My fascination with visiting old newspaper pages never fades.
Here is this from page from Brazil’s Folha de S. Paulo, in its former life as Folha da Noite (Evening Folha) for a Saturday, Feb. 19, 1921. One hundred years ago a newspaper designer, art director, advertising manager, or publisher or editor decided to approve this quite scripty nameplate for their newspaper.
This is Volume 1, Year 1 of what is today one of Brazil’s most well respected and circulated newspapers.
Not many newspapers imitated nameplates like this. Most newspapers worldwide fell comfortably into Old English (Black Letter) branding elements, which is what prevails even today. Here are some of the most familiar ones:
Meanwhile, in India: Most recently, in one of my own redesign projects, with Delhi’s Hindustan Times, the administration wanted to return to its original Black Letter style logo. However, we wanted it to be a modern version that could be well used across platforms, so we hired the services of York-based type designer, Tobias Frere-Jones to recreate the logo. Take a look here:
Read more about the making of the new Hindustan Times branding:
Read more about Folha de S. Paulo:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha-100-anos/2021/02/
For my own book, The Story, I insisted that the title be set in Old English simply because it was a way of shaking hands with the past, of using letters that would remind everyone that The Story is all about journalism and telling newspaper stories, but in a new platform. No other font would have conveyed that as well. See below how we considered a more contemporary font, but not quite the same:
Inquire about our mobile storytelling workshops!
Every week I bring my mobile storytelling workshop to a different newsroom around the world. I begin with a 90-minute presentation about the essentials of crafting/editing/designing stories for mobile consumption. Then I break the participants into groups and for two hours they produce a mobile story which they then present to the entire group for evaluation. It works all the time.
Another type of Garcia Media program is when we sign up for mobile storytelling coaching after completion of the first workshop. Once a week, or as planned, I work virtually with a team of reporters, editors, designers on actual stories that will be published as linear mobile stories. Let me know if you are interested in more information: mario@garciamedia.com
Professors: get your review version of The Story on time for fall classes
As an academic, I know the importance of having the right tools to advance our students, especially on the important subject of mobile storytelling. Please drop me an email if you would like to sample The Story in its digital edition: mario@garciamedia.com
Start writing or type / to choose a block
The full trilogy of The Story now available–3 books to guide you through a mobile first strategy. Whether you’re a reporter, editor, designer, publisher, corporate communicator, The Story is for you! https://amazon
TheMarioBlog post # 3281