It has been a frantic week after months of build up, but I can finally breath easy now that NZME’s five largest revamped regional papers have successfully hit the streets.

The Northern Advocate, Rotorua Daily Post, Bay of Plenty Times, Hawkes Bay Today and Wanganui Chronicle have all had a complete redesign led by myself.

The brief was to bring styles and grids into line with NZME’s flagship paper, The New Zealand Herald, while maintaining their own uniqueness and identity.

Early feedback has been positive, suggesting the brief has been successfully met. The pages look sharper, cleaner and more modern than they ever have. However, these projects are never simply finished the day of the relaunch. It will take time to bed everything in and longer still for all the mastheads to find ways to organically grow into and take ownership of their new looks.