New format for Herald, colour on every page

The Calgary Herald is in transition, and we want to let our readers know what to expect this Monday when we unveil our sleek, new format and a more colourful print edition.

All copies of the newspaper will be printed at a press facility operated by TC Transcontinental Printing, beginning with the Monday, Nov. 18, edition.

The new presses will allow us to offer a more compact and easier-to-handle size, as well as colour on every page, something that was not possible on our old presses, which were manufactured in the early 1980s.

The new format is slightly slimmer and shorter than the version we have been printing for the past several years. The new paper size follows a global industry trend to reduce newsprint consumption — aiding the environment and also helping offset high newsprint costs.

While the page is smaller, the type is not. We have retained the same typeface and type size for articles in the new-format Herald.

We have also made a few adjustments to correspond to the new format. Some of those highlights are as follows:

Local news will have priority and we will continue to use the format we adopted during coverage of the floods in southern Alberta, emphasizing local news, information and opinion in the first section of the paper;

The importance of business, energy and investment content will be solidified in our print edition, ensuring the Herald’s Business section remains one of the largest of any metro paper in the country;

Sports will be a major thrust of our Monday edition as we capture weekend events and offer different views on the world of sports;

Our Entertainment and Real Life sections will be presented in one exciting blend called Arts & Life. Watch as we showcase many of your favourite writers daily;

On Wednesdays in Arts & Life, we’ll deliver enhanced Food coverage, including the exciting launch of Gastropost in Calgary;

The TV Grid and Weather map will be reformatted to work together on one concise, easy to view page;

You won’t have to wait until the weekend to view your comics in colour. We’re introducing colour for our daily Monday-Friday comics page, in addition to the two colour pages that already appear in our Saturday edition. The more compact size of our pages does mean that we’re saying goodbye to the Speed Bump and Foxtrot comic strips on the weekend pages. On the daily page, F Minus is leaving us. However, you can still find F Minus online at calgaryherald.com — just go to the Comics & Diversions section under the Life tab;

Movie listings will appear on the days most people go to movies: Fridays and Saturdays in Arts & Life.

Obituaries will move to the back of the daily print edition, allowing the death notices to return to a more traditional left to right laydown in alphabetical order.

The second section of the paper will feature the best work of Postmedia News from across the country, from our bureau in Ottawa and specialist writers across Canada, and from reporters working at the country’s largest chain of newspapers based in Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal, Saskatoon and Regina, Windsor and Ottawa.

Friday’s paper continues to be packed with news, analysis, business and features, and will carry more emphasis on getting out in our city for the arts, culture, movies, sports, and hitting the road with the new Driving section, which launched last month. All of this, alongside the award-winning Swerve magazine.

On Saturdays, it’s time to kick back with the Weekend Edition — the largest paper of the week. In addition to the regular news, readers can find the pre-eminent Homes, Condos and Rec Properties sections for Calgarians looking to purchase, rent or get ideas for a home reno. Weekend Life with restaurant, drinks, books and lifestyle news. And, of course, the largest Travel section in Western Canada.

Thank you for your patience as we shift our press work. The end of in-house printing at the Herald is the end of an era — and we are grateful for the hard work, care and diligence of our production crews.

The Herald’s newspaper operations, including the newsroom, advertising and marketing departments, remain at 215 16th Street S.E., while the building is put up for sale.

If you have any comments on the new format, please send them to newformat@calgaryherald.com.