I was doing a virtual webinar recently about Artificial Intelligence when someone in the audience mentioned a new print-only newspaper that had just started publishing.
It’s ironic to hear about a printed product in the midst of an AI conversation, but such is life when one lives in a multi-platform news environment.
Soon after that webinar, I received an email from friend and colleague Steve Dorsey—a man with a finger on the pulse of our industry and who knows a thing or two about newspaper design, newsroom transformations, and who has been my knowledgeable co pilot as I wrote my new AI book.
Steve mentioned the new County Highway, and offered this remark:
“Makes me think of what I wish Sunday editions already were turning into. Weekend magazines with non-commodity news content; experiential; lean back reads. “
Steve Dorsey
Me, too, Steve, and I continue to be a firm believer that it is the weekend edition of printed newspapers that will survive in the long run: packed with various sections that a new generation of readers can learn to share across the breakfast table, putting the paper down from time to time to comment about a story with the other person in the room. Call it the luxury of paper, the need to get away from mobile devices and constant pings for push notifications. Yes, we all want to take a break from the phone or tablet at least once a week, and get the glorious smell of ink on paper.
In fact, the editor of County Highway, articulated it best:
Some of us fear the specter of an incipient totalitarianism emerging from our laptops and iPhones
Editor’s Note, County Highway
County Highway
Enter the new County Highway, what The Guardian refers to as “America’s print-only newspaper”.
Why the name? In the words of the editor:
The name County Highway is inspired by what we believe is the perfect-sized place for the enhancement of life and art. A county is a chunk of earth big enough to allow for a variety of human types, but small enough to get to know a decent number of your neighbors, where they come from, what they’re proud of, what they fear, what they smoke, what they drink, and what they love. Counties are the right-sized places for telling stories. Mark Twain had Calaveras County, which is a real place in California. William Faulkner had Yoknapatawpha County, a made-up place in Mississippi. Edmund Wilson had Hecate County, a seductive place in Connecticut. Philip Roth had Essex County, New Jersey.
The look is retro—as in very retro, and you may think you have picked up a newspaper from the late 19th or early 20th century when you first look at its bold, centered headlines, thin-line separators, and a flag (logo) that reminds me of the dozens that I was assigned to change during the golden era of newspaper redesigns in this country and around the planet.
“Mario, please, start by suggesting a new flag, please, please,” was the plea from editors across the land which will forever echo in my head. I took to the task happily, starting in 1979 with the redesign of the St. Cloud Daily Times in Minnesota. The St. Cloud flag had an elaborate American eagle that I was happy to decapitate with my X-acto knife. However, I also created a stylized eagle placed inside a box—geometric if you will (see below). From time to time I run into a veteran journalist or designer who will say: Mario Garcia, I am happy to meet the man who killed that ugly St. Cloud eagle!
Here is the evolution of the St. Cloud flag:
Because life is interesting, ironic and surprising, and because the old sometimes becomes the new, County Highway is born with one of those heavily ornamented, rococo-style flags of yesteryear. Take a look:
Rococo is described as a visual style that is “exuberant” in its use of “curving natural forms in ornamentation.” Rococo began in France in the 1730s as a reaction against the more formal and geometric Louis XIV style. For American newspaper logos (also referred to as flags or mastheads), the ideal design would involve the opposite of formal and geometric, as in an overabundance of imagery: mountains, sea, agrarian fields, American flags, eagles and the occasional animal mascot. I delighted in fighting rococo, but I admit I am happy to see a new print product make an entrance, in spite of its ornamented flag.
Here is a collection of “exuberant” newspaper flags that may have served as inspiration for the visual team of County Highway:
Design: retro but modern?
While the overall look is reminiscent of newspapers of another era, County Highway offers a clean, modular design, with a six-column grid, ample use of white space and the visual organization of a modern newspaper. If a page of this newspaper was put inside a bottle to be preserved, newspaper design historians of the future would be able to tell that this was designed as a period piece, but could trace its origins to a time when newspapers adopted design strategies, providing organization and a clean environment in which to accommodate content.
What is County Highway?
According to The Guardian:
- It focuses primarily on the US and publishes every two months. It has a format partly inspired by Charles Dickens and other 19th-century authors whose stories were serialized in journals.
- It will include serialized books from its own new publishing house – an independent company that is taking on the conglomerates that dominate the industry.
- It costs $8.50. “The first issue launched in the summer with no advertising, but through word of mouth its 25,000 copies sold out.” A yearly subscription is $50. Subscribe here: https://www.countyhighway.com/subscribe/p/annual-subscription-6-issue
- Its publisher is Donald Rosenfeld, former president of Merchant Ivory, who produced period film classics such as Howards End, starring Emma Thompson.
- The next issue is already out, with features ranging in subject from UFOs to a festival celebrating mules.
- County Highway will not be available online.
Here is an inside section of County Highway:
I agree with a review of County Highway by Phil Wade:
County Highway is meant to represent the heart of America, a place with natural rhythms, relationships, and grassroots sense. It’s written by “actual human beings,” which is more than some websites can say. “We hope to advance the same relationship to America that Bob Dylan had when he wrote his versions of folk songs” or when Neil Young, Gram Parsons, Mark Twain, and Ralph Ellison wrote of their country.
Phil Wade
https://brandywinebooks.net/?p=18514
I especially noticed the reference to “written by actual human beings”. As I continue to mention in my Artificial Intelligence workshops, human bylines will acquire tremendous new value. County Highway does not even have a digital presence, a rarity for any content produced today. I wonder if any of its writers turn to ChatGPT?
The Pentagram connection
I have found an article published in German, which relates the involvement of Pentagram with the creators of County Highway. It reports that:
“….David Samuels, co-founder and publisher of County Highway, “America’s Only Newspaper,” ….. worked closely with the team around Pentagram partner Abbott Miller and together they developed a magazine in the form of a newspaper, nostalgic and with an invitation to long and sophisticated texts that are informative and in-depth instead of digital tidbits Generate knowledge with clicks and don’t rely on teased catastrophes or sensations, but on well-researched knowledge.”
page-online.de
The German article published these images to show County Highway’s design details, including its typographic palette, an interesting combination of such classic fonts as Clarendon and Caslon in different variations:
Just out of curiosity I turned to my favorite Midjourney AI illustration app and asked it to help me imagine a typical reader of County Highway, consuming this retro looking printed newspaper in the era of Artificial Intelligence. Here is what I got:
However, I feel better with this rendition, featuring a Mark Twain-like reader enjoying a cup of tea while reading his newspaper:
Indeed, it is difficult to think of County Highway readers who are not also quite involved with digital media—and with AI, thus, this image:
Illustration created using Midjourney. www.midjourney.com
Here is wishing County Highway a long and successful run!
Parting shot: Wonder how soon before its content is also available online! Just thinking out loud here.
Read about the redesign of St. Cloud Daily Times here:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/073953298100200204
Pre-order my new AI book here
https://thaneandprose.com/…/preorder-ai-what-to-expect…
Here is a chance to pre-order my new book about Artificial Intelligence and content creation. The first 25 copies sold will be signed! Order here:
https://thaneandprose.com/…/preorder-ai-what-to-expect…
Pre-publication reviews!
AI front and center
As I put finishing touches on the manuscript of my new book, AI: The Next Revolution for Content Creation, I am aware that the number of AI-related headlines that appear in my mailbox daily is on the increase, frustrating the author of a book that must have a date of completion, and realizing that in today’s fast paced technological advance environment, books must have websites created for updates.
For more about my new AI book, go here:
Other AI-related blog posts
ChatGPT gets competition–say hello to Claude 2
https://garciamedia.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=21948&action=edit
Of related interest
https://newspaperdesign.in/ai-is-the-next-big-media-revolutionmario-garcia/
Newsrooms around the planet have gone mobile-first after a Garcia Media workshop!
Our Garcia Media Mobile Storytelling workshops are proven to introduce your editorial team to the way we write, edit and design for mobile platforms. It is a one-day program that involves a presentation (where I summarize my Columbia University class content), and follow it with a hands on workshop.
Did you read The Story yet?
I urge you to consult my latest book, The Story, a trilogy full of tips and explanations about mobile storytelling, which represents the latest genre for journalists to explore. See information below:
The full trilogy of The Story now available–3 books to guide you through a mobile first strategy. Whether you’re a reporter, editor, designer, publisher, corporate communicator, The Story is for you! https://amazon
Volume 1: Transformation
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-i/id1480169411
Volume Two: Storytelling
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-ii/id1484581220
Volume Three: Design
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-iii/id1497049918
Order the print edition of The Story, from Amazon, here:
The Story, en español:
TheMarioBlog post #3378