The Teesdale Mercury has undergone a redesign, with a new-look masthead and branding to give it a more modern feel.

The independent weekly has dropped the crest of its home town of Barnard Castle from the masthead which had appeared for the past 30 years.

The size of the masthead has also been increased, although the traditional Old English-style typeface has been retained.

The new masthead

New headings have been introduced at the top of every page to make the paper easier to navigate, and there are three new sections, focusing on local history, puzzles and events.

Other changes include a new contents panel, with a wave design inspired by the River Tees that gives the paper its name, new typefaces for the news in brief columns and a facelift for the paper’s regular columns.

The changes were introduced after three months of planning and design by editor Adrian Braddy and deputy editor Naomi Bunting.

Adrian said: “The changes have really opened the front page up, allowing for bigger pictures and cleaner layouts.

“It was a tough decision to drop the crest, but we have received no complaints.”

The old masthead

He added: “We are very much a Teesdale paper, covering a far wider area than just Barnard Castle, and I felt that carrying the town crest sent out the wrong message to readers living outside the town.

“The new compact headings inside the paper also give us a little more space to play with, as our pagination is restricted by the size of our presses. For the same reason, we have introduced more single-deck headlines.

“Several readers have called me to say they find the paper much easier to read now, and the new features are already proving very popular.”

The Teesdale Mercury is independently owned and printed on site. The bulk of the newspaper is still printed in black and white, but colour supplements and the occasional colour page are printed off-site.

Adrian said: “The new design makes the most of the lack of colour. I am delighted with the finished product, which really stands out on the news-stands.”