TAKEAWAY: The Society of News Design (SND) has just announced 35th Edition contest winners. We take pride in the success of our client newspapers and will be devoting TheMarioBlog post the rest of the week to chat with art directors from some of the winning newspapers.
These newspapers, all part of the Garcia Media portfolio, past and present, won awards at the SND 35 CompetitionAnother round of Society of News Design (SND) judging has taken place and, one more time, newspapers from around the world have been selected for all types of honors: from the Best Designed in the World to Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, to Awards of Excellence It is an annual ritual in which the work of talented designers, photographers and illustrators is highlighted for the world to see. Upon completion of the competition, The Best of News Design book is published. It’s perhaps one of the best newspaper design reference and inspiration guides available.
The book also makes for a very appealing coffee table book, by the way. You don’t have to be a designer to admire the stunning examples that get into “the book.” And, as a former judge, I can also testify that many of the entries that do not make the cut are worth taking a look at, too.
Proud of the winners in our midst
We at Garcia Media are always very proud when titles in which we have participated are singled out for recognition.
This year, among our list of clients winning big are:
Die Zeit,
Times of Oman,
Al Shabiba,
Gulf News,
The Washington Post,
South China Morning Post
American City Business Journal.
To all of them a hearty congratulations from the Garcia Media team. While we have not been actively involved with some of these winners in the past 12 months, we recognize the good work the art directors in these publications continue to do, and the manner in which they maintain the framework and structures that we created at the time of the redesign of these titles.
Some meditations on what wins
As I look at these titles from our portfolio which have won SND 35 Awards, I can’t help to reflect upon what has brought them to this place of honor.
These are my personal observations and not meant to be a “guide to winning at SND”.
Three themes run through these winners:
1. Building a framework where the talent and creativity of designers, illustrators and photographers could thrive.
With the exception of The Washington Post, none of the other newspapers even had an art department, art director or any sense of authority for visual presentation when we started the process. While we were there to “redesign” the publication, I always insisted that the best ideas could not be carried out unless the management of the newspaper created positions for art directors and designers, create a department in which they could thrive, and, most importantly, integrate them into the newsroom, with the responsibilities and authority necessary to allow them to do their work. It is hard to believe that Times of Oman, the most award winning newspaper this year, started from 0 less than 7 years ago; Die Zeit, a perennial among the best designed newspapers in the world, had a text driven philosophy that emphasized their wonderful journalism, but with no space for visuals. It is amazing to see where these newspapers are today.
2. Integrating the “visual storytellers” into the daily dynamics of planning and conceptualization of how content will be presented.
It is not enough to have art departments and art directors, if they are not given the authority to participate, to bring ideas to the table and to execute them with the same respect towards their craft as that granted writers in the same newsroom. The winners here all share that trait. In most cases, these newspapers went from having zero visual souls, to making visuals the ultimate enhancement for stories.
3. Bypassing the trends, while emphasizing the essentials, which never go out of style.
The teams in these winning newspapers follow a pattern: start with a story, which is discussed thoroughly between those in charge of visuals and those writing the words, to achieve the best solution to tell the story. The emphasis is on being true to the story, surprising the reader, enhancing the content and making it all seduce the reader. There are no unnecessary bells and whistles. Every element of the design has a purpose, mostly to enhance the story.
Today: Gulf News, UAE
The Gulf News of Dubai is among the top 10 winners in this year’s competition. I had a chat with Gulf News Design Director Miguel Gomez.
Mario:
There was a time when the Gulf News did not even have an art department. It has been a tough road, but now it is here and the results are obvious: a winner. What was the biggest challenge for you to build what is now one of the most creative newspaper art departments in the world?
Miguel:
It’s all about the people, finding the right people with the right skills. When I came eight years ago, there were already talented designers and illustrators, so the first step was to find out what specific skills they had and what we needed to add. With this clear, the recruitment process started, looking for professionals with experience, talent and that could add a specific value to the team. This allowed us to approach more ambitious projects and extend our influence. Support from the management was crucial because we doubled the size of the team in a short period of time.
Mario:
On a day to day basis, how would you describe your job in terms of communicating with the editors/reporters about story ideas going through the pipeline and communicating with your team about developing those ideas.
Miguel:
“The newsroom is in general open to ideas, but as anywhere, some sections are more visually oriented than others and we work in two fronts: working together with the interested sections and building bridges with the sections that are not that open.
I have to say that this is an on-going process and still a lot to do.
Most of the times, ideas come from the team and we develop this ideas informally in small groups in a very dynamic way.
For special projects, we have formal meetings usually long time in advance to discuss the possible angles, brainstorm on the visual approach and the people involved.
Continuous follow up helps us to stay on track and to avoid last minute changes.”
Tomorrow; Times of Oman and Al Shabiba, Oman (with 111 awards, the highest award winner in this year’s competition)
