boston globe calendar section redesign
Calendar Choice Redesign
Prior to the redesign, the Calendar centerspread was entitled "The Week." I felt the name did little to convey the idea that the events listed were specially chosen as the week's highlights.
Nowhere on the spread were the week's dates clearly indicated. In the text itself, dates were marked only by the day of the month and day of the week ("13 Monday, "14 Tuesday") without indicating the month itself. This might have been okay if there were a date folio on the page, but due to the way in which the page was produced, the folio was always omitted. In another instance, looking for the date might just be an inconvenience, but what if a reader were to remove the Calendar centerspread to place it on his/her refrigerator? Crucial information (which month the events were taking place) would be missing.
The "Picks" column on the lefthand side of the spread duplicated the "recommended events" concept for the spread. Was this column meant to be the "best of the best"? What was its purpose? Instead, the editor wanted to incorporate a column of special events for kids, a place where parents could regularly turn to find interesting children's activities.
From a design perspective, the Calendar centerspread felt like a big hodge podge. There was no focus to the page and it didn't have much impact. This seemed like a missed opportunity, especially when many of the images we had to use for it were strong.
The scattering of images throughout the main text often led to awkward line breaks and difficult-to-follow column jumps.
The lefthand column and the Advance Billing box both changed color each week, adding to the mish mash feeling of the spread.
Information on event location and price wasn't highlighted and could be difficult to find in the text.
The body text in the Pick column was set in Franklin Bold Condensed and was difficult to read at the length it ran.
Solutions Proposed
We renamed the spread "Calendar Choice." This seemed a better way to convey the idea that the events listed were recommended by Globe.
In the event listings I added the full date after each day of the week (e.g., "Thursday, 6/17"). Also, at the top of the page I built into the design a spot to list the span of dates covered in the spread (e.g., "June 17-23").
We eliminated the "Picks" column and replaced it with a column called "Kids Corner" which highlighted events for children.
In order to create focus for the page and boost its visual impact, I designed a format where all but one of the photos would run at a smaller size and be stripped across the bottom. A large, silhouetted image would run in the middle of the listings and, by virtue of the scale change, give drama and focus to the page. In cases where a silhouette wasn't available (this was rare), I specified that a large horizontal image take its place. This arrangement addressed a number of issues: the spread gained energy and impact, legibility was greatly improved, there was more space for event listings, and production time for the designer was cut in half.
I specified that the Kids Corner column always have the same color background — a neutral tan. The Advance Billing column was moved to the Contents page (see Contents page discussion for reasons why).
I suggested that the way in which the events listings were written be changed so that time, location and price were listed at the end of the description. This allowed us to place that information in italic and set it off with a bullet. This made the information easier to find.
I created a "free" logo — the word "free" in a red burst — to be inserted in the text of events that had no charge. This provided a useful function — allowing readers to easily scan the page for free events — and also broke up the density of the text.
I changed the body text in the Kids Corner column from Franklin to a Century style I had established as a standard eslewhere in the section.
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