"It had not changed anything in its design in 78 years. This is the ultimate classic newspaper," said Mr Garcia.

In the first presentation of how the Wall Street Journal was redesigned, Mr Garcia outlined the 23-month process that led to the introduction of colour, occasional photographs, a new lifestyle section and an internet-like front page "navigation" system.

"If anyone wants to see the effect of the internet on newspapers, take the Wall Street Journal home and study it because it is designed to go from one (medium) to the other," said Mr Garcia.

Of course, the Wall Street Journal was already easy to navigate, with it’s front-page "What’s News" columns of briefs that directs readers to the full article inside. That was introduced in 1940 and made the newspaper "a precursor of the internet," said Mr Garcia. "We now know the importance of navigation."

Mr Garcia fixed the position of the "What’s News" column and added an "L" across the bottom of the paper with additional navigational elements. "If you have less time to read, you don’t want to be looking for things that move from here to there every day," he said.

Mr Garcia retained many of the elements of the "old" Journal - typefaces and graphic elements such as diamonds and stars that are used to separate items. "You have to hold on to the past with one hand and salute the future with the other," he says.

The paper thought about reducing stock listings because those items are now easily accessed on the internet. But they were ultimately retained because of a study that found that "even people who go to the internet three, four or five times a day still want to see them at 6 o’clock in the morning the next day."`

"It’s the same with sports. Don’t drop the sports results simply because you think people will get it on the web. Your readers won’t like it," he says.

Mr Garcia said simplicity was the new mantra of newspaper design. "Readers don’t want design to take over the newspaper. Repeat the layout for 300 days, they’ll be happy. They remember the stories, they don’t remember the layout."