Secrets of the City

That d00d can write one hell of a haiku.

Merger is official.

In a memo, former Voice CEO David Schneiderman announces that he’ll be taking over internet operations:

“As for me, I am excited about the prospect of leading the effort to build a robust and successful web platform for the new company. The Internet will be a critical part of our future and it is essential that we use the talent and resources of the combined company to become important players in that world. My immediate goal is to grow our online audience by utilizing our existing resources, and to break new ground in delivering fresh and compelling content to an ever-expanding audience in any way they wish to receive it.”

Presumably, this will include implementing Backpage.com, a New Times competitor with Craigslist. (It will be interesting to see what this does to the recently-launched CPlist.)

Although effectively a buy-out by New Times, the company will keep the name Village Voice Media.

Also, Dan Savage (or the VVM-competitor, The Stranger) weighs in.

I tend to agree with Savage — well, except for all that propoganda and reverse-propoganda about Seattle’s situation — that is to say, I agree that with Savage that I don’t expect major changes at the weeklies, especially those that are considered good performers, which means especially City Pages.

(Am I the only person who cares about this? Somebody else better say something or I’m gonna start talking about the Strib redesign some more!)

I care! I care! As a former CP advertising guy, I know little about how the change will effect the journalists’ pockets, but I think meddling too much with the content would be like shooting themselves in the alternative foot. That credibility and relationship with the reader is very important for circulation numbers and thus advertising revenue.

What does worry me a bit is what the merger will mean for the layout and design of the paper. City Pages is with undoubtedly the best looking alternative weekly in the country. I hope they don’t micro-manage ad sizing or the creative talent behind overall look of the paper.

>City Pages is with undoubtedly the best looking alternative weekly in the country.

That one’s tough to swallow. I like the cover and some of the internal art. And, in general, I like the organization. But some things look extremely ragged — such as the ad hoc Culture To Go section (I love the idea, but it looks like an appendage in the print version).

But some things look extremely ragged — such as the ad hoc Culture To Go section (I love the idea, but it looks like an appendage in the print version).

Good point on “Culture to Go”. Maybe I’m just used to looking at CP, but I find that the organization (especially the ad content) and the sizing/layout of the ads is more eye-pleasing than other papers. The constant refrain of perspective advertisers was “there are so many ads”, and while that’s true of any alt weekly, having a good layout is helpful in addressing that concern. Ex. smaller ads are vertically oriented as opposed to being simply square, making the page “flow” better. Man, am I trying to sell an ad or something?!

Dude, you like CP’s cover art? Ew. I think their cover art is always hideous – with all the unique designers & artists in this city, you’d think they’d take it up a notch. I think it would be cool to utilize a different designer each week (maybe they already do?) – Aesthetic Apparatus one week, Scott Seekins the following week, and so on.

What they display now is like high school art class projects. FUGLY.