Thanks, RedEye!

I think we all agree here that RedEye is in need of some assistance, if it's going to serve its target market -- young people -- better than the competition, or, for that matter, the core product, the Tribune. My beat here is design and graphics, so you'll hear from me about some of the things that the RedEye gets right and wrong about its design and its infographics.

For my first post here, though, I'd actually like to tackle the other part of the question. Why does the Tribune want a tabloid to target young people?

It's a well-established fact that young readers, who are every advertiser's target demographic, don't read newspapers. According to the Newspaper Association of America, only 39% of readers 18-34 read the daily newspaper. I'm suspicious of the data, in fact, that suggests that the same proportion of 18-24-year-olds read the newspaper as 25-34-year-olds. (If anything, that number should be noticeably lower, and this is current data.)

At the same time, the current trend in newspaper production is smaller print size, partly to save money -- the 50" web format simply consumes less paper -- and partly to find formats that are more conducive to reading on the train, for mass transit commuter markets. The poor soul who tries to read the Journal or Trib on the Brown Line is going to regret it when he hits and the train is jam-packed, and there's nowhere to put his elbows to hold a 30-inch sheet of paper. A smaller web size is part of the answer, but a lot of newspapers are turning to a more radical solution: a tabloid or Berliner format. They're vastly more portable than a broadsheet, even a small broadsheet. A tabloid isn't even folded in the center like a Berliner or broadsheet, which lends to an even easier read while standing and cramped for space.

What am I talking about? In sum: A U.S.-standard 54" broadsheet is 27" wide and 24" high unfolded; an open tabloid is approximately 24"x15"; and an open Berliner is 37"x25". A fully folded broadsheet is 13.5"x12" and a closed tabloid is 12"x15", not to mention the tabloid is folded on the left like a book rather than in two separate spaces. Do you see how it would be easier to carry a tabloid?

Newspapers are desperate to break into these two markets, but usually they do it separately. The Guardian switched from broadsheet to Berliner, The Independent prints a tabloid and a broadsheet edition, and many European newspapers, especially in Scandinavia and Finland, are going all the way to tabloid for their only edition. At the same time, both the Trib and the Sun-Times had the idea of breaking into a new market: young readers. They've got single-story covers, punchy headlines, short stories, and lots of flashy graphics. It's like the bastard child of the Sun-Times and Google News.

But the solutions to getting young readers don't necessarily have anything to do with tabloid format. To a certain degree, I think RedEye's confused the two issues.

There isn't necessarily anything wrong with targeting a newspaper to young people. We aren't persuaded that they're doing a good job of it, but that's partly because it's designed like a supermarket tabloid in a lot of ways, with big, bright, flashy colors and graphics and illustrated logos. As a consequence, RedEye doesn't have any visual credibility. The model to follow here is something like Svenska Dagbladet (today's front, for instance) or The Guardian (today's front), instead, I think. Young readers like sophisticated designs and good graphics, but they don't want a newspaper that tries too hard to be fun or hip. At the end of the day, we Americans are very conservative about our newspapers.

There also isn't anything wrong with formats that appeal to consumers. After all, New York has six daily tabloids: Metro, the Daily News, Newsday and its daughter publication AMny, and the Post. And the Sun-Times brand isn't as respected as the Tribune's. Why not have the best of both worlds, a tabloid edition of the Trib? They already own tabloid presses, clearly, for the RedEye. They could run it just Monday through Friday, sell it for less (just A, Metro, Business, and Sports), and make a killing.

I'm not convinced that the current marriage works, though, and that's a problem for the Tribune. After all, they couldn't sell RedEye, so they're giving it away. I assume they'd like to make a profit.

It may be time for a divorce.