Redesign: The Border Mail
Introduction
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The Border Mail is a daily newspaper that serves the twin cities of Albury and Wodonga and beyond on the border of New South Wales and Victoria, Australia — a region home to over 150,000 people.
On July 4, 2009, The Border Mail launched a total redesign, it’s first in more than a decade. From front to back, the newspaper has been remodelled. Consistent identity, typography and readability are the main focus of the relaunch, forming a style base for design excellence. Click on any of the thumbnails on this page for a larger view. – Design Editor: Daniel Dulhunty. |
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Pulse
Weekend Pulse is The Border Mail’s flagship weekend liftout. Over time, its content has been raided by other sections of the paper and its pages cut. When redesigning the paper, we wanted to do more than give this section a fresh coat of paint, we wanted to give it the look and feel of a quality weekend read. With an increased page count, new columns and a rich design Pulse is a forum for brilliant photography and innovative storytelling.
Play & FreshOur entertainment and lifestyle liftouts, Play and Fresh, have been redesigned with a focus on function over decoration. The sections are now much easier to produce, with a cleaner and more functional, striking layout that is easier to read. We introduced new content and columnists in evaluating every page of both features. |
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The front pageThere’s no doubt that the front page of The Border Mail has ever lacked impact. The paper has a proud tradition of outstanding front pages. But what to do on every other day? And where should the impact be? The front page now has a style, pointers are no longer invented on the run. The focus of the page is now weighted clearly and not clouded by decoration. We’re proud of our masthead and have boldly pronounced it on our front page. |
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The news pagesEvery page of The Border Mail is printed in full colour. The paper is an early adopter of colour press and historically has used it as much as possible. Colour boxes, wing boxes and other “screens” have proved a popular way of separating stories on a page when the standard Helvetica headlines are aligned centre. Our new general news pages, and sport pages use consistent typography with headlines set left to avoid headline clashes without using heavy design to overcome this problem. |
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Opinion pagesThe Border Mail’s opinion pages brought in a common sepia tone that was favoured at the time throughout the paper. As time has passed, the colouring is not so consistent throughout other parts of the paper. The editorial used a popular tabloid technique “the tear” to announce our opinion on the day’s news. |
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Opinion pages redesignedOur new opinion pages bring a modern and more serious feel. We’ve split the pages into two distinct reactions, Our View and Your View. The pages now better display not only our take on the day’s news but our readers’ as well. We plan to expand the Your View page to become a truly rich interaction experience with our community. Headlines for the page are set in our new standard serif font Utopia. |
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Business & WorldOur Business and World pages now follow a common theme using colour to identify content areas and style to bring it in line with the rest of the paper. Both had individual styling, a hangover from previous design alterations over the years. |
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The back pageThe back page’s masthead sets the tone for our sport pages. lively design to invite the reader in without appearing dated with old-hat design techniques. Our sport pages, columns and features now flow easily with a common design. |
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