Two of last year’s winners are among the five named the Society of Newspaper Design’s ‘World’s Best-Designed Newspaper’.
Toronto, Canada, title The Grid and Politiken, published in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, were named in 2012. The others are: Dagens Nyheter (Stockholm, Sweden), Die Zeit (Hamburg, Germany) and Welt am Sonntag (Berlin, Germany).
While there are no winners from the Asia-Pacific, judges noted that many Asian papers were starting to use Western design methods “but are still maturing”, citing Qianjiang Evening News (Hangzhou, China) as an example.
And they were critical of US publishers’ lack of attention to inside page design: “It’s disheartening to see so many American newspapers that, after decades of discussion and education, still pay little or no attention to inside pages,” says their report. “Publications that spend a great amount of time finessing their covers but treat their inside pages like vessels to fill with commodity news until they’re full to the top are missing the point and the opportunity to be relevant.”
Judges Paul Blickle, Steve Dorsey, Alexandro Medrano, Denise Reagan and Juan Velasco say the distinguishing factor is a culture of careful editing of all content that puts the reader first – through stringent attention to detail.
“Too many designers are not driven by the content in front of them; they’re just moving elements around pages. In the best-designed publications, that connection jumps off the page,” they say.
Weeding out publications in the first round of judging was easy, with many papers unable to “nail the fundamentals of typography, grid, white space, hierarchy, etc. – the basics we’ve been talking about for 35 years as a Society.”
A disturbing trend is the lack of illustration and especially information graphics in so many newspapers. “These are the tools that newspapers can use to distinguish their content from the pack and add context and understanding to their report,” they say.
Judges also note the introduction of “fascinating innovations” such as micro-format papers (Diario DF, Mexico City) and technology such augmented reality to enhance printed pages (Reporte Indigo, Monterrey, Mexico).
Judges also point to impressive printing and production quality among Middle East entries. For its part, German press manufacturer manroland web systems has pointed out that four of the five winners – Welt am Sonntag, Die Zeit, Dagens Nyheter and The Grid – all use their Colorman presses.