WHAT'S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS

INNOVATION’s newspapers have won this “European Newspaper of the Year” Award for five consecutive years!

A few minutes ago and from Germany came the great news: Diario de Noticias of Madeira (Portugal) is one of the “European Newspaper of the Year” in the “local newspapers” category.

The main w9nners are:

European Newspaper of the Year, category local newspaper: Diário de Notícias da Madeira, Portugal

European Newspaper of the Year, category regional newspaper: Bergens Tidende, Norway

European Newspaper of the Year, category nationwide newspaper: Politiken, Kopenhagen, Denmark

European Newspaper of the Year, category weekly newspaper: Sunday Herald, Glasgow, Scotland

Judges’ Special Recognition: Gaelscéal, Galway, Ireland.

The judges were:

- Xymena Weiß-Gendera, Editorial-Design, Düsseldorf, Germany
- Prof. Joachim Blum, Media Consultant, Germany
- Annette Milz, Editor-in-Chief, “Medium Magazin”, Germany
- Theo Dersjant, Director Fontys School of Journalism, The Netherlands
- Haika Hinze, Art-Director, “Die Zeit”, Germany
- Gerhard Treffkorn, Art-Director, “Kleine Zeitung”, Graz, Austria
- Georg Taitl, Editor-in-Chief “Der Österreichische Journalist”, Austria
- Martin Huisman, Art-Director, “De Morgen”, Belgium
- Sylvia Egli von Matt, Direktorin Schweizer Journalistenschule MAZ, Switzerland
- Anna Sundqvist, “Östersunds Posten”, Sweden
- Fergus Kelly, Media Consultant, Ireland
- Walter Jensen, “Bergens Tidende”, Norway

With less than 40 journalists, and just four designers, Diario de Noticias, a 15,000 copies local tabloid newspaper in Funchal, was redesigned and relaunched by INNOVATION three years ago.

The European judges said:

“The Diario de Notícias“ gets it’s special charm through very diverse designed front
pages and the section double pages:

- The front pages are designed every day in a new way. Uniformity is not manifested,
but rather new ideas through which contents are represented visually.

- The first page of each section always opens with a double page, which creates a clear
guidance for the reader. Page two and three introduce the local pages that often cover the hot topic of the day.

Conclusion: The “Diario de Notícias“ is between a newspaper and a magazine. This
makes it an exemplary local newspaper for Europe.

Since 2007, the prototype and templates done by INNOVATION’s Guillermo Negore have been implemented, developed and improved day by day.

And like the good wine, the newspaper as improved with the time, and hard work of this energetic and creative newsroom lead three years ago by Luis Calisto and now by Ricardo Oliveira, under the business management of Michael Blandy as president  and José Bettencourt da Câmara as CEO.

Parabens para voces!

Thank you to all the INNOVATION team that made this fantastic redesign a big success: Eduardo Tessler, Project Manager, Guillermo Nagore, Carlos Soria, Decio Trujillo, Ricardo Chaves, Marta Botero .

And our thanks go also to Rodrigo Buldrini, the former design director of Diario de Noticias for his great help in the takeoff.

The Award will be presented to Diario de Noticias at the 2011 European Newspaper Congress in Vienna.

See here some great inside pages,  here more superb front pages, and here a selection of pages from all the 2010 winners.

ARA is the name for the new Catalan multi-platform newspaper to be launch in Barcelona on Monday November 25. 28

Small format and short pagination (40-48)  during weekdays and trying to produce a big weekend edition.

The founders will present the new paper formula next Tuesday October 26 but many details, including its own Manifesto, have been released here.

Like the new British “i” newspaper, ARA wants to reach a new generation of Catalan newspaper readers and non readers with a slick, crispy, trendy and compelling print brand with many electronic news extensions.

The goal is really modest and realistic (11,000 copies in the first year) but the founders expect more than that.

Keep in mind that the almost 8-million Catalonia market is smaller but richer than the 10-million Portuguese one where “i” sells more than this figure.

They are investing less than 9-million euro and they the business plan expects to break-even in four years.

The less than 100-journalist newsroom will have very young reporters and the top editors are also a new generation of journalists, lead by Carles Capdevila as editor in chief, Joan Alegre as publisher and Oriol Soler as president of ARA.

INNOVATION was approached by the founders of ARA interested in many of our most recent projects, including the Portuguese “i”, which multimedia newsroom visited in Lisbon, but we have not been involved in any way.

They told us that the ARA project will share many of our ideas (“compact and compelling newspapers”, “caviar journalism”, “daily-news-magazines”, “”30/30 newspapers”. “why and what’s next newspapers”, “show don’t tell journalism”) and the same with the integrated multimedia newsroom concepts that INNOVATION working with our Calau&Riera media architect partners have developed in many countries like the most recent one for India Today in New Delhi.

With more than 19,000 fans on Facebook and more than 3,000 followers on Twitter ARA is promoting the new paper with several viral marketing tools including pre-launch presentations across Catalonia.

Is this new paper going to be a real competitor of La Vanguardia, El Periodico de Catalunya, Punt Diari or Avui?

I don’t think so, but they better pay attention to all these grassroots tactics.

Newspapers are as strong as their connections with readers, audiences and communities are.

And ARA is doing this very well.

If the product delivers this kind of new post-news quality journalism and avoids the temptation to become another political partisan newspaper, ARA could find space and become a viable model.

So, again, like with the new “i” project in the UK, welcome to ARA and to any new paper willing to innovate and offer quality journalism, in English or in Catalan, because around the world there is only one journalism language: the good one.a

UPDATE: A few, and not very impressive, front page proptotypes.

They are trying to catch Cristiano Ronaldo’s son.

That’s all.

By air.

By any means.

Including missing the Soccer Word Cup Final news in today’s front page.

Oh, boy!

Our friends of i didn’t get it either.

And they went, oh Gosh! with the 365 front page of Socrates.

The best way not to sell a newspaper after Portugal was glued last night to the TV sets.

What a shame!

But Publico, the best daily newspaper of Portugal, won with an excellent picture, headline and cover.

Almost one year after the launch of i, the young quality national daily-news-magazine newspaper of Portugal presents its new Weekend Magazine, Index.

Like the previous award-winning magazine NOS that was scheduled to last one year, this new one has been also designed by Nick Mrozowski, the fantastic Art Director of i.

This is a sample of the first issue that has 60 pages.

Quality journalism always will have future.

Congratulations!

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)

The New York Times reports about i:

It would be hard to find a less promising country in which to start a newspaper than Portugal. Not only are readers defecting to the Internet, as they are elsewhere, but relatively few people ever picked up a paper to begin with. And print advertising has plunged by more than 40 percent this year.Yet while newspapers elsewhere are shutting down or grappling with an uncertain future, Portugal recently got a new one, called i, short for informação, or information.

“Everyone was astonished that they went ahead with the launch when they did,” said João Palmeiro, president of the Portuguese Publishers Association, referring to Lena Group, the Portuguese industrial conglomerate that owns the paper. But he added, “Most of the people are sticking with it once they read it.”

Well, this Thursday, the regional chapter of the Society of News Design holds its annual meeting in Lisbon with a fantastic program that includes the award ceremony for the best designed newspapers of Spain and Portugal.

And the editors of  i will explain and present the new paper.

i has been awarded as one of the best designed newspaper of Spain and Portugal, but just looking at this fantastic front page of Publico you realize that Portuguese newspapers are today leading de visual journalism revolution.

Well done!

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.

More amazing pages from i, the new INNOVATION’s revolutionary newspaper of Portugal that excels in how to present and explain the news using the best tools of visual journalism.

Investing in hard news.

With knockout pictures.

Covering Sports with revealing and compelling interviews.

Or just splashing terrific and well edited panoramic pictures.

And small is beautiful, too.

And bold double spread pages that you never saw before.

Yes, nothing new.

Just Journalism.

Period.

The best of the best solutions for any newspaper.

And this is, for me, the biggest lesson learned from the directors and editors of i.

They are the ones that deserve the credit for this display of creativity and courage.

The INNOVATION team was only a provocateur.

They are the ones that at the end of the day implemented our crazy ideas.

Parabens!

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.