Silicon Valley Biz Journal redesign a template for ACBJ papers

Jessica Hanks of The Huffington Post writes about the redesign of the Silicon Valley Business Journal with editor Greg Baumann and redesigner Mario Garcia.

The redesign is planned to be a template for other American City Business Journals papers.

Hanks writes, “Effective with the first edition in 2013, the Silicon Valley Business Journal has revitalized nearly every aspect of the paper, from expanding newsroom staff to advancing digital and social capabilities, to buttressing the print layout.

“‘[I wanted to] bring a sense of the digital mentality to print,’ Garcia told HuffPost. ‘Our readers use other platforms and unconsciously bring the way they navigate and scan digitally, to print.’

“Readers’ digital habits are also being used to tailor editorial content, which Baumann thinks is key. ‘We watch the data. When a Web story pops, or when a social media conversation about one of our Web stories takes off, that’s a clanging bell telling us to weigh in more heavily in print. You just have to listen to the audience,’ he told HuffPost.

“The publication is certainly bucking the trend, as many other major newspapers are scaling back on distribution. But SBVJ may have the recipe for success:  a new, state-of-the-art look for the paper product they’ve published 30 years, reader-driven content and a good pulse on the digital landscape.”

Read more here.