A regional daily has increased its number of news pages in its first full redesign in more than 10 years.

The North West Evening Mail launched its new look on Monday with a major publicity drive which will see billboards, bus stops and buses promote the transformation, along with a series of adverts on local radio stations.

The move has seen the number of news pages increased through a reorganisation of content and a number of new features have been introduced, many on the back of focus groups held as part of the redesign process.

As part of the revamp, daily feature driven supplements have been scrapped in favour of running the content in the main body of the paper, while a weekly two-page pets special has been introduced and the number of sports pages increased by more than 20pc.

The redesign has also seen picture bylines with Twitter addresses for all journalists, so that reporters are more accessible to readers.

Deputy editor James Higgins, who led the project, said: “The Evening Mail is a much-loved newspaper in the community, so the redesign project was all about achieving the right balance between affecting change and modernising, while not alienating our loyal readers.

“It was important to me that we engaged with them on a one to one level and the focus groups enabled us to do that.

“The whole process has been a team effort and we are pleased with the finished product. It looks cleaner and more modern in design terms, and the content has changed to more closely reflect what our readers tell us they want.”

The paper was relaunched with a £1,000 reader cash competition and a £24,000 charity giveaway featured on the front page, along with an article about secrets surrounding a behind-the-scenes deal struck with the controversial former chief executive of the local health trust.

Reporters have also been given more time to spend in their communities to ensure they meet people face-to-face more often so they can dig out exclusive stories.

The paper's old look before the revamp