AAN Association of Alternative Newsmedia

JH Weekly Unveils 'Cool and Provocative' Cover Redesign

june 1, 2011 02:45 pm

JH Weekly has revamped its cover design, putting out a product that it says will communicate four main ideas — Cool, Valid, Essential and Provocative — to its audience in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

“Unlike large metro areas, JH Weekly can't appeal to just a small hip, liberal segment of the population and make the bottom line work,” said publisher Mary Grossman. “We're a small town, with a small local population, but also host to two million visitors to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. So we have to continue to broaden our reach into both hip, young readers, as well as one-time readers.”

The redesign effort was led by Kat Topaz of Topaz Design, who has previously overseen the redesign of several other alt-weeklies.

Topaz worked with the entire staff of JH Weekly over the course of two months in weekly sessions that some at the paper likened to “newspaper group therapy.”

Grossman said of the process, “It was very illuminating for each of us to share our personal hopes and disappointments with the paper,” and added that the final result is a cover that will help reach new readers and stand out against competitors.