Cotidianul
Redesign

The re-branding of Cotidianul raised the standard

on the Romanian newspaper market

Re:ply has been carrying out a lot of publishing projects for Realitatea-Catavencu Group, but the redesigning of the Cotidianul newspaper was a first for us: it was our first really important newspaper to rebrand. Prior to this project, Cotidianul was considered by readers to be a newspaper with a lack of personality and without a clear message. Re:ply accepted the challenge to totally revamp the paper so that it could meet both readers’ expectations and the current international standards.

Re:ply came up with a new concept for this newspaper based on what we had learned from the focus groups and the market research carried out by the Cotidianul team. There was a need to provide the readers with clear, simple news information, as well as commentary and research to explain the consequences of the presented news events. Re:ply thoroughly analyzed all the newspapers on the Romanian market and looked at current international newspaper trends. We then compiled a detailed profile of the Romanian reader: their reading habits, how they processed such information, the actual amount of time spent reading a newspaper.

One of the difficulties we faced with this project was the changeover from broadsheet to a compact format. The latter allows reader to easily find and enjoy the information they are searching for, and also facilitates reading in public spaces (subways, waiting rooms). A really important aspect in refreshing the publication was establishing the key elements of its visual identity - the central one being the flag, the area that displays the title of the newspaper. Re:ply created a new logo and flag that conveyed the publication in an expressive and creative way: the title of the newspaper was followed by a dot: Cotidianul. Such a formula draws the readers’ attentions, shows the care taken in editing, and its belief in the importance of the correctness of the content. Re:ply made the complete graphical platform of the newspaper – from the chromatic scheme to the guidance plan designed  to facilitate efficient navigation within the pages of the entire publication.

The new graphic concept of the newspaper was created by Re:ply in a record time, only 6 weeks, and was launched in its new guise on November the 15th, 2004. Subsequently, Iulian Puiu, Re:ply’s Art Director and Creative Director, spent several months at Cotidianul’s graphic department directly involved in all implementation stages of the project. He explained the concept to the team, oversaw the printing and trained several designers to successfully apply the new graphic schemes.