The Guardian has decided to join the rest of us this January in a bid to get both smaller and save money with their long anticipated move to tabloid. With Monday’s launch feeling a little flat it appears they might be sticking to dry January too.

There are quite a few positives for readers; the new pink washed Journal section which is full of opinions, letters and great thinking will be a much loved section for Guardian loyalists.  The 20 page sport section is absolutely brimming with brilliant journalism – particularly around Liverpool’s rampant win at City.  The synergy of look and feel across all of their platforms has also landed well across print, web and mobile, although I have to say, I miss the blue mast head (I understand that the colour blue may carry a premium at Trinity Mirror’s print works).

The move to Berliner was embraced by audiences and whilst 12 years is a relatively small period of time in the history of the longstanding paper, readers will be nervous about the move.  However, with a total pagination up to ninety six pages long, readers will not be left short changed by lack of content, and with the presumed increase in ad sites available, I assume The Guardian will be able to balance the advertising sales loss of premium outside back page and front page strip formats.

Logistical considerations aside, with Saturdays edition of the Guardian significantly higher than weekdays and the newly revamped Saturday package boasting a total of five new sections, (including Review, Travel and Feast supplements), I feel that they could have waited and launched with a bigger bang this weekend and really made an impact.