Modern designs for a modern world.

Do new newspaper designs and layouts mean new, younger readers? Apparently, the designers and the newspapers think so. I am not so sure. People read newspapers for consistent, dependent news. The traditional design style reminds readers that this is a paper they have trusted, and will be able to trust today and into the future. People who are interested in the news want to be able to trust what they read. The new design for the Chicago Tribune looks like the cover of a magazine or tabloid. That is not a trustworthy image to be portraying to the public; it is advertising fun, possibly gossipy, news. Is that really the image the Tribune wants to give off? Young adult tabloid readers, one of the areas from which I assume the newspapers are trying to attract, are not going to be as interested in the information the newspaper has to offer. A new design will not make people who have no interest in the news more interested. The design may attract the eye, but if there is no interest for the content, it is not going to sell. Especially with people trying to save money wherever they can, if the news is not worth the price of the paper, then a pretty face does not change that worth. Also, there is the possibility that faithful readers, who trust the paper, may see the change in layout and wonder if the design is all that is changing. Does a “modern” more flashy design mean that the articles and the information will be less serious? Or will the topics start to change too for the sake of making money off those who find no interest in what the current newspapers have to offer? A newspaper will never be a magazine. Means of sharing and receiving of information may be changing, but I believe respect in the tradition for the newspaper will stay, for a while at least, as long as they are able to maintain the credibility of a familiar, trustworthy face.