National Post editor-in-chief Douglas Kelly characterizes his newspaper’s design and editorial makeover – which debuts today – as a ‘signal to the market that this is a different kind of newspaper.’

Adds Mark Spencer, VP advertising: ‘Through our design leadership and unique offerings, we continue to show National Post is a different kind of newspaper that never wavers in its commitment to help advertisers reach target demos in new and exciting ways.’

Now in its ninth year of competing against other Toronto-based dailies, the CanWest MediaWorks-owned newspaper’s new initiative is reminiscent of earlier revamps by the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. Like them, the Post is adopting a smaller page size, at least in some markets.

The Post‘s makeover emphasizes improving readability, and includes larger type faces and deeper spacing between lines, plus a standardized number of typefaces and a ‘cleaner’ font for charts, graphics and story sideboards. While maintaining its current combination of traditional and modern typography and layout, the Post has made an innovative move to vertical, colour-coded banners on the front page of each section.

The Post‘s new editorial enhancements include:

• A Marketing page to track trends in the advertising and marketing industry;

• Extensive content focus on small business with a new weekly section beginning Oct. 15;

• A lively mix of stories, blog entries and commentary from the fast-growing website nationalpost.com that will appear on Page Two of most sections;

• Enhanced Investing Pages in Saturday’s Financial Post;

• New features every day in Arts & Life, Weekend Post and FP Weekends on Saturday; and

• Bolstering the paper’s roster of commentators with several new columnists including Christopher Hitchens, Anne Applebaum and Jonathan Goldstein.

To publicize its new look, the National Post has embarked on an ambitious national marketing and branding campaign dubbed ‘Turning Heads. Opening Minds.’ Designed in-house, the initiative presents evocative illustrations depicting various national and international story-lines. The campaign will make use of radio, outdoor, Web, in-paper, Captivate Network, Cinema Advertising and product sampling promotional elements. No further details had been released by MiC‘s press deadline.