WHAT'S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS

Six months after its launch “i” became the “European Newspaper of the Year” and now becomes “the best designed newspaper of Spain & Portugal”.

The SND-E big award to “i” is an award to the visual team that on daily bases produces one of the most creative newspapers of the world.

A total number of 2.384 works from 70 media from both countries participated in the contest this year, exceeding last edition’s participation record (62 media): 2.153 were from 53 printed media and 248 from 17 online publications.

This is a great example of how a new paper gets better and better after the take-off.

The INNOVATION editorial concept and Javier Errea’s fantastic design have been improved day by day, so the real credit goes Nick Mrozowski (Creative Director) and Pedro Fernandes (Art Director).

They deserve our gratitude and admiration.

Well done!

More great front pages of “i” here.

A few hours ago in Pamplona, the International Jury of the 18th Edition of the Malofiej Infographic Awards announced the list of the winners.

Congratulations to them and to Javier Errea and his fantastic team that every year improves tone of the finest journalistic competitions of the world.

Visual journalism at its best!

Above is the double spread of my Manifesto about Visual Journalism published last year.

We have INNOVATION’s Javier Errea and Antonio Martin in Paris working with LIBE, so today’s front page looks great.

The paper is doing very well, and publisher, editors and reporters are happy with the new editorial and graphic formula.

In the next few days we will start a new project with LIBE lead by INNOVATION’s director, Marta Botero.

A few minutes ago, the 11th European Newspaper Awards were announced and, i, the fantastic new paper from Lisbon is the big winner.

The European Newspaper Awards are organized by Norbert Küpper from Meerbusch (Germany) with the journalism magazines “Medium Magazin” from Frankfurt/Main, “Der Österreichische Journalist” from Salzburg (Austria) and “Schweizer Journalist” from Wilen/Wil (Switzerland).

A few weeks ago i was awarded as one the best designed newspaper of Portugal and Spain of the year.

Now i gets this European Newspaper Award.

This is not just a design contest.

The European Award includes “design and concept” and i is unique in both areas.

The Jury statement said;

“i” persuaded the jury through its special innovative approach. Newly established, the newspaper can start full of energy. It is precisely this that makes “informação” fascinating in all fields: Photography, page layout, alternative types of journalistic articles and innovative sections – completely focusing on the power of new ideas. All in all, a newspaper is evolved quintessentially, an all-round innovation. It almost goes without saying: The homepage www.ionline.pt has a similarly innovative appearance as the printed newspaper.”

INNOVATION’s Javier Errea has won right now more European Newspaper Awards than any other design consultant in the world.

Read here the INNOVATION MANIFESTO FOR i.

See here and here, a large selection of its best pages.

And here you can find a interview with its Art Director, Nick Mrozowski.

Yes, i is becoming the most innovative newspaper done by the INNOVATION team in the last 20 years.

A real revolution.

A needed revolution.

Launched just six months ago during the worst economic times…

A lesson for the newspaper industry.

And here are the real winners.

A young newsroom.

With energetic team of editors and managers.

And a brave company, Grupo Lena, investing in times of crisis.

The Award will be presented to i during the 2010 European Newspaper Congress (Vienna, April, 25-27).

(Picture by Joachim Blum)

This is a selection of some of the best pages of i.

Keep in mind that this is a six month old compact and compelling quality national newspaper of Portugal.

A real “daily-news-magazine” produced by INNOVATION for Sojormedia, with Javier Errea as the leading design consultant in this project.

A new newspaper with an editorial and graphic team of around 80 journalists, working in an “state-of-the-art” multimedia newsroom designed by INNOVATION’s partners Calau&Riera, a media architects studio based in Barcelona.

Enjoy this display of creativity, good journalism and innovation.

With colors.

Smart words.

Amazing pictures.

Outstading illustrations.

Fabulous infographics.

And new ways to present and explain the news.

Journalism Caviar!

With brilliant graphic story-telling.

With a great mix of different visual languages.

Redescovering the powerful tool of photo-essays.

Investing in illustrators and giving them full freedom.

Or using black and white pictures in a fantastic way.

More pages of i, later.

A young paper for a young generation of young readers.

The new national quality “daily-news-magazine” of Portugal, i, has been awarded as the “best designed newspaper of Spain and Portugal” (20.000-60.000 category) by a jury of the regional Chapter of the Society of News Design (SND-E).

As Peter Preston wrote last Sunay in The Observer, i is an unique newspaper, so this award and many more than I am sure will receive in the years to come, deserves some attention as one the most innovative newspapers of the world.

INNOVATION’s chief design consultant Javier Errea developed a terrific prototype that Nick Mrozowsk, art director of i, and his visual journalists have implemented and improved day by day.

This has been possible thanks to two fearless editors, Martim Avillez Figueiredo and Andre Macedo, that never say no to the most radical proposals that INNOVATION presented before and after the launch of the new paper.

A few days ago, in Cuatro Tipos, the best Spanish blog about news design, Herminio Javier Fernandez writes:

“I never saw in a newsstand something like this, and I never expected to see that”

Yes, it’s a “dream’s paper”

So, let me tell you some clues and background about this project.

On August 5, 2008, I got the first e-mail about i.

Since then, in my computer are more than 297 e-mails about this paper.

Re-reading now some of these messages I can remember some interesting facts, like that Sojormedia, the media branch of the Lena Group, owner of the paper, wanted to launch i in November 2008!

The paper was finally launched in May 2009.

A world record!

In less than nine months INNOVATION produced the editorial, newsroom management and design on and off line models, found an U.S. art director, and three INNOVATION partners, the multimedia newsroom architects Calau&Riera from Barcelona, Protecmedia from Madrid  and Dosalcubo from Buenos Aires, designed and implemented an “state-of-the-art” multimedia newsroom and the multimedia editorial and online content management systems.

As director of the INNOVATION team with Carlo Campos as project manager and Javier Errea as chief design consultant, plus Eduardo Tessler, Chiqui Esteban, Jorge Heili, Miguel Angel Jimeno and  Laura Cruz. we spent more than 300 working days in and outside of Lisbon in one of the most demanding project ever done by our company, but we always had the full support of the fantastic team of directors and editors of Sojormedia and i.

They are the ones that deserve our gratitude and respect.

They have done in a big way what we have wanted in previous projects: the first compact and compelling quality “daily-news-magazine” of the world.

The “i manifesto” that I sent to the directors and editors of i in January 19, 2009, five months before its launch, explained i detail our dream:

The new “i” will be news caviar.

News paté.

Not news pottage.

News, stories, analysis, opinions and services will be presented in a first-class graphic model, but the secret of the new formula will not be the quality of the design but the relevance of the content.

This has been a content-driven redesign.

“i” wants be an extremely efficient newspaper.

Offering quality and compelling information in an attractive, compact, and easy to read newspaper format.

Not zooming old formulas into fewer pages.

But enhancing the best content ever edited.

Saving time.

Saving paper.

Saving Money.

As an editor’s newspaper, “i” will need very strong editing of the news.

Editing must be one of the most important newsroom skills.

Editing means, first, to be selective.

Editing means, second, to write and rewrite to make the content better.

The new graphic model will be a perfect tool for this editing, editing, editing mantra.

How?

With a “show, don’t tell” news strategy.

Smart infographics will deliver greater amounts of information.

Like good and dramatic pictures.

Or provocative and meaningful illustrations.

Our Portuguese readers will get more information than ever in print and online .

And our superb content will capture more eyeballs than ever.

The website will offer expanded versions of our print content.

Everybody and everything will be edited.

So, columnists will be edited.

Letters to the editor will be edited.

Front page stories will be edited.

Reviews will be edited.

Features will be edited.

Listings and agendas will be edited.

The print edition will be our premium edition.

Only the best of the best will have space in print.

At the end of the day, our strength is not how many pages we print or how much information we deliver, but how much time our readers spend reading, not just looking or browsing.

If we can increase the time devoted by readers to our tightly edited print newspaper, the new model will be a great success.

The new formula of “i” combines short and long pieces, but both will be strongly edited.

This is essential journalism.

This is intense journalism.

This is reflective journalism.

So, we as journalists will need to work more so that our readers work less.

This will be our best service to them.

And to our advertisers, who will love a print product that makes readers read and enjoy news and ads.

Devoting more and more time.

The dream of any journalist.

And the best business for any newspaper.

The circulation of i is growing, and in less than six months is selling almost what was projected in the business plan for one year after the launch.

In the last two months (summer months when the circulation of newspapers in Europe goes down) i has been selling 16% more copies.

Quality Visual Journalism sells!

INNOVATION design and redesign work in the last few year was also rewarded with EXPRESSO, REVISTA UNICA and EL ECONOMISTA winning in other categories of the ÑH6 competition.

(Pictures by i)

Yesterday, LIBERATION published the second issue of Le Mag.

This is the new weekend section that includes a terrific mix of log stories and smart short ones.

INNOVATION’s Javier Errea project for Le Mag is working very well.

See a sample of the brilliant content and design.

The INNOVATION team leaves Paris tomorrow after the fantastic launch of the new LIBERATION.

These are pictures of Javier Errea and Antonio Martin working with the designers of the paper.

Tomorrow you will see the new Weekend Edition, with a superb Magazine.

Stay tuned.

More pictures from Paris.

INNOVATION’s Javier Errea and Antonio Martin looking at the first proofs of tomorrow’s new LIBE.

More pictures later.

Pictures from Paris that you can see in our Flickr set.

INNOVATION’s Javier Errea checking the first real proofs for Monday’s edition.

More later.