The Guardian newspaper’s planned conversion to a smaller format has been brought forward to this autumn from a previously planned date of April 2006. Its sister sunday paper, The Observer, will make the switch early next year. The announcement was made public on Wednesday 15 June.
Back in February 2004 the The Guardian decided to go ahead with a reduction in page size, a few months after both The Independent (on 30 September 2003) and then The Times (on 26 November 2003) started publishing ‘compact’ (tabloid) sized versions - initially as an alternative or London only edition. However, unlike both those titles, The Guardian has decided to convert to so-called ‘Berliner’ format - a slightly larger page size than the standard UK tabloid. Berliner format is popular in continental Europe, for example France’s Le Monde, Germany’s Die Tageszeitung, Spain’s La Vanguardia, and Italy’s La Repubblica.
Both The Independent and The Times recently completed a phased-in conversion from broadsheet to tabloid format (or ‘compact’ as they preferred to call it) after an experimental period of producing both versions. The Guardian, however, will undergo a major one-off full redesign of whilst both The Times and The Independent simply transferred the same page layout to a smaller size. It has to be remembered that, for The Independent (as it was the first) and The Times (with its long tradional heritage), a size change was a bold move into uncharted territory back in the autumn of 2003 when they emabarked on the venture. For a quality newspaper an all-out compact launch was risky: in the UK, compact (or tabloid) size has traditionally been associated with more downmarket celebrity-based newspapers.
The Independent first published a compact version in London only on 30 September 2003 with a stated aim to go fully compact over a period of time. The Times followed two months later with a compact version on 26 November 2003 but continued with the broadsheet veriosn as well - both being on sale side by side in many areas. The first national compact only issue of The Independent was published on 17 May 2004 when it was finally redesigned to more suit the smaller page format. The Times finally dispensed with its broadsheet version almost six months later on 1 November 2004. At least The Independent underwent a redesign - The Times, seemingly a broadsheet cut up to fit a tabloid page size, looks just awful. The Independent underwent a more recent redesign on 12 April 2005 based, apparently, on Italian newspapers - not much differnt from the previous look, apart from a new style masthead, in my opinion - and dispensing with extra sections making one rather thick and unwieldy tabloid.
The Guardian is very enthusiastic about its Berliner size, believing it to be less constricting than the pure tabloid “where there is always the temptation to go for a single picture and dominant story on each page”. The Guardian’s designers believe the Berliner format will give them a distinctive product, with cooler typography than a tabloid and a serious feel. It will also get round the dominance of the conventional advertisement sizes in the tabloid format.
Changing from broadsheet to tabloid is a fairly easy conversion: the tabloid page size being exactly half of a broadsheet. But the unusual (for the UK) dimensions of Berliner size means The Guardian has had to purchase new printing presses, at a cost of £50m, now being installed by Germany’s MAN Roland, to print the 470 x 315 millimetres (~ 18.5″ x 12.5″) page size. The picture below shows the relative sizes of broadsheet, Berliner, and tabloid with images of today’s actual front pages (whenever you might be reading this - except on Sundays!) thanks to Newseum which displays over 400 newspaper front pages from around the world every day.
The Berliner has around 65% (approx two-thirds) area of a broadsheet page, a tabloid has 77% (around three-quarters) area of a Berliner page.
Carolyn McCall, chief executive of Guardian Newspapers Ltd (GNL), said the early move was testament to the remarkable progress the newspaper group and its press and printing partners had made:
“Just over a year ago we made one of the most important decisions in the 184-year history of The Guardian, and the 213-year history of The Observer. To design both papers again completely from scratch. To launch them in a new format never before seen in the UK. To build our own print centre and install the most modern presses in the newspaper industry. To position our papers as the first of a new generation of full-colour national newspapers. The remarkable progress we have made is testament to the professionalism and commitment of our staff, our press partner, MAN Roland, and our print partners, Trafford Park and Newsfax International.”
An important factor in The Guardian’s decision to change size has been its continued loss in sales compared to The Independent and The Times which seem to have picked up market share since going compact. The sales figures for December 2002-May 2003 (pre any changes) compared with the latest December 2004-May 2005 figures (after The Independent and Times went fully compact) show both The Independent and Times gaining between 8 and 9% extra share of daily newspaper sales, whilst The Guardian lost around 7% share. Note that because the market as a whole is declining, this means that actual sales figures remained roughly the same for The Independent and The Times. The Daily Telegraph, the only general broadsheet not to have made any commitment to resizing, maintained its share and may decide to remain as a broadsheet for now. The latest 6-monthly sales figures are Daily Telegraph 862,000 (7.5% share of general daily sales), The Times 636,000 (5.5%), The Guardian 342,000 (3.0%), and The Independent 224,000 (1.9%). The Guardian does a good analysis of newspaper circulation trends on its excellent website (free registration required).
Newspaper size change is happening everywhere: more than 50 newspapers worldwide have made the shift to a smaller format, according to the World Association of Newspapers.