The rebrand
An award-winning redesign of the site and brand
The work I'm proudest of at The Standard was the brand refresh across our second and third years: a ground-up redesign of the site that modernized the identity and matured how the whole publication was produced.
Context
A new newsroom has to feel established on day one and earn a skeptical city's trust — while a fast-growing team ships dozens of stories a day. The redesign had to raise the craft bar and make that craft repeatable.
Approach
The homepage and story pages were the centerpiece — and the California Journalism Awards recognized them with first place for Homepage Layout & Design and second place for Story Page Layout & Design.
Behind the redesign I grew the styleguide into a real system — brand guidelines, templating, quality control, and stronger visual motifs — paired with a quick-turn graphic-production setup so a growing team could ship consistent, high-craft work at speed.
Outcome
A brand-new newsroom found its audience, and its voice, fast — backed by two California Journalism Awards for the redesign.