The Wall Street Journal has tapped Mario Garcia to lead the October redesign of the Journal's international editions. The Asian and European editions will convert to compact format and will integrate more closely with WSJ.com. Garcia will be working with Dave Pybas, WSJ associate design editor, and James Reyman, New York City-based freelance designer. The launch is set for Oct. 17.

Press release after the jump.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL APPOINTS RENOWNED NEWSPAPER DESIGNER MARIO GARCIA AS LEAD DESIGNER OF NEW INTERNATIONAL PRINT AND ONLINE OFFERING

NEW YORK/LONDON/HONG KONG (June 30, 2005) - The Wall Street Journal has appointed renowned newspaper design consultant, Dr. Mario Garcia, as the lead designer of the new, integrated print and online format for its international editions launching mid-October.

Early last month, The Wall Street Journal announced a set of global initiatives to better serve its international readers and advertisers, including the reformatting of the Asian and European editions on October 17 into an easier-to-read, convenient and accessible compact format; combining the Asian and European print editions with the award-winning The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com to better serve the needs of highly mobile international business leaders; and pursuing a new, more targeted circulation strategy focused on C-suite executives.

Dr. Garcia, the CEO and founder of Florida-based Garcia Media, has overseen the redesign and conversion of many of the world's leading newspapers to new formats. He led The Wall Street Journal's design team in 2000 when the Asian and European editions introduced colour to the front page for the first time; and was also involved with the development of the U.S. Journal's new look launched in 2002 which saw greater consistency across all three editions of the paper.

Dr. Garcia will work closely with an in-house design team to integrate the Journal's international print and online editions more closely, with features to promote greater synergy across the two media and the offering of a continual, global business knowledge package.

"A modern newspaper should reflect the concept of the 24/7 news and information gathering operation; one that fuses the print and online operations", said Dr. Garcia. "The Wall Street Journal is the world's most powerful business newspaper brand with the largest paid subscription news site on the Web. The combination of these forces, plus the enhancements we'll be making to integrate them, will result in a truly innovative and indispensable offering that's never been seen before. I'm honoured to be part of this visionary project."

"We're delighted to have Mario on the Journal team again", said Penelope Muse Abernathy, senior vice president, international and development, The Wall Street Journal. "These initiatives are not simply about a format change, but rather about giving our readers and advertisers business news and insight anytime, anywhere in a form that's still going to be relevant five to 10 years from now. Mario's ability to 'think like the audience' is unique and we're very excited about what we will bring to market in October."

Advertisers who are interested in obtaining more information can contact Mr. John McMenamin, head of international advertising sales, The Wall Street Journal, at john.mcmenamin@dowjones.com

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About The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal, the flagship publication of Dow Jones & Company (NYSE: DJ; www.dowjones.com), is the world's leading business publication. Founded in 1889, The Wall Street Journal has a print and online circulation of nearly 2.1 million, reaching the nation's top business and political leaders, as well as investors across the country. Holding 31 Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding journalism, the Journal seeks to help its readers succeed by providing essential and relevant information, presented fairly and accurately, from a dependable and trusted source. The Wall Street Journal print franchise has more than 600 journalists world-wide, part of the Dow Jones network of nearly 1,700 business and financial news staff. Other publications that are part of The Wall Street Journal franchise, with total circulation of more than 2.6 million, include The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Wall Street Journal Europe and The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com, the largest paid subscription news site on the Web. In 2005, the Journal was ranked No. 1 in BtoB's Media Power 50 for the sixth consecutive year.

About Garcia Media (www.garcia-media.com)

To date, more than 500 organizations worldwide have trusted the Garcia Media team with helping communicate their message more effectively.

The firm’s successes with The Wall Street Journal, The Miami Herald, Die Zeit and small community papers, have given it an unparalleled reputation in newspaper design, and the same successful philosophy of thinking like the audience has crossed over to magazines, Web sites and corporate communications.

Led by Dr. Mario Garcia, the Garcia Media team includes top consultants in the fields of newspaper design, magazine design, Web strategy and design, branding and corporate communications.

The firm has offices in Tampa, Chicago, New York City, Buenos Aires and Hamburg.

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A couple of readers (including Frank Steele of the fine TdFBlog.com, which you should read if you're interested in the Tour de France) have requested a look at the doubletruck graphic on Lance Armstrong and the Tour de France produced by my Oregonian colleagues and published in today's paper. So, voila! For a (2.8MB) pdf, click here. The graphic and design was done by Michael Mode and Steve Cowden, the text is by Bonnie DeSimone and James Yu.

Update: In the comments, Ryan Ford points out this St. Pete Times doubletruck by Jeremy Gilbert as well.

Update 2: Gilbert has pdfs of the Times graphic at his site. A small one (1MB) here, a big one (6MB) here.

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Ron Reason, he of Garcia Media (and Poynter, and the St. Pete Times, yadda, yadda), is back online and blowing three years worth of dust off his site. Huzzah! Reason has heard all the wailing about declining newspaper readership and he has the answer. Schnauzers! Or something like that. (And possibly, more uses of the word "huzzah.")

A month or so ago, I trekked out to the family homestead in LaPorte, Ind., and encountered most of the family snorting like madwomen over the newspaper. Yes, the Michigan City News-Dispatch had elicited a violently positive reaction, and no doubt, several subscription renewals. (I was just glad none of these generations of happy readers had just drunk any milk!)

The paper had published not one but TWO broadsheet sections that day, featuring readers' submissions of their pets' photos. Captions told the name of the pet (predominantly dogs), named the owner, and occasionally, gave a bit more detail about a special talent (of the pet, not the owner). And the sections had ads! (I do not have PDFs of these pages but maybe the inevitable web-based frenzy over this column will inspire someone at the N-D to see this and send them to me to share with the world.

So anyway, he's running a little contest.

Tell me what you think newspapers need to do to elicit more uproarious snorting from giddy readers. All entries must be emailed to me PRONTO with a JPG photo (no more than 200k please) of your dog, and the more amusing or interesting the better. Tell me your name, your position and title, your newspaper, and the dog's name, and special talent (of the dog, not you) if applicable. (Bonus points if the photo or the talent involves a newspaper.) And do not forget your brief suggestion for the salvation of the industry! I will pick the finalists, post the suggestions and the photos, and then we'll have a vote!

The winner will get his or her choice of a FREE copy of Pegie Stark Adam's "Color, Contrast and Dimension in News Design," Mario Garcia's "Pure Design," or my very own forthcoming "White Space: The Ultimate Guide." (This is actually a blank Mead notebook, but it has its own special appeal.) If the winner is a miniature schnauzer, you get all three! (Sara and Mario, you are not eligible to enter.) Come on, email me here so the industry can get a new leash on life!

So sit! Stay! E-mail!

>Roll over, play dead? [Design With Reason]

Following up on the San Jose changes, here, thanks to Matt Mansfield, are a couple of pages from the new webbified A+E Interactive section.

For PDFs of these pages click here and here.

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New aroma coming to Tacoma.
Huzzah! Rich Boudet, our compatriot at SportsDesigner.com, sees the light and returns to the Northwest.

The Helvetica Meditations.
Don't miss Nick Shinn's portraits of Helvetica in action and the resulting comments at Typographica.

The Berliner: too little? Too big? Or too late?
"Compact wars are not dying down. Martin Newland, Telegraph editor, is said to be increasingly voicing his desire to go tabloid."

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I suppose if I'm a Frito-Lay exec this morning I'm having some mixed feelings...

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The San Jose Mercury News is unveiling some tweaks this week, shuffling things around and introducing some new sections.

First, you'll note the rail on the left side of the front page. On Mondays it will be a look ahead at the week, on Tuesday-Saturday, it's the day's major headlines.

Local news, formerly its own section, has been folded into the A-section, starting on A3. And the rest of the section features "better-packaged international news, especially from the Pacific Rim, Mexico and Latin America."

In a web Q&A Monday, Executive Editor Susan Goldberg responded to a reader who didn't like "smashing" the sections together:

We think the newspaper is actually much more clearly laid out than it was before —- more logically and more intuitively. The entire front of the "book" is now local news, and the content telescopes out from there: local, Bay Area, state, national and international (broken out and clearly labeled as world news, Asia news and Latin America news). I guess I don't see that as a "big...undifferentiated heap" but reasonable people can disagree. I hope that after a few days, this new format will feel more comfortable.

Also, a Calendar section debuted today. It is, as you may guess, pretty much just listings of everything from entertainment to sports to car shows.

On Friday comes A+E Interactive, a section that deputy managing editor Matt Mansfield says is "very Silicon Valley in the back and forth function between print and online." And on Sunday new LifeStyle and House+Home (plus signs are high-tech+hip!) sections and a revamped real estate section will debut.

>Monday, reinvented [VisualEditors.com]

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San Jose Mercury News Deputy Managing Editor Matt Mansfield sends word that Kenney Marlatt, a designer at the Merc and a good friend of this here website, is heading to the Indianapolis Star. Here's Mansfield's memo to the Merc staff:

I'm deeply sorry to announce that Kenney Marlatt will leave the Mercury News for a design job at the Indianapolis Star.

As some of you know, Indiana feels a lot like home to Kenney because he went to school at DePauw University in Greencastle and many friends and family are still in the Hoosier state. That doesn't make his leaving OK, just more understandable.

Kenney has distinguished himself at the Mercury News everywhere he's worked since joining the paper as an intern in 2000, whether that's on the copy desk, the news desk or, more recently, designing in the sports department and writing his Bar Exam column for the arts and entertainment section.

Kenney's a well-rounded journalist and among the most genuine people you'll ever meet. We'll certainly miss his skills, as well as his friendship and jovial attitude. Kenney has been a go-to-guy for many of us in the newsroom on myriad subjects and it will be tough not having him around for advice and good humor.

I'll personally miss Kenney's passion for the Cubs, a trait shared by so few folks here in California. But now he will be closer to Wrigley Field and I'm fairly certain that may have played a part in his decision to depart. Seriously.

Kenney's last day will be sometime in the middle of July; stay tuned for news of a fitting farewell party. In the meantime, please join me in congratulating Kenney on the next move in his career.

-Matt

Huzzah! Also, it may be a coincidence (and you know how we feel about those), but last week on his own weblog, Kenney mentioned his trip to Indy and hanging out with Tim Ball, the Star's news design director and another good friend of this here website:

Also, the other day T-Ball and I had half a dozen beers and two appetizers downtown for twenty bucks. Just sayin'.

Discovery of cheap beer? New job in close proximity to said beer? Just sayin'.

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On Thursday, the folks at The Patriot in Harrisburg, Pa., published the page on the left. Today The Citizens' Voice in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., about a hundred miles up the road, came up with something a bit, er, familiar. Coincidence? As Jack McCoy once said, "Grand juries don't like coincidences."

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So on CNN Monday night, Aaron Brown said during his Morning Papers segment that somebody bet him 100 bucks that The Oregonian wouldn't put Michael Jackson on Page One. Well, we did (I'm wondering where my cut is), and we weren't alone.

Of 249 American front pages at the Newseum on Tuesday, 228 had a significant Michael Jackson presence on Page One. The other 21 had a small-ish teaser, or nothing at all. Most of the 21 are small papers that emphasize local news, with a couple of exceptions, most notably the State Journal-Register of Springfield, Ill. (circ. 55,700), and the Kalamazoo Gazette (circ. 56,000, and an afternoon paper, which may have contributed to the Jackson play).

Even among the 228, you could practically feel some of them holding their noses.

Aw, c'mon, buddies! Relax! It doesn't hurt. I promise.

Update: An alert reader points out that the Patriot-Ledger is also a PM and perhaps deserves some slack. OK, slack granted.

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Confirming rumors that have been floating around for months, The Guardian confirmed today that it will relaunch in Berliner format this fall, a year ahead of schedule. Its weekly sister paper, The Observer, will switch early next year (Mario Garcia is working on The Observer project).

The story also notes that 56 broadsheets converted to a smaller format last year and that about a third of newspapers around the world are published in smaller form.

>Guardian resizes ahead of schedule [The Guardian] Thanks, Malcolm!

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"Hey, I've got it! We use one of his song titles for a headline! Or maybe a dance step!"

"Brilliant, sir! Brilliant! That's why you're the editor!"

"Now, which one do we pick? ..."

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You spend all night coming up with a hot headline to go out in, and then that bitch from across town totally shows up in the same thing!

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The weekend Detroit papers have finally rid themselves of that embarrassing '80s stink, unveiling the new flag (bottom) today. Much better, thanks!

Of course, judging by the various musical clues, we'll all be using Helvetica Black and big blue reverse bars by early 2007. Now where are my Ultravox tapes?

The Detroit News and Free Press, preparing to unwrap their new $177 million presses and convert to a narrower 50-inch web next month, this week introduced some design changes.

Both papers have narrowed the printable area, and the News has gone from a seven-column to a six-column grid. The News has also introduced new typography. Font Bureau's Miller is the new serif face and Titling Gothic as the sans-serif.

Also, Cyrus Highsmith cleaned up the nameplate.

The Freep has developed a condensed version of their Detroit Bodoni Roman, dumped Helvetica and otherwise cleaned up the font selection. They've also revamped the flag furniture and downsized the nameplate.

Best of all, they're finally fixing that weekend combination flag that looks straight outta 1987.

Some readers aren't very happy about the whole thing.

I find the "new look" to be nothing short of annoying and distracting. I ask you to go back to the old format.

And, of course, there's the inevitable complaints about the type size, even though the Freep didn't change it.

Your new format makes it almost impossible to read the paper without special magnifiers. Why would you work so hard to make us not be able to sit down and enjoy your paper?

Well, maybe it'll take everybody's mind off Marshall Field's and Mitch Albom

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Arlice Davenport, senior editor for visuals and features at The Wichita Eagle (Knight Ridder; 90,438 daily, 148,953 Sunday) e-mails that they're looking for a Page One designer.

The Wichita Eagle, a Knight Ridder paper, is looking for a talented visual journalist to design our front page. If you have creative page-design skills, strong news judgment and a commitment to tell stories visually, then we want you on our 13-member Presentation Team.

You will be designing the front page and inside jump pages four nights a week, and have a planning shift one night a week. You will also have an opportunity to stretch your skills on special sections. You will participate in news meetings, take the lead on visual story planning and be responsible for a consistently dynamic story presentation that best serves our readers and enlivens the paper.
A strong sense of collaboration in the workplace is essential, as is an ability to conceptualize original story presentations.

You must have strong design skills, be experienced in QuarkXPress and Adobe Photoshop, and have a working familiarity with Macromedia Freehand. Copy editing experience is a plus. Three years of page-design experience is preferable, including at least one year designing the front page and special sections.
As a member of The Eagle's Presentation Team, you will have access to in-house training and a collegial work environment that encourages input on your work from the team leader and your fellow page designers.

The Eagle is paginated on QuarkXPress and has a new $27 million press, which has increased the paper's color capacity.

Send a resume, references and design samples to Mr. Arlice Davenport, Senior Editor for Visuals and Features, The Wichita Eagle, P.O. Box 820, Wichita, KS 67201. Or e-mail to adavenport@wichitaeagle.com.

We are looking to fill this position immediately.

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In an interview in Sunday's Observer, Financial Times editor Andrew Gowers hints that the paper may abandon the broadsheet format.

'Newspaper formats ... around the world are shrinking, and I would certainly not exclude the FT from that trend. Our international editions are smaller than our UK edition,' he says, grabbing a pile of papers to illustrate the point. 'If we could print [a smaller size] in the UK anytime soon I'd be very happy to do so.'

The FT is in 'the final stages' of installing a new publishing system that will be: 'totally integrated between print and online'. Once it is in place, 'incremental' design changes will follow: 'It will enable us to do more interesting things; copy going around pictures, executive summaries of stories. The fundamental battle we are in as newspapers is a battle for people's time. The whole purpose is to make us more rapidly absorbable and accessible for readers without dumbing down.' The FT will not go tabloid, however: 'I think it bends your journalism out of shape.'

>Out of the red and into the pink [The Observer]

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The Des Moines Register (Gannett, 150,907 daily; 239,367 Sunday) on Wednesday launched Juice, a free weekly tab aimed at readers age 25-34. The first issue is 72 pages with a circulation of 40,000. The editor is Chris Snider, a University of Iowa grad who, until recently, was the news design director at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Gannett has similar publications in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Nashville, Lansing, Mich., Boise, Louisville, Wilmington, Del., Greenville, S.C., and Rochester, N.Y.

As you can see, very "magazine-y," with a lot of color and white space. Typographically, it sticks pretty much to Cyrus Highsmith's Stainless and Dispatch families.

So, thanks to Chris, here are some pages.

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Here are some pages from today's Washington Post's Deep Throat coverage.

Washingtonpost.com has a good chronology of the whole business here, with links to a bunch of the Post's stories from the time (and since). They've got all manner of audio and video and such, but I'd really love to see some images of Post front pages. The Vanity Fair article (a pdf of which is here) gives us a glimpse of the Big One.

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