Style’s redesign was unveiled at an event last Thursday at Studio Two Three in Manchester. (Jonathan Spiers photo)
Two years after getting revived by VPM, Style Weekly has undergone a makeover and is set to return to print as a quarterly magazine.
The public media nonprofit unveiled a new look for Style with an event last Thursday that also announced the longtime Richmond alternative newsweekly’s return to circulation, with 64-page editions to be published four times a year.
The event coincided with the launch of a revamped website and new features, including content-specific e-newsletters. A 30-minute podcast also is in the works as an audio companion to the online site, which will continue to be updated with new content weekly and house Style’s event calendar and other sections.
The redesign included a new logo and refreshed website. (Screenshot)
The redesign comes two years after VPM purchased Style, which had ceased operations two months earlier after a 39-year run, the last three of those under Tribune Publishing. Style’s temporary closure followed Tribune’s acquisition by hedge fund Alden Global Capital.
Since then, VPM hired Style veterans Brent Baldwin and Scott Elmquist, the publication’s editor and longtime photographer. It’s also added to its ranks with the hiring of business manager Macaulay Hammond and part-time food editor Deb Freeman.
Steve Humble, VPM’s chief content officer, said conversations had been underway in that time about how to refresh the Style brand and revive the print product with a new approach and business model.
Steve Humble
“We had to look at it from a business standpoint,” Humble said. “The weekly print product that they were doing was not viable anymore, but we knew that lovers of Style really loved having a physical print copy.”
Over the past 18 months, VPM put out three print editions that Humble said served to test the model and the market.
“It was our test run to see what would a model look like if we did a quarterly run and could we get enough ad sponsorship and does it make sense. That was really our test case, to go, ‘Okay, we think we can make this work.’”
For the redesign, VPM hired Jonathan Goldberg of local marketing firm A for Adventure, who Humble said he’d known since Humble was an executive with The Martin Agency. Humble joined VPM in 2019.
“We talked to a few different places to find the right partner, and Jonathan was the perfect match,” Humble said. “Because he’d worked in print before, he really had a good sense of all the different things that we had to redesign.”
The redesign included a new logo and masthead for the print and digital assets, the website update and social media alignments. Humble said the challenge to give Style a brand refresh without changing the brand itself.
“When we bought Style, we knew it had such amazing brand equity and interest that we didn’t want to mess with that too much,” he said. “The goal really was how do we keep the tone of voice, the same upstart kind of voice it’s always had, but can we dial up the way it looks and make it more modern, more clean, and keep it approachable. To redesign it and have it live up to its name: Style.”
Humble wouldn’t say how much VPM has invested in the redesign and the reintroduction of print, which he said would involve a glossy-page, bound magazine with a slightly smaller page size than Style’s previous, stapled newsprint.
Some of Style Weekly’s print editions in 2021. The newsweekly published its last edition that September, ending a 39-year run. (BizSense file)
Humble said the decision to move from weekly to quarterly was largely driven by production costs, which he said have increased and contributed to Style’s short-lived closure.
“Some of the reason I think they went out of business was, trying to pump that out every week, the cost of printing and distribution at a certain point just doesn’t make sense. Both those costs have gone up, so I think it’s harder for anyone who’s making a print product right now to manage costs,” he said.
Humble said the print editions will include a food issue in the spring, a “summer fun” issue, a fall arts issue and an end-of-year “people” issue. He said Freeman is heading up the food issue, which is targeted to drop in March.
While the print product will include free copies distributed at locations across town, Humble said the new Style would include subscription options for readers who want the print editions home-delivered. He said they’re also in talks for the magazine to be carried at some area hotels.
Style’s relaunch in print bucks a trend in the industry that in recent years has seen several area news outlets pull back on their print versions.
The rebrand also comes as VPM is preparing a move downtown. After nearly 60 years in Chesterfield County, it’s planning to relocate to a new five-story headquarters building to be constructed on East Broad Street in the Arts District.
Style’s redesign was unveiled at an event last Thursday at Studio Two Three in Manchester. (Jonathan Spiers photo)
Two years after getting revived by VPM, Style Weekly has undergone a makeover and is set to return to print as a quarterly magazine.
The public media nonprofit unveiled a new look for Style with an event last Thursday that also announced the longtime Richmond alternative newsweekly’s return to circulation, with 64-page editions to be published four times a year.
The event coincided with the launch of a revamped website and new features, including content-specific e-newsletters. A 30-minute podcast also is in the works as an audio companion to the online site, which will continue to be updated with new content weekly and house Style’s event calendar and other sections.
The redesign included a new logo and refreshed website. (Screenshot)
The redesign comes two years after VPM purchased Style, which had ceased operations two months earlier after a 39-year run, the last three of those under Tribune Publishing. Style’s temporary closure followed Tribune’s acquisition by hedge fund Alden Global Capital.
Since then, VPM hired Style veterans Brent Baldwin and Scott Elmquist, the publication’s editor and longtime photographer. It’s also added to its ranks with the hiring of business manager Macaulay Hammond and part-time food editor Deb Freeman.
Steve Humble, VPM’s chief content officer, said conversations had been underway in that time about how to refresh the Style brand and revive the print product with a new approach and business model.
Steve Humble
“We had to look at it from a business standpoint,” Humble said. “The weekly print product that they were doing was not viable anymore, but we knew that lovers of Style really loved having a physical print copy.”
Over the past 18 months, VPM put out three print editions that Humble said served to test the model and the market.
“It was our test run to see what would a model look like if we did a quarterly run and could we get enough ad sponsorship and does it make sense. That was really our test case, to go, ‘Okay, we think we can make this work.’”
For the redesign, VPM hired Jonathan Goldberg of local marketing firm A for Adventure, who Humble said he’d known since Humble was an executive with The Martin Agency. Humble joined VPM in 2019.
“We talked to a few different places to find the right partner, and Jonathan was the perfect match,” Humble said. “Because he’d worked in print before, he really had a good sense of all the different things that we had to redesign.”
The redesign included a new logo and masthead for the print and digital assets, the website update and social media alignments. Humble said the challenge to give Style a brand refresh without changing the brand itself.
“When we bought Style, we knew it had such amazing brand equity and interest that we didn’t want to mess with that too much,” he said. “The goal really was how do we keep the tone of voice, the same upstart kind of voice it’s always had, but can we dial up the way it looks and make it more modern, more clean, and keep it approachable. To redesign it and have it live up to its name: Style.”
Humble wouldn’t say how much VPM has invested in the redesign and the reintroduction of print, which he said would involve a glossy-page, bound magazine with a slightly smaller page size than Style’s previous, stapled newsprint.
Some of Style Weekly’s print editions in 2021. The newsweekly published its last edition that September, ending a 39-year run. (BizSense file)
Humble said the decision to move from weekly to quarterly was largely driven by production costs, which he said have increased and contributed to Style’s short-lived closure.
“Some of the reason I think they went out of business was, trying to pump that out every week, the cost of printing and distribution at a certain point just doesn’t make sense. Both those costs have gone up, so I think it’s harder for anyone who’s making a print product right now to manage costs,” he said.
Humble said the print editions will include a food issue in the spring, a “summer fun” issue, a fall arts issue and an end-of-year “people” issue. He said Freeman is heading up the food issue, which is targeted to drop in March.
While the print product will include free copies distributed at locations across town, Humble said the new Style would include subscription options for readers who want the print editions home-delivered. He said they’re also in talks for the magazine to be carried at some area hotels.
Style’s relaunch in print bucks a trend in the industry that in recent years has seen several area news outlets pull back on their print versions.
The rebrand also comes as VPM is preparing a move downtown. After nearly 60 years in Chesterfield County, it’s planning to relocate to a new five-story headquarters building to be constructed on East Broad Street in the Arts District.
This is awesome! I’d love to get my hands on a print edition!
Really happy to have this kind of care and energy invested in an iconic Richmond publication. It looks terrific!
(I think this should say “a new logo and nameplate,” not masthead. They are often confused, but the masthead is the list of a newspaper’s publisher, staff members and contributors.)
Merriam-Webster defines a masthead as: the name of a publication (such as a newspaper) displayed on the top of the first page.