A new masthead, new logo for The Telegraph

©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Since its inception eight and a half years ago, The Chester Telegraph has sported this masthead:

We chose the font — an old style typewriter font — and the hand on the telegraph keys to harken back to a time when the telegraph lines followed the railroad tracks, which were so important to the development of our region. We also felt it would be “more relatable” for those who for the very first time were being introduced to an online newspaper. Yes, in 2012, we were only the second online-only newspaper in all of Vermont. That landscape has certainly changed! And you likely have seen this logo:

Over the years, the masthead and logo started to seem a bit outdated and out of step with our readers, who not only embraced the new news technology but in many ways surpassed us!   Now, it’s time to retire the masthead and logo and to embrace some new looks. Thanks to a Facebook grant, which is helping us to set up our Instagram account, we finally began to make changes that we have wanted for a while. The first one was to create a new logo. So we went from:

Graphic designer and artist Dan O’Donnell (od_design@mac.com) helped us come up with the design, which also incorporates our slogan “All News. No Paper.”  We chose the simple ‘T” because, while we started in Chester and continue to be based in Chester, we report on so many other towns. And we have different versions within the color scheme. (Would anyone be interested in baseball caps with that logo on it? Just let me know and we’ll see what we can do.) Please be patient with us as we learn to master the best practices for managing our new Instagram page, which you can find by clicking this button:
The process of changing the masthead took more time. But we knew we wanted a cleaner look. (Our original masthead has dozens of shades of yellows, reds and oranges in it!) So we took the cue from the logo and came up this very simple design, incorporating the logo and indicating our coverage area in Vermont.

And of course, the colors. A simple, elegant tribute to that terrible pun in the classic riddle: What is black and white and read all over?

Let us know what you think — comment below or drop me a line at cprairie@chestertelegraph.org. We’d love to hear from you.

Cynthia Prairie
Editor and publisher