FullBleed

In response to ADCMW interest last year when the Washington Post redesigned its magazine, our own John Foster interviewed WaPo’s Features Design Director, Janet Michaud. Thanks to Janet for taking time to candidly respond to questions from members of the DC creative community, and for giving us all some insight on how WaPo is continuing to evolve its brand.

The bluster around the redesign has quickly died down — largely in part because the paper and magazine have expanded on the look and really found their legs. There is no better test for a redesign then actually using it: Which adjustments have you made?

It’s been six months since the redesign launched. We held some focus groups a couple of weeks ago to get concrete feedback from readers about what they like and what they don’t. The majority of readers haven’t noticed that the magazine was redesigned. I’m in the process of making design tweaks, but not huge changes. Some of the things I’m looking closely at are the FOB navigation and changing some content/features (I want to streamline the type hierarchies); cover design (it needs to do a little more work in getting readers to the secondary Well story, which many are missing, while not trying to be a newsstand magazine; and no, we’re not changing the WPMagazine logo); and the TOC (I’ve hated this page from the beginning, but six weeks to redesign the magazine didn’t allow much time for the TOC!)

Where have you been more playful since the re-launch?

As far as where we’ve been more playful, I’d say we’re making photo choices differently. I found the way we were using photography in the former magazine was mostly to supplement points in the story. The photo editor, Evan Jane Kriss, and I are really trying to move away from that. I want there to be more surprises, as well as more emotive choices that make readers feel something or grab them and don’t let go. For example, we’ve been choosing more impactful, counter-intuitive images for the Going Out Guide opener. Another area we’ve been more playful is with illustration. I think illustration can be very powerful…it’s just about what kind of illustration you pair with what writing. Like photography, it can also make you feel something, if used well.

How is the redesign intended to position The Post in the marketplace?

The mission of the redesign was to produce the same strong journalism that The Post magazine is known for (although readers told us they wanted some shorter stories); to be locally-focused with more profiles; and to provide some entertainment content, which would help in our company-wide goal to be the indispensable guide to Washington. That last goal has taken the form of The Going Out Guide, which is part Style Critics picks, part listings from our online gurus. We wanted to appeal to a broader audience without alienating our existing one. We were also trying to lure in those elusive frenetic households. Not sure if that’s a common term. Basically that demographic is women with young children who are too busy to read. They’re an incredibly hard group to attract. I’m one of them :)

How do you see the future of newspapers in general?

The future of newspapers…that’s always a tough question. I have a deep love for newspapering. I believe it was Eugene Meyer who described them as a daily miracle. Maybe that’s become a cliche, but it’s totally true. The reality is that children are consuming information so differently than we did. They’re taking digital photos and sharing them on Facebook…who needs photo albums? Some of us do…some of us need that printed product in our hands…something tactile to hold on to. Not sure by the time that 10-year-old is 24 she’ll feel the same way. That’ll take 10-15 years. I’m not saying newspapers are going to go away completely, but their form will probably change significantly. One scenario is that they become a Sunday read that is more like a weekly magazine, with readers consuming their daily news online. As one of my colleagues recently said to me, we’re better off looking at ourselves as journalists rather than print journalists. That’s a hard pill for me to swallow. But I also think there are a lot of opportunities that are yet unknown.

What editorial changes were you charged with accommodating in the redesign?

We wanted to enhance the FOB to give readers more range in what they were consuming. We wanted to expand our range of visual storytelling (still do), which is why we introduced Breakdown (a profile of someone or something told through an annotated photo) and Our Town (graphic reportage, a feature that has sadly bitten the dust…for reasons beyond my control we could never fully realize it). We were also charged with doing more profiles of local figures in the Well and with adding more entertainment coverage. The overall focus was to be very local and to have more range in the cover stories.

What other changes had the largest effect on the redesign?

Another change was that the magazine was going through a lot of staffing changes, partly due to a round of buyouts last summer. They were in the process of not only finding a new editor, but rethinking how to better use resources at the newspaper to support the magazine. The strong, sturdy silos at The Post were being broken down. Writers, editors and photographers around the newsroom are being asked to contribute now. For example, Marc Fisher wrote the relaunch issue’s cover story, and former deputy magazine editor Sydney Trent — who is now the enterprise editor based in Style — routinely assigns and edits magazine stories. Brigid Schulte just wrote a cover story about time, which she’s going to further discuss on Dr. Phil (airing in late March).

How have you used improvements in production and technology to further the redesign?

We’ve really focused on color. Our printer is in Virginia, which is part of the reason we print so far ahead (two weeks). We’ve been working really closely with the folks there to improve color. Or maybe it’s just about aesthetic…I like more ink on the page, more saturated photos. Not overly so, just not washed out with a lot of push-and-pull, dimension. The mindmeld has been time-consuming, but I think it’s paying off.

Getting into the internal process — can you break down the stages and how many people are involved from the initial idea of a redesign through the approval and implementation?

Here’s how it happened in my case at The Post.

I came to The Post in May 2008 to establish a newly created position as Features Design Director, overseeing Food, Home, Health, BookWorld (which has since folded), Weekend, Travel, Sunday Source (which has since folded), Outlook, daily Style, and Sunday Style&Arts. I had been an associate art director at TIME magazine for seven years and was eager for management experience. After I had managed a staff of about 15 art directors (has since grown to about 20) for nine months, then, in December, it was decided that we were going to redesign the newspaper by Fall 2009 — and I was asked to be on the team.

We started the redesign process for the newspaper in January 2009, at which time we hired Roger Black as our consultant. The newspaper redesign’s visual team consisted of Dennis Brack (DD of the WPost), Justin Ferrell (News DD), Larry Nista (Informational Graphics Director), and me.

In May, the Executive Editor, Marcus Brauchli, and one of his two deputies, Raju Narisetti, told us they wanted to redesign the magazine as well. Roger Black’s studio had been working on some ideas, which were being used in reader testing. Our magazine readership is incredibly loyal, and they consistently read other sections of the newspaper. At the risk of oversimplifying that round of research, the results showed the business side of the company that the risk of redesigning was worth taking.

In June, Raju asked if I would redesign the magazine, launch it, and be its art director for at least the first six months. The launch date would be September 27, 2009, but given our production schedule we’d have to put it to bed on September 11.

There were a lot of things I had started in the newspaper redesign that I had to finish up. The most immediate being helping to restructure all the visual departments at The Post across platforms. The print and online newsrooms were merging, which meant that we needed to take a look at our overall structure. We were deep in this process when the magazine opportunity came around. It took me awhile to help get that structure in place. (We’re now a Presentation Department, which is working very well).

As I mentioned earlier, the magazine was going through a lot of staffing changes. By the time the new editor was named and things had settled down enough for me to focus on the magazine, we started rethinking it in mid- July. That left us about eight weeks to create a new magazine! We used the research that came out of Roger’s work, as well as the new company-wide goals to be “for and about Washington,” to hone the mission of the redesign. The editor, Denny, Justin and I worked together on rethinking the content; then, I created the new look.

There wasn’t much time for considering a lot of options. We had to fly very quickly. It’s nice to take a step back six months later and react to some of the reader feedback thoughtfully. The initial redesign was thoughtful in its own right (it has consumed me), but there wasn’t much time.

What was involved with selecting new fonts to use in the publication? How were the fonts customized for your use?

I really wanted the new magazine and the newspaper to feel more like a family visually. They felt very disconnected to me before the redesigns. We had done extensive font testing for the newspaper redesign and worked very closely with Roger on typography. Given the timeframe I had to redesign and my desire to visually join the print products, I used the fonts we decided on for the paper in the magazine. Obviously, I had to adjust how we used them.

Postoni Display and Postoni TItling were drawn by Richard Lipton of Font Bureau, and they are based on Postoni, drawn by Matthew Carter in 1998. Matthew blessed the Postoni Displays, too. (There’s also a Postoni Display Condensed series, which we haven’t used yet).

Big Figgins was an existing font drawn by Matthew that Font Bureau created.

Baby Figgins based on Big Fig.

Jim Parkinson created the WP lettering. Parkinson also re-drew the newspaper’s front page nameplate in 1998 when the paper moved entirely to offset printing.

Miller Text, used for the magazine’s body copy, is based on the Miller font that Matthew originally created for The Guardian in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s.

Why move to a larger font?

The body copy pre-redesign was Garamond 10pt. We went to Millertext 9pt. Technically, it’s smaller, but the cut feels bigger. We changed for the obvious reason … increased readability. And, again, marriage with the newspaper.

How hard is it to overcome just the sense of familiarity and resistance to change in a readership for such an iconic publication?

Incredibly hard. The way I look at it is that we put it out there and many have come along for the ride. Now I’m taking a step back, trying to detach (which is very difficult, but part of the job), and objectively looking at what could be done better. It can always be better, right? I say to myself, “OK…what can I adjust so that more of you come along for the ride?” It’s really hard when you’re so attached to something. But again, that’s the gig.

Designers learn over their career to have pretty thick skins or else they have to find lower profile work, but few have an entire city analyzing their work WITH multiple avenues to voice their opinions — how was the first week following the redesign both personally and professionally?

Professionally, it was all-consuming and a real rollercoaster. Totally exciting, but really hard. I tried to strap myself in before the launch, but you’re never totally prepared. If I had thought about the fact that the entire city was analyzing my work, I would’ve become paralyzed. I had to stay in the moment with the work and hit the deadline, one way or another. It had to happen. We were committed on the advertising end. There was a group of people behind me, though. All the decisions that go into a redesign don’t get made by one person. So we all share the positive and the negative. But it was hard being the design face of the redesign because it elicited a very strong response in our world. Good and bad, it was strong and that hit home how much our readers care about this magazine. I do, too…very much. Like it or not, a lot of me is in it.

I’ll also say that I’ve developed a thick skin in my career. I don’t shy away from a challenge, and have typically been an agent of change. I was the first sports designer at the Boston Globe and helped create the genre of sports design. Being a young woman in the sports department of a paper in a town that is so intensely passionate about their teams…that built up some callouses. I was an art director at TIME magazine for seven years…that forms a thick skin. And when I came here, I was leading a newly formed visual department at a place that is historically word-driven. You can never be totally prepared for the feedback, but I’ve seen challenge before, personally and professionally.

The trick is to not let the professional filter too far into the personal. I don’t know how well I did at that. You’ll have to ask my husband and son. I have a wonderfully supportive and loving family, and that really helped. There inevitably are periods of self-doubt when you do something this public. But you have to remember, the response is not personal.

Now, you have a lot of ‘design’ to do each day/evening — how has the staff kept it within the same schedule? How many people work on the design of the paper and magazine?

There is more design and photo research in the magazine, now. I’ve been the art director, and I pulled in a deputy from my staff. Her name is Beth Broadwater, and she’s totally amazing. We’re really in sync — we can finish each other’s thoughts — and that has made a huge difference. She’s been a great partner in helping to shape the magazine’s identity. Our assistant photo editor moved over to the paper. Some of those duties have shifted to our editorial assistant (who rocks) and more to our design production coordinator (who also rocks). Evan, the photo editor, has also absorbed more…she’s hanging in there. I’ve been identifying inefficiencies and have been working really hard at streamlining a lot of the production and how we do it.

On the paper side, I have two senior art directors and about 15 art directors and designers whom I oversee. I’m in charge of the Magazine, Style (Sunday and daily), Food, Local Living, Weekend, Outlook, Health&Science and Travel.

How does it feel to be a part of redesigning such an important historical publication that will forever be a part of our local and national fabric?

Well, that’s just an overwhelming question… You’re leading me! It’s an honor. Redesigns ebb and flow. As Roger Black said when we started the newspaper redesign, this will be a process — not an event. The magazine will continue to evolve as its needs and the landscape change. I’m honored to be part of that process.