The Society for News Design 31st annual Creative Competition, the world's largest program for recognizing excellence in visual journalism, hasexpanded its categories to include all magazines, not just those publishedwith newspapers. 




LUCIE LACAVA
Lacava Design

The competition's name has been changed to "The Best of News Designtm"Creative Competition to reflect design excellence in both newspapers andmagazines for the 2009 publishing year. 

Magazine designers have long expressed interest in entering thecompetition, which usually attracts more than 10,000 entries from newspapersin dozens of countries. 

"Magazines may now enter a competition that has been well established fornewspapers. We hope to honor magazines and staffs the same way we rerecognized newspapers for more than 30 years," says C. Marshall Matlock, thecompetition and judging director from the S.I. Newhouse School of PublicCommunications at Syracuse University. ³Winning an award for newspaper workhas always been recognized as a top news design honor for the newspapersindustry. Now we'd like to do the same for non-newspaper magazines." 

This year, acting on recommendations by the Society's CompetitionCommittee, the board of directors voted to allow non-newspaper magazines toenter the competition along with magazines published with newspapers such asThe New York Times and El Mundo. 

The Competition Committee, chaired by Matlock, updated the rules and addedsubcategories to provide new opportunities for magazine designers. The 31stedition Call for Entries, reflecting the new categories, is in the mail andposted online in English at http://www.snd.org/pdf/SNDCFE31.pdf. The Callwill be posted in several additional languages in early December. 

"SND has discussed adding non-newspaper magazines to the competition forseveral years. It seems like now is the right time to do that since we¹llhave the judges and staff to support the new magazine categories," Matlocksays. 

"There is no disputing that SND has the branding on excellent newsdesign," said Mike Rice, 31st edition coordinator and a visual team leaderfor design and graphics at the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson. "Magazine andnewspaper designers share the same design principles, and bringing bothformats into one competition will raise the bar on excellence for everyone.²  The deadlines for receiving entries are Jan. 13, 2010, for U.S. newspapersand magazines and Jan. 20, 2010, for newspapers and magazines publishedoutside the United States. 

An international panel of judges will review the entries and selectwinners over two long weekends in February at Syracuse University inSyracuse, New York. The university¹s S.I. Newhouse School of PublicCommunications cosponsors the competition. 

Winning magazine pages will be published along with newspaper winners inthe 2010 edition of SND¹s annual book, "The Best of News Design." 

SND also sponsors "The Best of Multimedia Design Competition" recognizingexcellence in online design by all types of news media,http://www.snd.org/competitions/sndies.html. 

The Society for News Design, founded in 1979, has professional, educatorand student members in more than 50 countries. To learn more about SND andits competitions, visit http://www.snd.org, or contact SND, 1130 Ten RodRoad, E 206, North Kingstown, RI 02852; (401) 294-5233; snd@snd.org. 

As of Jan. 1, 2010, SND¹s headquarters address will be 424 E. CentralBlvd., Suite 406, Orlando, FL 32801. The Web site and e-mail address remainthe same.

NOV

  

Al Ittihad - LUCIE LACAVA SPECIAL INTERVIEW FOR SND20

 


How was the experience of redesigning an Arabic language newspaper?
It was a fascinating experience. I already had a good understanding of the local culture, having previously worked in Abu Dhabi. It started with a briefing on protocol which pretty much dictated the front page lead every day, followed by a self imposed crash course in Arabic typography which helped me develop an appreciation for the different type styles, from historic to contemporay.

What was the most difficult point in the project?
There were two.
The design, custom text font and feature displays were accepted from the onset. Getting final approval for the proposed main news display font, though, took six months. It was finally approved one week prior to the launch.

Updating the news font from a bold script to a contemporary medium weight sans was considered a dramatic shift for Al Ittihad newspaper.
The other issue, was designing the front page to accommodate protocol. We had some interesting solutions, but these were considered unconventional, so the status quo prevailed.

Many Arabic language newspapers don’t have a strong design orientation; do you think the redesign of Al Ittihad can be an incentive for other publications to re-think their design?
Al Ittihad will certainly be a good reference and I hope will
inspire others to follow suit. Most Arabic language newspapers
are not only 30 years behind the times when it comes to contemporary newspaper design, but are using fonts from the dark ages of hot metal and photocomposition.

There are no Arabic typefaces on the market appropriate for newspapers. Most newly designed Arabic typefaces are
too decorative or have a cartoon quality about them,and cannot be taken seriously when delivering the news.

You worked closely with two important publications: The National in English, and Al Ittihad in Arabic. Is there a difference when you are working as a design professional for these publications?
Working for these two publications was like night and day. Language aside, each required a completely different approach.
The National was an upstart, not a redesign. This was a dream project. We had a clean slate when we started. Content and design were created simultaneously, and would play off each other.

Its target readers are professionals english speaking expats from the UK, India and Pakistan, as well as wealthy Emiratis educated abroad. The staff was hand picked from around the globe, and were trained specifically for this project. The National has a Managing Editor in charge of visuals, at least one designer per section, and an infographics team.

On the other hand Al Ittihad called for an evolutionary redesign. It is the oldest established newspaper in the Emirates, its 40 year anniversary coincided with the redesign launch. Its readers have been following it for decades. Most of the staff has been there for a long time and had to be retrained to use InDesign just weeks prior to adopting the new design.

They now have an Art Director and an infographics artist. The redesign mandates tighter editing, clearly defined story structure, more contrast between long and short reads, and improved photo editing and graphics. It is important to mention the Al Ittihad has not experienced a decline in readership, nor in advertising revenue; on the contrary, both are on the uprise.

During the redesign planning did you check other Arabic
speaking newspapers? Did you find something interesting apart from the reading direction (right to left)?
We looked at Arabic language newspapers from around the world,magazines and web sites, and fell in love with the Kufi style; it is equivalent to a modern sans, but it is also deeply rooted in Arabic calligraphy.
The Kufi became the cormerstone of the typographic palette.
One of the most interesting aspects of this redesign was working closely with the typographer Patrick Giasson, in planning and creating the custom typefaces.

    



 

NOV

  

Al Ittihad gets new look for 40th anniversary

from THE NATIONAL

The UAE’s oldest newspaper, Al Ittihad, has launched a full-colour redesign to mark its 40th anniversary.

The new look, unveiled at a ceremony last night at the Emirates Palace hotel, places greater emphasis on photographs and white space. The government-owned paper said it would continue to print the same number of pages and maintain the same editorial voice.

“It’s a new era, our readers have become more sophisticated, and ultimately it was time for a change,” said Rashed al Uraimi, the editor-in-chief.

Al Ittihad is the sister paper of The National, and is owned and published by Abu Dhabi Media Company. The redesign was made possible by ADMC’s recent purchase of a full-colour printing press in Shahama, just north of Abu Dhabi.

The redesign was carried out by Lacava Design, the same team that designed The National, and is accompanied by a redesigned website.

The redesign comes as Al Ittihad is enjoying the greatest readership in its history, said Gavin Dickinson, the executive director of publishing at ADMC.

According to the latest Ipsos readership statistics, the Arabic newspaper’s readership share grew to 16.5 per cent in 2009, up from 13.5 per cent in 2008, eclipsing both Emarat Al Youm and Al Bayan. Only Al Khaleej, published in Sharjah, has a greater share of the Arabic newspaper market.

The redesign is part of a Dh6 million (US$1.63m) investment in Al Ittihad ’s look and marketing, including a major subscription drive and brand campaign, created to remind readers of the formative role the newspaper played in the birth of the nation.

“Ittihad means union, and it was set up to try and help Sheikh Zayed bring these disparate groups together to give a voice to why we were collectively strong as the United Arab Emirates,” Mr Dickinson said. “It has witnessed Abu Dhabi go from this dusty backwater to on its way to becoming one of the greatest cities on the planet.”

The new look tries to remain true to this history, while acknowledging the changing lifestyles of its readers.

“We’ve got a very traditional, influential readership, but we recognise that they, too, have modernised,” he said.

  LACAVA DESIGN

Al Ittihad (The Union) celebrates its 40th anniversary with a brand new full colour redesign.

Greater emphasis will now be placed on the use of photography, graphics and the organization of content.
The structure, colour palette and typography have been completely updated. During a process which lasted 14 months, we introduced three fonts custom designed by Patrick Giasson from Monotype. These modern display faces form a strong link with the paper's Islamic heritage. The section flag font, and the two weights of display, are in the Kufi style, which is the oldest form of Arabic calligraphy, while the cursive text is designed in a contemporary Naskh style. This political daily newspaper is one of the leading and most highly regarded newspapers in the United Arab Emirates.
   
 


















































JONATHAN BARNBROOK
Art Director and Designer- London (UK)


RICH BOUDET
Sportdesigner.com - The Seatle Times (USA)



RAMACHANDRA BABU
Illustrator- Dubai (UAE)






NOV

  

Stephen Komives named SND Executive Director

 


From SND



The Society for News Design has named veteran board member and industry leader Stephen Komives as its executive director.

Komives, Design Editor at the Orlando Sentinel in Orlando, Fla. for the past five years, has also directed the Society’s quick course design workshops since 2007. In his eight years on SND’s board of directors, he has also served as SND Diversity Director and organized two annual SND conventions — 2006 in Orlando and 2002 in Savannah, Ga. His first day as SND executive director will be Nov. 16.

Komives was chosen through an international search process coordinated by 12 SND leaders in five countries and was confirmed unanimously by the board of directors today. He succeeds Elise Burroughs, SND’s executive director since 2004, who is leaving the organization at the end of the year to explore new options.

In making its selection, the search committee lauded Komives for his deep understanding of the issues facing SND, his strong ideas about driving membership and participation, his fortitude in handling big change and his passionate, optimistic leadership style. Komives, who is fluent in Spanish, also has an impressive international background that will facilitate the Society’s global outreach efforts.

SND founder and former SND President Richard Curtis, who anchored the search committee, said Komives typifies all that SND was looking for in a successful candidate: a mastery of his craft, in-depth knowledge of the industry, a commitment to inclusion and diversity, and above all, talent.

“Stephen is articulate, thoughtful, obviously very, very bright,” said Curtis, a founding editor of USA Today. “He has a level-headed assessment of what the job entails, what the job can do, and what success will look like. His answers to our questions were succinct, engaging and illuminating. I have trouble even imagining a superior candidate.”

At the Orlando Sentinel, Komives oversaw the organization’s visual report, developing a team of information designers in print and digital media. He successfully led that team through several challenging transitions, including multiple redesigns and staff reorganizations; the launch of new sections; corporate-level content sharing initiatives; and the creation of a digital-first newsroom.

Prior to joining the Sentinel, he was at the Savannah Morning News in Savannah, Ga., for nine years, the last seven as a planning editor for daily coverage and long-term projects. He also held editing and design jobs at the Santa Fe New Mexican and The Advocate in Stamford, Conn.

“SND has always been about transitions, whether for members moving on to new roles, or news organizations grappling with new ventures,” said Komives. “At every key transition point in my career — learning to design, learning to lead others, learning to lead change — SND has had immense value to me. That’s why I’m excited to take on this role and help give back.”

Komives is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.

The 30-year-old Society for News Design represents 1,300 visual journalists in more than 50 countries. As executive director, Komives will be responsible for both the long-term and day-to-day management of the society and its enterprises, including member services, publications, educational direction, design competitions and annual conventions. He will represent SND to other organizations around the world and will work closely with the president of the SND Foundation, the nonprofit education and research effort of SND.

Members of the search committee were:

• SND President-elect Kris Viesselman, Director of Digital Product Development for National Geographic Maps

• Vice President Bonita Burton, Visuals Editor at the Orlando Sentinel

• Secretary/Treasurer Steve Dorsey, Deputy Managing Editor for Innovation at the Detroit Free Press

• Immediate Past President Gayle Grin, Managing Editor for Design and Graphics at the National Post

• International Director Hans Peter Janisch, a consultant with Zeitungs-und Kommunikationsdesign in Grossenlueder, Germany

• Competition and Judging Director C. Marshall Matlock, Emeritus Professor at Syracuse University

• Region 3 Director Melissa Angle; Senior Designer at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

• Education and Training Director Denise Reagan, Assistant Managing Editor for Visual Journalism at the Florida Times-Union

• Executive Committee Advisor Cristobal Edwards, Professor of Visual Journalism at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile in Santiago

• SNDS member Anna Thurfjell, Design Director at Svenska Dagbladet in Stockholm

• SND Past President Nanette Bisher, former Creative Director of the San Francisco Chronicle

• SND Founder and Past President Richard Curtis, retired Managing Editor for Photo and Graphics at USA Today

NOV

  

Observer to cut sections in redesign

 


From Observer

The Observer is to close three of its monthly magazines and become a four section paper as part of a redesign that will hit newsstands next year.

Guardian News & Media's redesigned Sunday title will have four weekly sections – news, sport, an expanded Review section and the Observer magazine – and the award-winning glossy supplement Observer Food Monthly. The other three supplements, Observer Sport Monthly, Observer Music Monthly and Observer Woman, will close.

Business and personal finance coverage will move into the main news section of the paper, while travel coverage will be incorporated into the expanded Observer magazine.

A core editorial staff will continue to work solely for the Observer. Other Observer journalists will be integrated into the editorial teams that work across the Sunday paper, GNM's other title, the Guardian, and its website network, guardian.co.uk, which includes MediaGuardian.co.uk.

GNM has reopened its voluntary redundancy scheme and the precise number of departures from different editorial departments has not yet been finalised, although the company has said there will be fewer staff at the end of the process.

Observer staff are being briefed about the changes by the paper's editor, John Mulholland, today. Other GNM editorial staff will be briefed about a wider range of company-wide changes tomorrow.

Mulholland said: "Like all newspapers, we had to make changes both to the way we work and to the products we publish. It has been a difficult few months for staff while we have worked through these changes as part of GNM's publishing review, and some hard decisions had to be taken given the extremely challenging economic environment for newspapers."

He added: "The paper we have created as a result of this review will continue to uphold the proud tradition of Observer journalism. It will remain a serious, high-quality, multi-section Sunday newspaper, independently edited, and with its own distinctive voice. I am confident that the new-look paper we will launch early in the new year will continue to be a venue for exciting, robust and authoritative journalism – of the type which our readers rightly expect."

The NUJ head of publishing, Barry Fitzpatrick, said: "This is a move that will make the Observer less competitive in what is already an already exceedingly tough marketplace. It will do nothing to improve circulation and can only result in a lower quality product. We know that Guardian Media Group is looking to save costs, but they need to ensure that any steps don't result in the running down of its titles."

GNM has reopened its voluntary redundancy scheme as it tries to stem losses that are currently running at £100,000 a day.

The company has already cut around £10m from its editorial budget this year, shedding more than 60 journalists through voluntary redundancy in the process, out of a total of about 850.

In September GNM confirmed that the Observer would continue to be published, ending a summer of speculation about the 200-year-old paper's future, but also put staff on notice of further integration and possible job cuts.

Like other newspaper groups, GNM and its parent company, Guardian Media Group, is suffering from the effects of the advertising downturn and a long-term decline in print circulation as readers migrate to the internet.

In its annual results GMG revealed that GNM had made an operating loss of £36.8m in the year ending on 29 March.

GMG, which also runs regional newspapers, radio stations and the Trader Media Group and Emap joint ventures in partnership with the private equity firm Apax Partners, recorded a pre-tax loss of £89.8m.

This loss was attributed largely to GMG's restructuring of its portfolio, particularly the sale of 49.9% of Trader Media Group to Apax, and non-trading losses.

NOV

  

Online ads are booming, if they're attached to a Video

 


From New York Times

CNN.com and ESPN.com are featuring video much more prominently on their home pages, often prompting visitors to press play before they begin to read. Even The Wall Street Journal has moved its video player front and center with a twice-a-day live newscast on WSJ.com.

A major reason is commercial. At a time when other categories of advertising dollars are shrinking, video ads are booming. News sites are adding more video inventory to keep pace with the demands of advertisers, and benefiting from the higher cost-per-thousands, or C.P.M.’s, that ads on those videos command.

The attention to video mirrors changes in how consumers are experiencing news. Major events — be it the presidential election or the death of Michael Jackson — bring a surge in video stream viewings by new users, and each time some of them stick around.

“Every watershed event leaves video more popular than before,” said Charles W. Tillinghast, the president of MSNBC.com, a joint venture between NBC Universal and Microsoft.

K. C. Estenson, the general manager of CNN.com, a unit of Time Warner, said that “people are using the Internet in a different way now.” He added, “With broadband penetration becoming ubiquitous and more and more sites having this easy capability, people are expecting video to be there.”

Media companies typically do not break out figures for video advertising, and certainly the video revenue pales next to search and display advertising. But the growth has spurred investment and interest in video production.

Among Web sites operated by newspapers, The New York Times, Gannett and Tribune each reach more than a million viewers a month with video streams, comScore says. The home page of The Times sometimes streams live video of events; it carried a news conference Friday about the shootings Thursday at Fort Hood, Tex.

But video can be costly to produce, hindering some sites’ efforts to expand and leading people like Mr. Tillinghast to predict that access to television film (like a bounty of NBC News video) is an advantage.

Beyond news sites, video is now the fastest-growing segment of the Internet advertising market. Digital video amounted to $477 million in revenue in the first half of 2009, up 38 percent from the same time period in 2008, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

With an estimated $5 billion in revenue in the first half of 2009, search remains the dominant segment of online advertising, but it is expected to grow only marginally this year.

Augmenting the increase in video spending is the growing acceptance of pre-roll — the once-derided ads that appear before a video plays.

“It actually works really well,” said Brian Quinn, the vice president and general manager of digital ad sales for The Journal’s digital network. A 15-second pre-roll “followed by two to five minutes of high-quality content is a fair-value exchange,” Mr. Quinn said.

•

Analysts say they expect the flow of online advertising dollars to video to continue. The research firm eMarketer projects 35 to 45 percent growth for the segment for each of the next five years, topping out at $5.2 billion in 2014. (Even then, it would hardly rival search advertising, which is projected to be a $16 billion business.)

In the five-year outlook it released last month, eMarketer said that video ads would be the “main channel” for major advertisers seeking to increase their online spending. Already, ads for companies like Johnson & Johnson and Unilever pop up often on sites like MSNBC.com.

“More and more advertisers are starting to play in the online video space,” said Jeremy Steinberg, the vice president of digital sales and business development for the Fox News Channel.

News sites account for only a small portion of the 25 billion video streams counted by comScore on an average month. The firm reported almost 500 million video streams in its news and information category in September — still a substantial figure. Most of the streams occurred on MSNBC.com (162 million, according to comScore) and CNN.com (148 million).

Advertising dollars have not always kept pace with the growing view counts, but Mr. Quinn said video was currently the strongest ad format for WSJ.com.

“I wish we had more, since we’re sold out,” Mr. Quinn said.

In September the site introduced “The News Hub,” a live Webcast from The Journal’s newsroom at 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. each weekday. When “Hub” is shown live on the WSJ.com home page, it includes a sponsorship mention and a companion display ad. When it is replayed, it includes a pre-roll ad. Sponsorships are sold monthly, with Charles Schwab being the current one.

The rate card for WSJ.com lists pre-rolls for a $75 C.P.M. before advertiser discounts. Mr. Quinn said the C.P.M. was around $50 last fall.

FoxNews.com, which like WSJ.com is a unit of the News Corporation, now sells sponsorships of its daytime Web show, “Strategy Room.”

When the show had its debut in its current form earlier this year, it included only an occasional remnant pre-roll ad. This month, as viewership increased, the show started to include TV-style commercial breaks and advertiser logos in the corner of the video screen. Fox says the 9 a.m.-to-5 p.m. show gets an average of 35,000 streams per weekday.

•

Web executives say some clients think of online video as an extension of TV, and others think of it as an enhancement — one that allows for interactive messages and instant feedback from viewers. They acknowledge that the medium is still in many ways immature. Sites continue to disagree about the legitimacy of “autoplay,” a setting that starts videos automatically when a Web page loads, increasing the number of streams without necessarily knowing that the Web user is watching.

Web executives say that ads next to dispatches from Afghanistan normally cannot draw the same C.P.M.’s as lighter fare. MSNBC.com has found success with lifestyle segments that are sold as a package between TV and the Web. Last month it introduced TodayMoms, a section for mothers sponsored by Wal-Mart with a TV connection on the “Today” show.

“The Web is fulfilling this promise of being a medium where you can enjoy video as much as you can see it on TV,” Mr. Tillinghast said. “The difference online is, if you want to do something with it — share it, stick it on a blog, post it on a Facebook page, or mark it and save it — you can do all that. And that was never possible before.”


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JULY 2009

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