Where’s the innovation on print classifieds?

I’m working on a white paper / report about how to redesign print classifieds sections for the modern world. (I’ll keep you posted on my progress and when it might be available.) And I have to say: It’s disturbing how slowly that’s happening, especially at U.S. newspapers.

If you look around at newspaper classifieds sections, most of them still look like they did in the 1960s. While page widths may have gotten narrower over the years to save paper, most classifieds are still in narrow vertical columns and not easily readable or designed with usability in mind.

For example, here’s a screen grab of a classifieds section page from the Dallas Morning News.

Yep, that’s what I remember classifieds looking like in the 1960s, when I was a kid. I could show you hundreds of other newspaper classifieds sections that look just like this.

Of course, there’s innovation out there, but my research is revealing that it’s not nearly enough. But at least some folks are trying to modernize paper classifieds. The Chicago Tribune has done some interesting work; the Baltimore Sun is reinventing its ink-on-paper classifieds. And the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times is being innovative; here’s a screen grab of what its classifieds front page looks like now:

While much of the emphasis these days is on online classifieds, newspapers need to pay attention to both online and print, making each the best possible in order to perform in what is now a hyper-competitive environment. I hope to have some great advice for you on the print side soon.

Meanwhile, if your newspaper is doing innovative work with print classifieds, I’d like to talk to you about it. Please e-mail me. Thanks!