According to Marcio Freitas, the challenge for him and his colleagues at Folha de Sao Paulo was an incredible excess of news, and very small space in which to present it.
As a result, he says, “we created a constant: briefs. However, this did not keep us from using big and inviting photos.”

Folha’s pages also show great emphasis on the summaries that accompany each article, as well as the many colors used, and designs with plenty of movement. White space is used judiciously here, but it helps the overall design when used.

Notice that the cover of the special Olympic supplement utilizes an icon emblematic of Chinese culture, which, says Marcio, gave the publication a special feel and personality. This logo treatment allows it to be moved anywhere on the page, allowing the designers great flexibility.

Overall, interesting use of type, photos, imposing headlines. The Folha team, with whom I have had the pleasure and honor of working, is Brazilian creativity at its best.
Their enthusiasm, sense of collegiality and the fun they have when producing the daily pages of the newspaper allow them to make the best of even difficult situations and deadlines, as was the case with daily coverage of the Olympics.

TheMarioBlog posting #78

‘It is wet and windy, dad,” my daughter Elena told me. “But nothing major here.”

That reassured me and I did not give any thoughts to my own house, which was built 24 years ago and has survived many storms and hurricanes with only tree branches falling here and there.

When my neighbor Ken called me a few days ago,however, I knew something was not right.

“Mario, I think your house was hit by lightning when the storm passed thru Tampa, and part of your roof is exposed, and several tiles have fallen off,” he said on the phone.

Today, I arrived home and came prepared for the worst, so it was not as bad as I thought: about 20 tiles are gone from the roof of my house, and some broken tiles were found on the deck behind the house that leads to the scenic Hillsborough River.

The biggest surprise, however, was that not only did lightning damaged the roof, but it also blew up the battery box in my garage that provides me with telephone, cable television and, most important, wireless connection to the Internet.

So, today, I have spent the day at home, dealing with roofers, telephone technicians, and getting all those things we take for granted repaired.

The irony of it all is that by the time my television service was restored, the first image that was on the screen was that of our local weatherman on Channel 8 showing video of how a new hurricane, named Gustav, is creating havoc in Haiti, and moving west.

Indeed, it is hurricane season in this part of the world. For now, the roofer should come tomorrow, and I just got my wireless back!

The sun was shining all day, and it should be sunny and warm tomorrow again, so not so bad for the roofer who will have to climb up there to start the repairs.

As for me, I hope to be able to abandon domestic duties long enough to return to TheMarioBlog and my usual musings about our craft.

Part of my day today has been a discussion of a topic that can be “red hot” in some newsrooms, especially in the United States, but not necessarily limited to North America.

It is a myth that readers attach seriousness to a newspaper with a lot of text on page one.

The debate can be summarized like this:
An editor insists that there will be at least TWO stories that can be read on page one. Yes, these stories can jump (or be continued) inside, but there must be some text for the reader to sink his literate teeth into right on that first page of the newspaper.

Another editor says it does not have to be so, that seriousness comes with how stories are presented, the type of stories chosen, and how they are handled. A newspaper’s reputation for respectable journalism comes with years of good reporting, service to readers and the community, and an eye for original content, good analysis and an opinion page that guides and influences.

I agree with the second editor.

I think the front page of today–and of the future–is one where one presents a map to the journey that is the entire newspaper, but Page One is not the destination. The reader of today is telling us: show me the way, guide me to all that is good and necessary inside the newspaper, and let me make my choices of where to go first, second and third—or where not to go, for that matter.

Scanners sometimes read a summary on page one, and that is all they need to know about that one particular story.

I have decided to write about this, because perhaps putting it in writing will have a greater effect than when I tell editors this in a conference, which I tend to do at least twice a week.

Gravitas and seriousness are built over the years—or, better yet, each day—with the content we choose and how we report it. It has little to do with a philosophy of page one and how much text we put on it..

HOW OTHERS DO IT

FOLHA DE SAO PAULO, Brazil:
A broadsheet, Folha uses summaries that are self contained on page one, then guide readers to inside page where the entire story appears.  This is the style of all Brazilian dailies. There are no jumps, simply summaries of stories. A survey of Page One gives readers a good idea of what the major stories are, allowing them the choice to read inside if they so wish.

THE SWEDISH DAILIES:
Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm; Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm; Goteborgs Posten, Goteborg.
All compact format, the Swedish newspapers use their front page to summarize stories , then readers go inside to read the complete text.

The new Poynter Online is up and running!  Visit www.poynter.org and check it out: easier to navigate, less busy than previous design, and more likely to remind us of news websites in its architecture, look and feel.

Our Poynter colleague, Bill Mitchell, director of Poynter Online, tells us what’s new with the new design:

Improved navigation. Find what you’re looking for on the Poynter site quickly and easily. 
Easy access. Your Poynter favorites, such as Romenesko, Al’s Morning Meeting, E-Media Tidbits, are all easily accessible. 
Poynter Groups. Our new online networking feature, Poynter Groups gives you a new way to communicate with fellow journalists. You can participate in ongoing discussions on a range of topics as well as post a profile and photo.
Get Started
Explore the redesign. Get a description of the key changes, as well as an overview of the redesign and Frequently Asked Questions. Take a tour of the site redesign with this Flash video.
Update your profile. Log in at top right of any page and update your profile with your current e-mail address and mug shot. Also, join a Poynter Group to network with others in the business.
Contact us with any problems. Things not working as you expect? Let us know and we’ll address it as quickly as possible and get back to you.

TheMarioBlog posting #76

British designer Frank Ariss combines his corporate design practice with an academic career on both sides of the Atlantic. He is a Professor of Design at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.  His client list includes a list of “Who’s Who” in global business. To newspaper designers, however, Ariss is best remembered for his redesign of the Minneapolis Tribune in 1969.

Mario:  Frank, what are your favorite text fonts?
Frank: Helvetica and Baskerville, for numerous good reasons, both aesthetically and practically.

Mario: I remember using a case study of your Minneapolis Tribune work when I wrote my first book, “Contemporary Newspaper Design”. What was your inspiration?

Frank: Tribune inspiration? Inspiration had nothing to do with it. Just some bloody good old fashion deep thoughtful thinking, a lot of hard work, and then making the right decisions. Yes, my concept and rational for the Tribune in the late 1960’s is still good for today, and tomorrow. Attached is a PDF of my original Tribune prototype, 1969. Do you realize that is forty years and how revolutionary the design was.

Mario: How would you describe the state of U.S. newspaper design today?
Do you have a favorite newspaper in terms of design?

Frank: State of US newspaper design? Bloody deplorable. Bad editorial content can never be redeemed by good design nor can good editorial content be totally destroyed by bad design. So, show me a newspaper that has good editorial content and good design and it will be my favorite.

Mario: What are you working on these days?

Frank: My work these days? Designs for print, computer, lecturing, and many other things that come along. Hard to put a percentage to it.  I don’t try to, or care to. I just love designing, whatever it is. Simple as that. Remember, my portfolio is very wide in scope, from postage stamps to exhibits.

And, as much as I love designing with a passion, I also love my time on the boat, pouring over navigation books and charts, tending to the humble spuds in my garden, looking up at the stars and wondering why and how, and so many other eclectic interests and delights. It all makes me a better designer.

All about Helvetica:
Helvetica is not only an elegant, reliable and beautiful font. It is, to my knowledge, the only typographic font to inspire a movie.  “Helvetica” is a feature-length film about the proliferation of one typeface and how type generally affects our lives. 

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For samples of Frank Ariss’ work:
http://www.frankarissdesign.com/

HELVETICA THE MOVIE
http://www.helveticafilm.com/

FOR A GOOD HISTORY OF HELVETICA:
http://typophile.com/node/13514?

TheMarioBlog posting # 75

I had my iPhone in my pocket Saturday in Miami as I ran errands. I heard the alert beep and took a look: it was The New York Times reporting that Obama had picked Biden as his choice for VP on the Democratic ticket. This was about 3 pm Saturday afternoon. I followed the story online throughout the day, although not much was added.

The Sunday newspapers today are reporting the story about 16 hours after the electronic media reported it.  I am happy to see that, with few exceptions, most of the front pages I checked online used Second Day Headlines on Day One.

We show them to you here, and our choice of the best is The Hartford Courant, which combined the choice of Biden as VP on the ticket, with an analysis of what it headlined the Obama Effect.

I particularly like that headlines were played big; indeed, simply because the news item may be known, there is no reason why headlines cannot be substantial, especially if they project the story beyond what happened, as the examples here show.

On our June 11 posting, we discussed the flow of the story in a multi-platform world, and the use of the second day headline on day one:
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/the_path_of_the_story_from_mobile_to_online_to_print/

While looking for Obama/Biden pages, we ran into these two pages, from The Virginian Pilot and Folha de Sao Paulo which show that a mini-poster approach on page one can be used as part of the Page One navigation

TheMarioBlog posting #74

All this week we have been posting items of interest from Dubai, including samples of the many and interesting printed newspapers that now call the city of the future home.

Today, as I try to do each Saturday, I compile your comments and emails to highlight some that are particularly insightful.  By the way, I continue to be surprised that, while not many of our readers of TheMarioBlog post actual comments for all to see, many write emails directly to me. This is fine, but I hope you don’t mind if I share your email commentary with your fellow readers. In each case, I am only using the first name and city of the person writing.

Two emails stand out this week:

Jonathan J., of Dubai, writes:
“I have followed your stories from Dubai this week with great interest. I am sorry to inform you that Emarat al Youm does not look much like the sample pages you showed. Why is the original design not followed?

Rachita G., of Dubai, writes:
“Have you seen Business 24/7 lately? It started out as a beautiful tabloid design, but it has turned into a highly simplistic product. I am sorry to see that happen.”

Here is my take on the topic of design sustainability.

I agree with both of you that neither one of these newspapers exhibits the degree of design craftmasnship and inventiveness of the original prototypes. But I have to say that some aspects of my own product in Dubai, Gulf News, are not the same as we had prototyped them, although in this case I am retained to visit four times a year and not only assist with the evolution of the design, but also monitor its progress. This helps.

However, prototypes represent some degree of fantasy; the published edition represents reality.

Prototypes are prepared by skilled designers and art directors, in the best working conditions, usually without that oppressing deadline, and, to be honest, in a pressure-free environment where creativity rules the day.

Having said that, there are some strategies that can be used to guarantee that erosion of an original design concept is minimal.
Here are some tips that have worked for me:

1. Build a prototype that is based on the realities of the newspaper’s daily production, its human resources and technology.
2. Incorporate the strong foundation of what I call the Fabulous Four:
–Story Structures: create a systematic approach to how each type of story is told in the newspaper. Usually, I create six to eight of these.
=Typography: create a systematic approach to how typography will be utilized for every detail, from the smallest photo credit under a photograph, to the biggest headline on othe day a major breaking news occurs.
–Page architecture: nothing can be more important and easier to systematize than the grid the newspaper will follow.
–Color palette: Give the designers a range of colors that will become part of the newspaper’s brand, but that will, through continued use, offer visual consistency to the product.

3. Make sure the prototype is more like a regular laid out newspaper than an art directed one. Remember, the talent pool involved in the creation of the prototype might NOT be there to carry the day to day production.
4. Create templates and styleguides that ensure that these basic foundations are explained clearly to all who will work with them.

Yes, it would be wonderful to have The-Year-After-Pill, so that the prototype concept would perpetuate itself. Such is not the case. In the best environments, the daily editions evolve beyond the prototype, becoming stronger and better.

I can reassure you that few prototypes look the same one year after they have been executed, but if the foundation of the Fabulous Four is there, a good 80% of the concept remains.

LUCIE LACAVA ON THE NATIONAL

During our The Dubai Report week (August 1) we reviewed The National, the new daily in the UAE, published in Abu Dhabi. 

Our email brings us a note from a designer we admire much, Lucie Lacava:

“ It was a pleasure to read your blog on newspapers in Dubai, and especially your thoughts on The National. I chose a very cool colour palette, because it is so hot here, I wanted the paper to feel like you were entering an oasis, like the feeling of a fresh breeze and cool water, after experiencing intense heat.

“I think the resemblance to the old Guardian comes from the headline font. But if we compare the two papers side by side they are quite different. I was looking for a generic, ubiquitous font, very much like, but not Helvetica. If it feels like you’re in London it’s actually a good thing since the majority of readers here are expats from the UK.
Thank you so much for the extremely positive review! I’m glad you like the paper. “

http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/nine_dailies_two_languages_publishing_newspapers_in_the_city_of_the_future

In Miami, where the after effects of tropical storm Fay continue to be felt: it rains heavily at times and many of the streets and even sidewalks are full of water. The sun appears momentarily, then goes away.

Monday: A Three-Minute-Interview with veteran designer Frank Ariss, who created the legendary design of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in 1969, using only Helvetica.

TheMarioBlog posting #73

It is Sunday everyday at the Gulf News, or so it seems to those arriving here from Europe or The Americas. We are used to “big newspaper packages” on Sunday.  Sunday is truly another day here, since Dubai starts the weekend Thursday evening, and everybody is off on Friday, and some on Saturday, but Sunday is the Monday as we know it.

The Weekend edition is published on Friday. However, each day the Gulf News comes armed with its usual four sections: news, business, sports and Tabloid (feature and entertainment).  But there are also entire classified sections devoted to jobs (Appointments), real estate (Freehold), and, in a city where buildings appear everywhere all the time, sometimes there is a Freehold 2 section, that is how many dwellings are in this energized market.

THEN COME THE EXTRAS: Depending on what day of the week it is, readers of the Gulf News may get Notes (about education), or Friday (the glossy magazine with topics ranging from food to fashion, health and travel), E +, the entertainment weekly complete with TV and movie listings and reviews, Weeekend Review (analysis and commentary, book reviews, the arts)., Unwind leisure), Explore (Travel), SportsXtra (a mega supplements with everything you want to know about sports that week).

A GLOSSY MAGAZINE WORLD: Then there is an entire unit of Al Nisr Publishing devoted to magazines that are sold separately from the Gulf News, and that include Aquarius (for young women), Wheels (all about automobiles, boats, planes), Property Weekly (a fat real estate supplement), InsideOut (the slick architecture/interior design magazine) and the new one 4Men (a sophisticated monthly with fashion, health, fitness and features). 

“We have a variety of publications that go beyond this,” says Abdul Hamid Ahmad, editor in chief of Gulf News, and executive director of publications for Al NIsr Publishing. “We also do GN Financial Quarterly, and Friday magazine will publish extra editions devoted to photography, Special topics are handled under GN Focus. The idea is to use the vast resources that we have to provide our readers with variety and many opportunities.”

IT IS NOT ALL ABOUT THE PRINTED NEWSPAPER: As I observe the activities here at the Gulf News, and, as my work as consultant involves work with each individual unit under its roof, I realize that in a majority of newspapers around the world, the newspaper is all that they do.  Here, synergies emerge, connections are made, and the staff is energized by the many publications that are created, each maintaining its individual identify.

It is a ritual, at 10 am, Abdul Hamid calls me into his office, and soon his assistant arrives ready to serve Arabic coffee (that comes first), then Turkish coffee. Indeed, both are a treat, and, as a Cuban-American, I can handle both very well, gracias!  Arabic coffee requires an art to serve, and I always enjoy seeing how they pour it from up high; Turkish coffee is strong and gives you enough of a pick up to climb to the half way point of the Burj Dubai.

Not even one hour after I had posted this blog today Friday, I already had two emails from some of you who wanted to know the difference between Arabic, Turkish and Cuban coffee. Although I am not a Starbucks barista, here is what I can offer you, and thanks for asking.

Thanks to designer Al Trivino, who worked on the design concept for Emarat Al Youm, we show you here a series of prototype pages of that daily published here in Dubai.

To be sure, during this week of August 17 while I have been working out of Dubai, I have not seen many real pages that come to the level of designed of the prototype pages Al has sent me.  However, we all know that the prototype—an exercise on what could be, done with plenty of time to contemplate, and with one foot in reality and three feet up in the air—can be quite different from what appears daily, as editors and designers face the reality of deadlines.

It is obvious, however, that what Al created has served as a good foundation for the overall architecture of the pages: good sense of hierarchy, big headlines for lead stories, a major Center of Visual Impact per page. These basics are adhered to.  What I don’t see is the more art directed touches that we see on the entertainment prototype pages here.

I asked Al Trivino to bring us up to date on the challenges of working with the design of newspaper in Arabic. Of course, the first challenge —and one and I have faced myself—is the fact that reading is done from right to left. The front page is, indeed, the last page of the section, by western standards.  Here Al gives us a fascinating behind the scenes about type selection:

“ Well, the real challenge was not dealing with architecture nor navigation, or even with a rather mediocre photo editing. The challenge was to give this newspaper a distinctive look in a market where four or five Arabic fonts are used and reused.

“So, I would say that typography was the real protagonist here.
Since I cannot speak nor read Arabic, the great challenge was to give this, the first tabloid daily in the Middle East a unique voice, with western sounds, but without alienating it from its genetic code.

“ I went to the University of Reading, in the UK, and studied all I could about the development of non-Latin alphabets. I also stationed myself at the door of the American University of Dubai, where, at the time, there was an interesting projet trying to match great European typographers with young Arab typographers from the Middle East. The idea was how to make the Latin and Arabic alphabets coexist without noise.

“That is how we arrived at TheMix Arabic, the Arabic version of Lucas de Groot’s TheMix. I thought this would be the ideal font for an target audience of readers 20 to 40 year olds. This was the perfect font for that young Emirati culture of the Starbucks generation. It is sort of a western sans serif.

“Pascal Zoghbi, from Lebanon, collaborated with Lucas in the completion of the alphabet, and to create the formats It was Pascal also who created the star font for this project; Imarat Headlines, a display font with tons of personality and good angles.

“I started prototyping with Adobe Arabic, of John Hudson, formatted by Fiona Ross. However, the editor thought it gave the newspaper too much of a Persian feel.  So, at the end, we ended up, much to my disappointment, using the same typography they had before, with very slight variations, especially for numbers.”

For current pages of Emarat Al Youm:
http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/ar/viewer.aspx

It happens all the time, and People Magazine is there to remind us: the same dress as worn by two or three different celebrities, then a reader’s poll asking: Who Wore it Best?
This is another area where Paris Hilton never wins, for example.

In the world of design someone should do a segment titled Who Did It First?

Here in Dubai, I provide with you a first such entry: the newcomer to the men’s magazine scene, IQ, apparently LOVED the way Esquire magazine handled a feature on wrist watches, so it did a high level “localization of the concept” and here it is.

No comments from here except to say that we would prefer Paris Hilton wearing the same dress as Nicole Ritchie anytime over a magazine copying another magazine’s concept.

By the way, the original Esquire handled it best—and, more importantly, it created it.

Good friend Bryan Monroe, of Ebony/Jet Magazine, drops us a line to tell us he will start advertising for a Magazine Designer job in his Chicago-based publication.
Anyone interested? Here is the information.

Ebony and Jet magazines, the largest and oldest Black-focused magazines in America, are looking to hire for a magazine designer immediately. If you are talented, hungry, aggressive, experienced and ready to work for historical publications doing quality journalism in fresh and innovative ways, you may want to apply.

The position would be based in Chicago, at Johnson Publishing headquarters on Michigan Ave., overlooking Lake Michigan. To apply, please send a resume, clips or examples of your work and a cover letter to:

Cathy Reedy
Art Production Director
Ebony & Jet/Johnson Publishing Co., Inc.
820 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60605
Email contact: cmontgomery@ebony.com

Magazine Designer
Qualifications include:

3-10 years experience in newspapers or magazines as a visual journalist
Excellent design skills and creative ability coupled with strong talent in executing stellar pages on deadline
Strong technical skills on the Macintosh, using Quark XPress, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator
Solid ability to conceptualize creative, journalistic solutions to story telling problems
Ability to work with freelance illustrators
Ability to brainstorm, direct and execute on-point, topical story ideas
Solid photo editing skills
Excellent color, design and typographic skills
Ability to collaborate and work well with artists, designers, writers, photographers, editors and online journalists
Ability to work in a news-driven, deadline environment as well as features design arena
Solid understanding of the African American community
Comfort designing for the Web and desire to work online

Last day in Dubai, putting finishing touches on a variety of mini projects at the Gulf News, and conceptualizing with the team as the newspaper prepares to celebrate its 30th birthday September 30.  Flying home to Florida tonight.

Blog posting #71

Mario: You have been a journalist and an editor in the UAE for a very long time: what are the most major changes you have seen in how journalism is practiced here?
>

Abdul Hamid Ahmad: The past 30 years have seen a rapid change in the country . We have progressed from a few daily newspapers and magazines to over a dozen dailies and hundreds of magazines and periodicals. Newspapers have grown into publishing houses, paving the way for faster growth and diverse coverage. Media zones have been established. These developments, in turn, have attracted global media giants be it in print, television or radio, along with highly skilled professionals, equipment/machinery and technology. I do not envision ebb in this tide of progress in the future, especially as the population grows. I can only see the media in the UAE growing in presence, readership and diversity of coverage.

Mario: From working with you for almost 8 years, I know how you emphasize quality, ethics and professionalism for all the journalists with whom you work at the Gulf News.  With about ten dailies publishing in English and Arabic here, what is the state of journalistic quality as you see it? Do you see improvements? Can you comment on the newcomers?

Abdul Hamid Ahmad: I have seen the improvements year upon year, especially as new and innovative technology was introduced, which has translated into better-finished and well-designed media products. Newspapers have become more design-led, which was not the case earlier. However, I don ‘ t see much progress in the matter of professional journalism, ethics of journalism and freedom of the press. These three aspects need to be addressed quickly, as the advancement on them is slow.

As for the newcomers, well, they bring with them different experiences and expertise from all over the world. However, those skills need to be tailored to fit in the environment of this region where we have traditions, cultures, sensitivities and lack, of course, freedom of the press.

Mario: Finally, your city, Dubai, reaches for the sky figuratively and literally—unprecedented growth and more coming: what role will the media play in this effervescent environment in the city of the future?

Abdul Hamid Ahmad: It is a known fact that the media has been playing a major role in the development of the UAE. It has functioned as a tool of record of history, as well as a tool of awareness. We have witnessed this, especially over the past three years. Now, as the nation stands at the cusp of greatness, the media should step up and play the role of critic and objective observer. To do that, there has to be more openness, transparency and press freedom. And we thank the Almighty, that the government is aware of this need of the hour and is working to help the media in the country achieve it.

Why Print is Eternal: Now this is a most provocative and seducing title for a conference these days when everyone seems to be designing some type of tablet or other digital device.

But this one is for real, and anyone interested in hearing a keynote address by William Powers, media critic for the National Journal and author of ³Hamlet¹s Blackberry²: Why Paper is Eternal,” can attend the 11th Readership Conference and Expo, sponsored by WAN (World Association of Newspapers) to be held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 16-17.

I am honored to be in the program myself, and hope to be able to hear this smartly-titled keynote address.

For more information:
WAN World Digital Publishing Conference and Expo, can be found at
http://www.wan-press.org

Also of interest:
Mr. Powers also wrote: ³Hamlet¹s Blackberry² for the Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. It can be downloaded at
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/research_publications/papers/discussion_papers/D39.pdf

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr

I am not so convinced it is always true, but I often hear that dogs get to look like their owners.

I am also told that sometimes newspapers totally reflect their editors. Such is the case with Dubai’s free, colorful weekly, Xpress. Its editor, Nirmala Janssen, could very well personify Xpress—well, almost all of it.

XPRESSLY NIRMALA: Sassy, irreverent and courageous, Nirmala knows a good story when she smells it, and she has the guts to put it in her newspaper.  She looks in corners where other reporters were too busy to get down on their knees to search.  Her newspaper can be nosing around the hospitals of Dubai one day (“yes, medical mistakes here could cost you!”), but turn around and give you Brazilian bombshell Crystal Moura the next week (“Sex sells, my dear, especially on Page One”), and the word “taboo” is not in Nirmala’s vocabulary—as in race or ethnic topics. One of her most popular stories of the summer, an expose of “Race for Taxis”. Indeed, she sent her reporters out in the busy avenues of Dubai and found out that “Dubai taxi drivers profile potential passengers according to race, nationality or how well dressed they are,” The preferred passengers: Westerners.

TOPLESS TOURISTS AND HIGH FLYING PILOTS: In between, Nirmala’s sampling of stories runs the gamut from “topless tourist girls that bare all” in beaches where this is not allowed, to an interview with the two pilots flying the first Emirates Airlines jumbo A380 on its maiden flight from Dubai to New York City.

“I am not interested in covering the school bus crash that everyone already has,” says Nirmala. “ I am interested in that one story that the readers have heard nothing about till they read it in our Xpress.”

Sure, Nirmala, as in “Toilet paper thieves are raiding two Dubai malls—and leaving customers inconvenienced.”

So far, Xpress is a success, if one goes by the fact that copies run out almost immediately after it appears on Thursdays.

In a crowded newspaper market, Xpress also manages to appeal to people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.

“A good human interest story is the same to anybody,” Nirmala asserts.

In an exclusive interview, Gulf News editor-in-chief and veteran UAE journalist, Abdul Hamid Ahmad, discusses the state of the media in his country, from professional journalistic standards and ethics to freedom of the press.

In Dubai, taking pictures of the Burj Dubai, described as the tallest building in the world, and still under construction. Although buildings have never been an interest of mine, I have a child’s fascination with the Burj Dubai since the foundations were laid. I have followed progress of its construction, taking out my iPhone to shoot photos as I sit in traffic to and from the newspaper.

Go www.burjdubai.com for everything you want to know about the Burj Dubai. Yes, it will house the first and only Georgio Armani Hotel in the world, in addition to offices, residences, boutiques, a shopping mall.

Just when you thought you did not want or need anything else, I look up to the top of the Burj Dubai —almost a kilometer high—and I wonder what it would feel like to have a little condo there, close to the sky.

Not easy to run in Dubai in August. I either get up at 6 and go out already in plenty of heat, or do it in the evening.  Tonight I kept looking for camels around the camel race track. Not one camel in sight. Too hot, I assume, and perhaps they are all lying around in air-conditioned stables. But, alas, upon returning to the hotel I see the sculpture of the camel by the door.

They say everything turns to silver or gold in Dubai. Including camels.

Let me start by saying that I have been visiting Dubai for more than eight years now. My first visit here was to do a complete redesign of the leading English-language daily, Gulf News.  Since then, I have stayed on retainer with the Gulf News, working closely with its editor-in-chief, Abdul Hamid and art director, Miguel Gomez, on a variety of subsequent projects, redesign of each of the supplements published by the Gulf News, and, of course, for the creation of X-Press, the weekly free newspaper now two years old.

During those eight years of regular visits to this city of change—-buildings appear everywhere all the time, to the point that each visit here requires marking up a new running route, since the previous “nice” one with a view of a certain location has been replaced by a monstrous 45-story building, so search for a new one—as I did this morning—I have monitored the newspaper situation.

And although there are not as many newspapers as construction crews and cranes here, I am always surprised by the number of dailies available –about 10 in both English and Arabic language—and their staying power.  Newspapers don’t disappear in Dubai, they simply reinvent themselves. For example, Emirates Today, a lively tabloid, turned into a sophisticated financial daily, Business 24/7.

THE NEWSPAPERS CIRCULATING IN DUBAI:

Here is a list of the current daily newspapers appearing here:

English language:

Gulf News, The National, Khaleej Times, Business 24/7, Seven Days, Gulf Today and the free weekly Xpress.

Arabic language:
Emarat al Youm
Alkhaleej
Albayan
 Alittihad

HOW A LOCAL MEDIA EXPERT SEES IT:

An Emirate newspaperwoman with whom I chatted about the state of daily newspapers in the UAE—and who did not wish to be identified here– had this to say:

About the Arab-language dailies: “Too many of them, in my view, and not all good quality. Most of them carry articles that are simply too long—who in Dubai is going to read these long pieces that are like from newspapers from another era. In my view, Alittihad is the ultimately most boring of them all, but it is government subsidized, so it survives; Albayan has greater appeal to readers, and truly has revamped itself to display news and photos well; Alkhaleej is the more traditional one, with good journalists and good content, but also long on text, and not so neatly designed and organized. It had its heyday, those days are gone, and competition is tougher now. Perhaps the one Arab newspaper that has the greatest appeal to the young is Emarat al youm, with its compact tabloid format, the nice illustrations, and content that has appeal. As for the new English-language daily, The National, I take one look at it, and it is beautiful, and I think, if it wasn’t for the intense heat of Dubai to remind me, I would think I was in London when I see The National. ”

I TAKE A LOOK AT THE NATIONAL:
http://www.thenational.ae

The National-–I was eager to take a look at this new entry into the UAE newspaper race.
Designed by the talented Lucy Lacava, The National is a joy to the eyes.  Everything in its place, and a place for everything. An interesting Page Two navigator.  White space that travels up and down the broadsheet pages to remind everyone that there is room to grow here.  Overall, it is a sort of The Guardian of London, before it redesigned to the Berliner format. If one word describes the look of a newspaper, gravitas comes to mind here. This is definitely not a newspaper for everyone. It is aimed at the elite reader who has been around, gotten a couple of degrees along the way, and wants his newspaper to be as perfectly organized as the classical music in his iPod, the meetings in his electronic agenda, or his winter vacation in the Swiss Alpes.  But it works at this level, I presume.

Best of The National: Arts & Life, a section that belongs in London, New York City or Boston. And, of course, in Montreal and Toronto!  It opens with a poster-like image, and it waltz into fashion, books, the Sunday interview–all calmly presented. Type, photos and color step gingerly into the page, with text playing a larger role that it should, perhaps, but, obviously the editors know what their readers want, and based on my copy of The National, they want to read and keep reading.

My biggest disappointment: On this Sunday everyone was talking about the incredible performance of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who won the 100-meter at the Olympics, setting a new record time of 9.69 seconds.  The National carried this as a promo (sans photo) on page one. The visual lead on page one this day was the face of a sad Iraqi girl, part of a weeklong series on the suffering in Iraq. It is all about choices, and those who make them and for whom, of course.

NICE SURPRISES IN ALBAYAN
http://www.albayan.ae

Although I cannot read Arabic, I stopped several times to see the visual surprises offered in this newspaper. Surprises start on page one, and carry through.  This newspaper must have a very involved visual editor—plus plenty of space to spare. Photos are used about three to four times bigger than in any other newspaper here or anywhere.  Overall, a newspaper with great appeal to young readers, or those who prefer to “look” more than to “read”.

I will devote a segment of the Dubai Report this week to an analysis of the use of typography in Emarat al Youm, designed by Al Trivino, who will contribute his comments.

The media are celebrating around a huge cake with 50 ambitious candles as Madonna, forever the pop princess, turned 50 Saturday, August 16.  Newspapers worldwide are devoting full pages to the event, complete with on line photo gallery retrospectives of the Material Girl in her many reinventions.

One of the best headlines was in Spain’s El Pais, which commented, tongue-in-cheek, about a possible Gray Haired Ambition Tour for the singer whose Blond Ambition Tour filled venues globally in 1990.

We give you glimpses of how several newspapers covered Madonna’s important landmark birthday.  Bild Zeitung, of Germany, made the best utilization of space by showing a collection of miniature photos of la diva as he reinvented herself from her First Communion in 1967 to striking a provocative pose for promotion of Hard Candy, her best-selling CD of 2008.

MY FIRST GLIMPSES OF MADONNA: Not surprisingly, I was introduced to the young Madonna when my sons Mario and Brian were in elementary school, It must have been 1983 and one of her songs was playing as I stopped by Corpus Christi School, in Temple Terrace, Florida, to pick up the kids after a school dance.  The kids did not want to go home “so early”, so I stayed and listened to that girl with the clear voice and lyrics that made some of the nuns in the room roll their eyes.

FROM EVITA TO HARD CANDY: I can say that truly became a fan when Madonna appeared as temptress Breathless Mahoney with Warren Beatty in the Dick Tracy movie (1990).  I still play her hit “Sooner or Later” from that flick.

Then she reinvented herself in 1997 to play the suffering Eva Peron in Evita and, by then, I was convinced she would be around forever. 

Most recently I downloaded her Hard Candy CD, and the 4-Minutes track (featuring Justin Timberlake) with its tick tack tick tack that has accompanied me through many a morning run.

So, happy 50th, Madge. We know your post-50 reinvention is about to happen as you start your next tour, Sticky & Sweet, August 23, in Cardiff, Wales.

<

THE BBC even offers a graphic chart depicting the diva’s high and lows: from reinvention to reinvention. Must see.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7447895.stm

Madonna: Unlikely 50-something inspiration
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/15/madonna-unlikely-un50-som_n_119239.html

ROGER BLACK TURNS 60

And, while to the world of pop, the 50th birthday of Madonna is a remarkable moment to be celebrated, to the world of news designers and typography lovers everywhere, the 60th birthday of Roger Black, is also something to celebrate.

Roger is celebrating the event in his Texas ranch, surrounded by family and a group of his closest friends (I was honored to be invited, but could not make it, but I am sending best wishes across the sands of Dubai).  We are sure that Foster Barnes, with his video expertise recently authenticated by a degree from New York University, will provide us with footage of the event.

WHEN MARIO MET ROGER: I first met Roger in the early 1980s at a Poynter Institute event. Soon after, we were sitting by the side of my swimming pool at home in Tampa, sketching the first concepts for our collaboration in the redesign of Novedades, a Mexico City newspaper.

Those were the days: with no Macs around, we had huge sketch pads, tons of sharpened pencils, and I still recall Roger drawing the word Novedades on paper in what was almost a perfect rendition of every detail of the Caslon font he had in mind for the logo.  His drawing of the letters was exactly what we would see today on the computer screen if we typed a word to test a font. This was the kind of work I will always cherish, as I learned much about type from the master, and fell in love with the Caslon font in the process.

THE 1984 MEXICAN EARTHQUAKE: A devastating earthquake in Mexico City uprooted the newspaper’s printing press off its foundations and shook us up, but the show went on, and Novedades’ design was launched on schedule, to be highly praised by the design community (SND Silver Award), as well as individual honors for Roger and me from the Mexican Academy of Design. We were happy to count with the assistance of Novedades art director, Claudio Rodriguez, whose talents enhanced our work.

THAT PALATINO LAUGH: Hundreds of projects later for both of us, I am still in owe of Roger’s quick wit, his knowledge, humor and ability to recite a historical design moment quickly, and usually end a sentence with his legendary Roger Black laugh—I call it the Palatino laugh, but that is another story, for another day.

Since Roger and I have worked together, taught together and traveled together for both business and pleasure, I still learn from him. I also try to keep up with him, which is probably why I started blogging long after he created his own blog and called it The Last Blog (http://www.rogerblack.com).

No, Roger, mine IS the last blog. And, although this is not about competition, I remind you that I got to the age of 60 ahead of you (in 2007), and I can tell you that I agree with –Reeve Lindbergh, author of Forward From Here, a reflection on aging, where she wrote that “sixty is the youth of old age.”

So, welcome to the youth of old age, Roger. Although you obviously did not have the last blog, I hope that you will always have the last Palatino laugh.

Feliz cumpleaños, Roger!

Tbe Dubai Report: daily postings from Dubai, the city with the largest number of cranes in the world, but also one where newspapers in both English and Arabic thrive. New ones, such as The National (published in Abu Dhabi), appear, while the others rethink their roles in what many refer to as “the city of the future”. During this week TheMarioBlog will examine the news scene in the UAE, with emphasis on Dubai, while interviewing media personalities who make it all happen.

Following our posting of The Guardian’s front page detailing the daily diet of Olympic swimming mega star Michael Phelps (eight eggs for breakfast), two of you sent me emails inquiring about my own breakfast choice.

“You are a runner, Mario, so what do you yourself eat for breakfast?,” asked a North Carolina reader.

Thanks for asking. However, although I have been a runner for many years, I am what you would call a leisure runner, not an athletle, and, definitely could not follow Michael Phelps 12000-calorie per day diet. Just about 1800 calories per day is good for me.

However, I eat breakfast after my daily morning run, and it usually consists of the following, which never changes regardless of where I go:
Glass of grapefruit juice, fat free yoghurt with two spoonfuls of granola cereal, fresh fruit salad and a piece of dry wheat toast with honey. One cup black coffee, no sugar.

One of the most popular postings this week was that of TAB, the newspaper of the future created by Maggie Steber’s students at a special University of Miami class. Many of you wrote to say you were elated that students had chosen to do a “printed newspaper” for the future. So was I , believe me. Normally we see an electronic gadget or tablet as the newspaper of the future.

Maggie, however, was not the only one to be surprised by how conservative some of her students tended to be. Many of you wrote me emails to say: Is this all there is?

One such reader, from Mexico, wrote: We already have a newspaper like this in my town!

Good for you, I wrote back.

So in one of today’s sequels, Maggie Steber describes Tabala Rasa, her concept of a modern newspaper, which was the original concept when she started her class on the newspaper of the future. Read on.

Another Saturday Sequel:  Jonathan Hoefler, whose interview about typography resulted in several mails, some asking what Jonathan’s favorite websites on type were, comes back with a listing of his favorite ones. I have checked them out, and you will like them too.

MAGGIE AND TABULA RASA

After the presentation of TAB, some queries arose about an idea I mentioned
called Tabula Rasa. Here is an explanation of that idea:

Tabula Rasa is Latin and translates as new tablet or clean slate. As much
angst and wringing of the hands as is currently going on over the demise
of traditional newspapers, Tabula Rasa breaks the mold that we feel is
aiding in the decline of this medium. It offers a complete new way of thinking about newspapers and their roles, including a new look, new ideas, new content, a new newsroom structure, new ad revenue streams, collaborative promotional efforts, and a re-thinking of use of space and staff.  It encapsulates issues-oriented news
and information rather than breaking daily news (except for the big stories) and it organizes and analyzes news/info that is critical to peoples’ lives, both locally,nationally and internationally.

TR utilizes visual delivery of news and information/data in a much bigger, bolder, sophisticated way, through photography, illustration and infographics.

It does not try to be all things to all people and it does not get mired down in the “this is a family newspaper” trap.  Dangerous territory, for sure, to tread upon valued journalistic traditions but when the patient is dying, you’ll try anything. This is the time for a clean slate, a new way of thinking about newspapers.

People get information on t.v. and radio on their commutes so why use precious space and staff to print the same stories that are old by the time they are printed?  Instead take issues that are important to a community and go in depth.  Print 3 times a week instead of 7. Use staff to produce engaging and exciting projects that readers will save and make time to read. Consider the image the reader has of himself:  does the paper match that?  Make advertising work graphically by designing separate ad pages that are so out of this world that they become a topic of conversation around the water cooler and advertisers compete to outdo one another.  Make the front page too bold to pass up, using photos or illos or infographics. Don’t format the front page on a daily basis.  Surprise, delight, thrill, inform, be controversial, give readers more room for letters to the editors and involvement with the paper, akin to citizen journalism. It makes the paper a forum for the readers to talk to one another, extremely important in this era of blogs.  Don’t only be extremely local, use the paper to make a community part of the borderless world that the internet created.

Tabula Rasa is the new American newspaper (but it can also work for foreign press).
It dispenses with the traditional newspaper model, liberates it, if you will, and is
a prototype that straddles the gulf between newspaper and internet generations.
It would only be published for a limited number of years as it lured readers to its
equally compelling website (another discussion altogether).  The critical component
in Tabula Rasa is bold leadership that is not afraid to try new things, knows its readers, and rediscovers a sense of mission that informs on how to live in an unpredictable world.

SO, WHAT do you think of Tabula Rasa?

MAGGIE ON BIG PICTURES AND THE WEB:
Says the Mata Hari of Photography: Mario, this is how photos should appear on websites.

In her words: The Big Picture is a photo blog for the Boston Globe/boston.com, compiled semi-regularly by Alan Taylor . Inspired by publications like Life Magazine (of old), National Geographic, and online experiences like MSNBC.com’s Picture Stories galleries and Brian Storm’s MediaStorm , The Big Picture is intended to highlight high-quality, amazing imagery - with a focus on current events, lesser-known stories and, well, just about anything that comes across the wire that looks really interesting.

Big Picture Archives:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/

Amen, Maggie!

HOEFLER’S SOURCES OF INSPIRATION

Jonathan tells us that these are “ five places where I check when I need inspiration to strike”.

http://ffffound.com/
http://kottke.org/
http://acejet170.typepad.com/
http://daringfireball.net/
http://www.spd.org/

J FORD HUFFMAN ON BRANDING AND NEWSPAPER’S ONLINE EDITIONS:

J Ford writes me today that he forgot to mention the importance of “branding” when designing newspaper websites:
“To me it’s all part of the Branding buzzword:
people can get the news anywhere but they turn to a newspaper’s Web site for news because they like and trust the newspaper, the brand.  We’re foolish not to seize the opportunity to show our brand image on the home page (and elsewhere online).”

The original blog postings for the sequels appearing here today:
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/students_design_newspaper_of_the_future_yes_it_is_printed
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/hoefler_a_second_golden_age_of_typography
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/tips_for_designing_news_online_editions

This Saturday I find myself flying from Frankfurt to Dubai, where I stay until Friday, then going home.

The daily e-mail brings us a note from J Ford Huffman, long-time friend,
and, until recently of USA TODAY (and now a consultant at large).  J Ford must
be experiencing high frustration levels with the news websites he frequents,
and writes me the following: “Mario, I sent this to a Gannett information-center staffer and I
thought you might be interested in the thoughts also.”

Of course, I am. We have not had much discussion of online news design in
this platform, and it is a topic high on my interest list..  So, J Ford,
with your permission, I sent your comments to my son Mario Garcia Jr., who
is our Garcia Media online design expert. He, in turn has managed to put his
comments directly under yours. A good dialog, I think.

 Enjoy:

J FORD HUFFMAN ON MAKING THE HOME PAGE MORE FUNCTIONAL

>J Ford: A suggestion. I’ve been consulting in
San Francisco, Savannah and Maine and being a reader in those and other
cities during my journeys during the last six months. As a traveler and reader, I’ve a suggestion for
any newspaper’s Web site:

ONE:
Put an image of the print platform’s Page One on the Web site’s home
page.
Why?
- Helps a reader understand what’s top news. Shows a visual hierarchy of what
>the editors think is important.  On most news Web sites there’s little clue about
>what’s big news besides one main photo and headline; the other stories often look like every other story in a long, long list.
- Adds a journalistic feel to the Web page.  Gives the Web page a sense of
authority and integrity and community. Shows that the information center
is onmnipresent: Online and in print. Acknowledges and promotes the brand.
The major news magazines’ home pages show an image of the current issue. Maybe newspapers can learn from Time, Newsweek, and The Economist?
Which U.S. newspaper sites acknowledge the print platform with an image of Page One?
Today (14 Aug) I did a random check. I chose nine non-Gannett newspapers whose Page One designs stood out among the thumbnails on the Newseum’s front-page site.
Then I checked those papers’ home pages to if the online ‘page one’ matched the impact of the print Page One. The answer? Disappointing. Only two papers of 9 include a print image: Chicago Sun-Times (http://www.suntimes.com/index.html) and the Columbia (S.C.) State (http://www.thestate.com/). The State’s home page is as well-organized as its print front, too.

The other interesting finding?

Most of the nine newspapers’ print Page Ones show more innovation and organization than their online counterparts.

TWO:
JFord: Don’t make me search for a “Contact Us” link, and
make sure that page includes a telephone number and U.S. Postal Service mail address. Not every reader wants to communicate only via the Web.

>MARIO JR. OFFERS SOME EXAMPLES TO MAKE THE POINT
It’s not a bad idea to put an image of the print platform’s front page on
the home page, and I like to do it, but more to draw users to the area of
the page that would tell you what’s in print that day and have quick access
to the print sections. That said, a good news web site should intuitively
tell readers what the editors think is important and interesting, regardless
of whether the print page one is there or not. Good examples of this are…
>msnbc.com and www.ljworld.com. These pages have a sense of authority and a
>journalistic feel.
>
Mario Jr: I totally agree with J Ford about the importance of not burying the Contact Us link. One thing we’ve been doing is not burying the contact info in the footer and, in fact, creating a UTILITY box within the body of the site to show readers all the services the newspaper offers. Check out zocalo.com.mx near the bottom of the page.

Leave it to London’s The Guardian to offer the Page One surprise of the day. True, US swimmer Michael Phelps has been on almost every front page I have looked at while in Europe this week, and deservedly so. After all, Phelps made history Aug. 13 in Beijing at the 2008 Olympics when he scooped a record-breaking 11th gold medal.

While every other newspaper carried a story on Phelps’ historic feat, The Guardian’s headline read: Phelps is now the top Olympian of all time. Here’s what it takes….

It proceeded to list what Phelps eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner: an extraordinary 12000-calorie daily diet, and, get ready for this, an 8-egg breakfast. 

Yes, The Guardian also told you the rest of the “swimming” story on page 10. But, on Page One, nobody could resist the Phelps Diet story.

Good job, and a Page One for editors everywhere to study, to analyze and to imitate.

As for the 12000-calorie a day diet? Don’t try it unless you swim five hours a day, as Phelps says he does.

READ ABOUT THE MICHAEL PHELPS DAILY DIET:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/14/michaelphelps.swimming1

An article in The New York Times, (Down With Helvetica: Design Your Own Font, June 26, 2008), referred to software which enables a wide range of users to make custom typefaces. From restaurant menus to church programs, it is possible for anyone with time and money to commission the font he feels best conveys the feeling and mood of his publication.

“Before the personal computer, most people were oblivious to fonts…..but that changed when word processing programs offered a hundred or more fonts….”

Reading this, and knowing that more often than before, editors and publishers are asking if they can get a customized font for their publication, I decided to go to one of the type experts I most respect, Jonathan Hoefler, with whom we work often, and who serves as president of Hoefler & Frere-Jones, Inc.

Mario:  How do you see the state of new font creation today?

Jonathan: It’s a very exciting time. Ten years ago people were talking about a “second golden age of typography,” in which there were more talented type designers at work than at any time since the sixteenth century. Now we’re seeing this same community energized by both globalization and a technological renaissance, which are forcing type foundries to produce ever better work. The designer who chooses one of our fonts for a publication is already thinking forward to the Polish and Romanian editions, and is already working on the iPhone app that will broadcast their content in a whole new way. Type designers weren’t necessarily thinking about these things ten years ago, but they’re things we’re very much concerned with today.

Mario: What is your overall view of this “customizing” of typefaces?

Jonathan: The word “custom” comes up in connection with fonts in two ways. There are “custom fonts,” which are created from scratch, and designed to address a specific editorial problem. (For clients who have the time and the budget, as well as a compelling need that no existing typeface can fill, a custom font can often be a good investment.) But more often, when someone talks about a “customized font,” what they mean is an existing typeface that’s been altered in some way, in an attempt to make it do something it wasn’t designed to do. “Customizations” like these are a thorny business, and designers who pursue them as a solution should tread carefully.

Font software is owned by the company that produces it, and when you “buy a font,” you’re buying a license to use that font in a specific way. These ways are listed in the End-User License Agreement (EULA) that ships with a font, and every reputable type foundry’s EULA specifically forbids the modification of its fonts. This means that any modifications to a font must be done by (or approved by) the foundry that owns the design—but the good news here is that a conversation with a font’s designer often yields other solutions to the problem at hand. Most of the requests we get are ones we’ve heard before, which means we often have a solution on hand.

But the real problem with “customizations” is that they create administrative, technical, and even legal hassles that become our clients’ to deal with. A font that’s been altered is fixed in time: it doesn’t automatically receive the kinds of periodic upgrades from which all other fonts benefit, so whoever commissioned the font remains forever responsible for the cost of maintaining it. A “customized font” produced ten years ago won’t have a Euro symbol, it won’t contain accented characters for Central Europe, and it won’t exist in the OpenType format. These enhancements are significant undertakings, and while they’re built into the cost of the fonts we publish, they can become a surprise expense down the road for anyone relying on a customized font.

At H&FJ, we always enjoy working with our clients to create new typefaces. Having a genuine design challenge to push against always produces interesting work, and it’s very rewarding when we can use typography to actually solve problems, whether they have to do with format or readership. But not everyone has the time to commission a new design (a custom font isn’t like a “custom cake,” it’s more like a “custom kitchen”) which is why we’ve invested so much energy in building a library of fonts that our clients can license and download online. Some of the best design being done today uses our retail fonts; ready-to-wear fashion leaves plenty of room to establish a strong personal style.

Mario: What new font(s) are you and your team creating at the moment?

Jonathan: We’ve always got new things on the horizon, and are looking forward to a couple of exciting launches this season. Most of this year has been devoted to two of our hardest-working typefaces, to which we’re adding the “most requested” features that our clients have asked for—many of these having come to us as requests for customizations. We’ve got one project that’s specifically intended for editorial settings, where columns are narrow and leading is tight; another one of our fonts has gone back to school and learned 200 new languages! We’ll have more to say about these in the coming months—keep an eye on the H&FJ blog, at http://www.typography.com/blog.

Jonathan Hoefler specializes in the design of original typefaces. Named one of the forty most influential designers in America by I.D. Magazine, Hoefler’s publishing work includes award-winning original typeface designs for Rolling Stone, Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Esquire; his institutional clients range from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to the rock band They Might Be Giants. Perhaps his best known work is the Hoefler Text family of typefaces, designed for Apple Computer and now appearing everywhere as part of the Macintosh operating system.

The New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/technology/personaltech/26basics.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Fonts:%20creating%20the%20type%20you%20want&st=cse&oref=slogin

Jonathan Hoefler
Hoefler & Frere-Jones, Inc.
http://www.typography.com

611 Broadway, Room 725
New York, NY 10012-2608
Tel. 212 777 6640

News: http://www.typography.com/blog

FROM THE IFRA EXECUTIVE NEWS SERVICE, AUGUST 14, 2008:

 English:

- UK: BBC internet plans ‘will kill off local papers’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2552609/BBC-internet-plans-will-kill-off-local-papers.html

- UK: Midlands dailies to offer breaking news on the move
http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/news/080814mnamobile.shtml

- UK: How the regional papers use video: The Express & Star
http://www.andydickinson.net/2008/08/13/how-the-regional-papers-use-video-the-express-star/

- UK: Is the Kindle ebook reader becoming Amazon’s iPod?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/aug/14/amazon.kindle

- USA: New Report: Small Is Still Beautiful in the Newspaper Biz
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003838357

In Paris, France till the end of the week. Running from the Opera area to Rue de Rivoli and down by the Place de Concorde to the Eiffel Tower and back to Opera. In August, the city sleeps like a cat on a comfy couch. With most of the local residents on holiday in the south of France, or in the countryside, the city takes a break. The occasional Japanese tourist snaps another shot of the Eiffel Tower, and Champs D’Elysees is light with traffic. The weather? Changing every 20 minutes or so. Yesterday it was a little rain, potent sunshine, clouds and the feel of a dark October day, then sunshine again. Bienvenue to summer in Paris.

It is 7:15 am today, Thursday, August 14. There are few running routes as spectacular as the center of Paris (New York’s Central Park and Stockholm’s Kungsträdgården are possible competitors in my “rave runs” book).  This morning the sun shines, and I decide to cut across Rue de Rivoli and into the park that leads from the Louvre Museum to the Eiffel Tower. A group of young Paris firemen run ahead of me, but there is hardly anyone else around this early August morning. There is the always-present drunk —the man for whom morning and night intertwined as he stumbles towards one of the giant statues. I carry my iPhone for music, but I am happy that there is a camera there, so I can stop for two seconds and capture the images of the morning as I pass, including the homeless woman sitting outside the exclusive Godiva chocolate shop, with her two puppies.  By the time my 7-kilometer, 41-minute run is completed, the city begins to wake up—the cat on the sofa stirs.  Another day begins.