Dagens Industri Redesign

Redesigned analysis section of Dagens industri

How do you take an already top-notch newspaper and make it better? For Swedish business daily Dagens industri, it means going back to the readers to find out what they want, among other things. The result is a redesign of the paper, with a new graphic look and structure for the paper.

The work started already at the beginning of the year, when Editor-in-Chief Peter Fellman asked Lotta Edling and Fredrik Björnsson, the heads of the editorial side of the paper, to take a look at the content and presentation of the print edition. The two started quickly. "During the spring, we started out with an in-depth reader survey, which was done in conjunction with workshops with all 180 staff members to see what thought ourselves," says Edling. The results were turned into changes that were carried out by the top editors and Pelle Asplund, who is responsible for the design.

The structural changes include pulling the analysis section further up in the paper, directly after the news and world sections. "We saw that that is the natural spot for it," says Edling. "As the world becomes increasingly complex and the stock and financial markets are governed by international events there is a greater need for analysis and we wanted to more clearly highlight our expert analysts. Then the rest of the paper has a more human focus: in-depth reporting, entrepreneurs from around Sweden and a final section with trends and buzz that has been traditionally found in DI Weekend."

So far, readers and advertisers have been very positive, Edling says, with many saying praising the new logical structure and that the changes freshen things up without losing the soul of Dagens industri.

"I'm so proud of the strong engagement and energy that all the employees at Dagens industri have shown during the input phase in the spring as well as the last few weeks as we've come to the finish," says Edling. "Everyone seems to have found it fun, despite it being a very tough job."