Charles Apple | American Copy Editors Society

I had heard the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal was making some tweaks today.

I had no idea how huge these changes would be until I saw the page today. On the right is today’s front. On the left is a Saturday front from last Summer:

Wow. Yet another paper going with an acronym in the nameplate.

Here’s a closer look at today’s front:

The once-sacred “What’s News” feature shrinks to only one column. I was counting three big ad positions until I took a closer look at the ears and discovered they were, in fact, refers. Hmm. Don’t know about that yellow.

In fact, the yellow and the orange and the blue and the purple give a most un-Wall Street Journalish feel to the whole top of the page. Perhaps it’s just a matter of getting used to it. Just the same, though, I wonder if there have been changes to the Journal‘s standard palette.

One thing stays the same, though:

The Journal still loves the stipple.

News design consultant Roger Black does not approve, evidently. He tweeted this morning from SND/Boston:

Hung on my doorknob this morning, a newspaper called WSJ. What? Where are Mario Garcia and Joe Dizney now that they need them?!

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UPDATE:

Apparently, there is a really cool hand-drawn-looking flow chart on page D5 of today’s edition. A photo posted by Gordon Murray of the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Damn. Gonna have to go out and buy a copy of this now, just for the chart!

If anyone at the Journal is reading this today, could you please e-mail me a PDF of this page? Thanks!

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Even on weekdays, the Wall Street Journal has been getting a little looser and having some fun. I found this stunning, a few months ago.

There’s a huge “Special Project” afoot at the Journal, reports Chris Roush of Forbes. Read about that here.

Read all about the huge 2002 Wall Street Journal redesign here.

Learn more about those stipple “headcuts” here.