This is the frontpage of the Illawarra Mercury after Kevin Rudd was removed as Labor leader and Prime Minister last Thursday.
It’s a striking image. The cover makes use of red, the new PM Julia Gillard’s hair colour. The designer seems to have an eye for strong graphics more commonly associated with magazines like The Economist, Time magazine and Newsweek.
For the World Cup, it featured people from different countries who live in Wollongong, though it appears it was hard to find a North Korean.
In the UK, it’s The Independent that’s known for its full-page-image, occasionally campaigning, frontpages.
Below is a great example of what I think is a brilliant and eye-catching one:
As is this information-packed one:
But do these designs sell more papers? Australian newspaper sales have been steadily falling, though they haven’t experienced the drastic declines of their UK and US peers.
For its part, The Independent has also seen a decline in circulation, though it experienced the highest numbers so far this year in May under new editor Simon Kelner.
So as a consumer, do such strong newspaper frontpages make you more or less likely to buy a paper? Or does it make no difference to you at all?
