Wrapped in an early-morning Auckland skyline shot proclaiming a new dawn, the tabloid New Zealand Herald arrived on Monday.
Complete with the new gothic-style letter H in its top corner, New Zealand's highest-circulation newspaper has been given a clean makeover, one with similarities in layout and style to its sister publication, the Herald on Sunday.
In traditional tabloid style, the front page featured two crime stories. They focused on two high-profile New Zealanders found not guilty of murder: David Bain and Ewen Macdonald.
The newspaper's editorial says the smaller format will be better for readers.
"We believe, and reader research confirms, that the compact size on weekdays is more convenient than the broadsheet around breakfast tables, staff rooms, on worksites, work stations and public transport."
The editorial promises new targets for original and investigative journalism, with the print edition to focus on looking ahead and new angles and revelations to lead the news agenda.
The first edition included three liftouts. The stapled business and entertainment liftout will be a daily feature, while Monday's edition also includes H magazine, featuring Olympic medallists Lisa Carrington and Sarah Walker in a fashion shoot, and the foodie liftout Bite.
Among the new features are QR codes, or "crunched up barcodes" as the paper describes them, which readers can scan with mobile phones or iPads to get extra information.
Possibly more radical is the redesigned website, which is substantially cleaner than the old one.
Some readers had issues with overlapping text on the redesigned website, but others found no difficulties.
NZN
