The start of a new newspaper is always an auspicious occasion, one to celebrate. The launch of Xpress is no exception. It is a vibrant, contemporary newspaper totally created for the reader of the “always on” culture, which, whether he lives in Dubai or Buenos Aires approaches life with a constant desire be informed whenever and wherever he wants it.
The culture of the “always on” thrives on high tech and all the gadgets that surround it—from mobile telephone news alerts and text messages to emails, photos and video clips. Many members of the “always on” generation start feeling neglected if ten minutes go by and they have not received a text message or email from anyone.
So it is within the framework of this modern reader/user that your new Xpress has been carefully crafted. The newspaper in front of you today emphasizes the techniques of modern newspaper rethinking:
1. Ease of navigation.
2. A two-track approach to news and feature presentation.
3. A small format that is easier to carry and to manage.
4. Color-coding to identify sections.
5. Innovative advertising positioning
Navigation
As more newspaper readers use the Internet, they also bring to print some of the habits they have grown accustomed to in that medium. This means that readers grow “impatient” and wish to find selected content of interest as quickly as possible. A modern newspaper must facilitate navigation. Readers of Xpress will find a page one that not only highlights a chosen feature or news item of the day that should be read first, but that also serves as a platform to give them a sense of what content appears inside throughout the entire newspaper. Inside, various opening sections will also guide readers to “must read” content. Individual stories will also guide the reader not only to related subjects, but also to enhance information/photos in the online edition of express4me.com
The two-track newspaper: scanners and traditional readers
In fact, a printed newspaper today must cater to two types of readers: scanners (that is most of us, regardless of age), and traditional readers (those who read patiently, page by page, waiting for surprises, but NOT rushing to them).
Your new Xpress aims at the two tracks, with elements of story structuring that facilitate scanning, while presenting the same depth and substance that traditional readers have come to expect—-in a manageable, easy to read package. A win situation.
And, since many of us can be both scanners and loyal readers at different times, the story structuring of Xpress offers several points of entry into a story to facilitate reading, whatever our mood is. Many stories will include a flash line (short line over the headline, usually offering geographic location or other pertinent information), the traditional headline (offers the essence of the story), and summary deck (to enhance the information with an additional element of interest). If a reader reads these three elements, he/she may have enough information to know about the story, even without reading the text. However, for those who wish to read the entire package, all the information appears there as well. Whether you are a scanner or a more relaxed reader, the new Xpress satisfies your needs.
Small tabloid format
The Xpress copy in front of you is designed as a compact, or more commonly referred to as a “tabloid” format.
Tabloids are protagonists in a play about newspaper survival, adaptation to change and a spirit of renovation. Ironically, tabloid formats were always protagonists in the life of the reader. We have witnessed a rapid trend for quality newspapers everywhere to convert from broadsheet (large) formats to compact in the past five years. The tabloid wave has swept from New Zealand and Australia to the pampas of Argentina, and, of course, the four corners of Europe. It is, I believe, unstoppable. The tabloidization of newspapers is a global phenomenon. We will see how, one by one, the largest and best-known newspaper titles around the world will make the transition to smaller formats.
In London, The Independent and The Times are both excellent examples of successful conversions, not just because they adopted the smaller formats readers preferred, but because editors of both newspapers also looked at content enhancements, styles of storytelling, and ways to make their products more fun and easy to navigate as they went to a different, more manageable format. This is as it should be with redesign in any format.
Therefore, a newspaper totally created in 2007, as is your Xpress, must be in a compact format.
Today, however, the format itself places emphasis on the easier-to-carry, faster to read and more appropriate size for the lifestyle of today’s busy readers. The content and what is packaged in these more user-friendly newspapers can be as credible, serious and substantial as an editor wishes to make it, as evidenced by such newspapers as The Times , The Independent and The Guardian (London), Le Monde and Liberation (France), The Christian Science Monitor (USA), El Pais and La Vanguardia (Spain) and La Reppublica (Italy).
We begin to see the end of the “tabloid means lower quality journalism” myth, and the rise of the compact format as the practical, sensible way to present the news of the day, as the new Xpress shows.
Color-coding
The majority of today’s readers have no recollection of life without color television. In about five years, we will have the first group of adult newspaper readers who will have no memory of life without the Internet. These are important points to recall as we design a new newspaper, and we have, indeed, taken this information into account as we designed Xpress.
Color is definitely a protagonist in your new Xpress. Like the UAE itself, a tapestry of cultures, each colorful in itself, the new Xpress had to show the vibrancy of its surroundings, starting on page one. Notice the stripes of color directly under the logo, and the RED used for the X in Xpress, a symbol of passion and fire, which, for a newspaper, translate into aggressive, fun, must read journalism. Color is also utilized to highlight boxes, secondary readings and areas of the page where the editor/designer want to make sure you stop to take a look, not to mention that colorful photographs appear on every page. Yes, your new Xpress is a color fest, with each of the major sections using an identifying hue that will facilitate finding them.
Innovative advertising presentation
One of the greatest influences brought by users of the Internet to print is how they react to advertising content. On the smaller canvas a computer screen, advertising and editorial content must coexist visually and otherwise. Traditionally, in newspapers, such coexistence was more a matter of “have to” rather than “want to”.
But not anymore.
The new Xpress approaches advertising in a modern way: creating new advertising positioning throughout the newspaper that are innovative, eye catching and that, indeed, are designed to coexist with journalistic content on the canvas of the page. As you look through your new Xpress, pay attention to the shape of advertising. One advantage of the compact or tabloid format is that they are read like magazines, with the eyes moving from left to right, and with both pages opened in front of the readers at all times, thus giving more visibility to those ads that appear on the right hand side of the page. Readers of standard-size newspapers usually fold the sheets, as it is cumbersome to keep both big pages open at the same time.
Xpressly yours
So, as you take a good look at the newspaper in front of you, enjoy its contents, the interesting material that each page brings, and anticipate what the next edition will have in store for you.
It is, indeed, reason to celebrate the birth of the new Xpress, a newspaper that is totally designed to cater to your needs, to make your survival in the cities easier, and that promises you a good 20-minute break from your routine. Here ‘s hoping that Xpress will become part of those things you consider “indispensable”.