Print is Far from Dead - Can New Media Rise to That Level?

In this case it's about design - of the news experience. Has it already? Every year for the past 29, the Society for News Design (SND) picks the best of print news design. This year's winners are:

• Akzia, bi-weekly from Moscow, with a circulation of 200,000
• Expresso, a weekly news from Portugal, circulation 140,000
• Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, a weekly Sunday paper from Germany, circulation 320,000
• The Guardian, a daily paper from the UK, circulation 355,750

More on the official announcement here. You know what's interesting? No US papers among the winners, all European. These publications have been around for a while.

SND29 World's Best-Designed Newspaper (slideshow) from Society for News Design on Vimeo.

According to the judges, the first criterion used for the selection is consistency - the design, typography, neatness and unique voice are throughout the paper. They make good use of grids, layouts, bite size news and all the pieces that make a newspaper attractive to read. In watching the video I also heard what they mean by surprise - some special elements that go above and beyond what one would expect.

The third element cited was courage - unconventional elements that exuded enthusiasm and a certain fearlessness. That is quite a way to describe news reporting, isn't it? Intelligence seems to be defined by the judges as coherent narration, attention to detail, confidence.

Design for news print includes images, colors, all that makes the story stand out. It looks like the entrants to this competition were 14,000+ [hat tip to Bruno Giussani]. Who says print is dead?

If I think about the criteria as applicable to the design of new media experiences, how many publications would qualify? How many new media publications are there? Do blogs qualify? Which ones? I'm thinking publications like:

• The Huffington Post - circulation the advertising section says over 5.7 million
• Slate - circulation the advertising page says over 5 million unique visitors per month
  
• Mashable, social networking news - circulation more tan 5 million monthly page views
• TechCrunch - circulation 679,000
• Gawker media - site visits 259,242,649, page views 328,837,657

I'm seeing a difference right away in the circulation numbers. The online subscription numbers are not comparable because they can be global. How many people would subscribe to a daily or weekly who are not local? How much time does each visitor spend online vs. how long reading a printed page?

Finally there is the big question of design. How do we determine good design, even great design in online publications? Are there examples of great photography and story weaved together in the layout online?

If we look at the criteria used for judging - consistency, surprise, courage, and intelligence - as described, print surely looks quite far from dead.

I subscribe to a local business weekly newspaper. I find it very helpful because it covers topics that I would not find anywhere else. And I buy the Sunday paper where I admit I have one columnist left among my favorites, the others fell victims to centralization, cost efficiencies - in other words, layoffs.

What about you? Do you still subscribe to print dailies or weeklies?

Comments

[Jay, writer MemberSpeed.com]

I still am fond of reading print media like newspapers and magazines, as they were the information material that I got used to when I was young. Still I am beginning to shift to the newer media that is the Internet as I find it complete and easy to access plus my choices of articles to read are unlimited. Blogs for one tickle my fancy as I enjoy reading other people’s insights about random things.

[Valeria Maltoni]

I like the portability of a print newspaper, especially as I'm eating a croissant with my espresso.

I'm with you on reading habits. For lack of time, I usually end up zeroing in snippets of news here and there online. And digital can be unlimited in terms of lifespan - always there (with a few, rare occasions).

[John]

Online circulation in the newspaper industry is gearing up. A newspaper today can be printed in Paris but delivered in Tokyo – that same very moment. Publishers can sell more copies, without ever printing them. A newspaper can be published in print, web, mobile and iPods – in the same go. Companies like http://www.pressmart.net help print Publishers in distributing their content on multiple delivery channels including web, mobile, RSS, podcast, social media and search engines over a seamless 360-degree full-service platform.