I am no designer, but, like many things at a small newspaper, if you have any interest in something (and sometimes even if you don’t!), you will find yourself involved in it. The Telegram started their newspaper redesign in October 2009, a month before I arrived. However, it was put on hold while they worked to restaff the newsroom. In July, we picked it back up again and pushed it out in the beginning of August. Derek Thompson and I worked on some of the graphic elements while others picked out new fonts, moved elements around and generally tried to rework a product that has been the same for as long as anyone can remember. Though we definitely didn’t do anything groundbreaking, I think it is a step in the right direction.

We put together a new banner to tease web content, as well as new graphics to go inside stories.

Though it’s hard to tell from the above example, I think the most drastic change came in our teasers. We went from three static boxes containing a user contributed photo, sports tease and news tease, to a more dynamic layout that changes based on the content available that day.

Again, nothing that hasn’t been done before, but, for a newsroom that currently has six people with no designer, it works.