FROM THE ARTISTS’ POINT OF VIEW
The layout is more complex because there have been a lot of changes compared to the old layout KARLA DEGRANO SunStar Davao graphics supervisor
When something stays the same for too long, it may block chances of progress and development.
SunStar Davao believes that in order to cope with the speed of today’s ever changing digital world, it needs change. Nothing starts easy, so when it finally changed its layout, that was used for decades, in August 8, 2018, everyone went through a lot of adjustments especially the graphic artists.
“The layout is more complex because there have been a lot of changes compared to the old layout,” SunStar Davao graphics supervisor Karla Degrano said in the vernacular.
However, Degrano said that the change of the layout design is part of the significant shift to digitization even if some readers may comment negatively about it just because they are used to what it was like before.
“Maanad ra sila kadugayan (They will soon get used to it),” she added.
The print industry needs to strive to survive or evolve or it will be left behind.
Maria Victoneta Quintos, graphic artist, said that the new layout is the new trend, which Niel Ian Kenneth Paradero, also a graphic artist, agreed. He said that millenials would surely prefer the new layout with shorter stories, bigger photos and more infographics since they are very visual today.
A report from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) in 2017 found that the share of 18- to 24-year-olds who read literature rose sharply starting in 2002—in other words, when this age group began to be dominated by Millennials. Accordingly, millennials read more than older generations do and more than the last generation did at the same age.
Paradero added that chang- ing the layout makes it more appealing to readers including millenials.
The new SunStar design now includes elements or quotable quotes of sources in the news story and smaller paper for publication for easy reading. The goal has always been to deliver newsworthy stories in an era where people are always in a hurry, always chasing time. Embracing change reflected in the new layout design is an indication of development.