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Download This Topic Previous topic Next topic	Best newspapers of 2006 SND look like glorified newsletters.
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Billy Simkins

Contributing editor

Joined: 27 Jul 2004

Posts: 141

Location: Bakersfield

Posted:
Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:30 pm

I always wonder how the SND judges pick their winners. It's almost like they pick their choices to make a statement to American papers. If it's in German it must be cutting edge. Some of the designs I saw look straight out of the pagemaker templates. Overloaded rows of gray which are far too much to digest and leave little as far as interactivity. Another aspect of SND is picking the design over how a reader will react to actually reading the content. Who cares how good the design is if the reader won't read the article.

Billy Simkins

Last edited by Billy Simkins on Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:09 pm; edited 1 time in total

Kilometer31

Maestro

Joined: 11 May 2004

Posts: 574

Location: San Antonio Express-News

Posted:
Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:39 pm

It's not always easy to compare European newspapers -- or European newspaper reader tastes -- to those in the U.S. There's a lot more tolerance for "gray" -- in fact text is really part of the design pallette.

But cultural differences aside, I think you seriously underestimate these publications if you see mere Pagemaker knockoffs. There's some fantastic work there -- and they're so consistently good.

But to each his own taste.

And speaking of "newsletters" -- can anybody hook me up with a copy of Kleine Zeitung from Graz, Austria? My mama's hometown -- and apparently the smallest of the small-format papers.
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Billy Simkins

Contributing editor

Joined: 27 Jul 2004

Posts: 141

Location: Bakersfield

Posted:
Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:11 pm

If they had american print on them with some small circ paper flag it wouldn't win.

scavendish

VizEds Moderator

Joined: 08 Mar 2004

Posts: 761

Location: Chicago Tribune

Posted:
Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:53 pm

imracin68j wrote::

If they had american print on them with some small circ paper flag it wouldn't win.

Alright, I call bull****.

Newsletter?

Really?

A newsletter?

Do tell.

I really want to hear this.

Billy Simkins

Contributing editor

Joined: 27 Jul 2004

Posts: 141

Location: Bakersfield

Posted:
Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:08 pm

I always feel like they use the "best" as a statement to American papers. First it was that we wern't colorful enough. It seems to be a trend that what ever American papers aren't doing is "better design." Now that some American papers look more like the over seas publications, the trend has swung to more conservative designs.

Dan Zedek

Action Figure

Joined: 21 Mar 2005

Posts: 24

Location: The Boston Globe

Posted:
Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:08 pm

Hey, I'm with Steve. I haven't seen more than a few pages of any of the winners and my Estonian's a little weak, but at first glance these papers look smart, energetic, and have a strong identity on every page, front to back.
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Dan Zedek

Action Figure

Joined: 21 Mar 2005

Posts: 24

Location: The Boston Globe

Posted:
Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:11 pm

imracin68j wrote::

I always feel like they use the "best" as a statement to American papers. .

Who's "they?"
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October 11-23, 2007
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francie Williamson

VizEds Moderator

Joined: 06 Apr 2004

Posts: 224

Location: Quad City Times

Posted:
Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:37 pm

I, personally, am in love with El Economista. Javier, if you're listening to this, I want to kiss your toes.

I was looking at the other pages posted, and they are beautiful in their execution--the illustrations, spare use of color, etc., is not something you see in most papers.

The other thing that must be mentioned is this: You can not fully appreciate a newspaper by looking at it digitally. I used to think the same of the German newspapers: gray, gray boring boring. Spanish papers: too loud. But when you see them in person, it is a totally different experience. First off, the typography is spotless. Also, the paper stock used over there is much much different and, I think, much more beautiful. In person, things like Metropoli covers and German and European papers POP.

If these are newsletters, desktop publishers should be unemployed.

Billy Simkins

Contributing editor

Joined: 27 Jul 2004

Posts: 141

Location: Bakersfield

Posted:
Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:34 am

Dan Zedek wrote::

imracin68j wrote::

I always feel like they use the "best" as a statement to American papers. .

Who's "they?"

The SND judges. A great design should be easy to "get" whether your looking on print or digital. I'm not seeing "next level" designing. I'm seeing a plug and go design that looks like 1988.

AD'S on covers. You can try to ignore it but it's there. How can a paper that throws a bright red ad at the bottom be designed correctly. The first thing my eye goes to is the red ad? It steals the page yet that's cutting edge design?

Clif Page

Maestro

Joined: 09 Mar 2004

Posts: 875

Location: Beaver County Times, Beaver, PA

Posted:
Wed Feb 28, 2007 1:12 am

Billy:
We on the outside of the contest only see the front pages reproduced over and over.
The fact is that the judges look beyond the covers to the entire newspaper, and in fact, several editions of the newspaper before they sign off on the winners.
Most American newspapers have a difficult time maintaining any single style throughout a publication on any given day. Take a look through any edition of most US papers and you might find a strong A1, but poorly-designed inside pages, or a weak section fron among the three or more sections.
It might be harder for U.S. papers to win this award not because of poorly-designed ads or bad ad stacks, but the ability to maintain a consistant well-executed design over many daily editions from page to page.
It isn't easy. It will never be.
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