APR

  

TIMES OF OMAN AND AL SHABIBA REDESIGN



From Mario Garcia blog

A little history

Jan Kny (Garcia Media Europe) and I started working with a redesign of the Times of Oman exactly two and a half years ago.  Three art directors later, we now have Adonis Durado as design director, and, he, in turn has hired an accomplished team of designers, info graphic and illustration artists and the environment was more conducive for us to do our work.

The Times of Oman that will see the light Sunday, April 4, has also rethought its content presentation: there are three sections now, as follows:

First section, international news and opinion.
Second section, Today in Oman, with Extra (lifestyle) and Connect(classifieds)
Third section, Market (business and finance), Sports

 





LUCIE LACAVA
Lacava Design

Key points of the redesign

Typographic scheme:

Text: Sentinel
Lead headlines on each page: Sentinel
Secondary headlines: Vitesse
Accents: Tungsten
(All fonts from Hoefler & Frere-Jones—www.typography.com)

New page size:
31.5 cm x 57.8 cm

Navigation: Each section front navigates readers to inside content, and always a “Three not to miss” box appears as well.

Color on every page: With a new printing press, the Times of Oman, and Al Shabiba, can now
afford color capability on all pages. The printing machine is City Line Express / Made in India.







JONATHAN BARNBROOK
Art Director and Designer- London (UK)


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


RAMACHANDRA BABU
Illustrator- Dubai (UAE)













LUCIE LACAVA COMMENTS ABOUT:

It is fascinating to see the evolution of the logo and I can certainly appreciate the attention to detail one must pay to the position and shape of dots in arabic calligraphy which can render a word illegible if absent or misplaced.
I like the combination of the Kufi sans with the calligraphic “sheen”, it is very dynamic. I am in favour of the flame being selected over the more classic dots version, after all it is a logo. A logo must be distinctive. It must reinforce the brand. A logo must be legible but not necessarily read every time we pick up the paper. A logo graces the front page just like a painting graces a room. At first we notice admire and interpret every stroke, and eventually it become part of the whole.Congratulations on your latest relaunches, Al Shabiba looks good!