• by Sara Guaglione , June 1, 2018

California Sunday Magazine has redesigned its front-of-book section. Once the home of four to five short stories on different topics, ranging from politics to music, the new shorts section will focus on one theme for every issue, starting with the May/June 2018 issue out this Sunday.

This weekend’s shorts section, live online today, is dedicated to the "Tech Pipeline." It examines the lack of diversity in the industry. Stories range from “The woman who quit her last tech job over unequal pay” to “The software engineer on tech’s black tax."

California Sunday senior editor, Francesca Mari, said the themed shorts section “allows us to play with formats and find different ways to tell stories,” as well as dig deeper on a single subject relevant to the West Coast.

“We wanted to make more of a statement [with the section], and do something big and topical and relevant,” Mari said.

California Sunday’s design team — creative director Leo Jung and design director Annie Jen — created the section to be adaptable to new themes with each issue, and have the flexibility to incorporate stories, stats, visuals and interviews.

“It is an editorial direction that is a challenge and an opportunity,” Jen told Publishers Daily.

For example, the headline of each story in the shorts section sits on the top of the page, anchoring the look of the section and signaling to readers they are reading different stories on one topic.

“We visually wanted to tie it together, and make it clear to people that we have an opener to announce the theme,” Jen said.

California Sunday commissioned a single photographer and illustrator to do the whole package. “We wanted the visuals to come from one person, to have a more unified look,” she added.