It’s a new way of presenting the usually gray and text heavy pieces that appear in printed edition of newspapers.
I don’t think we can refer to The New York Times as the “gray lady” anymore. No, sir, not at all. And if its Sunday, October 22, commentary pages are an indication, splashes of color have entered the sanctuary of the editorial page. I like it.
Take a look at the lead editorial here:
And, as if this is becoming a sort of visual language for The Times, here we see lots of color/illustrations for this commentary piece.
We applaud these treatments which are likely to attract more readers to this section of the newspaper. It shows how far we have come with color utilization in newspapers. As a veteran of the introduction of color to newspapers, I know that this would have been unimaginable in the 1980s. The editorial pages were seldom considered for color in those days, although the most adventurous newspaper editors tried editorial cartoons in color sometimes. The die hard journalists would consider those moves as “cheap” and efforts to dumb down the content.
With The Times colorizing its opinion/commentary pieces, I am sure other newspapers will take note. It is all part of the experimentation that I see taking place with printed editions of newspapers. As I repeat often, it is not about print dying, but about thinking of ways to make the product livelier.
The Times seems to have found just the right color palette for it.
Pages we like
Interesting, clean front page from Oman’s Al Shabiba, which is actually the first Arab-language newspaper in which I participated on a redesign. This front page leads with a story about a 50% increase in air traffic in Oman. Page shared by Designer Nasser Othman Al Raisi, with whom I worked on this project ,along with the mega talented creative director, Adonis Durado. Great job, guys.
Our digital transformation workshops
If you would like to find out more about our workshops for digital transformation, email me: mario@garciamedia.com
I will be happy to answer your questions and provide more information. Our workshops are offered in both English and Spanish.
Mario’s Speaking Engagements
Nov. 16-19, WAN IFRA Latin America, Buenos Aires, Argentina
April 18-19, 2018-–Newscamp ,Augsburg, Germany.
TheMarioBlog post #2720