United Kingdom tabloid newspaper, The Daily Mirror, called in an army of designers to give the 105-year-old publication a fresh new look. The new look is an attempt to end a 40-year identity crisis brought on by the relaunch of Rupert Murdoch’s Sun in 1969. Since then, The Daily Mirror has struggled to define itself against its old rival.

The Mirror’s associate editor led the paper through the 18-month design process, with Trinity Mirror hiring Spanish design firm Cases Associats. The paper held focus groups and found that while loyal readers could see the difference in appearance and values compared with The Sun, occasional buyers could not. Some have called The Mirror’s new look magazine-like with its entirely different fonts, headings, full-color pages, icons, graphics, and more coherent features section such as Your Life, a women’s features section modeled on women’s glossy magazines.

The Mirror’s web site is also being redeveloped and is expected to be relaunched this year. The paper’s design team now treats stories according to what is deemed “important” and “interesting.” For lighter human interest and showbiz stories, the headlines are italics and pictures are bigger. For serious, hard new, color is still used but the headlines are straighter and there is more text.

Tags: newspaper, print industry

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