Business Journal Redesign Caters to Busy Readers (Opinion)

With this issue we are proud to present you with a redesigned, reconfigured Business Journal.

It’s been 10 and-a-half years since the first Northwest Arkansas Business Journal was published. With the exception of the first year or so, the paper has basically looked and felt the same over those years. But as one entrepreneur told me recently, “If you’re not growin’, you’re goin’,” and it was time for some changes.

The paper you hold in your hands is the culmination of countless hours of scrutiny – both deconstructing and reconstructing – by the editors, designers, sales staff, circulation department and publishers. Each person who worked on this project has asked themselves and their co-workers: “What can we do better?”

The response I heard most frequently wasn’t really a response but rather a challenge: “What will ensure our readers and advertisers best in class?”

After months of planning and theorizing, and several weeks of rolled up sleeves, I believe this staff has struck an accord with content, form and function in this new version. I hope you do as well.

In preparation for this relaunch, Publisher Jeffrey Wood sent out a reader survey about this time last year. The responses by and large told us we were doing a good job. For that, thank you.

But when we dug down into the grit, there was definite room for improvement.

We were reminded that you are busy people and your time is precious. Many of you said you wanted much the same content, just in easier to digest bites.

As a result, our driving philosophy with this relaunch has been to print more informative graphics, make them easier to read, shorten the length of articles or otherwise divide content into smaller pieces. We hope to use more photographs and illustrate stories in a way that helps readers better relate to the issues confronting their peers and competitors, their vendors and customers.

As for finding the information you’ve come to rely on, the guts of the Business Journal have been reconfigured somewhat. The cover page has merely received a facelift. The Opinion page and news briefs are closer to the front cover. Whispers, our most frequently talked about column, starts on Page 3 and will jump throughout the book to somewhere in the middle and somewhere toward the end.

A new page dedicated to the stories of entrepreneurs and top shelf executives called First Person will follow the briefs section. This page will be written as told by the individuals themselves, a device we believe will help readers connect to those sources from a more visceral level.

A smarter, easier-to-read inside cover page will kick off the focus section, much like it has in the past. Lists and news-related cover stories will jump past the focus section and be followed by Connections, a hybrid of our previous networking and business calendar, and newsmakers. Due to high demand, we’ve reintroduced the Business Lunch Review and it will be located here as well. As always, the Public Company Report will present the latest earnings  and news about Northwest Arkansas’ largest companies.

Behind that section, there are now four columns: Real Deals, Bottom Line, Touch Points and Human Factor.

Real Deals, written by Katie Stockstill, remains largely untouched, per requests by many of our readers. We’re introducing Bottom Line, by Robert Bell, which is a look at important issues to small business owners and managers. Touch Points is a retail supplier and consumer goods column written by Andrew Jensen.

Human Factor, written by a stable of guests, will replace media Outtakes on the last page. Human Factor will focus on leadership, management and human resource issues. Media news will be covered in the briefs section mentioned earlier.

On a personal note, I would like to publicly thank every individual listed in the masthead at right for their input, direction and support on this redesign project. This was truly a group effort by individuals who sincerely want to be the best. 

In the coming months, as this “new” Business Journal comes into its own, you should see more color, more graphics and an even more refined focus on business-to-business coverage.

Anyone familiar with the business of print media knows it is imperative to entice new readers, keep loyal readers and compete (sometimes with yourself) with the infinite legitimate and non-legitimate pages available on the Internet. 

In the ever-shrinking global marketplace, we’ve got to deliver what our readers want. If we’re not doing that, let us know.