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New look and extra features for Surrey weekly

A weekly newspaper has undergone a relaunch with a new masthead and a range of new features.

The Newsquest-owned Surrey Comet has changed its main masthead from black to grey and added new content including a Kingston Life section to celebrate local unsung heroes, as well as new celebrity columnists.

One Show presenter Angellica Bell will feature as the newspaper’s weekly Mum’s The Word columnist, while an opinion column will feature a different person each week.

The revamped newspaper was launched on Friday with Cabinet minister Edward Davey as guest columnist.

The new look Surrey Comet

Assistant editor Julia Kennard said: “Since its birth in 1854, the Surrey Comet has strived to be a mirror image of Kingston’s social, political, industrial and cultural evolution.

“We have covered all the issues of the day, from the freezing weather that robbed farm labourers of their jobs in 1885 to the official opening of Kingston bypass in 1927, and the devastating blaze that left Madingley tower block residents homeless in 2010.

“It is this connection to our community that led us to consider taking the next step in that journey with our readers and rejuvenate the newspaper to reflect their changing views, news and aspirations.”

Added Julia: “We hope our readers enjoy the new look Surrey Comet and share our enthusiasm for all the paper has accomplished over the past 158 years and celebrate what we hope to be another 158 years – and more.”

The old Surrey Comet

5 comments

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  • April 23, 2012 at 11:03 am
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    A mess. A total mess.
    Why is the price lumped underneath the Surrey? Why is the Surrey randomly on its side when it could neatly sit over the ‘ome’ of Comet?

    Why isn’t there enough white space between the puff panels on the right hand side? It merges into one and makes the page numbers look as if they belong to the next item.

    Is What’s On really more eye-grabbing than winning £250 worth of shopping vouchers? Or some exclusive artwork?

    Then there’s the splash. Too much kerning. Loads of dead space between the headline and the story. Rather than having the photo in a box with a caption over it, it could have been cut out, making a more dynamic front.
    The subhead makes me yawn. Too long. Too dull.
    The story itself is packed in the box – more white space between the text and the box is desperately needed.

    And then there’s the typography. Looking at the old to the new, it appears the only change is switching from Helvetica to Frutiger for the sans headlines. Which is nice. If dated.

    I think it’s safe to say I don’t like it.

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  • April 23, 2012 at 11:45 am
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    Sorry FishyPhil, your contribution makes me yawn. Too long. Too dull.

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  • April 23, 2012 at 1:28 pm
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    I like it – I know this newspaper and it was in desperate need of a tidy-up. It’s basically a Kingston newspaper anyway so that probably explains the decision to drop Surrey from the top.

    Looks like an ad across the top too. What a shame.

    FishyPhil seems at odds with himself – one minute he says not enough white space and the next he thinks there’s too much dead space. The puff panel is clearly in colour boxes relating the page numbers. I do agree the comps should stand out more.

    As for having a cut-out – that seems to be any poor designer’s idea of making a more dynamic page.

    It think it’s safe to say I don’t agree FishyPhil

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  • April 24, 2012 at 12:45 pm
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    I think it’s one of the worst front pages I’ve ever seen – in fact I think it’s so bad that it would make me actively not read it.

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  • April 24, 2012 at 7:51 pm
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    @Curious
    I’m sorry that short, punchy pars aren’t good enough for your attention span.

    @larry
    I’m not at odds with myself. There is too much white space (black space in this case) on the splash, but not enough on the puff panel.

    As for cut-outs being a poor designer’s idea of making a more dynamic page … couldn’t disagree more. Carefully done, they can make a page come alive.

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