New Adelaide Advertiser masthead
The Adelaide Advertiser launched a new masthead earlier this month and it completely fails to grab me.
There was nothing wrong with the old masthead.
Some newspapers mistake new branding for a fresh look and many papers erred in “modernising” their mastheads in the 1970s, replacing time-honoured historical brands with crappy new logos.
I inherited one when I was at the Port Pirie Recorder in the 1990s and resolved to change it.
I still agonised over the decision, because changing a masthead of any sort is a significant move.
The timing coincided with a visit by then Rural Press managing director John Parker. I asked him whether we should run a contest or let our readers vote on the design. He recommended we just make the decision ourselves and get on with it.
I can’t say the design we chose for The Recorder was better than the original historical masthead, but it was certainly an improvement on the 1970s version.
The old Advertiser masthead used exactly the same font as The Border Watch.
So from a purely selfish perspective I’m happy they made the change. There is no chance of Mount Gambier readers confusing them in the newsagency.
In my opinion, the new Advertiser masthead lacks authority. It should be thicker and sans-serif.
That’s if they had to change at all. I don’t believe they needed to. The Advertiser has its faults, but the old masthead wasn’t one of them.
The paper’s spin on the decision can be read here:
“We’re celebrating our 150th anniversary this year and thought it made sense to take this step forward to the next 150 years,” Advertiser editor Melvin Mansell said.
“The style of the existing masthead doesn’t fit the appearance of today’s paper, which has undergone enormous change in the past three years.
“Of course, this doesn’t mean there is any change to the heritage of the paper or to our core values of delivering essential news and information to our readers.
“It will still be the trusted Advertiser people have grown up with but delivered in a more contemporary and attractive form.”
The few readers who bothered to comment on the story online seem to agree with me:
The new typeface is awful to read, and the masthead is far too boring and simple. The old masthead had character and recognition, the “new” Advertiser now just sinks into obscurity amongst the other items in the newsstand. Bring back the old layout.
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