Daily Heights : Print Edition

What would it look like?
How would it be distributed?
What is the best DTP for the task?
What blog or message board posts do you nominate as highlights?

Well, this thread has certainly taken off like wildfire.

Perhaps I should rephrase the question: does anybody think this is a good idea?

I think it would be a good idea to get our non-web-enabled/obsessed neighbors involved, but I think it would be easier to do it as a few-times, 1 page thing to get people interested rather than as a full paper edition. Maybe I"m just lazy...

A broadsheet's a good idea. How about going with a 6 x 9 decent paper stock and staple that baby?

No. That'll never get done. I definitely had Emily's idea in mind. Just do a 1-pager.

I have a copying machine at work that I would LOVE to use for non work related purposes.

Let me know!

oh, wow. Color??

Now you are pushing it

Ha. We have a color printer here somewhere. How many copies you thinking?

What would it look like? Well...

Depends on what you're going for: Slick urban style? Home-grown cut-n-paste?

I would imagine you'd like it to bear resemblance to the website. It might actually be kind of cool to make it look like a screenshot of the homepage.

susan wrote: It might actually be kind of cool to make it look like a screenshot of the homepage.

at the risk of sounding, well, unintentionally mean... the "homepage" looks pretty muddled and busy (especially if you havent "learned" how to navigate it to find what you want)... might not be the best idea for print.

id say something simple, b&w... crisp, clear, enticing.

in that regard, i hereby volunteer to do print/web grunt work if needed

why stop at print...?

i could see DH media extension into TV too ... this site is a sitcom (soap opera? infomercial? court TV show?) waiting to be written.

Court TV ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :P

the "homepage" looks pretty muddled and busy

Not to derail my own thread, but how can I fix this? What Movable Type-based sites look better than this one?

With regard to the print edition, I'm not as much concerned about the "look" (surprise) as I am the content. I've got a bunch of ideas for presenting the site's content in new ways. For example, the "best of" the blog comments should figure prominently into the print edition.

Well if there is anything I can do (yes I can do color copies on a color copier) feel free to Holla!!

Stacey

at the risk of sounding, well, unintentionally mean... the "homepage" looks pretty muddled and busy (especially if you havent "learned" how to navigate it to find what you want)... might not be the best idea for print.

<Professional Hat>
I was speaking purely from a "branding" perspective. The design for the broadsheet could look "like" the homepage in its core elements, but be more print-readable and contain more story items rather than links.

Ultimately, what's the goal of a print version? Is it to drive more awareness and traffic to the site? Is it to take the site to the people without computers?

From a design and usability perspective, the site could use some improvement (Sorry Andy!!!), but it is, at its heart, a home-grown community and if it were slicked up too much, might alienate some of the audience. Kind of like if you rebranded ebay to some slick Target look-and-feel - it just may not work.

Andy, how do you feel about having people submit some ideas for regrouping and/or redesign? You could even put it to a vote, if you wanted.

</Professional Hat>

You could simultaneously launch the same best-of content as a weekly email newsletter; promote sign-ups through the print newsletter plus posters and perhaps in the end be able to do strictly email.

Do you think that publicizing the site would invite further trollery, such as what we're seeing in the bikes thread? Not that that's a reason not to do it, but it would be something to keep in mind.

EmilyM wrote: Do you think that publicizing the site would invite further trollery, such as what we're seeing in the bikes thread? Not that that's a reason not to do it, but it would be something to keep in mind.

you need to save everyone the hassle of both trolls and unintentonally posting as "guest" by disabling the ability to post as guest...

that way, people have to log in to comment. this would probably discourage 99% of the trolls

the guest account is just a hassle no matter how you slice it, heh.

just my two cents

If you are serious about making a print edition, I'd be more than happy to design it, if a group of real people could get together and pitch in. I'm a designer and I work for myself, so my boss won't mind.

Thanks for the offer. This doesn't have to be rocket science - just a simple template that we can drop text and images into. E-mail me.