New Journal

The Wall Street Journal rolled out its much anticipated redesign today.

First impressions:

• As always, resized items feel weird. The Journal looks a bit like it's been caught in a Shrinky Dink Oven. But that's to be expected and will certainly feel more normal over time.
• The changes feel aggressive. This was no case of tinkering. The Journal has undergone plenty of significant changes: size, font, color, content ratio (news to analysis), graphics.
• USA Today meets The Economist. It's been impossible for a newspaper or newsmagazine to ignore the changes in reader preferences over the past decade (although The Economist seems to be steadfastly trying to do so.) While the Journal hasn't yet turned itself into a financial USA Today, it's gone further in that direction than I'd ever expected to see it go.
• All day long. Do you read every page of the Journal every day? Do you read half the pages in the Journal every day? Neither do I. Although there have been significant changes in the past few years, it's hard to quickly tell what to sort out and what to keep when making a pass through the paper. The current changes promise to make that process simpler and to offer more breaking news on WSJ.com. We'll see.
• Principle-driven design. Students of design will be  interested to see the key elements that comprised designer Mario Garcia's "brief." They were:
1. Make it easier for readers to navigate the Journal
2. Create a hierarchy of stories, so readers know the relative importance of news.
3. Maintain the best visual traditions of the Journal.
4. Remember that Journal readers come to read, not to look.
5. Innovate graphically where improvements can be made.
6. Don't skimp on good journalism.
7. Balance long-form stories with secondary readings and quick story summaries.
8. Guide reader sot the Online Journal—but don't overdo it.

My sense is that Journal readers are a hard-boiled bunch and  may grouse more than the paper's editors believed. Personally, I think it's a healthy sign but still leaves me with loads of questions about where the next generation of readers will come from.