Weekend Wall Street Journal

If you want to see the front page of the new Wall Street Journal Weekend edition, you can click here to see a pdf file. It’s quite stunning as far as the layout.

If you’re used to the WSJ from the week, there are some features here that you’ll be accustomed to seeing. In the left two columns of the front page, there’s the typical synopsis of business and world news that the newspaper’s readers are used to see on the front page during the week. And the front page also has articles on Wal-Mart and FAO Schwarz. The most startling thing to see on the front page is the huge photo that is the most eye-catching item, and it goes with a story that has only a tangential business angle. But it’s the type of story that Journal readers are used to seeing from the paper.

I also like the Week Ahead feature on A2 that lets the readers know what’s coming up in the next week.

I haven’t finished looking at the entire paper, but I’m struck by the design on the front page, which I like I a lot. There’s also a box on the front page that explains more about the paper.

The front page of the Pursuits section looks nothing like what you’d expect from the Journal and more like the front page of a features section for a daily newspaper. I find it strangely appealing and think the chef’s story is nicely written. Take a look here.

Now for what I don’t like: There’s a huge ad for Barclays Capital on the front page of the Money & Investing section, which makes me want to gag. Take a look at that here.

Did the money that Barclays pay outweigh the design aspects of the page and the placing of another story on the page that would attract the reader’s interest?