Malayala Manorama gets new look

After a gap of seven years, Malayala Manorama has been redesigned again. The redesigning has been done by Mario Garcia of Garcia Media, who has designed more than 450 newspapers in 48 countries across the world. Jan Kny assisting Garcia.

The redesigning formulates a new hierarchy to the stories and the newspaper also wears a new look with a prudent deployment of white space giving more breathing space among the articles. The soft story on page one has also been allotted a permanent anchor slot.

The new navigator and the new colour palette has given the daily a more contemporary look, distinguishing itself from the riot of colours that has come to characterise the print media these days. The newspaper has also started having subheads below the headlines in every story hoping to invite more readers to the story. Likewise, the page heads have also been made lively and young.

While the section called Infobox has come as a value-addition to stories and adds colour to the pages, the sports page in particular has been made more youth-oriented and vibrant.

The Sunday magazine also has been redesigned to be in tune with the new palette and the effective management of white space.

The most significant of all the changes perhaps is the thorough cleaning up of the logo and the ornamental letters. The curves of letters have been straightened and the frills rationalised for a contemporary look. The new masthead suggests change and a break with the past while retaining the broad contours to suggest continuity and loyalty to a deep rooted tradition.

Garcia says that he found Kerala to be similar to his own Florida countryside and was enamoured of the rich colours of Keralas everyday life - the fruits, vegetation and even the birds. He says, "In redesigning Malayala Manorama which has its roots deep in the many splendoured rhythm of Kerala, I decided to bank on the basic colours of the life there. In fact, the new palette for Manorama was inspired by this very life."

The redesigned Malayala Manorama was launched on November 1. The publication has also announced a new supplement on entertainment and health, every Friday.