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The front page of the @TB_Times for Sunday, April 5, 2020.
An hour or so ago I sent the final pages for tomorrow’s edition to the printing plant. And I’m feeling two kinds of ways about this one.
First, this closes out the last edition of the last week for the foreseeable future that the Times will print and deliver a daily newspaper. https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/2020/03/30/tampa-bay-times-adopts-temporary-sunday-wednesday-print-schedule-due-to-coronavirus/
After tomorrow, the Times will only print the newspaper for Wednesdays and Sundays, the two days with the biggest circulation. https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2020/a-qa-with-tampa-bay-times-chairman-and-ceo-paul-tash-about-the-times-print-reduction/
The other days of the week, readers can find all the daily content, and more, in the e-newspaper.
It’s a shocker, to be sure. There’s a sense of rightness in being a daily paper. (In my eight years as a designer at the Times, there was only one day we didn’t actually print a paper. That was during Hurricane Irma, and we made up for that with a hurricane edition the next day.)
But if not immediately sold on it, I think readers will come to appreciate the e-newspaper and all it has to offer. Yes, it’s online, but it’s still a curated (and well-designed) look at the most important and interesting things going on. Check it out at http://tampabaytimes.com .
And second, some ~*personal news*~
Exactly one month from today, I get to join the Washington Post as a designer.
(Here’s a video screenshot from the day I accepted)
Exactly one month from today, I get to join the Washington Post as a designer.
(Here’s a video screenshot from the day I accepted)
Of course, that acceptance was before remote working, face masks and daily Zoom/Teams/Slack calls to talk about how to put together the paper became routine.
So I’m still trying to figure all that out -- designing a newspaper from my kitchen table amid half-packed boxes, emails about apartment rentals and choppy, social distancing, FaceTime attempts to say goodbye to a home and friends I’ve known since I was nine.
It’s rough and not at all how I thought I’d ever leave. But I’m very excited to work with a few of my favorite people in the world. And I’m very ready to explore new places and up for some challenges.
Look for my CDC-approved Twitter thread saying a snotty, teary, but virtual, goodbye to the Times and Florida in a few weeks.
If you are a Times subscriber, let me know how you love the e-newspaper. If you're not, you should subscribe and THEN tell me! https://subscribe.tampabay.com/
Here's to future rooftop D.C. photos like this one (with people!) from December 2018.
