Do big pictures (six-columns wide) miss the big picture (readership & revenue)?
Consider USA Today and The Wall Street Journal: Combined, they have almost 10 million daily readers who seem perfectly happy without six-column photos. In contrast, consider the Hartford Courant, which has the most elegant design of all American newspapers. Hartford’s front page sported two six-column photos last week and one vertical even bigger – 15 inches deep. Hartford’s pages are consistently beautiful – perfect for momentous occasions. Its design makes for great posters, but does it engage readers and attract single-copy sales? Hartford’s front pages failed to meet the minimum requirement for single-copy presentation: placing the lead headline above the fold. For instance, the main headline for the Gerald Ford page fell beneath the fold. So did the image of James Brown. One could argue that everyone already knew that both had died. And that Hartford probably has no more 15% single-copy sales. And that single-copy sales are rarely impulse buys. But Hartford’s daily circ. is around
