A new reading experience for city: to be seen, before it’s read

The Times of India is the leading English language daily in India. The paper detected a stagnant readership of some of its pages and asked for our help. After studying the issue we decided to leave the layouts, typography and pagination untouched. Instead, we created devices to make some stories attract reader attention and to make graphics do the same.

Headline slugs for faster reader decisions

A family of visually related devices engage the reader’s attention at a glance. The devices capture opposites, polarities and binaries to involve the reader in an urgent way. Headline slugs categorize ‘good news’ or ‘bad news’ in red and green. We worked with the editors to create a finite library of slug-phrases that appear most frequently, so that readers can recognize, recall, and expect them. Opposing view points, conflicts, contradictions, pros and cons are some of the other uses for these devices.

Many points of entry into the page

Counters, timelines, comments, cause and effect sequences become more engaging ways of storytelling. More entry points, increasing the likelihood of reading at least the headline or the graphic.

These interventions result in pages that are ‘seen’ before they are ‘read’. In a glanceable way,  graphic devices that signal pleasure or threat compel her attention in a painless way.

Infographics is journalism too

Delivered via designed examples and workshops, infographics appeal to the self-interest of the reader, or tap her sentiments as they relate to civic issues. Single-minded focus on the pitch makes for rapid and compelling storytelling.

Masthead

Redesigned a series of masheads for everyday as well as for special days. By utilising the titloing area, our solution turns the masthead into an informative, living entity that’s as engaging as any story. It has a cheerful, positive and busy ambience.

We also worked on Times Sports. Click on the image below to view the sports page.