Que?
For not wanting to feel like you are reading over Manuel’s shoulder [Fawlty Towers], pay a visit to the Latin chapter of the SND {Society of Newspaper Designers}.
I have absolutely no idea what is being said on those pages, but as the old proverb goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and good design can tell a story no matter what language it is in. The visual references that these guys put up is amazing, so much work stands on it’s own as pieces of design. Which I guess is the point of it all. A good designer should be able to tell a story, convey information, portray an event etc with the use of imagery. Many of the works shown are drawn from all over the world, but the fascinating thing about the variety of work, is how visually different regions of the world are, and which tools these regions are using to tell a story.
Take for instance this from http://www.lancenet.com.br
Unfortunately as is often the case, the web site [although nice] is a pale shadow of the print edition, and this layout is so different from anything that we would see in NZ papers that’s for sure.
Apart from the fact that it’s a cartoon, when was the last time a double page spread was dedicated to any sport in NZ, let alone in such a manner that it works as a piece of design alone.
I love full page spreads like this, and contrary to what is thought, horizontal design is possible in the newspaper world, and even more so in the magazine world. In fact a great layout like this should be available for download as a stand alone spreads, if for nothing else for geeks like me {{ I’ve tried to get Matt from Idealog.co.nz to get some pdf or jpg layouts of his mag as stand alone images, they are stunning }}.
Contrast this with the Guardian. This is a typical spread from the sports section. It’s a great read, but that’s it – a read. It can’t be skimmed and has little or no value pinned on my sons football poster wall. It may very well be that the typical layout of the Lancet from Brazil is more along these lines than that of the image above, but it still speaks volumes to the contrasting styles of the papers and the culture of newspaper design between the two regions.
Meanwhile back in NZ, it’s not as if we don’t have the material to base good design on. I mean without a story to tell, this is otherwise just art [not that there's anything wrong with that - thanks Sienfeld]. But take this layout for example. It’s a preview of the NBA season by Ernie Smith of the Virginian-Pilot.
Looking for material to base this on we have the;
- Cricket Season
- The Rugby Season
- The Football Season
- The Netball Season
- The League Season
- Name your Season
These types of layouts are commonplace in many European and North American newspapers. They not only cover a story, they often act as a year long reference point, that quite often ends up on the wall of a child’s room, sports bar or office cafeteria. As they should.
I’d love to see the Press or one of the other papers actually spending the time and money to come up with these simple solutions to sports information. Surely this sort of layout wouldn’t be hard to sell to advertisers?
So don’t forget to go over to the Latin branch of the SND and feast on their stunning layouts.
