On Friday, December 1, The Globe and Mail will reveal its first major print redesign in seven years. This represents the culmination of a transformation that has ushered in changes to The Globe’s desktop, mobile and tablet websites as well as its iOS and Android apps.
The Weekday Globe
The weekday Globe and Mail features two expanded premium sections. The A-section combines News and Life and Arts and will feature daily regionally focused content in Toronto and B.C. The B-section offers Report on Business, Globe Investor and Sports. The Real Estate section will appear on Friday and is now national, and the Drive section will move from Thursday to Friday.
Top news stories will be bundled with related insight and opinion pieces to appeal to busy readers.
The Weekend Globe
On Saturday, December 2, readers will experience the new six-section Weekend Globe. A new Pursuits section combines books, travel, fashion and food content. The new Opinion section brings together the voices of thought leaders at The Globe and around the world. News will include long reads and regional pages for B.C., Toronto, Alberta and Montreal as well as long features that were previously in Focus. Report on Business and Sports continue as stand-alone sections, as does Arts, which will continue its broad coverage with Canada’s largest roster of arts critics and reviewers.
Design Changes
The new Globe and Mail has been user-tested with subscribers across the country for an optimal reading experience. The paper is a trimmer 10-inches-wide for easier reading and the “red block” Globe and Mail brand mark now appears consistently across all print and digital products. Changes to The Globe’s print processes resulted in later deadlines and gives our award-winning journalists more time to produce the insights and analyses our audience expects. The new design puts The Globe’s renowned photography and journalism front and centre with a cleaner look, more white space, and refined elements.
Digital Transformation
The Globe and Mail is the first Canadian media company to partner with the Washington Post to use their flexible Arc content management platform. Over the last year, The Globe and Mail has replatformed its desktop, mobile and tablet websites, and iOS and Android apps to Arc, which provides better performance and stability. Internal tests have shown engagement increased by over 30 per cent and website page-load speed improved by almost 50 per cent.
Design and programming changes are informed by Sophi, The Globe’s proprietary data analytics tool designed to show what an audience is reading, in real-time. An in-house user experience lab tests and monitors audience reaction and feedback to make further enhancements.
