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March 1, 2002/Adar 17, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 24
Redesign launched
STAFF REPORT
With this issue, Jewish News of Greater Phoenix unveils design changes throughout its pages, the most significant in more than a decade.
"The transformation updates our look for readers and enhances marketing opportunities for advertisers," said Florence Eckstein, publisher of the 54-year-old independent community weekly newspaper.
The redesign comes on the heels of several recent content enhancements, including weekly "Education" and "Good Health" sections. Beginning with the March 22 Passover issue, a children's activity page will appear in conjunction with major Jewish holidays. Local community content on the opinion pages has been expanded to include "Voices," a periodic reader op-ed; scheduled commentary by local community relations professionals; a growing number of readers' letters to the editor; and frequent appearance of "Dry Bones" by Israeli cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen.
Jewish News staff undertook a lengthy collaborative design project led by Editor Barry Cohen and Production Manager Becky Globokar.
Susan Keith, a Ph.D. candidate and instructor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunications at Arizona State University in Tempe, was a consultant to Jewish News staff on the redesign concept.
Among improvements is the inclusion of four-color photos on Page 1 of every issue, a change introduced in January. The Table of Contents, formerly on Page 2, moved to Page 1 beginning this week.
"Snapshot," a weekly photo essay about Valley events involving or affecting the Valley Jewish community, will appear on Page 3.
Local news now appears under a "Community" banner, replacing the "Valley" header.
Readers will find local and national news and features in the same general locations as before, Cohen said, enhanced by modified typefaces, headings, headlines and other design elements intended to make the appearance of the news more pleasing to readers.
The staff box has shifted to a single column on Page 2, from the bottom of the Page 8 opinion page, freeing additional space on Page 8 for editorial comment. Page 2 now offers a prime four-column space for advertisers seeking four-color up-front location, said Eckstein.
Jewish News' printer, Valley Newspapers, installed state-of-the-art presses when it moved recently to a new plant in north Phoenix, giving advertisers a wider choice of position for full- and spot-color ads, she added.
Still to come, Eckstein added, are subtle changes to Jewish News Incredible Classifieds and Real Estate pages, "to further boost the draw of these well-read sections to readers."
Contact the Jewish News editorial staff at editor@jewishaz.com.
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