Updated at noon Lagos time 29/7/09
TAKEAWAY: First day here in Lagos, preparing to do final preparations for the launch of the new daily Next ALSO: Pure Design installment: Headlines, bigger is better
Pure Design: Headlines: Bigger is better
Used to be the larger headlines sizes were only proper for downmarket products, tabloids and newspapers that wanted to shout. And, although the 180+ point heads are still for newspapers in the style of Germahy’s Bild Zeitung, or London’s The Sun, it is a fact that readers prefer headlines that are visible, bolder and that they don’t have to use a magnifying glass to read.
Most recently, however, we have seen a tendency for some newspapers to return to smallish heads, as is the case of the newly redesigned International Herald Tribune, which is The New York Times’ international edition. The Tribune’s headlines are not necessarily small, but almost all the other elements of the new design are. For example, flash lines, headlines for briefs, bylines, etc. tend to be set in extremely small sizes.
Report from Lagos 1: The launch of Next
Arriving in chaotic Lagos at 5 pm is not a lot of fun. The city where traffic always seems to be a gigantic parking lot with cars that move everywhere somewhat erratically is much worse during rush hour, as would any city in the world. The ride from the airport to Victoria Island, where we live and work, is perhaps the longest stretch of a “shopping mall” anywhere in the world.
While sitting in the back seat of the car, I saw men and women approaching the car to sell us everything. I do mean everything: cookies and crackers, eggs neatly wrapped by the dozen in plastic bags, silk pajamas with the matching slippers, radios, clocks, CDs, phone chargers, candy, mangos and papayas and even bottles of cold water (much needed as one fights the afternoon heat). Take a look at the official “selling establishments” and the single door little stores sell you cakes, computers, car tires and even air conditioners.
We have had our first meeting with the art director, Victor Ehikhamenor, as we prepare to review styles, and to show the importance of consistency to a group of young, inexperienced designers on one of the most important points I will probably make all week:
We have a design that has been settled on and approved. We have templates. We have a style for everything. Stick to that. Use your creativity to conceive how a particular story package is presented, NOT to reinvent the wheel and to introduce elements that do not belong to the overall look and feel.
As of now, the launch date is still discussed, pending on readiness of the new printing press being installed. Stay tuned for more reports.
Training session #1 today
Every designer goes through this: post mortem of pages. That is exactly what Christian Fortanet (Garcia Media art director/Spain) and I have done all morning.
We sit down with the creative director, art director and all the layouters in what constitutes almost a design/layout class. Here in Lagos, and especially in this project, Next, a totally new newspaper that , in a sense, introduces new forms of storytelling and visual journalism to Nigeria, the level is basic, but the interest of the participants is high.
I feel like I am conducting a university class, except that this would be at the most basic of levels.
Hierarchy: I am explaining the importance of hierarchy on a page : Please, please, please, have one lead story that is easily identified as such. Give it the big headline. Don’t give the secondary story a headline bigger than that of the lead.
Shapes: Please remember that the L -shape, the U-shape and the rectangular shapes for story/photo structures is better than running columns NOT under the headline, or photos that delay the start of the text. We now have done several sketches and instructed layouters NOT to invent, but to FOLLOW. Good advice for any new design being introduced in a publication. First comes adherence to the rules and the styleguide, then comes greater freedom and creativity once the basic guidelines are mastered.
For more information about Next, go here:
The official website:
www.234next.com
Previous blogs dealing with Next:
https://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/nigerias_next_on_sunday_changing_journalism_one_sunday_at_a_time/
https://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/next_on_sunday_the_new_newspaper_that_raises_journalistic_bar_in_nigeria/
Download entire first section of Pure Design: Words
Now that I have fully presented the first of six sections of Pure Design on TheMarioBlog, I am offering the entire initial section, “Words,” available for download—all 33 pages of it. This may be useful for those of you saving or printing out Pure Design and will be done following each of the remaining sections. At the end of our journey through words, type, layout, color, pictures, and process, I will publish the entirety of Pure Design in one file.
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 posting #318