As part of its 30th anniversary celebration, Crain's Detroit Business has redesigned its website and weekly newspaper to better meet the needs of the business community.
Businesspeople have a need to stay informed on important issues, but also need to be able to maximize their time.
In print, this translated to better cues from Pages 1 and 3 to help readers navigate the newspaper more efficiently. The new design also features more explanatory boxes, improved typography and presentation and increased use of informational graphics.
Crain's also has redesigned its website, crainsdetroit.com, to better respond to any device where it is viewed, with a special emphasis on mobile devices, which are quickly becoming the preferred format. The redesign saves time by easing access with features like top stories and sorting by topic, author, or type of content. Touch-screen convenience for mobile includes features like one-click article-sharing via email or social, direct links to reporter's social sites, click-to-call phone numbers and swipe navigation. The website also loads faster.
The website and newspapers are the linchpins of Crain's strategy to serve its audience through both immediacy and depth. The website, which has one million page views monthly, features dozens of new stories each week. Twice-daily e-newsletters are available by subscription as are a number of specialty e-newsletters.
The newspaper takes advantage of its weekly frequency to go deeper into topics of interest to the business community, focusing on the why and how of the news as well as helpfully organized information about the people, contracts and events that are the backbone of local commerce.
The print redesign was led by Pierrette Dagg, Crain's creative services director and Bob Allen, senior editor/design. They were supported by consultant Ron Reason.
Dagg stated, "We want to make sure whatever time you spend with our weekly print issue – 30 seconds or 30 minutes – you'll come away feeling more informed."
The online and e-newsletter redesigns were led by Nancy Hanus, director of digital strategy, and Norman Witte III, Web producer.
