WHAT'S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS

I just got the first hot copies.

128 pages of fantastic Sappi newsprint  full of ideas, trends, innovations and great content.

This is our second global report for FIPP, the Worldwide Magazine Media Association.

As his President, Chris Llewellyn says in the Introduction, this new report started last year has been “one of the FIPP’s most successful products.”

Edited by INNOVATION’s John Wilpers in Boston and Juan Senor in London, the report was designed by Javier Zarracina, with a great illustration cover of Deborah Withey that this year shines in amazing gold and silver inks of Polestar, and brilliant caricatures from Luis Gañena

A must-read interview Jonas Bonnier opens a report that will be presented in Berlin on March 14 at the FIPP Digital’s Innovators Summit.

If you want to follow in Spanish the last days of Fidel Castro’s regime, click here.

Penúltimos Días is one of the best collaborative blogs about the end of a dictatorship.

I posted here this cover from Bohemia remembering the late Carlos Catañeda, former assistant editor of LIFE en Español, and editor of El Nuevo Día, the great newspaper of Puerto Rico.

Carlos joined in 1954 the weekly magazine Bohemia.

Years later, he was one of the first journalists to interview Fidel Castro.

After many year in the exile, I meet Carlos in San Juan.

During a dinner with me and Deborah he told us that his last project will be to start the first free paper in post-Castro’s Cuba.

And looking to us said: “You will help me, and Deborah will design it”

He died in Lisbon in 2002, but we will never forget his last wish.

I am sure that some of his friends will found the paper.

“Founded by Carlos Catañeda in the exile” will be the motto.

And Deborah and I will be in La Habana to launch it.

The time is coming.

Fresh.

New.

Full of ideas.

With a fantastic cover of Deborah Withey!

Get your print and/or pdf copy here.

We got today the cover with an illustration of Deborah Withey.

Next week we will review the final copy and layout, and the report will go to the printer in the first week of May.

The 2010 INNOVATIONS IN MAGAZINES World Report will be on sale and available online next Monday.

FIPP will be launching the first Innovations in Magazines report at its Digital Conference on 1 March 2010.

INNOVATION’s Juan Senor (London) and John Wilpers (Boston) are the co-editors of the new 100-page report.

The report is a global look at the most innovative initiatives to increase magazine reach, relevance, revenue, and readership.

The survey will highlight a series of magazine case studies and interviews showing initiatives that have a proven track record of being successful, focusing on identifying innovation in content-driven solutions. The study will be co-published by Innovation Media Consulting, which has also produced the annual World Association of Newspapers World Report for more than 10 years.

John Wilpers said: “If press reports were an accurate thermometer of the health of the magazine industry, publishers, editors and sales people would be out in droves looking for jobs in different industries. Instead, IINNOVATON found the brightest minds in the magazine industry to be bursting with innovative energy. Good news never makes the nightly television broadcast, but there is an abundance of good news as technology, out-of-the-box thinking, and old-fashioned hard work are enabling innovation that is delivering new readers, revenues and relevance to magazines around the world. The future of magazines is indeed bright, and we’ll show how and why in the first annual Innovations in Magazines report.”

Illustrated by Deborah Withey and Luis Grañena, and designed by Javier Zarracina, the first INNOVATIONS IN MAGAZINES is a fantastic report inspired by our two INNOVATION’s magazine gurus: Juan Caño and Thomaz Souto Correa.

Nick Mrozowski is the founding Art Director of i.

A very young visual journalist that last January INNOVATION recommended to the editors of the new paper in Portugal.

He got the first call from Andre Macedo and and he said “yes” on the spot.

I meet Nick in Norfolk when he was hired by The Virginian-Pilot and started to work for the deputy managing editor for presentation, Deborah Withey.

He was the Society of News Design’s College Designer of the Year two consecutive years while working at The State News of Michigan University.

Before he came to Lisbon Nick was one of the main designers of LINK, a tabloid aimed at young readers.

After the SND-E announced today that i was the best designed newspaper of Spain and Portugal in 2009 (20.000-60.000 category), I asked him a few questions:

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE WITH THIS “DAILY-NEWS-MAGAZINE” CONCEPT?

Visually, this newspaper leaves nowhere to hide.

From the short bits at the front (which we illustrate with small photos, icons and simple infographics) to the in-depth spreads in the middle of the paper (that have sophisticated portraits, large illustrations and news photos) and the graphic double spreads that launch the section, we have virtually no stories that don’t take a visual touch.

And the expectation is magazine quality at every step.

And every day!

It’s a new way of working for most of us.

We thought we would be able to use lots of templates to simplify the work, but as it turns out, we make the vast majority of pages from scratch everyday.

It’s a lot of labor, but we are finding the rhythm.

HOW MANY DESIGNERS, PHOTOGRAPHERS AND GRAPHIC PEOPLE WORK WITH YOU?

Design: 7. Myself, Design Coordinator Pedro Fernandes, and five designers: Ana Soares, João Paulo Rego, Rita Perreira, Luciane Coelho and Luís Marques.

Infographics: 2. Editor Carlos Monteiro and Ricardo Santos.

Photography: 5. Editor Céu Guarda, Assistant Ágata Xavier, and Second Assistant Tiago Lopes, Senior Photographer Pedro Azvedo and Junior Photographer Filipe Casaca. The rest of the photography is accomplished through a special fixed group of freelancers.

Image treatment: 3. São Costa, Sara Correia and Sergio Mateus.

WHAT ARE THE BASIC GRAPHIC RULES FOR YOUR FRONT PAGES?

We try very hard to have a dynamic front page that changes as the news dictates.

The main challenge is to be flexible without being inconsistent.

Graphically, the most important elements are the blocks of bright color we use to designate different stories and the conscious choice we have made to keep headlines relatively small (to compliment our small format).

On average, our main headline is only about 40 points.

HOW READERS ARE REACTING TO THE DRAMATIC GRAPHIC DOUBLE SPREADS?

I don’t have any specific information about what readers think of these… but I know we like them!

We use a lot of large, dramatic photos.

And something we call “info-strations”, a mix of simple infographics with illustration.

We try to keep them quite graphic and as simple as possible.

There are days when we can make a simple, powerful statement with text alone, too.

There are so many possibilities.

ANY COMMENT ABOUT THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE REPORTERS AND EDITORS IN THE PRESENTATION OF THEIR STORIES?

We couldn’t make this paper without the editors.

They spend a lot of time discussing pages and concepts directly with the designers.

And as the news changes throughout the day, we rely on them to communicate the changes so that the newspaper can evolve with the news.

There are more than a few “word” editors who I think would like to be art directors in another life.

That’s great for me and my team!

WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED AS A DESIGNER AND AS A VISUALJOURNALIST WORKING IN PORTUGAL?

Coming to Lisbon has been wonderful for me.

The newspapers here are really exciting and inspiring.

It’s fantastic to work in a market where the competition includes a couple of recent world’s best designed newspapers.

Some lessons from i: Everything is possible (even on deadline). Nothing is ever finished (even after the deadline!).

And I’ve learned an especially valuable lesson by watching the directors here work.

They don’t put limits on their ideas.

So what if something seems crazy?

So what if it seems impossible to accomplish in a day (or a couple of hours)?

They believe in good ideas, and they don’t wait for a focus group or another newspaper to prove that something works.

They just do it.

And that’s the real secret of i.

No limits!

And, of course, I’ve learned some Portuguese! (Especially the things to yell on deadline…)

One thing that I am especially proud of is the commitment to illustration here.

We have a great group of illustrators working with us.

And we have a steady stream of assignments to spread among them.

We’re very lucky that the directors here understand and appreciate the journalistic value of their work.

Martim and André have managed to assemble a really wonderful group of people here at i.

The were really smart in the hiring process to look outside the usual candidates.

I’m very happy to be working in Lisbon, especially with such a great group of people.

LIBERATION is a very combative newspaper.

And has been a very peaceful project.

Today Juan Senor, our London director, was is Paris checking the last details for next Monday’s launch of the new formula of LIBE.

INNOVATION’s Javier Errea and Antonio Martin are going to be there working with the editorial and graphic team of LIBERATION.

This is an old client.

Many years ago we were hired by Serge July and Evence Coppe but at that time the new graphic formula didn’t work and Pentagram’s partner David Hillman (a real gentleman!) was unable to gain the support of the newsroom and his superb prototype died after long months of “mais oui, mais non”

I had great time in Paris working with our loved Leo Bogart and Claude Jean Bertrand. Tino Fernandez and Juan Fernando Dorrego did also an excellent work in our editorial and newsroom management audit.

Later, we were asked by Vicent Bollore, chairman of HAVAS, to develop a tentative plan to use the LIBERATION newsroom resourccs for his new TV venture Direct 8, but he couldn’t get support from the shareholders of LIBE.

And almost one year ago, the new board of directors of LIBE headed by Edouard de Rothschild, hired us again this time to produce a full graphic redesign of the paper with a new editorial formula developed after several meetings in Paris with Laurent Joffrin and his team.

L’info est un combat is the new slogan for the launch campaign to emphasise that LIBE is back to quality, punchy, investigative and non-conformist journalism of the politically incorrect.

LIBE is “chic again” and `cool again’

On Monday BMW and Trudot, two top luxury brands will have six full ad pages.

And as I said, this has been a very happy and rewarding experience.

First, because our ideas got the full support of LIBERATION.

And second, because the board of directors, the CEO Nathalie Collin, the editor, and all the newsroom have been very open minded and our discussions ended in a terrific prototype.

Our special thanks go to Stephanie Aubert and Paul Quinio, two great journalists!

And, of course, to all the INNOVATION team that I lead with Juan Senor ()UK), Javier Errea (Spain), Antonio Martin (Spain), Pablo Errea (Spain), Andrew Jaspan (Australia), Thomaz Souto Correa (Brazil), Juan Cano (Spain), Deborah Withey (UK) and Sophie Bougneres (France).

Next Monday you will see the new LIBE, but wait also for the new weekend edition and the new supplements.

We enjoyed the work in Paris.

Thanks Edouard, Nathalie and Laurent, Stephanie and Paul!

In the pictures: Juan Cano, Javier Errea and Laurent Joffrin in the hall of LIBE, in its glorious top terrace, and the fantastic view of Paris from the room where the INNOVATION team made the first presentations.