The Power of Print (2) | García Media

This is the weekend edition of TheMarioBlog and will be updated as needed. The next blog post is Monday, Oct. 28.

Some of you may wonder what I am doing in a Power of Print conference. After all, at 72 I have just published a mobile storytelling book, The Story, so what do I have to say to an audience that is having a love fest with print?

Plenty, if I may say so.

However, one of the conditions for my participation was that I begin with some references to mobile first, work flow in the digital newsroom, then the role that print can have in such environment. The organizers said to go for it and so I will not stand in front of the group and mention that print is the future.

But I will say that print will never disappear in some form, perhaps as a weekend newspaper. I will also show examples of newsrooms where they do “print happily,” as I call it: a recognition that print is no longer the protagonist, but it matters, and there are things print can do that digital can’t. So, let’s explore those.

Takeaways

Give print a role

Let’s face it, we do not break news in print. It does not mean that the print product has to be less powerful. To do print happily and effectively, a specific role must be assigned for print: how (and what) content will flow into the pages of the print edition. Many times stories that appear digitally never touch the page. At times, those stories appear in print in rather different versions, and days later.

Create visual unity across platforms

While the planning of special stories/projects should always begin thinking in terms of how the story/visuals will play on mobile, it is at that same moment that decisions are made for how to extend the visuals to print. The audience needs to see visual unity across platforms. We see that in this example from The New York Times for its presentation of an award winning story, The Plot to Subvert an Election:

Exploit print for special supplements

Attract advertisers for big displays

Make those photos big

One great thing print does better than any other platform is how it allows designers to display photos large, even full page, as we see in these examples. Can’t do that on the small screen of the smartphone! Take a look at these examples from The Washington Post.

Launch party for The Story in Zurich

From Monocle Weekend

THE INTERROGATOR / EDITION 30

https://monocle.com/minute/2019/09/21/

Mario García

Editorial consultant Mario García has advised the most important newsrooms in the world on design – and how best adapt to a digital transition. More than 700 publications, from The Wall Street Journal to the South China Morning Post, have received his strategic steer. Other than being an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of Journalism, he also runs his own consultancy firm: García Media. Nowadays his speciality is how digital devices influence narrative structure and consumption; his latest book, The Story, was written specifically to be read on a phone. Here, though, he confesses to a few analogue pleasures.

What they are saying about The Story!

The Story is here!

You can now download my new mobile storytelling book, The Story, from Apple Books at $6.99
This is Book 1 of a Trilogy! The other two books coming soon.
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-i/id1480169411

The newspaper remains the most powerful source of storytelling on the planet. But technology threatens its very existence. To survive, the Editor must transform, adapt, and manage the newsroom in a new way. Order The Story by Mario Garcia, chief strategist for the redesign of over 700 newspapers around the world.

My chat with in Monocle Radio

Listen to my chat in Monocle Radio’s The Stack: Latest episode‘The Face’ and ‘The Story’:We welcome the return of the print version of ‘The Face’ and talk to legendary newspaper designer Mario Garcia about his latest book, ‘The Story’.
https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-stack/368/play/

My interview with CNN en Español

I was a guest in the program Encuentro, hosted by Guillermo Arduino daily at CNN en Español. The interview was about how we read on mobile devices and my introduction of my new mobile storytelling book, The Story, to a Spanish-language audience.

García: Si tienes una buena historia, la gente la va a leer