Update #4: Wednesday, April 14, at 9:34 EST
TAKEAWAY: One book after the other explains why the French eat so well and remain relatively fit and slender. I am seeing it first hand and I like it: eat it all in moderation, enjoy the experience and don’t go for seconds! AND: A design moment: seeking inspiration from old boxing posters ALSO: The Philadelphia Daily News wins the big one: Pulitzer for reporting PLUS: More on The Power of the Tablet conference at Poynter June 14-15
The ritual of food in France
Oh, the Wednesday lunch surprise: appetizer is caviar and salmon. Can a newspaper office lunch get any better?
A four-course lunch at L’Equipe
The cover of Food Rules by Michael Pollan
The first book I have read completely in my new IPad is Michael Pollan’s Food Rules, and one that I recommend to anyone who is concerned about what he eats. It is no nonsense advice presented in all black and white, with exquisite hand drawings that do not pretend to be more appetizing than the short “tapas” Pollan uses to introduce us to his concepts. Some “chapters” are merely a sentence, as in: Chapter 21, It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language (Think Big Mac, Cheetos or Pringles.).
But a short chapter that seems appropriate for me this week: Eat more like the French.
“……it may not be the dietary nutrients that keep the French healthy….as much as their food habits: small portions, eaten at leisurely communal meals; no second halpings or snacking.”
As I am in Paris , I am enjoying the leisurely communal meals, and seeing that even our lunch here at the newspaper is a carefully calculated culinary experience.
Nobody eats a sandwich at his desk (“No, no sandwich for me for lunch,” said our French art director, Frederic Plá, as he pondered lunch options.)
Let’s do lunch
It is lunch time in Paris, at L’Equipe, and the food manager Walter arrives perfectly attired in black jacket, white shirt and gray tie.
Today’s tray: cold chicken breast, grilled apples; a 9-grain bread roll; jamon serrano; la tarte tatin (apple and cinnamon), and, of course, the always present Camembert cheese. A four-course lunch, and this is because today we have a heavy production day, so we don’t retrieve to the top floor dining room with a view of Paris, everything white, and walls decorated with huge posters of France’s sports greats, trophies, medals and memorabilia.
Everything stops for lunch.
Walter often brings me a glass of bubblies, which helps fight afternoon blahs, and, of course, where better than in France to enjoy a glass of champagne, but never two (with lunch).
The notion of eating at one’s desk is an insult to a Frenchman. You might as well tell them that you don’t like La Marseillaise or La Vie En Rose.
The conversation over meals seldom turns turn to the work at hand or office politics. Today, the iPad, of course: will people pay to read L’Equipe on their iPad?
“Oui,” I say, remembering that this morning in the Paris Metro, four young men hid behind the best known sports broadsheet this side of the Atlantic. Will they be reading LEquipe on an iPad when the little four-button machine comes to France later this month?? Remains to be seen.
What every French kid knows well…
Back to food. A recent TIME magazine column by Vivienne Walt, titled School Lunches in France: Nursery-School Gourmets reports that “….in a country where con artists and adulterers are tolerated, the laws governing meals are sacrosanct and are drummed into children before they can even hold a knife. The French don’t need their First Lady to plant a vegetable garden at the Élysée Palace to encourage good eating habits. They already know the rules: sit down and take your time, because food is serious business.”
And so it is and every French child knows it. There is a school close to the building of L’Equipe, so I peek from the fence as I walk from the Metro to the newspaper and see the children playing in the yard during recess (it makes me homesick for my grandchildren, of course). Well, the children are engaged in vigorous play, but nobody is drinking sodas or munching on chips. Snack and soda machines are banned from school buildings in France (voilá!). Baskets full of apples sit on a corner of the yard.
Of course, this is also the country where, in the morning, as I walk by the legendary Cafe de la Paix, I see all the slim and fit Frenchmen and women enjoying ONE buttery croissant with their coffee as they engage in morning conversation. Not two or three croissants, but ONE. Not exactly what Pollan would suggest in Food Rules. But he would like to see that these people get up and walk the two kilometers to their office.
Nobody seems to be counting calories in France; here, food is a ritual, almost like religion. However, like good religious people, the French are believers, not fanatics.
Links of interest today
– German Tablet WePad On Unlikely Road To iPad Challenge
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-german-tablet-wepad-on-unlikely-road-to-ipad-challenge/
– WSJ.com emerging tech editor: iPad app ‘gives me hope’
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=134&aid=181160
– “The 24/7 News Cycle”: David Carr, Arianna Huffington, and Mark Russell debate the future at ASNE
http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/04/the-247-news-cycle-david-carr-arianna-huffington-and-mark-russell-debate-the-future-at-asne/
– Here’s How We’re Going To Revolutionize The News Business: With The Cloud
http://www.businessinsider.com/revolutionizing-the-news-business-with-the-cloud-2010-4
A design moment at France Football
Looking at a variety of boxing posters: inspiration comes from the sense of exaggeration that prevails here for type, color, images
Lines and stars: usually the staple of old boxing posters. Our Frederic Plå gives it a try for France Football
The poster on left with Andy Warhol as one of the “boxers” was inspired by true posters, and, this one, in turn, inspires us. Our design by Pierre Wendel
The subject was the creation of very special covers for France Football, the twice-weekly sports publication that my team and I are working on. Sometimes the past inspires us, so I urged Frederic Plá (of Garcia Media) and France Football art director, Pierre Wendel, to review boxing posters from the past for inspiration. Together, we looked at a series of images, admiring how daring some of the design approaches were, stopping to look at the usually large use of type, not to mention colors (bright hues dominate), and, then, the use of stars, boxes, dots, rules. “Very kitschy and very retro,” I told them, but something nice as well, especially if an art director wishes to walk away from the routine and send a message to the reader that this is, indeed, an extraordinary cover for a particularly important event, or report of a key player.
Here are our workshop practice runs at the use of boxing posters for inspiration.
Pulitzer for the Philadelphia Daily News
Front page of the Daily News reports the Pulitzer honor.
We are extremely happy with our colleagues at the Daily News in Philadelphia. They have won journalism’s most coveted prize, the Pulitzer, for an investigative story which started in February 2009 when two reporters went about investigating the Narcotics Field Unit, when an informant told the reporters that the cops sometimes lied on search warrants.
As readers of this blog know, we at Garcia Media have been working with the Philadelphia newspapers, including the Daily News, for about six months now, to help them along as they try to emerge from bankruptcy. This Pulitzer should serve as testimony to the good journalism that is practiced here, against unsurmountable economic odds. We congratulate DN editor Michael Days and his team.
In their own words: “Laker and Ruderman’s investigation into Officer Jeffrey Cujdik and other members of the Narcotics Field Unit began in February 2009, when an informant told the reporters that the cops sometimes lied on search warrants.
The two followed a trail that was paved by scores of old warrants and unheard allegations from bodega owners, who claimed the narcs had routinely disabled surveillance cameras during raids of their stores.
The merchants said thousands of dollars in cash and merchandise had vanished from their stores during the raids, which were aimed at confiscating tiny ziplock bags that were considered drug paraphernalia.
Other allegations were also uncovered during their reporting, which prompted an FBI investigation and numerous changes to police policy.”
More than 50 convicted drug dealers are now fighting for new trials, alleging that officers had fabricated evidence against them.”
Here’s the DN story on the win: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/breaking/news/20100412_Daily_News_reporters_win_investigative_Pulitzer_Prize.html. See the video of the moment when they found out that they won. (Appearances by Michael Days, DN editor; John Sherlock, DN art director, and Bill Marimow, Inquirer editor.)
The Power of the Tablet: highlights of the program
DW Piine (TIME Magazine) to present case study of Time; Joe Zeff (Joe Zeff Design) to discuss multimedia/advertising opportunities
The Power of the Tablet Conference at Poynter: Erik Schut (WoodWing), Alfredo Triviño (News Corp, London) among headliners presenting
Steve Dorsey (Detroit Free Press); Prof. Jennifer George Palilonis (Ball State University) at the Poynter conference
For application and more information:
http://www.poynter.org/seminar/seminar.asp?id=5515
As our program for The Power of the Tablet conference shapes up, we can now confirm that Erik Schut, president of WoodWing, the company that worked closely with TIME Magazine as it introduced its iPad edition this month, will be among the speakers.
Who should attend?: I am happy to see that interest rates so high for this conference, as shown by the many phone calls and emails that I am receiving daily from across the world. One question frequently asked is “who is this conference for?”.
Well, it is for anyone in the industry who contemplates a tablet edition of his/her newspaper or magazine. This should be EVERYONE, in my book. The conference will be an introduction to what you need to know to get out of the gate, from storytelling and presentation modes in the new medium, to the technological solutions available to take you from your current editorial system and into a tablet, advertising opportunities, and, of course, the question that many in the industry ask daily: how can the tablet offer us revenue producing strategies.
Other confirmed speakers so far: Alfredo Triviño, Director of Creative Projects, News International (London). Al leads the process of visualizing and showcasing potential products for all News International titles—from print to mobile and tablet apps. Al has been working with tablets since 2007 when he invented the Newsbook, a platform where to read, view, listen to, share and store newspapers, books and magazines. Some of the ways
of editing and delivering content that are central to the Newsbook will be tried out for the first time with The Times and Sunday Times iPad apps.
Also confirmed speakers and resource persons at the conference: D.W. Pine, design director of Time Magazine; Jennifer George-Palilonis of Ball State University; Joe Zeff of Joe Zeff Design; Gary Cosimini of Adobe; Steve Dorsey, vice president, research and development, Detroit Media Partnership and Mario Garcia Jr., Garcia Media.
It is an exciting return to The Poynter Institute for Media Studies for me, as I have been invited to organize and to direct this key seminar, The Power of Tablets: How the iPad and Others are Reshaping the Digital Revolution. Working closely with my Poynter colleagues Stephen Buckley, interim dean at Poynter and publisher of Tambay.com, the digital publishing arm of the St. Petersburg Times, and Regina McCombs, faculty for multimedia and mobile at Poynter. we are still crafting the program, but I know that anyone seriously considering publishing tablet editions will benefit from attending the one and a half day program.
Goal of the seminar: To introduce editors, publishers, managers and designers to what’s ahead and what they can expect when tabletizing their print products.
The conference will touch upon the four main themes involved in tablet planning: storytelling (presentation modes), advertising innovation, technology/usability and revenue producing strategies.
I will continue to update this information as speakers are firmed up.
We envision this introductory seminar as perhaps part of a trilogy of programs devoted to tablet publishing, with this one as the introductory one, then perhaps one on storytelling/presentation modes/technology, and one devoted to advertising/revenue producing.
I urge those interested to apply immediately as there will be a limited number of spots available.
Link of interest
Don’t miss this iPad design related article.
Insightful information on designing for the iPad versus for other devices:
http://informationarchitects.jp/designing-for-ipad-reality-check/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+InformationArchitectsJapan+(Information+Architects+Japan)