A Fresh, Smart Look Arrives at The Root
Daily Online News Provider Unveils a Rich and Bold Redesign
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - (Washington, D.C.) – The leading online African-American daily news provider The Root.com today introduced a comprehensive homepage redesign that will address readers' desire for a richer multimedia experience centered on the latest news and smartest commentary about the African-American experience.
"The Root already offers the most thoughtful news analysis and commentary on the Web relating to black people's lives and the issues that matter to us," said Joel Dreyfuss, managing editor of the site. "Over time we've also seen our curated and multimedia content grow in popularity, so we're redesigning the homepage to make it easier to access the full breath of what we offer. In addition, we are pleased Toyota RAV4 partnered with The Root for being the advertising partner in launching the new homepage redesign."
The result is a bolder design that improves site navigation, displays breaking news more prominently, highlights the site's curation of the best black opinion around the Web, enables readers to share their own news and allows visitors to access multimedia more quickly. The redesign of the homepage was led by creative team Selwyn Seyfu Hinds and Phillip Harris.
Key updates include:
- *Faster performance: The streamlined site loads quickly, giving readers faster access to breaking news and timely headlines.
- *Easier navigation: More points of entry into the site's rich content and a layout gives video, slide shows, blogs and special features greater prominence.
- *A bolder vibrant design: An updated color palette that better reflects the energetic environment of a constantly updating news source with a vocal and engaged following.
- *Larger homepage lightbox: Expanded in size for easy viewing — containing more content tied to breaking news topics and a wider variety of the site's offerings.
- *Video functionality on homepage: Instant gratification for visitors who enjoy video content via a Must-See-Media module.
- *New content offerings: Readers will be able to share the news in their own lives with the Celebrations Gallery Section, which enables readers to post announcements for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduations and births. The Opinion Round Up Section highlights insightful viewpoints from notable columnists and bloggers focusing on politics, culture and more. The Roots Section offers genealogical information, including advice by Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., who is The Root's editor-in-chief.
Since its inception in 2008, The Root has become the leading source for original news, content and commentary relating to the black community and matters of race. The Root continues to drive the cultural conversation by raising the profile of black culture, people and perspective in the media at large. As of June 2011, the site enjoys a three-month average of 1.5 million monthly unique visitors (comScore) and a robust social media following. The Root is published by The Slate Group, a Division of the Washington Post Company.
About The Root.com
The Root is the leading online source of news and commentary from an African-American perspective. Founded in 2008 under the leadership of Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. of Harvard University, The Root offers a unique take on breaking news, provides solid analysis and presents dynamic multimedia content. The Root raises the profile of black voices in mainstream media and engages anyone interested in black culture around the world. The Root is owned by the Washington Post Company.