Some early drafts of how we conceptualize a new newspaper for Cuba: (from left) Nuri Ducassi, Ana Lense Larrauri, Mario Garcia. More models to come in the future.
Nuri Ducassi, The Toronto Star
Ana Lense Larrauri, The Miami Herald
Mario Garcia, CEO/Garcia Media (with assistance from Garcia Media Latinamerica team of Paula Ripoll and Rodrigo Fino)
Front page of Granma, the official Cuban Communist Party newspaper. Still gray and circa 1970s.
It’s all about Cuba these days: how about newspapers?
It’s been a question that has come my way repeatedly over the past few years: how would you like to redesign a Cuban newspaper?
Until now, this has seemed far fetched. There are not many newspapers in Cuba, and one of them, Granma, is the official government pipeline, a propaganda sheet that specializes in publishing Fidel Castro speeches (long narratives!) and happy news about a place where almost nothing is happy, unless you belong to the top echelons of the government.
Now, our US President, Barack Obama, thinks that it is time for a thaw in the 50 plus year old exchange of gripes and insults between the US and Cuba. It has not worked, says the President, and we agree. There is, however, no guarantee that it may work this time, as long as the two Castro brothers remain in control. They are not about to relinquish power, and some of us think that this olive branch has something to do with survival for the Castros. Venezuela is going through troubles of its own and may not be able to help much.
So, why not the much hated Yankees? They have been there before and they will be here again, right?
But that is the politics of it all.
Meanwhile, at our design desks
So, because everything Cuban is hip, I have joined with two of the most talented designers in the globe, who happen to be both Cuban Americans, and we are having some fun creating what we think will be the Cuban newspapers of the future.
With the able and creative team of Ana Lense Larrauri, of The Miami Herald, and Nuri Ducassi, of The Toronto Star, we are engaging in a much entertaining project to come up with ideas for how the new newspapers that are likely to spring up in the new Cuba——assuming the Castros go for a free press (fat chance?)—complete with advertising, classified pages and the looks that would be appropriate for the pearl of the Antilles and one of the most beautiful islands of the Caribbean.
So, friends, stay tuned for our creations.
For me, after my involvement with 700 plus titles in 120 countries, it feels great to be putting my hands into a newspaper, that while fictitious, may send us into flights of fancy about the way things could be.
Dreaming in Cuban. Not bad. More to come.
Cuba opening inspires fashion
As Cuba Opens Up, Fashion Reacts
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/fashion/as-cuba-opens-up-fashion-reacts.html
Highlight:
When people talk about the resumption of relations between the United States and Cuba, as they did over the weekend as President Obama and President Raúl Castro sat down for the first meeting between leaders of their two countries in more than 50 years, they talk mostly about history and diplomacy and influence, and what it could mean for the future in terms of trade and travel, not to mention human rights.
What they do not generally talk about, however, is fashion.
Yet odds are, fashion is about to talk a lot about Cuba….”