The Mario Blog

Of course, this is more fantasy than reality, but all three of us Cuban-born American designers: Ana Lense Larrauri, of The Miami Herald, Nuri Ducassi of The Toronto Star, and I, thought it would be fun to give this a shot.  No matter where you turn today the talk is all about Cuba: from fashion, to food to newly established bed and breakfast spots (usually in people's homes).  We are seeing more daily images of the famous Malecon Boulevard, the Havana Cathedral, Hemingway's La Bodeguita del Medio and all those colorful vintage cars.

Airlines prepare to start more scheduled flights to Cuba (including JetBlue from New York's JFK), while cruise ships salivate at the thought of what a true opening with Cuba may bring to their business.

It's all a lot of talk and dreaming right now.  So, we have joined in.

I discussed our dream project in this blog recently.  Today, however, The Wall Street Journal, a newspaper with which I have been involved in three of its redesigns, published a story and showed some of our sketches.

I thought it would be great to show you some of the models that have not appeared anywhere yet.

Ana Lense Larrauri

Ana tackled the English language version of Havana 24/7, as we know that there will be a lot of tourists and businessmen coming into a new Cuba, thus the need for an English language daily.

Nuri Ducassi

Nuri went for a truly contemporary look with La Rampa (named after one of Havana's best known neighborhoods), inspired by the colors of the island, and, particularly, those of the murals on the former Havana Hilton, now the Habana Libre.

Mario Garcia

I decided to do, Cuba Hoy,  what will definitely be a sure thing in the Cuba of the future: a down market tabloid. Mixing the silly and the sillier, celebrity, survival news and gossip.  This model, like the others, will not have a chance unless there are dramatic changes in Cuba, as in permitting freedom of the press.

(My sketches were created with the able collaboration of our Garcia Media Latinamerica senior art director Paula Ripoll)

TheMarioBlog post #1760