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Dec. 15th Report from Dubai 3:  interview with Kaleej Times art director; weekend follow ups

This is the weekend edition of TheMarioBlog and will be updated as necessary; next new blog post is Monday, December 19
Update 1: Saturday, Dec. 17, Frankfurt, Germany, 06:52

TAKEAWAY: This is part 3 of our blog post on what I call the Arab Spring of newspaper design in the Middle East region.  Today: An interview with Roberto Canseco, art director of the newly redesigned Kaleej Times of Dubai   ALSO: Weekend follow ups for some of this week’s posts.

Three questions for Roberto Canseco, of the Kaleej Times

A selection of pages from the newly redesigned Kaleej Times

As I have mentioned earlier, I arrived in Dubai this time to find a newly redesigned Kaleej Times——clean, elegant, well organized and easy to read.  I have taken the opportunity to interview the KT’s art director, Roberto Canseco, who directed the redesign.  Here is our three-minute interview with Roberto.

1. Roberto, you have managed to make some distinctive changes to Kaleej Times. How difficult was it to bring about the changes?

The most difficult part was to analyze our resources and deficiencies which the newspaper currently has, and then proceed to create a design that would be easy to execute by anyone in the design team, regardless of what section they worked for, while creating new ways of storytelling.

2. The KT was redesigned three years ago by Pentagram, how much of that design did you keep?

At first, our idea was to maintain as much of the original Pentagram style as possible, to avoid making the change too drastic.  However, upon realizing that the principal problem was that the redesign itself had become a sort of Frankenstein within the newspaper, we decided to eliminate as much as possible of that old design, and start fresh with styles that would better adapt to the reality of the Kaleej Times of today.

3. How do you feel about the state of newspaper design in this region?

I think that there is a lot of talent in the various newspapers of this region, and, above all, it is admirable the effort they are making to improve communication, developing new graphic resources as well as those that go hand in hand with the new technologies in their various platforms.  It is that which the Kaleej Times is also doing, entering a new era to focus our efforts and to be at the same level as the other media.

Our first two blog posts on the Arab Spring of design in the Middle East

Report from Dubai 1:
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/report_from_dubai_design_has_its_own_arab_spring_in_this_area

Report from Dubai 2
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/report_from_dubai_2_design_newspapers_thrive_in_the_region

 

Follow up: Times Union signs up to get new printing press

Configuration of new Commander press for the Times Union of New York

Here is a recent front page of the Times Union, now appearing in a broadsheet format, but considering a smaller size now that new press has become a reality

Front page in which Times Union announces acquisition of the new printing press—-story appears at the bottom of the page

Earlier this week we reported that the Times Union of Albany, New York, had just signed up an agreement to get a Commander CL offset press from Koenig & Bauer AG, a German company.

Now, editor Rex Smith has sent us the illustration above, which illustrates what the new press will be able to do.

In fact, Rex has written a column sharing the good news with Times Union readers. Here are some excerpts of interest. By the way, the column’s headline is: Ink on paper? Are we crazy?

“….On Wednesday, a new research study from the University of Southern California declared that “most print newspapers will be gone in five years.“

Another study just released reported that American adults spend an average of almost three hours a day on the Internet, compared to 44 minutes with print newspapers and magazines. This year, for the first time, people spent more time on mobile phones than reading the printed word.

So should I feel like those folks who bought Florida real estate in 2007? Who in their right mind would be adding on to that vacation home now—or, you may ask, buying a dazzling new press when the day of print seems to be drawing toward nightfall?

Let me tell you why I’m convinced the people who run Hearst Corporation, which is buying this great German-manufactured press for Albany, know what they’re doing with this multi-million-dollar investment.

It’s not that we’re stubbornly clinging to an ink-drenched past. This organization aggressively embraced its digital future long ago. There’s a trophy in the newsroom from 1999, when timesunion.com was named the nation’s best mid-size newspaper Web site. We’ve kept that standard alive ever since, which may be why timesunion.com remains the region’s most popular stop on the Web by far.

But 52 percent of our readers intersect with Times Union content only in print. The rest are divided between the online-only readers (21 percent) and those who use both digital and print (28 percent).

Our earlier blog:
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/it_is_a_good_news_for_print_day—as_times_union_signs_up_for_brand_new_prin

Previous blog posts about design in the Middle East:

Times of Oman: the design awards just keep coming in
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/at_the_times_of_oman_the_design_awards_just_keep_pouring_in

In Oman: the two little desert trains that could
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/in_o/

Times of Oman goes for total rethinking, redesign
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/times_of_oman_goes_for_total_rethinking_redesign

Basic ingredients for iPad design stay close to the basics, plus more Times of Oman
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/basic_ingredients_for_ipad_design_stay_close_to_the_basics_plus_more_times_

About Times of Oman redesign
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/moschino_it_is_the_best_youngest_logo_for_al_shabiba_wins

Our work with Al Shabiba logo continues
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/sunday_updates_our_work_with_al_shabiba_logo_continues/

An interview with Arabic type designer Nadine Chahine
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/my_ipad_review_its_an_a_nadine_chahine_interview_and_more

Designing with Arabic calligraphy: the joy and the challenge—participate in it!
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/desig/

Design of An Nahar: Lebanon

An Nahar: one week later follow up
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/an_nahar_one_week_later_follow_up/

Related:
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/an_nahar_and_hindustan_one_day_after_launch_of_new_look
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/two_garcia_media_projects_launch_tuesday_an_nahar_lebanon_hindustan_india
http://www.creativematch.com/news/customized-typeface-for-lebanon-s/100106/

 

 

TheMarioBlog post #915

Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia on December 15, 2011