Content servant

What Matthias Saner designs is simple, pleasing to the eye, classic and very white. And yet modern and surprising. And it works - which is particularly important, because Saner is a specialist for online, mobile and apps. And he's an expert at bringing these channels and print under one design umbrella without losing sight of the brand characteristics of the product that have been handed down for a long time. It's important to Saner that design doesn't become an end in itself: "Particularly in editorial design, I think it's central that you show off the content and don't just tinker with pretty buttons and great color surfaces," he says. "As a designer, I am first and foremost in the service of the reader, because only if the newspaper has a lot of readers can you sell it, can you sell advertising. Design is not an art, but enables the best use of an offer. Everything has to work well - and it still has to look beautiful." The many positive to euphoric reactions to his Tagi redesign prove that Saner succeeds in turning this claim into reality (see quotes above right).

Content in focus

"Re-designing a title is often also about looking more premium than before, especially if a paywall is to be introduced," explains Saner. "In addition, the reading experience is to be enhanced and the brand strengthened once again with a view to convergent editorial. With Tagi, for example, we wanted to create a single product across the different channels so that the user always recognizes 'his Tagi' and feels a common DNA, no matter on which device he reads the newspaper." In selecting fonts and colors, Saner therefore drew heavily on the design of the print edition; in turn, the print version was supplemented with design elements that are important for online. "The biggest challenge is adapting the design to the different screen formats - desktop, mobile and pad - and the user behavior that varies from surface to surface," Saner points out. "One person looks in once a day, the other several times a day during coffee breaks. We need to pick up all these readers equally. The bracket is a visual language across all devices."

While newspapers and magazines are currently taking medium to big leaps to stay ahead in the battle for mobile readership, advertising is lagging woefully behind. "I'm amazed at how slowly the advertising market is evolving in the digital space," Saner says. "Advertisers seem to think traditional display advertising is enough. Advertising is quite often distracting online, interactivity is limited to me clicking away on the banners, and they try to lure me to another website to generate clicks. At the same time, you could tell so much and do exciting things on the spot."

Mens sana in corpore Saner

After graduating from high school in 1990, Matthias Saner started studying computer science. But he quickly realized that only zeros and ones were not my world. He switched to a graphics course at what was then the School of Design, now the ZHdK. After graduating, he worked for a year in a graphics office in Hong Kong, then founded Popeye, a web design company in Zurich with three partners. "At the end of the 1990s, the Internet became interesting for graphics and design, and anyone who understood a little about it was immediately good at business," the designer recalls. In 2003, Saner's liaison with the Tagi began: he initially joined as part-time art director for the digital area, and with the launch of Newsnet, he concentrated on the newspaper full-time. Nevertheless, he constantly toyed with the idea of becoming self-employed again. In 2012, the time has come: Saner founds Sanerstudio. "As art director at Tagi /Newsnet, I was primarily concerned with developing new things as well as renewing and improving existing ones and adapting them to changing needs," says Saner. "Then, when I started my own business, I immediately got the mandate for a redesign of the Tagesanzeiger, which was launched together with the paywall." Many major Swiss newspaper and magazine titles have already been given a new or fresher look on Saner's desk, including Handelszeitung and Bilanz. But since Saner redesigned the print and online presence of the Tagesanzeiger as well as its mobile and pad version, including apps, within a year, he has become one of the most sought-after editorial designers in the country. Saner himself credits the conception and implementation of the first Tagi iPad app as his biggest professional highlight to date. He is currently working on the roll-out of the paywall for the various Tamedia titles. Saner also has an app for 20 Minuten and a project for Annabelle on the table, and he is developing various educational apps together with a photographer and a speech therapist. In these works, too, you can expect Saner's typical signature: calm, white, functions support the content, design strengthens the brand.

Hands for the future

Those who design online, mobile and apps need not only a sense of whether applications work, but also how they might work in the future - in other words, they need a knack for what's coming. Saner's work benefits from his affinity for technology: although he himself works visually, he also understands the work of programmers, and can assess which functions of a website or app are useful and possible and which are not. "I find dynamic user interfaces with animated content particularly exciting, where the next page isn't just there when I press a button, but the page builds up before my eyes," the designer explains. "Something like that, at its best, is not just a cool effect, but makes the architecture of a page more understandable. And it's quite intuitive, so you can go back even more with the design. Things like that make an interface much better and more attractive."

When Saner gives shape to new design ideas, he is surprisingly offline: "I then draw a lot on Post-its," he reveals. "The little yellow pieces of paper force you to sketch your thoughts in a concentrated way in a very small space." With the complex interlocks in the digital space, it's easy to run the risk of losing track. So step-by-step conceptualization and visualization is called for. "I always try out my idea very quickly to see if it works," Saner says. "Today, you no longer develop a design that is implemented by programmers afterwards; today, designers and programmers work hand in hand." Saner works closely with his respective client's art director and development team. In general, he does not manage his huge projects on his own. He employs a designer and is not averse to further growth: "We have a lot to do and could still use support," says Saner. "But it's not my goal to make Sanerstudio really big really fast." Despite his success, the designer has remained modest. He is happy when his client trusts him, gives him great freedom for his work and, above all, the necessary time: "Something becomes good and fun when you can develop it until it really works - which doesn't have to mean that it doesn't happen quickly. Then it's great to see how many people use the web and mobile sites and apps we've designed every day. For me, that's the greatest praise and the nicest confirmation of my work." As a boy, Matthias Saner wanted to be an astronaut. He has definitely succeeded in taking off without losing his grip on the ground.

Anne-Friederike Heinrich