Trends Newspaper Design 04

n a e p o r u a p s A w e W Newspaper Design 4 The Results of the Fourth European Newspaper Award Norbert KĂźpper

The Competition

7

The Chief Winners

13

Front Pages

29

Sectional Front Pages

47

Inside Pages

63

Photography

71

Visualization

83

Photo Reportage

91

Infographics

111

Illustration

129

Typography

139

Supplements

149

Special Pages

183

Portfolio

197

The Innovators

215

Special: Flood Disaster

223

Special: Olympics

247

Special: Euro

255

List of Winners

261

European

Newspaper AWARD

N E W S PA P E R D E S I G N

The Competition

7

The Competition

The Trends

With creativity newspapers are braving the present crisis. At the Fourth European Newspaper Award versatility and a consequent development of layout caught the jury’s eye.

Front Pages: Local Newspapers Many of Europe’s local papers use a half-size format – better known as tabloid format – which makes them especially handy and reader-friendly.

Front pages of local papers show a variable page make-up and an excellent use of photography.

But you can rarely find teasers under the mastheads. News items are placed in one column on the left or right side of the page.

Front Pages: Regional Newspapers The word is that newspapers tend to resemble each other more and more. But if you study the front pages of regional papers, you will notice that the contrary is true: Their front pages are becoming more individual and, thus, more unmistakable.

Outstanding lead photos reveal unusual perspectives, extreme closeness and an especially gripping cut.

Smaller pictures are put in contrast to large lead photos.

References to further articles on inside pages appear in columns on the left or right.

More and more regional papers place teasers under their mastheads.

Front Pages: National Newspapers The awarded pages of national papers do not differ substantially from those of regional papers as they address the same target group.

Front pages of national papers show a larger proportion of texts than other papers.

As a considerable number of national papers depend on street vending, teaserboxes below the masthead tend to be bold.

Front Pages: Weeklies The jury had to choose among a great number of pages from weeklies. Only outstanding, creative solutions stood a chance of making it to the winners.

As weeklies have a more generous time scheme at their disposal, their front pages should visualize the main topic of the week in a most convincing way.

As you can see from the awarded pages, front pages need not be overcharged with small articles. In some cases only a single topic is presented.

In any case, however, the front-page story should clearly mark the focus of the page and be highlighted by extreme photographic cuts or other unusual means of visualization.

Sectional Front Pages Compared with previous years, the layout of sectional front pages has become more relaxed.

Some pages show rather a magazine than a newspaper layout.

Contents and quality of the pictures are given utmost attention.

Extreme upright and horizontal formats are often employed.

Inside Pages Doubtlessly, inside pages form the bulk in the daily output of newspaper pages in Europe.

Inspite of this, they are not given the same attention as front pages or sectional front pages. So what can be learned from the winners in that category?

Portioning – the structuring of large topics into smaller, well readable portions – is handled in the same way throughout Europe.

Portioning is a reader-friendly method as it allows the consumers to choose from the offered information and arrange their own menu.

The awarded pages lay special emphasis on pictures and the size of headings as a means to guide the readers quickly and precisely through the pages.

It should become a principle with the editorial staff to improve the quality of the layout of inside pages. They must not fall behind the achieved standards of other pages.

Photography Looking back at the four competitions that have been held so far, the use of photography can be summed up as follows: Professional photographers are able to take spectacular shots from even everyday events.

Great Britain and Ireland: Once and again, quality papers deliver outstanding examples of press photography; tabloids in these countries, on the other hand, fall markedly behind such standards.

Germany, Austria, Switzerland: These countries are halfway up the league table in their use of photography. The last years have shown some improvement. But in the fields of perspective, cut and the photographers’ creativity there is still a lot to catch up with.

The Netherlands: There is a clear trend to one large picture per page. But over the years no change, no innovation has been observed.

Mediterranean countries and France: The use of photos in papers still needs some improvement.

Atmosphere When it comes to catching the atmosphere of an event, most press photographers seem to have problems. Instead of concentrating on atmospherically dense photos they take quick shots.

This may help to improve the photographic quality: Photographers should be given the opportunity to take part in courses where they can be trained to focus on unusual, asmospherically dense motifs besides those purely documentary photos. As tests have proved, good photos influence the readers to take in the written information as well.

Editorial staffs and photographers should make it a rule to discuss about the choice of motifs of an event.

Especially with repetetive local events photographers should seize the opportunity to take an unusual motif for a change.

Photographic Cut The photographic cut is either made directly by the photographer when taking the shot or later at the layout department or by the editorial staff. No matter how, the important thing is that cuts are made at all and are made consciously. The cut has an enormous impact on the overall appearance of a paper. At the fourth competition only two national papers could convince the jury in that category.

But of course, also in other categories such as sectional front pages, special pages or supplements successful photographic cuts could be seen.

Perspective Getting to the ground or climbing a ladder to take photos from a worm’s- or bird’s-eye view should become part of a photographer’s daily routine. But, of course, that requires members among the editorial staff who approve of unusual perspectives and are willing to publish them.

In general, Great Britain’s and Scandinavia’s photographers are more flexible than those in other European countries, because here unusual perspectives can be seen more often than elsewhere.

The positive effects of unusual perspectives can be studied in the awarded pages: The readers are drawn much closer to an event, and its emotional quality can be transmitted to them much better than by just standard photography.

Sequence Generally, sequences should appear more often in newspapers. A photographic sequence is more apt to present to the readers the process of an event and to design advice pages more effectively. The only sequence chosen by the jury shows a playful mood. That single example reveals the potential of this photographic method.

Visualization Quite a number of newspapers need to catch up on the visualization of topics. Mostly, only special pages or weekend supplements are chosen for a gripping visualization.

Journalists, photographers and designers should make it a habit to jointly look for suitable visualizations of topics.

Tests have proved that articles with accompanying photos have 10 % more readers than those without. An unusual visualization of a topic will surely further increase the reader rate.

These are important aspects of visualization: Choice of pictures: Photos should not be just decorative, but get at the core of an event.

Picture and text: The visualization and the lead of an article should be carefully matched as they are meant to complement and not to contradict each other.

This is what visual journalism means: Topics need to be presented in a pithy way to facilitate the readers’ access to an article.

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Photo Reportage Photo reportages are rare birds with Europe’s newspapers. In some countries, like Spain, Italy and France, they do not seem to exist at all, whereas in other countries, like Scandinavia, they are an everyday business. These are aspects of photo reportages: The picture story: This kind of photo reportage tells a story in a logical sequence and mainly by visual means.

The visual survey: Especially on political pages, a number of photos dealing with the same topic might serve to supply a survey and employ an emotional aspect in the report.

The eye for details: Photo reportages can show details which would normally not be dealt with in texts.

Focus on individuals: Examples from Scvandinavia show that a single individual can become the daily focus of a photo reportage.

Illustration As in the previous years, the present competition proved that illustrations are mainly employed in weekend and business sections of newspapers. Illustrations are most apt to visualize rather abstract business topics in an individualistic and unmistakable way.

Illustrations supply a number of topics with the necessary emotion as they bear the individual handwriting of the artist.

This is why they should not be restricted to certain sections. Even political topics are compatible with illustrations.

Typography Each newspaper wants to have their own unmistakable appearance. This can best be achieved by a typeface for headlines which is not used by another paper – a trend that is being continued for years now.

Some newspapers like Sonntag Aktuell from Stuttgart (Germany) and Le Monde (France) had even their own typefaces designed.

Apart from that, typographic details rate highly. Credit lines, leads, tables, info-boxes: There are solutions for each detail in design handbooks by various publishers. This year’s trend is unmistakability and a wealth of typographic details.

Complex infographics: They are as well presented now as in the last year.

Structuring: Pages filled with infographics dominate the present competition. Close scrutiny, however, reveals that smaller graphics, photos and explanations are complementary elements to a chief piece of infographics.

Colour: Many infographics appear almost black and white as colour is so much reduced. Thus, their documentrary value is emphasized.

Photos and infographics: A number of infographics are added by photos. In some cases the photos serve as the basis for infographics.

Texts and infographics: Explanatory texts belong to infographics. Their wording is brief and plain.

Infographics Where texts become too complicated to explain facts and photos cannot be taken, the third channel of presenting information can be employed: infographics. The ideal case would be a unity of information consisting of texts, photos and infographics.

Supplements The winners in that category show the wide range of supplements in Europe’s newspapers: Christmas or New Year’s Eve supplements travel supplements politicial supplements sports supplements events supplements weekend supplements.

White space: White space plays an important role and articles are relatively short. The overall impression is generous and relaxed.

Headlines: Quite often they are short and stand off against the remaining page.

Photos: They dominate a great number of supplements because of their size, cut and choice of motifs.

Combination of text and photo: Pithily phrased headlines and gripping photos form attractive combinations and arouse the readers’ interest.

Contents: It was amazing to see that political topics such as the conflict in Iraq or data protection had been successfully dealt with in terms of design.

Special Pages Europe’s newspapers still produce lots of special pages on different topics. Among the winners are especially those pages with topics on leisure and lifestyle.

Advisory function: Some special pages seem to have taken over the function of advisers when they add boxes of facts or definitions to their articles.

Visualization: In general, visualization is imaginative and to the point. Special pages are supposed to present what is special and unusual, after all.

Length of articles: In relation to the visual part, texts are amazingly short.

Portioning: There are lots of ways to do that. Innovative is semi-bold print at the beginning of paragraphs and texts that take the form of questions and answers.

Thus, the written parts necessarily get a more relaxed look. Boxes with facts or additional information are still trendy.

Special topics Besides the Olympic Games at Salt Lake City and the introduction of the Euro, one of the special topics at the fourth competition was the flood disaster. The spectrum of visualization went from gripping close-ups to pictures taken from space. When under pressure, newspaper makers obviously tend to develop an undreamt-of creative versatility – a creativity that should emerge more often during normal working hours.

The Independent Jury

Targets and Criteria The Targets The European Newspaper Award aims at improving the exchange of information about newspaper design within Europe and the contribution of new and creative solutions.

The committee met in Düsseldorf (Germany) this year, following an invitation by the editors of the Rheinische Post. The members of the jury (from left to right): Angelika Eggert, graduate designer from Düsseldorf; Annette Milz, editor-in-chief of Medium Magazin, Frankfurt /Main; Johann Oberauer, publisher of Der Österreichische Journalist from Salzburg (Austria), and Dr. Meinrad Rahofer, director of the board of trustees for the training of journalists, Salzburg.

The Organizers Norbert Küpper, who developed the idea of the competition, is in charge of the organization. The panel of judges consists, among others, of Annette Milz, editor-inchief of Medium Magazin, and Johann Oberauer, publisher of Der Österreichische Journalist. In March 2003 a congress was held in combination with the presentation of the awards in the Coronation Hall at the City Hall of Aachen. The organizers are jointly supported by the city of Aachen, the publishing house of the Aachener Nachrichten, the International Newspaper Museum and the Chamber of Commerce in Aachen.

The Participants More than 1,600 publishing houses in Europe had been addressed to and 206 newspapers responded. In addition to this, the market is steadily being observed by different newspaper experts, designers and journalists.

The Awards The jury was well aware of the fact that national newspapers have larger budgets than small local papers. In order to take these different financial resources into consideration, the award “Europe’s Best Designed Newspaper“ is divided into the categories: local paper, regional paper, national paper, and weeklies.

11 Awards for Excellence are given according to different categories such as front pages, inside pages, supplements, special pages, infographics, etc.

The Criteria Only the design is put to the test, not the quality of the texts. The jury, however, keeps a watchful eye on the compatibility of pictures and articles.

The standard of the design of the sent-in papers had to be clearly above the normal.

Therefore, it was not enough to make a neatly designed newspaper, which quite a number of papers try to achieve.

A high standard in the use of visuals, including photographic cuts, the size of photos and variation of formats, is required. Uniform sizes and formats and lack of care with photographic cuts are sure to make a negative impression on the jury.

The layout has to be of professional quality. Block make-up and an unmistakable connection between text and picture have to be guaranteed.

The layout of the pages should neither be too uniform nor too variable. If it is too uniform, it will be boring; if it is too variable, it might appear chaotic. The winners have found the golden mean: a systematic use of fixed elements of design for the entire newspaper.

Typographic elements have to be strictly used on all pages.

The chief prizewinners are unconventional, distinctive and innovative in the widest sense in the use of their creative means.

European

Newspaper AWARD

N E W S PA P E R D E S I G N

The Chief Prizewinners

13

Ta Nea Europe’s Best Designed Newspaper in the category ‘national newspaper’.

Jury Statement Its relaxed layout, where even news pages show lots of white space, makes Ta Nea an outstanding national Greek newspaper.

Different channels of information, like infographics, pictures and texts, are combined in a most consequent way.

Its pithy visualization of topics emphasizes its closeness to their readers. Supplements on sports, culture, automobiles, health care and career round off the picture of a modern, reader-friendly daily.

Information on the newspaper Ta Nea, Greece, sells 90,000 copies.

Its format is 29 x 36 cm. Supplements on sports and culture are issued every day, supplements on automobiles, health care and career appear every week.

Front Page. Ta Nea relies on the portioning of visuals in their report on a gang of terrorists known under the name “17 N“ who, for decades, were responsible for assassinations in Greece.

Although newspapers in Greece are only available at retailers, Ta Nea does not use a typical tabloid layout such as huge red banner headlines, but concentrates on a single topic and its various aspects.

Visualization. For a visual demonstration of the topic, a revolver and the logo of the terror group is placed in the middle.

Portioning. At the top of the page, seven assassinations have been listed in a row, beginning with the date and a brief explanatory text and ending with a picture of the crime scene or the victim. The information is not pressed into a single textblock, but well struc-tured – a reader-friendly solution.

Reader Guidance. A single large headline dominates the page, other elements are visibly smaller. The masthead is cleared of any additional information. Straight priorities result in a clear guidance of the readers.

15

Normal News Page. The topic flood disaster in Europe is presented in a reader-friendly way by the use of infographics, photography and text. The white space on the page is achieved by a variable column.

Calendar of Events. ‘Panorama’ is the title of the daily supplement with culture ads, a list of events and TV programme. Cut-out pictures and the contrast between large and small pictures result in a relaxed layout.

Bergens Tidende Europe’s Best Designed Newspaper in the category ‘regional newspaper’.

Jury Statement Bergens Tidende impresses with a high standard of visuals on all pages. Also normal inside pages have a clear structure.

The newspaper is divided into two books.

Especially the second book with the culture section, the opinion pages and service elements, like the calendar of events, the TV programme and the weather forecast, is like a daily supplement. This part of the paper has a strikingly relaxed look because of the generous amount of white space left on all pages.

Information on the Newspaper Bergens Tidende, Norway, sells 94,000 copies. Bergen is Norway’s second biggest city. The newspaper is published in the Nordic format and employs 62 editors, 13 photographers and four layouters. Even on normal weekdays the paper comprises 60 pages and a large number of ads.

High Volume of Ads. It cannot be denied that Bergens Tidende has a very high volume of ads. Also on normal weekdays, 60 pages are produced, many of which contain ads. There are even ads on both sides of the masthead on the front page, the right of which is self-advertising. In spite of this, the masthead in Gothic typeface and the coat of arms in its centre is not marred, as the ads here are kept very small.

At the bottom of the front page a strip of 20 cm in height is reserved for ads, which is separated from the upper part by horizontal lines.

Versatility of Topics. The remaining space on the front page leaves enough room for eight different topics.

In spite of the limited space, a dominating lead picture has found its place.

Visual Display. At the end of each article on the front page, references can be found to further articles on the topic on inside pages. The front page can thus be regarded as a display for the newspaper’s contents.

Local Focus. The front-page story is about life vests that are to be used on boats. So it is not a national topic that has made its way on to the front page, but a local issue. A trend towards regionalization can be observed throughout Europe.

17 Contrast of Pictures. These inside pages from the second section appeared on a normal weekday – Thursday, May 23. The photos show the situation at rehearsals and behind the scenes of a stage play.

The connecting element of these pages is the placement of photos and texts. They are all put on the same level. On the left, there is a single large photo, on the right, one can count 11 photos, all of which well convey the atmospheric density with the people at work.

Each photo is supplied with a caption of its own. The white space between the photos and the article at the bottom leaves the impression of generosity. The contrasting formats and white spaces create tension.

Local Page. The front page is immediately followed by the local section. The section heads of the inside pages have an especially light design. News items are clustered in a column on the left.

Internet Connection. A truck accident is the topic of the lead article on this page. At the end of it a reference is made to a video in the Internet that can be reached via home page.

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Photo Reportage. In their half-size supplement a photo reportage presents the topic AIDS. Its 24 pages show the situation of AIDS sufferers in Norway, Russia, Estonia and Africa. The focus is laid on the photos. The story itself does not consist of a single running-on text, but is made of numerous pages, which result in a many-facetted picture. The individual parts of the article are supplied with the author’s and photographer’s names and their e-mail addresses.

The photos are framed with a 2 mm-wide line, giving them a documentary appeal.

Tønsbergs Blad Europe’s Best Designed Newspaper in the category ‘local paper’.

Jury Statement Tønsbergs Blad already attracted the jury’s attention in the past years because of their sectional front pages. It won the European Newspaper Award three times in a row.

Their powerful use of visuals is extended on all pages. Especially the heart of this daily – the local section – impresses with its professional handling of visual elements.

Photographic sizes and cuts and a clear page layout set this newspaper off against other local papers.

Information on the newspaper Tønsbergs Blad from Norway with a number of 33,765 sold copies is issued in the Nordic format. They have four photographers and six layouters on their team. Tønsberg lies south of Oslo and belongs to Norway’s most densely populated region, which explains the newsapaper’s high number of advertisements.

Page heads. This local page shows a big section head, like all pages in this newspaper. They underline their competence in local matters.

Personalization. Left of the sectional headline, photos of the editors have been placed. Each article is supplied with the name, phone number and e-mail address of the authors. These personal data are meant to encourage the readers to get into contact with their paper.

Contrast of Photos. The large lead colour picture is contrasted with three small ones. They give the page a relaxed look and prevent large grey textblocks.

Service Boxes. They are not at all a sporadic means, but used systematically on a great number of pages. This page shows two boxes on a beige-coloured background marked with the word ‘Fakta’. The facts are structured by means of small squares and semi-bold print for the initial words.

Clear Page Layout. The lead article is clearly pointed out by the large picture and the headline. Brief articles are clustered in a column on the right with a lot of white space on its left, which helps to structure the page for the readers. Topics of major or minor importance are automatically made clear by the layout.

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Top Priority: Local Events. The large photo shows a tanker accident in the local area. The teasers on the top right and left refer to editorial supplements and further articles on their opinion page, in the sports section and on one of the news pages.

Service for the Readers. This front page of a weekend supplement consists of more than an amusing lead picture.

The article contains service boxes with information on the person in question and ten tips for skiing tours. There is service for the readers on all pages.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung Europe’s Best Designed Newspaper in the category ‘weekly’.

Jury Statement The layout of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung can be described as a mixture of zeitgeist and tradition. Its zeitgeist attitude is marked by the small cut-out pictures under the masthead, the large colour photos and the division into different sections. The traditional aspect is conveyed by the unobtrusive and sober typography which guarantees excellent readability and clarity. Their overall design is unmistakable as the layout of the daily has been further developed for the needs of a Sunday paper.

Information on the newspaper The FAS was founded in 2001 and sells 263,212 copies at present. It is published in the Nordic format.

Photographic Cut. An extreme landscape-size format is the eye-cacher on this page. The topic ‘National Gallery’ is very well visualized.

Relaxed Masthead. The idea to print the masthead in a dark blue with shadows along the edges makes for a visible modernization. In combination with the small cut-out elements a relaxed atmosphere is created which corresponds to the contents of a Sunday paper.

Contrasts with Pictures. The small photos in the lower part of the page form a contrast to the large lead photo and create a relaxed appearance.

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Front Page as Poster. The silhouettes of the two candidates for chancellorship, Mr Schrรถder and Mr Stoiber, make the front page a poster. The masthead is integrated into the picture.

Completely Relaxed. This double page about squirrels gets its charm from the rich illustrations that gather around an article in the middle. Their playful character alludes to the relaxed weekend atmosphere and, thus, contributes to the idea of a weekend paper.

Visual Clarity. The front pages of the individual sections have a single large photo in common, which is employed as an eye-catcher. The lower part of the page shows a quiet design.

The lengthy articles are broken up by additional boxes, as can be seen on the business page and the travel page. Breakers do not occur. Pictures and headlines are obviously thought enticing enough for the customers to start reading. The article shows no further structuring for the sake of the page’s visual clarity.

25 25 The Secret of Success.

Die Woche, an ambitious weekly as far as design and contents are concerned, never reached high circulation figures.

In the end they sold about 135,000 copies. After a period of nine years, it was discontinued in the spring of 2002 as there were no prospects of any financial success.

That a new weekly, namely the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, should have a circulation of 263,212 within just one year (IVW 3/2002) seems absolutely amazing.

About their secret of success one can only speculate: 1 The well-known name „Frankfurter Allgemeine“ implies reliability, tradition and significance.

2 There is obviously a great number of people left who enjoy reading an upmarket newspaper with a relaxed layout on Sunday.

Visualization. The caption says, “Mouse-click instead of hammer-blow“. The topic auctions in the Internet is visualized. Because of the cut-out pictures the page appears very relaxed. The article on the top right dealing with tips and tricks is structured by small red breakers.

Facts, Facts, Facts. This inside page is marked by a two-line heading at the top of the page. The facts are presented to the readers most clearly. The page consists of two articles, a chart, infographics and two lists.

Diário de Notícias Judges’ Special Recognition

Information on the newspaper Diário de Notícias (Portugal) sells 100,000 copies. DNA is their weekend supplement.

So far it has won Awards for Excellence at all competitions.

That is to say that their level has been extremely high for years on end now.

Photo Reportage I. A summer special of DNA deals with the beauty of the Portuguese Atlantic coast. The austere black-and-white photos are accompanied by sandy bands at the top and at the bottom for contrast. Textblocks, surrounded by an extreme amount of white space, add to the atmosphere of solitude and austerity.

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Photo Reportage II. A photo reportage can rarely do without texts. The example of New York in the year1985, in fact, manages this difficult task as almost any reader has already seen famous sights of New York, such as streets, skyscrapers or bridges. The reportage was published in October 2001, shortly after the terroristic attack at the World Trade Center. Even the front page of the supplement does without a headline.