Today marks the official launch of Hong Kong Economic Journal (信報), which gains its popularity by delivering insightful, outspoken and objective editorial comments every day over the last 35 years.

TG at Kelikuru.com heard that the launch is a daunting task.  It takes the publisher seven years from conceptualization to its implementation. The on and off effort to design and develop the site became more dynamic as the managment team started to assign a project team last year. 

Hong Kong Economic Journal

Unlike other newspapers in the SAR,  the newspaper has no big, colorful pictures. Its text-cluttered layout with highlight in economic and political analytical content, however, gets the eyeballs of China and local officials. The editorial authored by its founder (林行止) is said to be the must-read article by the Hong Kong Governor and his senior officials.

Despite its burgeoning success in traditional media world , the publisher does not go for IPO as Apple Daily (蘋果日報) and Oriental Daily (東方日報). Embarking on online business may take it one step closer to its peers as well as competitors.

While reviewing the site, TG has a few thoughts to share:

1. Logo is always part of branding, making it consistent across the site would help users to reckon your site without any pain. With color, saturation and tone being changed from section to section does not help building a strong brand

2. Most of the articles on the front page cannot be viewed unless users are paid members. That would be very annoying to first-time users. TG would suggest the publisher to make its information structure distinctly clear to its paid and non-paid members. By using content managment system, they can control the flow of information better, improving users’ experiences. 

3. For those content on the  personal wealth management section, it should be moved to upfront. New users will simply take off if they have to click through many links in order to find free content in the site.  

4. The design of the Navigation scheme is unconventional. it has navigation bar all over the places: on the right, at the top and somehow on the left. It takes TG some time to know what’s going on. 

5. In an apparent effort to develop a multimedia platform, the publisher currently has subscribed Reuters’s video services.  Yet TG found the audio clips more interesting as a result of its uniqueness and they are much more closer to local tastes.

 Related articles:

 

Bookmark and Share

[pagelist 117,2]

Popular posts you may be interested in