Quote, unquote

The New York Times's David Carr, reporting on the shrinking of the previously proudly broadsheet New York Observer (a paper I liked a lot) to a tabloid:

"There is good news to be found in the redesign. It is still pinkish, and still plays host to some terrific writing, annotated by cheeky headlines and pointillistic graphics.

But reading the new Observer also provides a palpable feeling of loss. In most precincts of New York City you can get away with anything as long as you dress well, and The Observer managed through the years to be the nicely appointed skunk at the metropolitan garden party. The Observer used the conventions of the broadsheet, with its stacked headlines and narrow columns, to play against type: it unleashed a waterfall of improbable display language splattered with exclamation points, ellipses and question marks that created a libretto before the reader even started the article. In its broadsheet incarnation — with the wingspan of a Cessna, it enrolled adjoining commuters in the reading experience whether or not they liked it — there was a majesty and idiosyncrasy to the endeavor. The cover illustrations generally said it all: huge noggins screwed onto little bodies, advertising a kind of gigantism that a tabloid could not convey."

[UPDATE] For a flip-book of the new look of the Observer,go here.