Leicester Mercury reporter Katie Osborne continues her series on the paper’s new look, to be unveiled on March 1.

The main feature of the new, redesigned Leicester Mercury is the way it has been organised into seven clear sections.

With an index on page two, readers can find their way through the paper more easily and turn directly to their favourite sections.

They may want to read the letters pages first, community news or the new TV and leisure section.

Whatever it is, the new Mercury will enable them to do that.

One of the most important sections is, of course, the news itself.

A new section called Breaking News, spanning nine pages, has been introduced at the start of the paper. It is the section where we will be bringing readers the most important news or updates on news from around the city and county.

It will also include the national and international news which will move to page nine.

And we will be bringing a new feature to the Breaking News section, a news round-up from the East Midlands, giving readers a taste of events happening from around the region.

Less urgent, less high profile, but equally important news from the large number of communities we serve will feature in a self-contained general news section.

This section will also include the Community Action page on a Thursday and the daily business pages.

Between the breaking news and the general news sections will be a redesigned features section which will give readers the opportunity to sit down and have a really good read. This part will include a news feature spread, Mr Leicester, and two pages of readers’ letters. We will tell you more about these pages tomorrow.

Market research from an early version of the paper showed that this new section was a winner with our loyal readers and with new and infrequent readers. We are confident you will be pleased with it, too. For a taste of what they will look like, here are a few example test pages from Breaking News.

Readers like it unfussy

When we asked both new and regular readers what they thought of the Breaking News section of the new-look Mercury, they gave it overwhelming approval.

Eighty-five per cent of the groups thought the new design was either good, very good or excellent.

More than 80 per cent of loyal readers thought the new section was either very or fairly interesting. Out of the new readers surveyed, 75 per cent were either very or fairly interested in the new section, 23 per cent expressing no opinion.

People said it was well laid out, stories were presented more clearly, the headlines stood out well, it was easy to find what they wanted and it was not fussy or messy.

When asked to compare the new layout of the Breaking News section to the current Mercury, the vast majority of readers said they preferred the new version.

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