FT relaunches website
The Financial Times has redesigned its website as part of a strategy that aims to bring it digital and print properties closer together. The new look site, which launches tomorrow (November 11), will include a number of changes including less advertising space.
The redesign, its biggest for over five years, will roll out across its UK, Europe, US and Asian sites. The FT will also launch a new Middle East website to follow the launch of the paper in the region in April.
The changes will commence with the homepage, which will have the same pink colouring as the newspaper and feature the FT masthead.
Rob Grimshaw, FT.com managing editor, says it has overhauled the look and feel of the homepage and taken a “clean and uncluttered” approach. It will feature the top ten articles of the day, which will be regularly updated.
Grimshaw adds that the changes have led to a “smaller number of advertising positions on the page” to provide “greater impact”, although he says there will be no increase in rates.
He says: “The redesign is an expression of the key philosophy we now have in the business. We don’t see the future as being a simple transition between print and online – it will be a multiplatform future so we’ve developed a single editorial voice.”
The top ten stories will be a mix of breaking news, commentary and video.
“We’ve tried to break down some barriers in publishing of putting comment, video and news into different sections. We’ve done away with that and led with what our users, who are very busy people, view as what’s most important.”
Further changes to the new site will be rolled out over the next six months.
