TAKEAWAY: We all like to see numbers and explanations of what they mean.Numbers are among the top storytelling tools. Your design strategy should allow for how numbers can pop on the page—-or screen PLUS: Today’s selected pages from Gulf News, which switched to Berliner format June 1
When numbers make the difference
Gulf News, UAE
WirtshaftsBlatt, Austria
El Tiempo, Colombia
Die Zeit, Germany
South China Morning Post, Hong Kong
Kronen Zeitung, Austria
When we complete the rethinking of a publication, we always concentrate on that one important final step: the styleguide.
It is the styleguide that will guarantee that whatever design strategies and concepts have been incorporated into the new look of a publication, website or app, will be sustainable in the long run.
As we find ourselves diligently correcting the final draft of the styleguide for a.m., in Leon, Mexico (launches very soon), I turn my attention to one segment of the styleguide devoted to secondary storytelling tools.
The value of numbers
In that section, numbers play a key role. As we train editors in the new way of doing things, I find myself emphasizing numbers.
Look for numbers in the story.
Once you find them: highlight them.
Sometimes it is numbers that will lure readers to a story.
We all begin our fascination with numbers when we first learn about them in pre-school. That love affair with numbers never wanes.
As storytellers we need to be on the lookout for numbers that tell the story.
Gulf News as Berliner: Today’s pages
As readers of the blog know, it has been an extraordinary week for Gulf News of the UAE, switching to the Berliner format and adopting a brand new design in the process.
Miguel Gomez, design director, sends us several pages from today’s edition, as the editors and designers continue to flex their muscles working with totally new page sizes and design styles.
Good work all round!
Our previous blog posts on Gulf News’ switch to Berliner Format
Creating the design concept for the new Berliner Gulf News
https://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/creating_the_design_concept_for_the_new_berliner_gulf_news
Here is your new Gulf News Berliner format, new look
https://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/here_is_your_new_gulf_news_berliner_format_new_look
Report from Dubai 2: Gulf News prepares for Berliner, tablet progress
http://tinyurl.com/853rmnm
Report from Dubai: Gulf News prepares to switch to Berliner format
https://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/report_from_dubai_gulf_news_prepares_to_switch_to_berliner_format
Of special interest today
– USA: New York Times’ latest hire part of evolving social media team
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/176192/new-york-times-latest-hire-part-of-evolving-social-media-team/
– USA: Will Bloomberg buy the New York Times?
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/06/will-bloomberg-buy-the-new-york-times-125175.html
– USA: Better know a reader: Umbel wants publishers to have better data on their audience
http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/06/better-know-a-reader-umbel-wants-publishers-to-have-better-data-on-their-audience/
– USA: What happens when a newspaper is just another digital voice?
http://gigaom.com/2012/06/05/what-happens-when-a-newspaper-is-just-another-digital-voice/
– USA: The great newspaper liquidation
http://blogs.reuters.com/jackshafer/2012/06/05/the-great-newspaper-liquidation/
– USA: Local newspapers’ crisis: why we should dream the impossible dream
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/jun/06/digital-media-newspapers1
The iPad Design Lab: Storytelling in the Age of the Tablet
Video walkthrough of the iPad prototype of iPad Design Lab
