Still the trend: visual preparation

 
Award Newspaper designer Norbert Küpper, founder and organizer of the European Newspaper Award, reports on the current trends resulting from the competition. 
The organization of the European Newspaper Award wrote to more than 2000 publishers in Europe, and 287 newspapers from 26 countries took part in the competition. Ireland, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands are represented above average, while only a few publishers from France, Italy and Greece took part. The use of visual media plays an important role in the assessment of the newspapers: Image cuts, image formats, unusual perspectives can strongly influence the overall impression of a newspaper and contribute to a modern, contemporary appearance. In general, the members of the jury bring all their expertise to bear and discuss many of the entries in detail.The jury The jury for the eighth competition consisted of eight people from seven countries. They are journalists, scientists and designers from Norway, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Not only the design is judged, but also, for example, the visualization of topics. In some categories, such as concept and innovation, the newspapers provide written explanations to make the jury's work easier. In many cases, the headlines are also translated into English so that the submission as a whole can be assessed.
Winners from Switzerland The main results of all eight competitions that have taken place so far can be found on the website www.editorial-design.com. In addition to the main prizes "Europe's Best Designed Newspaper", there are Awards of Excellence in 18 categories.
Basler Zeitung, St. Galler Tagblatt and NZZ am Sonntag won awards in several categories, Schaffhauser Nachrichten won an award for a double-page infographic and Le Matin won an award in the Innovation category for the introduction of the free newspaper Le Matin Bleu.
Switch to tabloid format completed In recent years, newspapers throughout Europe have switched to tabloid format. This change is now complete.
There are still some regional newspapers in Germany in the Nordic format.

A switch to a half-size format would be logical here. However, there is no indication that national newspapers such as the FAZ or Süddeutsche Zeitung will reduce their size. The Swiss format is already very handy, so there is no particular reason to switch to tabloid format here either.
Main trend: color, photos, outline color:
It is predominantly color images, rather than color areas, that are used in newspapers. Some are four-color throughout, especially in Scandinavia. In Switzerland and Germany, many inside pages are still black and white, and the outside pages of the books are filled with color photos.
Photos:
The trend towards large photos continues unabated. In some newspapers, for example, many small pictures are arranged into a block for local events. The proportion of images on a page is therefore quite high. Structure:
Monothematic pages can be seen more often, where the content is presented in several blocks - not a counter-trend:
No counter-movement is visible. Nobody is saying that readers should be presented with small black-and-white pictures and uninterrupted deserts of text. However, there are about a thousand newspapers in Europe where one would say: They should have a design overhaul. The reason is simple: the rules for good readability, clarity and reader-friendliness are often not observed. What trends are visible in individual categories and what can you learn for your own work? front pagesOf course, unusual front pages that are far removed from everyday standard solutions win in a competition. Upsala Nya Tidning, for example, shows a purely typographical solution that deals with the number of AIDS deaths. A similar design in another Swedish newspaper was about the results of elections. Other examples are very striking in their choice of motif. You can learn from this that you should leave the standard layout more often in order to confront readers with a topic more directly and aggressively than you usually do. Only those who draw attention to themselves will be seen. Continuity is certainly a feature of the reliability of our newspapers. But too much uniformity can bore the reader. That's why it's a good idea to make a cheeky and unusual front page more often.
Photo reportagePhoto reportage is a story that is mainly told with pictures. This genre occurs almost exclusively in Scandinavia, where around 600 daily newspapers publish photo reportages almost daily. The Basler Zeitung won an award in this category at the eighth competition. The photo reportage deals with the Basel carnival. It was published in three supplements of the BZ. The BZ photographers succeeded in documenting the carnival processions and telling a story in pictures. They often chose unusual perspectives and image cuts. In addition, individual people were interviewed and readers were invited to send their own cell phone photos to the editorial team.
Reader reporters at the Basler ZeitungThe BZ reader reporters mostly sent their children, themselves and unusual masks or motifs from the carnival. The photos were published in the newspaper or posted on the Internet. Reader reporters are also active at the German Bild newspaper. It is mainly celebrities who are hunted there. At the European Newspaper Congress in Vienna, Norbert Neininger, editor-in-chief of Schaffhauser Nachrichten, emphasized that reader participation in reporting has been a tradition at his newspaper for 142 years, which in turn is linked to the strong sense of citizenship and democratic culture in Switzerland.
The relationship between readers and their newspapersThe relationship between readers and their newspapers has changed considerably in recent years. The news used to come down to the reader from an instructive position. In the meantime, the editorial offices of many newspapers are trying to be on an equal footing with the reader. The change can be seen, for example, in the fact that articles are accompanied by the author's name and e-mail address and, in many Scandinavian newspapers, even by a small portrait picture of the author and photographer. The reader should know the people behind the newspaper.
Picture pages On picture pages, pictures are published on a specific topic. They do not tell a self-contained story, but often present a collection of similar photos. The St. Galler Tagblatt creates outstanding pages by contrasting a large picture with a few small ones. In Amsterdam Weekly, on the other hand, all the pictures are the same size. The image sections are also identical. The sequence emphasizes the character of a collection. Picture pages should be used more often because they create a relaxing and loosening moment in the newspaper.
Section front pagesSection front pages make it possible to give the newspaper a rhythm. Many newspapers in Europe place the best pictures here. Extreme image cuts, cut-outs and white space are the keywords. A new section with a powerful start can also give the reader a new boost, new interest in the product.
Inside pages with more soft newsSince the switch to tabloid format, the inside pages have become more relaxed and thus more similar to magazines. In Scandinavian titles, inside pages on normal weekdays are also often filled with soft news. In German-language newspapers, this trend can be seen more in the weekend editions.
Visualization remains problematicWhen it comes to visualizing topics, more text-oriented writers need to learn to think visually. It should be noted that there are hardly any people in editorial offices who can brief photographers in such a way that unusual and accurate visualizations are the result. You have to see the topic through the eyes of the reader. You have to think through the individual components of the topic: this can be presented visually, we need an infographic, this part is presented as text, the headline must contain the right keywords for the reader.
Only when you systematically think through at least the most important topics of the newspaper before you write them will the visualization also improve.
Trends at a glance If you work through the European Newspaper Award yearbooks once, you automatically pick up on the trends. You can then also determine where your own product stands. The front page, concept and photo reportage categories in particular are likely to provide new inspiration. "Zeitungsdesign 8", the yearbook of European newspaper design, will be published in the fall and costs 60 francs.
Norbert Küpper