Q: What do you think will happen in the world of newspaper design in 2010?
Dr. Design: 2010 will be a banner year, and I’m not talking web ads here. Here are my top 4 things to watch for.
1. Newspapers will have to go digital and designers will have to design within the
limitations of low-budget e-readers. The Kindle is bad enough, with its text-only interface,
but the tough one will be the Etch-A-Sketch DX ($49.95 at Amazon and Walmart). The new vertical format Etch-A-Sketch will match the Kindle in screen resolution, but tracing out all those body type letters will be tough. The heads will be easier. Sans serif will, finally, become popular as a body type because no one will want to draw all those tiny serifs with those two knobs.
2. There will be more newspaper mergers as a way to cut costs and newspapers will continue to get thinner. Hyphenated names from the mergers will become longer making for multi-line nameplates. For instance, I predict Richmond, Va., will be left with the Richmond Times-Dispatch-Star-Exponent-Register-Press-Record-Daily (though it will be printed on actual crushed, dead trees only three times a week). Designers will have to get used to the 24-inch web, with just enough room on A-1 for one story, two refers and the bar code because the nameplate will dip below the fold.
3. To draw in younger readers, we’ll have the first graphic newspapers, sort of a merger
between traditional newspapers and the comics section. Designers will love this approach to storytelling as they will be able draw people in the news the way they want to, instead of being stuck with reality. There will be little actual news, as the younger generation will be more interested in pop culture, and they’ll be too busy tweeting and updating their Facebook status anyway. Thus, graphic newspapers will first flail, then fail.
4. Newspapers will fully embrace social media. In fact, entire newspapers will be “published” via 140-character tweets, shorter if they hope to have them RTed. This will save newspapers because younger readers are able to deal with only 140 characters at a time. Any more than that and their brain implodes. Other papers will merely update their status on Facebook instead of wasting money on ink, paper and web servers. Designers will have to learn to illustrate stories with ASCII art.
That’s it from Design Central. Onward toward 2011.
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If you need some actual help with your newspaper design, e-mail (bob
newsdesignschool
com) me.
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