garciamedia

Aug. 26th That was not a fiddler on my roof

TAKEAWAY: If one lives in the beautiful and often sunny state of Florida, one also knows that from time to time tropical storms and hurricanes come visit us. Although Tropical Storm Fay did not do as much damage in Tampa, the place I call home, it managed to bring plenty of wind, rain, thunder and lightning.

2 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 26th Gravitas, page one and the “serious” newspaper

TAKEAWAY: It is not easy to convince editors of a certain mentality that “gravitas” is not defined by 1000 words of text on Page One. But we try.

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 24th Classic design as good today as it was in 1969: Minneapolis Tribune

TAKEAWAY:  Frank Ariss, who created the all-Helvetica look of the Minneapolis Tribune tells us about his work today in a three-minute interview.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 24th Obama’s VP and the second day headline on day one

TAKEAWAY: Obama made the announcement of his choice of Sen. Joe Biden as partner on his Democratic presidential ticket on a Saturday. For the Sunday newspapers, this was a classic example of using the second day headline on day one. We show you some we like..

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 23rd Making that design concept last: Someone should invent The-Year-After Pill for design sustainability

TAKEAWAY: While prototypes are usually better crafted than the real editions produced under deadline pressure, there are some things one can do to safeguard against erosion of the design concept after it is implemented. Tips follow.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 21st From travel to fashion, high tech and wheels: Gulf News offers its readers the glossy stuff

TAKEAWAY: One thing is for sure, at the Gulf News of Dubai, news is but one of the many ingredients they add to their recipe daily: supplements abound, but the magazines offer a real treat, and two of them come free with a subscription.

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 20th Emarat Al Youm: Tabloid in Arabic offers breezy fare

TAKEAWAY: While most of the other Arab-language dailies in Dubai are broadsheets with long texts and smallish photos, Emarat Al Youm opts for a compact format, big photos and headlines and shorter texts: the young like it. Al Trivino, the designer, tells about the challenges of working with Arabic alphabets.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 19th Gulf News Editor discusses challenges ahead for UAE media

TAKEAWAY: Veteran journalist and editor, Abdul Hamid Ahmad, says the progress we see in UAE media is only the beginning, but he warns that there is a lot of room for progress: “There has to be more openness, transparency and press freedom.”

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 18th Published every Thursday, Xpress surprises, refreshes, titillates in Dubai

TAKEAWAY: It is an old and reliable recipe for success---well chosen content that is focused and stays focused; color on every page, headlines that seduce, faces everywhere, and stories of the human condition.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 17th Nine dailies, two languages: publishing newspapers in the city of the future

TAKEAWAY: Newspapers thrive in this fast growing, multi-ethnic city of Dubai. Some are broadsheets, others tabloid. Some are in English, some in Arabic. The audience is just as mixed.  Starting this week, we take a look at the Dubai newspaper scene.

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 17th Ambitious aging: Madonna is 50 and Roger Black is 60!

TAKEAWAY: A landmark weekend for sure in the birthdays’ department as pop princess and super diva of reinventions, Madonna, turns 50, while one of design’s most admired, Roger Black, reaches 60 with a Texas-style bash.

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 16th Saturday follow ups on the newspaper of the future, typography and more

TAKEAWAY: Saturday Sequels becomes a regular feature to present follow ups to postings during the week, and, in some cases, answers to your frequent questions.

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 15th Tips for designing news online editions

TAKEAWAY: Functionality and effective navigation are the two main
characteristics of a well designed news website; oh, yes, make it appealing to the eye if you can.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 14th Hoefler: “A Second Golden Age of Typography”

TAKEAWAY: Jonathan Hoefler discusses the customization of type fonts ("it creates administrative, technical, and even legal hassles"), the state of type creation today ("type foundries producing better work today") and his foundry’s output ("adding most requested features to our hardest-working typefaces").

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 12th Students design newspaper of the future: Yes, it is printed!

TAKEAWAY: There must be at least a dozen institutions that I know of “thinking up” ideas for the newspaper of the year 2020 and beyond; journalism classrooms are fertile ground for such experiments. Here are the results of one of them, at the University of Miami.

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 12th The photoographer’s view: “Forceful photos can prolong the life of newspapers”

TAKEAWAY: Photography is a key visual element of any publication.  Veteran photographer, photo editor and all-round creative wiz, Maggie Steber, perhaps one of the most celebrated photographers of her generation, and a former newspaper photo director, chats with us, and presents her strong views on newspaper use of photos: “most newspapers use photos that are banal and repetitive”. She encourages photographers and editors “to take chances”.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 11th Text type: here are five that work for me all the time

TAKEAWAY: Although the choices are many and varied for newspaper text type fonts, I have my favorite five, which I share with you: Miller, Poynter Old Style, Mercury, Chronicle and the new one with a retro style: Quiosco.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 9th Text size: we look at five newspapers and how they handle it

TAKEAWAY: Perhaps the most important decision an editor and designer will make will be the font and size they select for text type. We take five newspapers at random and look at the size of their text type. A short video discussion follows.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 8th Victor Ehikhamenor: The artist becomes newspaper Creative Director

TAKEAWAY: There is much to learn when an artist who specializes in colorful mixed media brings his talent to a newspaper page. “Does the headline on that fashion page really need to go above the fold?” Maybe not.

3 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 7th Illustrator Andrew Skwish talks about his craft and his new exhibit opening August 8 in Chicago

TAKEAWAY: Skwish disccuses the state of illustrations in newspapers (“I would say it is sad”), maintaining his creativity (“I look at life through the eyes of my little boy.”) and creating art for the web, and for his exhibit (“I like the interaction: people do react to your work on the web, or in an exhibit, right in front of you’).

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 6th Visual briefs: another way to bring readers into those news pages

TAKEAWAYT: Newspaper reading research has confirmed what we already knew: brief items do very well with readers. Adding a small photo enhances the package.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 5th Magazines: a recent conference can teach us a few lessons

TAKEAWAY: Get us the video for that story, grab the mobile telephone and engage the readers please! Did you say we are not in the magazine business?

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 4th Beijing Olympics 2008: The German newspapers prepare

With four days to go before the opening of the Beijing Olympics 2008, newspapers worldwide prepare special supplements to indicate their coverage of the summer’s top sports event.

2 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 3rd Today TheMarioClassroom One: The Case for a Center of Visual Impact

TAKEAWAY: A key element of a successfully designed page is one dominant element, that one point on the page which the eye sees first. In our first of a series of instructional 3-minute lessons, TheMarioClassroom, we give you a few tips.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 2nd Thinking 2012; forget audiocassettes and CDs, but, alas, showers in the sky are here

TAKEAWAY: Thinking ahead to 2012, the year anyone who turns 23 years of age will not remember life without the Internet: they will be impatient, tech savvy, and will have no idea what an audiocassette was, but will love stories told via multimedia, and, yes, will enjoy showers in the sky. Read on.

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Aug. 1st More than twelve million read the new Sakshi daily of Hyderabad, India

TAKEAWAY: At a time when many simply dismiss printed newspapers as an artifact of the past, a newcomer to the scene, Hyderabad’s Sakshi, shows us that there is still a place for news in print.

3 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 30th Four thoughts on why some American newspapers lag behind their counterparts around the world

TAKEAWAY: While the world looks at the United States as a model of innovation in almost every field, right now many American newspapers are not experimenting much with innovative strategies that could signal positive and much needed change.

2 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 29th News design in Argentina: a veteran designer updates us

TAKEAWAY: Miguel de Lorenzi, long time design director of La Voz del Interior, of Cordoba, Argentina, and now retired from that function, continues to do illustrations and design pages for the newspaper. He has spent his entire professional career combining his passion for art and illustration with the making of daily page designs. Now he shows some of his creations. He shares some thoughts about the state of news design in Argentina today.

2 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 29th Last chance to see Argentine art director’s exhibit

Miguel De Lorenzi, one of Argentina’s most respected newspaper design directors, has exhibited his paintings, posters and newspaper pages in a month-long show that ends tomorrow.
Details follow. Tomorrow: an interview with De Lorenzi about the state of newspaper design in Argentina.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 28th Germany’s Die Welt: Flying High with Wrap-Around Ad

TAKEAWAY: When the advertiser craves front (and back) page space ----all of it----the printed newspaper offers it; oh, yes, here is something the online edition CAN”T do.

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 28th In Bangkok: The Nation pioneers with free tabloid newspaper as companion to an established one

TAKEAWAY: It is possible to take many elements normally used in tabloid formats and apply them to a broadsheet successfully: color in headlines, photo dominance, and, even an inserted free tabloid daily. Why not?

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 26th Yearbooks: next on future extinction list?

TAKEAWAY: Hard to imagine life without those beloved books that captured the events and faces that accompanied us through high school and college.

2 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 25th Teasers and Promos: make them attractive and direct

TAKEAWAY: Teasers and promos serve a unique purpose: to seduce readers into inside content. Use them functionally, avoid decoration, and make them colorful.

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 22nd Canada’s National Post:  Balconies with an Ad View

TAKE AWAY: The elegant and functionally designed Canadian daily surprises with its innovative approach to advertising placement.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 21st At Italy’s Il Secolo XIX: it is all in the details

TAKE AWAY: Each element on Page One contributes to the overall look and feel of the page, and how readers get the message in 10 seconds or less. At Il Secolo XIX, the evolution takes place from day to day.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 19th Fine tuning: a redesign is not always the answer; Italy’s Il Secolo XIX shows us the way

TAKE AWAY: Smart art directors let the design of their newspapers evolve. Once the big redesign is completed, then changes appear as needed, but without altering the basic foundations of the design

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 17th Newspaper classifieds make the list

It is too soon to write the obituary for newspaper classified pages.

3 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 16th Learning from the interior designer

It is all about space and distance, and about someone making decisions.

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 15th It’s a wrap or a belt: the new ad configurations

Ad Strategy Week: Today the wrap around and other ad configurations that offer alternatives to the more traditional placements for ads.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 14th Silent ads: what we can learn from online advertising strategies.

Ad Strategy Week:: Today, learning lessons from advertising placement online. New ways of looking at how advertising and navigational elements can blend effectively.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 14th Let’s be more experimental with advertising

Ad Strategy Week: The next few postings will address the important issue of advertising and its fast growing role for both print and online.
If times of crisis set us on the path to discovery and innovation, then this is as good a time as any to focus on how to take a look at the many possibilities that can be explored with advertising.
Here we will discuss such explorations.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 12th U.S. News & World Report: This could be the start of a trend

With its July 21-28 edition, U.S. News & World Report introduces a new logo---bolder, larger in white letters against a dark blue background.  The magazine also announces that it will begin to publish every two weeks starting in 2009. We are witnessing the beginning of what may become the model for print publications.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 12th Minimalist design can be imaginative and functional

It has been exactly 30 days since we posted our first TheMarioBlog entry. Although not many of our readers are leaving comments behind yet, the traffic continues to increase, and, indeed, many of you write me daily emails with your comments. Andrew Losowsky, who, in his own words “creates editorial experiences”, has written me a thoughtful commentary about my June 25th entry titled “The new ugly, the plain ugly, the not so ugly: how do we define beauty in our craft?”

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 11th The new IPhone worth waiting for: I am a fan

It’s a little over a year since I stood in a line that snaked around the International Mall in Tampa, in a hot and humid Florida summer afternoon, waiting for my iPhone. I don’t regret the sweating and the waiting, as I have loved my iPhone and would not dream of switching ---except to the new iPhone 3G, which unveils today in more than 20 countries worldwide. “Some have waited for days,” reports

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 10th Sunday Times: Inside Pages with Details

Many designers give up when faced with pages dominated by ads. Regardless of how much space is left for editorial content, it is possible to give each page a sense of hiearchy, some visuals to draw the eye, and even color. The new Sunday Times redesign shows attention to detail for inside pages.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 9th Al Trivino interview: Challenges and highlights of redesigning the Sunday Times

A THREE-MINUTE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: The chief designer of London’s Sunday Times shares his experience as he recreated the typography, color palette and overall design of one of the world’s most venerable Sunday newspapers.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 8th The Sunday Times redesign: Al Trivino discusses the typography

Al Trivino, who has been the chief designer for the new look of the Sunday Times of London shares how he went about creating the typographic components of the design.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 7th The new Sunday Times: classy, elegant, respects the past

Sunday July 6, The Sunday Times launched a new look created by Spanish designer Al Trivino; there is something for everyone here. Look for the details, new typography, interesting inside page architecture, and a front page that combines the best of traditions with some new twists.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 6th Focus groups: to test or not to test? Or is it what to test?

Focus groups can always help one from making an embarrassment mistake, but perhaps in our industry we have exaggerated the notion of how much to test with readers before launching a new concept.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 5th Luxury and the newspaper

The printed newspaper of the future may have to start defining the term luxury as it applies to content and presentation.
Start with your Sunday edition.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 4th Infographics to the rescue

Newspapers around the world have published detailed informational graphics to tell the story of how Ingrid Betancourt was rescued from the guerrillas who kept her captive for over six years in the Colombian jungle.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 3rd Happy birthday, America; Happy Birthday, Max

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 2nd Left and found: Jyllands Posten edition and some tips for inside page architecture

Most newspapers can manage to have a well designed section opening page, a blank canvas for creativity usually without ads; inside pages are a more challenging task. The Danish daily, Jyllands Posten shows us new approaches.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jul. 1st Covering Euro 2008 for print and online: the Spanish dailies are winners, too

What a better opportunity to experiment with the best that each medium has to offer. From print to web, the Spanish dailies have shown us good examples.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 30th Spain Conquers Europe, read the headlines

A proud country celebrates its football team’s victory in the Euro 2008 Final. Stores in Gran Canarias run out of newspapers by early morning. On a day like this, readers can’t get enough!

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 29th Without connection in Maspalomas, where the sun shines

Suddenly, no wireless communication in the hotel, and it requires a trip to an Internet cafe to login and enter cyberspace. A thought comes to mind: how did we ever survive before we had instant access to emails, the net, communication in general? Perhaps it is a good thing.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 28th It’s football in the menu tonight for Europeans

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 27th My Moleskine: good for sketching that first idea or for explaining Amy Winehouse

Hold on to your sketch pad, it is a guarantee that your idea will get a chance to be executed.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 26th Goteborgs Posten: the poster front page that tells a story

I joined the editors of the GP when we conducted a workshop May 23 about the impact of poster front pages, but Wednesday they had a chance to apply that experience to a real front page, and it worked!

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 25th The New Ugly, The Plain Ugly, The Not So Ugly: How do we define beauty in our craft?

While the “new ugly” gets more status as the catch phrase of the moment in many essays and blogs devoted to design, it is difficult to arrive at a definition of beauty that pleases everyone.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 24th The Artist Looks at Newspaper Design in Nigeria: A Three-Minute Interview with Victor Ehikhamenor

THE SET UP: Victor Ehikhamenor is a Nigerian-born artist, writer, and photographer, who has returned to his native country after many years in the United States, where he taught English and creative writing at the University of Maryland until recently.  Here he discusses art and how the concept of design has evaded Nigerian newspapers---and how that could change soon.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 24th Color and Culture

COLOR WEEK CONTINUES: The culture and environment of the place where a newspaper or website is created contribute to determine whether the designer should use a soft color palette, or a bright one, or one in between. For the designer, the inspiration could be anywhere. Don’t miss that colorful overcrowded bus passing by!

3 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 22nd Orlando Sentinel’s black nameplate: a reminder that black IS a color, too

COLOR WEEK CONTINUES: Above, two pages from the new Orlando Sentinel’s redesign, both using black as a strong component of its headers. Not a bad idea if used in small units.

2 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 21st What research tells us about color use

COLOR WEEK CONTINUES: The Poynter Institute for Media Studies has been a pioneer in the research of color and how readers react to it. We share some of the highlights.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 20th Color and type

COLOR WEEK CONTINUES:  A touch of color can enhance a headline, but, even better, just highlight a key phrase of a summary with color

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 19th How to create that special color palette : a three-minute interview with Dr. Pegie Stark Adam

COLOR WEEK CONTINUES: Pegie is perhaps the most qualified expert on newspaper color. Pegie combines that rare combination of artist/designer/journalist/teacher. Here she provides us with a quick, but insightful, lesson on how she approaches color in her own work.

0 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 18th The color evolution of USA Today: a three-minute interview with Richard Curtis

COLOR WEEK CONTINUES: In my posting yesterday I mentioned that USA Today was the last American newspaper to innovate with color use. Today we ask Richard Curtis, managing editor/design, for an update on how color has evolved at his newspaper.

1 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 14th Remembering the Father of Modern Newspaper Design

Ed Arnold’s axioms for functional design are as true today as they were when he originated them 50 years ago.

7 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Jun. 12th Putting on the Ritz--the design audition

Nowadays media companies hold “auditions” before selecting a design firm to work as consultants with them on a project. It offers the company choices, often guaranteeing that the consultants chosen are the ones they can best work with; for the designers auditioning, there are often good life lessons to learn. 

3 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Feb. 12th “Busy” is good

The Wall Street Journal has returned to its traditional six column format, as opposed to the five column architecture that we put into place with the introduction of the 2007 redesign. Obviously, I am getting my share of emails, phone calls and comments about it.

11 comments Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia

Oct. 31st Wirtschafts Blatt and the Path of the Story

Vienna is a city where traditions ---think Johann Strauss, king of the waltz and, of course, the legendary Sache torte---mix with a city bustling with modern glass buildings and chic restaurants on the side of the Danube. For Mario Garcia Sr. the mix of the new and the old, has served as the foundation for a series of workshops with the news folks at one of Austria’s leading financial dailies, Wirtschafts Blatt, an example of a newspaper that is trying to leave the “paper” label behind, to fuse with its online operation and become a 24/7 news dispensing publishing house.

27 comments Posted by Mario Garcia, Jr.

May. 29th Mint

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May. 29th Dallas Morning News launches Spanish daily

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May. 29th Fortuna Magazine

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May. 29th have a (live) MINT | India’s newest business news site

LiveMint.com was designed and developed not with the idea of being the online version of India’s newest financial daily, Mint, but with the mission to serve as its own medium for delivering insightful and resourceful business information to the growing base of readers who get their news online.

2 comments Posted by Mario Garcia, Jr.

May. 29th Computer Based Training

Many corporations are seeing substantial ROI by implementing modules for long distance employee training

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May. 11th Fourth Blog Post

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May. 11th Third Blog Post

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May. 11th Second Blog Post

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