The Boston Globe Calendar Section Redesign
Nightclubs Page Redesign
One of the biggest issues with this page was not the design itself, though there were some problems to address there, but rather with the position of the page in the Calendar section. Prior to the redesign, both the Nightclubs and Recordings (aka New on Disc) pages were placed in the middle of the event listings just a few pages from the back of the book. Many readers simply didn't know these pages were there.
And there were other difficulties with this page prior to the redesign:
The lead photo was unrelated to any of the stories on the page. Having a lead photo in this position meant regularly hiring a freelance photographer. Both the editor and I felt those resources would be better used elsewhere.
Also, the page had gone a little logo happy (logo count = 5) and the typography was outdated. The page was both clunky and busy as a result.
The editor wanted additional space for the Scene column, and wanted to institute rotating authors and topics for it. The fixed column length and width seemed restrictive.
It was not immediately apparent which clubs were being reviewed. To find complete information on the clubs (location, hours, etc.) a reader often would have to read to the end of an article.
The headline for the scene column was scarcely larger than the body text.
Solutions Proposed
We moved the Nightclubs and New on Disc (a.k.a. Recordings) pages from the back of the book to the front, placing them right after the Dining Out and Cheap Eats pages and just before the cover story spreads. After the redesign many people thought pages of new features had been added. It made the section feel much more substantial as a whole.
I redesigned Nightclubs so that the lead photo could accompany either of the two main columns on the page. Whichever column had the best photo to go with it would move to the top slot on the page. This gave us the flexibility to use publicity photos rather than hire freelance photographers. It also meant that the photo had more relevance to the page; it was adding a tangible value.
Stacking the two columns on top of each other meant the editor had more flexibility in handling story length. If one was short, the other could be longer. If they were both short, the photo could be enlarged.
I got rid of all the logos except for one, and updated the typography. In addition to cleaning up the page, this had the added benefit of eliminating the need for production involvement by a designer. The entire page could now be handled by the newspaper's pagination system. This resulted in a big savings in time as well as cost.
For each column, I set up a highlight box format so that important information (club name, address, and the like) would be immediately apparent. At a glance, readers would quickly know what was being reviewed.
I enlarged the Scene column headline.
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