Berliner Review

In general, I think that the new format Guardian looks fabulous. It was, by far, the most interesting looking paper in the newsagent’s this morning. The few niggles I mention below are only very minor and I fully expect to not be noticing them at all in a month’s time.

• I’m not sold on the new masthead. The all lower case typeface makes it more like a style magazine than a serious newspaper.
• Love the new font in most of its different versions. The one version that I’m not sure about is the one used for the initial drop caps. It looks a bit thin and weedy to me.
• The subtle difference between the typesetting for news (justified) and comment (ragged right) is a great idea. Wonder how many people worked it out without themselves (I didn’t).
• The use of colour and the reproduction of the photos is really impressive. Printing technology has come a long way since Today – just look at the massive double page photo on pages 20 and 21.
• The paper stock looks better quality than they were using last week – but not as good as they used for the preview edition on Saturday.
• My copy of the main paper had a few badly folded pages and my G2 was mis-cut. The new presses still have a few bugs to iron out.
• No Doonesbury! Oh well. I hope Trudeau has an RSS feed.

But to be honest, I’m not sure about the size. I used to fold the broadsheet in four and carry it under my arm. It now looks ridiculously small if I do that. And if I ony fold it in half it’s too big and flappy. I’m sure I’ll get used to it tho’.

And it’s been really interesting following the new Editors’ Blog. It’s not often (if, indeed, ever) that you get such a detailed look into the workings of a national newpaper.