10.15 Registration
10.35 Introduction
10.45 Peter Baistow: From flong to film and beyond
11.30 Simon Esterson: The rise and fall of the colour magazine
12.15 John Belkap: Could ugly be beautiful?
1.00 Lunch
2.00 Alan Rusbridger: The shrinking broadsheet
2.45 Mark Porter: Why does a newspaper look like it does?
3.30 Tea & coffee
3.45 Paul Barnes: The story of the new Guardian typeface
4.30 Nico Macdonald: Design: the neglected discipline online
There have been more changes in the production of newspapers in the past three decades than in the previous three centuries. I will take a broad look at some of the social, political and technological developments that have influenced the content and look of newspapers, and a closer look at the transformation during my time in the trade. The changes from wooden type and engravings to hot metal, flongs and rotary presses, on to photoset type, paper make-up, film, plates and offset printing. Then to on-screen writing, editing and designing leading to decentralised production and distribution - to a future where the paper web is being replaced by the world wide web.
With the best photography and layouts, the colour magazines were often talked about more than the newspapers that published them. Then everybody began to learn the same techniques...
We all get excited about beautiful newspaper design. But in the global market, does ugly sell better? A look at what kind of beauty really matters.
Broadsheet newspapers are shrinking. Some have gone tabloid, others are trimming their page size or adopting a European-style mid-size format. What are the advantages and disadvantages of downsizing? Can a newspaper retain its values while changing shape? How do an editor and designer set about the challenge?
The appearance of newspapers has traditionally been conditioned by the limitations of technology and the demands of the production process. In the 1980s and 90s, technological innovations and changes in reading habits removed most of the constraints by which papers had been bound for hundreds of years. Nonetheless, many of the conventions remain. A new generation of magazine and internet-influenced newspaper designers have challenged assumptions, but have also introduced a new set of fashions and habits. I will look at the historical background, and review a wide range of contemporary newspaper designs, attempting to identify the creative, cultural and commercial influences on the look of modern newspapers.
In 2003 Paul Barnes was approached to be the typographic consultant on the redesign of the Guardian newspaper. During the following two years, Barnes turned from not only being a consultant to being the designer with his American partner, Christian Schwartz of the Guardian’s new typeface, Guardian Egyptian. The process included redesigns of the newspaper’s previous headline type, Helvetica, through to a serif typeface, Haçienda through to the final Egyptian as used in the paper.
We are stuck in version 2.0 of design for online media, with the printed page still the dominant metaphor. Editorial dominates design, and design is neglected. Meanwhile, readers arrive at stories via Yahoo!, read articles syndicated using RSS in ‘news readers’, and discuss them in their own Weblogs. Design is critical to newspapers attempt to retain the loyalty of readers as they move online. Challenges include improving navigation and appropriately using visualisation; supporting cross-platform access to content; incorporating reader-created content and commentary; representing personalisation and user recommendation; facilitating reader manipulation of material; developing real editorial design; and addressing meta and system design issues. More generally, designers and publishers need to better understand the real people using their publications -- including their own staff. Above all, online design solutions need to be successful and satisfying for their intended audiences. Designers need to take more of a lead the future of online publishing, and it needs to promote innovation over Darwinian evolution.
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