WHAT'S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS

The good news is that the new La Vanguardia is in the hands of its readers.

The bad news is that Carlos Perez de Rozas is no loger the ME/Art of La Vanguardia.

Jose Alberola becomes the new Art Director of the paper.

Carlos has been one of the driving forces of the Spanish newspaper design boom.

When he was hired by La Vanguardia, he asked me to find a young designer fluent in English who could work in New York as the liaison with the studio of Milton Glaser and Walter Bernard.

I suggested Maria Jose Oriol Roca, now a designer of the Sunday magazine of La Vanguardia, and she had the opportunity of her life: to work in New York with Milton and Walter, and Carlos in Barcelona.

Carlos belongs to the Perez de Rozas family of first-class photographers and journalists.

His father died covering the return of Spanish soldiers from Russia in the 50s, and his brother Emilio is perhaps one of the best sports editors of the Spanish press.

As a fantastic University professor, a great speaker and a popular sports TV commentator, Carlos Perez de Rozas is a personality full of life.

INNOVATION has been very fortunate to have friends like Carlos, his wife Carmen (a great media entrepreneur) and their son “Carlitos,” who doesn’t want to be a journalist, but another Ferran Adria, a kind of “food art director.”

The newspaper design community around the world is very sad today.

We are too.

18 years ago, Milton Glaser and Walter Bernard launched the redesign of La Vanguardia.

A good excuse to remember one of the best illustrators in the world.

And watch this video clip.

This is the last issue of La Vanguardia in its traditional berliner format and old design.

Tomorrow, La Vanguardia, the leading quality family-owned newspaper of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain), will launch its new format.

Today, La Vanguardia has a supplement that tracks the graphic changes of the paper in its 126 years.

La Vanguardia will use two new and fast Wifag Evolution 371 full color printing presses.

The promotional campaign is simple and direct:

“La Vanguardia no cambia” or “La Vanguardia doesn’t change”

The message is clear:

The Spanish newspaper introduces editorial and graphic changes but the “soul” of the paper remains.

This is not a newspaper in crisis.

Or trying to find a new niche.

La Vanguardia will have the same tabloid format of El Pais, and the same format that it has had for its national and international editions for many years.

Javier de Godo, publisher and president of the paper was the force behind the dramatic and very successful changes made on October 2, 1989.

Then, Walter Bernard and Milton Glaser redesigned La Vanguardia in a big and original way and the paper started to print the new format with another Wifag.

The nameplate was changed.

A new editorial formula was launched and La Vanguardia got new young readers and more ads than ever.

Tomorrow’s changes are less dramatic, but, like in 1989, they have been seriously discussed for more than two years.

The new graphic and editorial formula has been developed as an “in-house” project lead by the publisher, Javier de Godo, and the editors Jose Antich and Alfredo Abian.

During this process, INNOVATION acted as a facilitator for the internal discussion.

The INNOVATION team included Carlos Soria (Spain), Juan Antonio Giner (USA), Juan Senor (UK), Claude Erbsen (USA), Thomaz Souto Correa (Brazil), Javier Errea (Spain), Javier Zarracina (USA), and Marta Torres (Spain).

We selected and presented the most relevant international media trends, audited the newspaper, reviewed its newsroom management and suggested many changes that at the end of this process were included in a final report to the directors and editors of La Vanguardia.

After our report was issued, the graphic changes were produced by the design department of La Vanguardia, lead by Carlos Perez de Rozas, Rosa Mundet and Jose Alberola, and the help of Pablo Martin and Jaime Serra.

They have done a superb job.

It has been a longterm project.

And an example of team work.

A content-driven redesign.

Today, the editor of the paper, Jose Antich, explains in its daily bulletin (“Looking to the Future”) how La Vanguardia will change tomorrow, but keeping its soul and, what’s more important, offering a better product than ever.