Updated Tuesday, Oct. 27, 04:25 EST
TAKEAWAY: The countdown is on for the introduction of a new format for Germany’s financial daily, Handelsblatt. We work this week to make final preparations leading to the Nov. 2 launch. In store: new compact format, new content, better navigation and rethought handelsblatt.com PLUS: Links of interest—the Internet conquers all, and The Christian Science Monitor thrives in online only (almost) format
Mondrian-inspired front page visuals
The new front page of the “business format” Handelsblatt emphasizes a full story to read on page one, plus visuals inspired by Mondrian’s rectangles
Nothing like those 7 days prior to the introduction of a new design, especially when it involves also a major transformation from a huge broadsheet to a very friendly compact—-they call it business format.
Different project managers work differently as they plan activities when the clock is ticking and the countdown is heavily on, which is where we are right now.
Handelsblatt being a German newspaper ran by German editors is typical: everything going according to the book, training on schedule, all gears turned to on, and a sort of smooth transition from the big and old to the smaller and newer.
I have spent the past 24 hours working with Handelsblatt Art Director Nils Werner as we work with a small team of “layouters, photo editor and editor” with major concentration on the page one concept and how to achieve it.
The newspaper as book
While the eyes of the industry will be on the new format for Handelsblatt, I continue to call attention to the philosophy behind the design: my idea that the newspaper of the future is going to be more book than newspaper or magazine. Here we have it. Readers will see text on the front page of this tabloid; in fact, more text than usual. The visuals will be small, inspired by the size of images we see on mobile telephones. When combined as units, these units tell a complete story. The overall composition is inspired by the work of Piet Mondrian.
So, yesterday, we spent the day working on various Mondrian compositions to tell various financial stories of the past few days in Germany: taxes going down, debt going up, key players in the Angela Markel coalition calling the shots, the pros and the cons.
“It is like telling a story through a comic strip,” commented an editor.
“It is a sort of mini movie,” said the photo editor.
It is both, I said. Readers first LOOK at a page’s visual content, then READ. It is two motions. The Mondrian, in this case, will tell the story visually first.
More on the Handelsblatt relaunch during this week, leading to the launch day of November 2.
The relaunch site
Mario Garcia Jr discusses good webdesign on the Handelsblatt Relaunch site
The Hendelsblatt.com guys, under the able direction of Sven Scheffler, are posting information about the project and its progress, in a special Handelsblatt Relaunch segment. Go there to find the latest information from Handelsblatt editor, Bernd Ziesemer, plus some short videos, including one by my son Mario Garcia Jr., who has been working with the online team on the remake of www.handelsblatt.com
I myself taped a video yesterday divided into segments: general thoughts about design worldwide, and one on the specifics of the Handelsblatt relaunch.
Go to: http://relaunch.handelsblatt.com/
Digital Strangelove (or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Internet)
Marshall McLuhan’s famous The Media is The Message axiom obsolete? Well, so are television, film, magazines, newspapers, according to this fascinating little show. Video, sound and text are IN, however. One slide reads: It is like the entire media industry was hoisted into the sky and the Internet was placed beneath it, destroying the silos and the business models that relied on them.
Go here: http://www.slideshare.net/DavidGillespie/digital-strangelove-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-internet
Christian Science Monitor: growing and thriving
The Monitor prints a weekly magazine; it is online only the rest of the time and experiencing growing success
The Christian Science Monitor
is one of those projects that I monitor closely. Seven months ago, the Monitor discontinued its print edition—-one of the first newspapers anywhere to do so. Today, the Monitor is growing and thriving. It prints a weekly magazine/style publication. Most of its subscribers of the printed daily switched to the weekly printed magazine.
Read Poynter’s Rick Edmonds’ report:
– USA: Online Focus Is Working for Christian Science Monitor
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=123&aid=172295
Brazil’s innovative ads
For some very awesome marketing campaigns in Brazil:
Turn to Contagious magazine:
http://www.contagiousmagazine.com/
Who is Jacky?
Jacky belongs to Frank Deville. The Luxembourg-based pooch is an “avid reader” of the German newspaper, Bild Am Sonntag. Every Sunday Jacky picks stories and interesting graphics in Bild Am Sonntag , the German newspaper.
Follow me at www.twitter.com/tweetsbydesign
Follow the Marios
Two Marios. Two Views.
Follow Mario Jr. and his blog about media analysis, web design and assorted topics related to the current state of our industry.
http://garciainteractive.com/
Visit Mario Sr. daily here, or through TweetsByDesign (www.twitter.com/tweetsbydesign)
In Spanish daily: The Rodrigo Fino blog
:
To read TheRodrigoFino blog, in Spanish, go:
https://garciamedia.com/latinamerica/blog/
TheMarioBlog post #406