — is not as clear as the new headline. Second, the addition of the graphics allows readers to compare the sizes of the cats that were allegedly seen.

The Observer-Reporter is a 40,000-circulation daily newspaper serving Washington and Greene counties in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The paper has two kinds of readers — longtime residents of the small mining towns that dot the region and newcomers from Pittsburgh who prefer the lower taxes and suburban setting that Washington County offers.

To meet the needs of both kinds of readers, the Observer-Reporter must provide complete coverage of local news and a comprehensive report of national and international events. The redesign includes tools to help achieve this goal — digests of national news and national sports free up most of the front page and sports front for local news.

To grow its circulation, the Observer-Reporter must compete head-to-head with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which is published just 25 miles to the north. It must convince newcomers who are more oriented toward Pittsburgh and the Post-Gazette to switch to the Observer-Reporter for its more thorough coverage of Washington County news.

To succeed, the Observer-Reporter must offer a superior local report and a concise, yet complete, wire report. And it must provide both without the resources of its competitors.