Deck chairs

There are a lot of people talking about the Orlando Sentinel redesign.

Some people think it will work and others think that no matter what dress you put the duck in, it’s still a duck.

While I don’t think that print publications will ever go completely out of style, I think that trying to grow the print readership is not the best strategy for success. And redesigning the pages is relatively pointless if it doesn’t come with substantial changes to the content, or at least the places where content is presented.

I think that money would be much better spent doing usability testing and trying new things on their website. Let’s invest in the future not in the past.*

Someone recently told me that this redesign is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. That may well be the case.

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* I think there might be a future for free print editions. If papers can swing it without subscription revenue, I think you’d see a persistent jump in the subscription base.