English version - Innovation Media Consulting

03
january 2016
www.innovation.media
RE-THINKING NEWSPAPERS
FIRST PART
innovation
ipapers
What does re-designing
a newspaper mean today?
What post-news print dailies will be like when “the newspapers
no longer own the news” (Gabriel García Márquez).
Text Juan Antonio Giner (giner@innovation-media) / Design Antonio Martín Hervás (martin@innovation-media)
Years ago, newspapers were
re-designed because they:
• bought new printing presses;
• increased colour capacity;
• launched new booklets or
supplements;
• moved from broadsheet or
standard size to berliner or
tabloid;
• began using a new CMS or
Editorial System;
• the newspaper was old fashioned
and inadequate for a new
generation of more visually
sophisticated readers
ipapers
What does re-designing a newspaper mean today?
january 2016
PAGE 02
Re-thinking a newspaper includes
a graphic re-design but, as a
consequence of the most important
part, and without that most
important part, the rest is a waste of
time and money.
If you are thinking about a deep
graphic re-design that begins by
rethinking your newspaper, you will
have to ask yourself very seriously if
the:
Different
proposals
for the same
project.
Le Monde
(Paris,
France)
Either a new owner arrived or a new
editor was appointed and the new
guys wanted to quickly “change”
the newspaper so it did not look
like the old one. In these and other
cases, re-designing a newspaper was
synonymous with a larger or smaller
decorative lifting operation, which
was all about doing the same type of
newspaper but with a more modern,
more elegant or more readable
appearance.
They were cosmetic re-designs that
did not question the journalism
model, the newsroom workflows or
how to report news or tell stories in a
different manner.
They were projects whose focus was
to improve the shop window to sell
the same merchandise.
Today all of that is not enough.
Re-thinking
a newspaper
includes a graphic
re-design but, as a
consequence of the
most important part,
and without that
most important part,
the rest is a waste of
time and money.
• content can be the same;
• newsroom staff is too big or if
we are missing key new profiles
like developers or multimedia
infographics specialists;
• photographers think only about
print;
• photography is just for decorating
news stories, without providing
the same quality demanded of the
content;
• formats help readers, who have less
and less time;
• information architecture of the
newspaper responds to the news
needs of its markets;
ipapers
What does re-designing a newspaper mean today?
• sections, supplements and
magazines are necessary and
profitable;
• opinion pages are “elephant grave
yards” that are hardly read;
• front page is, effectively, the biggest
and most effective marketing tool to
sell the newspaper;
• breaking news is a priority for
readers who no longer see us as
“newspapers of record”;
• new interests and needs of our
readers and advertisers are reflected
in our pages;
• visual journalists are doing what
they should be doing to make
newspapers with more impact;
• timetables and schedules of your
newsroom meetings are really the
“engine for news” for a 24/7 audience;
• deadlines make any sense when we
do not and cannot break news;
• online versions can or must
cannibalise our print versions;
• the promotion of online content in
print and beyond print is enough;
There are some
publishers, although
it might come as a
surprise, who try
to hide changes;
they fear novelty
will be understood
as something not
working or in crisis.
• social networks are part of the
before, during and after of our news
planning;
• “content marketing” has to increase
as display or classified ads decrease;
• ad formats still need to be sold by
cm or modules;
• ad pricing, when we move to
smaller formats, has to fall, or if we
have to implement “a page is a page”;
• CMS or Editorial System has each
and every tool we need to make a
newspaper in the multimedia digital
age;
january 2016
PAGE 03
+ CAREFUL WITH THE
TYPOGRAPHY
Although publishers, managers and
journalists place a lot of importance on
logos and their modifications generate
never-ending discussions, experience
shows readers never complain about
these changes; conversely, nothing
causes more complaints and protests
than the use of new typographic fonts
that “are hard to read”, because of
their lines, spacing or kerning.
Reducing the font size of general text
by 0.5 points is enough to cause a
revolution among readers. Readability
must be a pillar of every graphic
change. That is why it is important to
work with professional
These and many more questions like
them must be re-thought before redesigning a newspaper.
Notícia Agora (Brasil).
Same product,
same look.
ipapers
What does re-designing a newspaper mean today?
Before
Before
Al Día
San José (Costa Rica)
Before
Before
Notícia Agora
Vitoria (Brazil)
At the same time, any re-design
that means to be effective (which is
to say it brings in new readers and
advertisers) will, at least, need to rethink:
• the graphic model used by the
whole newspaper;
• the growing use of “quick read”
formats;
• the plan for sections, supplements
and magazines;
• if print needs to take into account
the new web-tablet-mobile platforms
and how to build them with
“responsive design”;
• the typology of the first few pages;
• photography and other visual
narratives like infographics, maps
and illustrations;
• the logos, mastheads and their
impact;
• the readability of texts;
“Only leaders
change, and they
change because they
want to keep being
leaders”.
After
After
Libération
Paris (France)
PAGE 04
After
After
Odiel
Huelva (Spain)
january 2016
• the colour palette and its
applications;
• the format, pagination and other
technical production aspects like
types of paper, print qualities, stapling
or inserts;
• the use of headlines, ledes and sidebars;
+ REASONS FOR CHANGE
There are some publishers, although
it might come as a surprise, who try to
hide changes; they fear novelty will be
understood as something not working
or in crisis.
At INNOVATION, we have always
defended the opposite point of view:
there is no better defence than a
good attack, and we express it in the
following way: “Only leaders change,
and they change because they want to
keep being leaders”.
ipapers
• the job and responsibilities of the
art director and the different creative
departments (design, photography
illustration or infographics) within
the hierarchy and organisation of the
newsroom;
• generating libraries of pre-formatted
pages;
• the need to have a Graphic Style
Manual that ensures the consistency
of the new design, as the years go by,
to avoid going back to old ways and
past errors;
Summing up, re-designing a
newspaper today is a five-phase
process:
What does re-designing a newspaper mean today?
january 2016
First: re-think the news strategy and
draw up the Journalism Model for the
newspaper, listening to journalists,
readers and advertisers;
+ COMMUNICATING AND
PROMOTING CHANGE
Second: ask if we have the right
talent, technology and management
for the newsroom;
Third: do the first page tests and
a first prototype based on the new
editorial criteria;
Fourth: produce the Graphic Style
Manual and produce the final
prototypes, printing and correcting
the proofs;
Fifth: practice, practice, practice
using the Journalism Model and
Graphic Style Manual as text books.
PAGE 05
The visual transformation of a
newspaper is a wonderful opportunity
to improve our brand image.
We must make the most of those
changes to ensure readers, agencies,
advertisers and opinion leaders notice
the difference;
Producing a new Graphic Design
Manual is the key if, as we recommend,
it is accompanied by changes in the
news structure of the newspaper;
It is an effort that must be long-term,
with a Communications Plan that
encompasses before, during and after
change actions.
Expresso &
Revista E,
Montepio &
i (Portugal),
ET (Greece),
& Cambio16
(Spain)
ipapers
What does re-designing a newspaper mean today?
Different
proposals
for the same
project.
Corriere
della Sera
(Milan, Italy)
january 2016
PAGE 06
ipapers
What does re-designing a newspaper mean today?
january 2016
PAGE 07
CubaLibre.com prototypes for an
INNOVATION pro-bono project
DIARIO INDEPENDIENTE ȉƴȉȉĜĝȉݘÖ嫘٘ȉĜĚěĜȉȉƴȉȉÃčȉĜĝĞȉ
facebook.com/diariocubalibre
www.diariocubalibre.com
@diariocubalibre
El Papa deja Cuba
sin nada aclarado
P23
Nuevos talentos se preparan para dar el salto profesional y
competir al más alto nivel para llegar a las olimpiadas
+
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TRAP GINAS AR
8 PÁ CONTR Y
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PARAÉ VENDE
QU MPRAR
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Cuba
Vida
Deportes
El número de turistas
decrece en la isla P23
Nuevos templos para
disfrutar de la salsa P23
El camino para ser
boxeador profesional
DIARIO INDEPENDIENTE ȉƴȉȉĜĝȉݘÖ嫘٘ȉĜĚěĜȉȉƴȉȉÃčȉĜĝĞȉȉȉȉ
P23
www.diariocubalibre.com
Su Santidad deja Cuba esperanzada
Nuevos talentos se preparan para dar el salto profesional y competir al más alto nivel
Re-design proposal
for Die Morgenpost
(Germany)
Cuba
Cuba
Cuba
El número de turistas
decrece en la isla P23
El número de turistas
decrece en la isla P23
El número de turistas
decrece en la isla P23
ipapers
What does re-designing a newspaper mean today?
january 2016
PAGE 08
Re-design proposal for Nedjelnji Jutarnji
(Croacia)
Redesign of ØB
(Norway). Horizontal
sports back cover
proposal
Omnidesign
proposal
for ØB
(Norway).
Same
design
for all
platforms
ipapers
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