It has been a week since the Northern Star unveiled its new look and layout.

The staff editorial Tuesday explained the basis for needing a change, but it was intentionally brief as to why specific alterations were made. We felt it best to wait and see which items garnered the most compliments and, more importantly, the most criticism or questions. We’ve tracked readers’ concerns through the voice mails and letters that flooded our mailboxes, as well as four different message board threads. Any change this drastic rarely occurs all at once. Many improvements are still in the works, as the initial premiere was just a step. After seeing a few reoccurring critiques, we feel it is time to explain why certain decisions were made and clear up any further questions regarding this product.

What’s new?

One large concern for the new paper is that things are difficult to find or decipher. This is our fault, having not run a table of contents or a list of terms the first day. Here are some basics:

“Flavor” – Entertainment page

“Voices” (formerly the “Perspectives” page) – A page that features our columnists’ opinions, as well as our staff editorial, an opinion piece written by the five-member Northern Star Editorial Board

“News” – A combination of the former “Campus” and “Metro” pages into one larger, three-page DeKalb-encompassing layout

“Around 60115” (formerly the “FYI” calendar) – a place to find out what is happening around NIU and DeKalb

“On the map” – U.S. and Illinois news

“On the globe” – World news

“Starstruck” – Celebrity news

“In the game” – Athletics beyond NIU

Page order

The paper has two specific ways to read it. The first half will provide people with headlines, followed by news, then editorials commenting on news, before reaching the middle, transitional pages. Entering the Northern Star through the back, readers will get celebrity news, entertainment and sports before backing into the middle portion. This provides readers with a clear cut way to get the “need to know” through the front, and the “want to know” through the back.

Advertising

One common observation is that there are more ads. This is not true. There is 40 percent of the paper allotted to ad space, which is the same amount as before. However, many days throughout the year we don’t use all 40 percent because of market conditions. We fill the remaining space with excess stories. The first week of classes finds many clients (i.e., book stores) buying full page slots and vying more heavily for your business. Thus, it appears we have more ads because all available space is taken. Yet the criticism that there is less room for content factually is incorrect, and we assure you the ratio of news to ads is the same.

Sports

Another predominant topic of conversation regarding the new design is the removal of the Sports section from the back page. In an extensive survey compiled by NIU’s Department of Marketing last June, it was reported only 14 percent of student’s primary reason for reading the Star are the Sports pages. Additionally, the students, faculty and staff surveyed were asked to rank the importance of each section from 1 (not at all important) to 4 (very important). NIU sports received an average vote of 2.58, which placed it 13 out of 19 categories. These statistics, when put up against the feedback for moving the section to the inside, led us to one conclusion: Those who read Sports do so more loyally than any other section in the paper. However, those who avoid it do so more regularly than any other section as well. There is a limited crossover audience. Therefore, we felt this section could be placed anywhere in the paper and maintain its readership. Also, we made the section larger and upped the minimum number of guaranteed daily pages from one to two. This new location allows for full two-page spreads and greater layout packages.

Web site

We understand we have maintained an award-winning Web site for several years. However, we were unable to launch both a new paper and a new site at the same time. Keeping the former site, complete with outdated staff listings, section names, logos and information would have been amateurish. We have full intentions of rebuilding our site back to the quantity of information visitors are accustomed to. This process, as it was before, will be gradual and should be completed in its entirety by the end of the semester. Hang in there, we assure you it is far from complete.

Voices

This section was, and still is, one of the most affected areas of the paper. In fact, the staff and layout is not yet complete. The editorial pages have been dropped from three to two. This does not mean we are limiting the number of perspectives allowed in our paper. We have plans to increase the number of columnists both in the print as well as online versions of the Star. Also, as some have speculated, we have not eliminated the Letters to the Editor section. Your comments will begin to run this week, and will continue to be a staple of the paper as long as you send your feedback.

Weekender

The weekly entertainment insert is no more. We found a number of students only read the paper on Thursdays because of Weekender. Instead of offering this audience only one day worth of interesting material, we decided to provide the same content, just each day of the week instead of one lone insert. The Flavor page will still feature local band interviews, album and movie reviews, art coverage and entertainment. It also will be more interactive and entertaining.

Shorter stories

As is the case with questions regarding advertising, those concerned with story brevity are a bit misinformed. Yes, the text of our stories are shorter. However, the information removed from the body of each piece has not been eliminated. It has been moved from paragraphs and inserted in boxes and charts. When skimming a page, as statistical evidence shows most readers do, these boxes are read more often than lengthy paragraphs. Breaking information down into graphics provides the same amount of data in a quicker-to-process manor. No information is being withheld. No information is being “dumbed down,” as many like to say. It is the same material, different mediums. Additionally, we have included an “In Brief” portion for most articles to sum up the entire piece in a sentence or two.

Front page

This has been the biggest change. First, you will notice we now feature full-color front pages daily. In the past we used color only once or twice a week. This acquisition was the No. 1 priority in our re-design. Since we are entirely self-funded and receive no student fees, some concessions were made to offset this cost (i.e., allowing ads on the back page).

Secondly, we no longer run full stories on our cover. Instead, we have several headlines, summaries and art items. Though we understand the concept of “front page news,” we also feel it is our responsibility to get the greatest amount of information to readers as quickly as possible. This layout gives us a chance to utilize as many reference items as possible, and does not restrict us to the limitations of conventional design. Before this new layout, glancing at the front page only told you what was on the front page. Now readers get an increased overview of our complete content.

Lastly, a large concern has been story placement. Many people questioned whether stories such as those regarding WiFi locations and video game technology merit a place on the front. In actuality, those stories ran on page five – the final page of the news section – following more traditional, hard-hitting news items. Just because a story is referenced on the cover along side serious news topics does not mean its placement within the paper will be on the same level. We feel we should not be in the practice of telling readers what to think is the most important news item of the day. That should be up to readers’ individual tastes; after all, news varies per person and should reflect every reader. Our job is to provide as much news as possible and allow individuals the right to choose what is read first.