Newspaper design: Observer-Reporter

On the old page, the other players of the year were buried within the text of the story. On the new page, the complete list of honorees is more prominently displayed — putting more emphasis on more local names.

Neither of these stories appeared on the old page because so much space was taken up with the lead photo and the UCLA coach story. Better cropping of the lead photo and the UCLA coach photo provides room for two local stories with photos.

The right-side rail provides a convenient way to separate Pittsburgh and national sports from local sports — thus providing more space for and emphasis on local sports.

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.