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Nov. 11th The Philadelphia Story (Entry 2): Discussing the non project project

Updated Wednesday, Nov. 11, 10:42 EST

TAKEAWAY: My second “diary” entry for The Philadelphia Story: my first meeting with publisher Brian Tierney in his office. He is engaged, I am nervous, we set the bases for the project I have created and invited myself into. AND: Al Triviño shares a Metro prototype that wasn’t

The Philadelphia Story: we make things happen, as opposed to waiting for them to happen. Such is the case with what I call The Philadelphia Story.  I was lamenting not having any American projects for over two years.  So I decided to take action and made the publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, philly.com an offer he could not refuse.  It is the project of projects.  What happens when the consultant invites himself?  My “diary entries”  about this incredible continue here today.

The Philadelphia Story (Entry 1):
http://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/a_very_special_project_for_me_the_philadelphia_story

First meeting in Philly: nerves and nostalgia

It is July, and Philadelphia is hot. I have not been here since the late 1980s.

Yes, I worked with The Philadelphia Inquirer as a consultant for its 1986 redesign. 

Happy surprise: as I enter the stately building—-a tower that is a landmark of the city——the security guard at the entrance recognizes me from my previous visit of over 20 years ago. Good thing.  Things are looking up.  Instantly, when the guard gives me directions, I seem to remember it all as well.

Only the people in the newsroom have changed.

I pass by where all of the newspaper’s eighteen 18 Pulitzer Prizes hang, and remember then editor Max King telling me, on my first visit to the Inquirer: Whatever we do, we must remember that this is a text driven newspaper.

I made mental notes then.  The end result was a text-oriented newspaper.  Suddenly I also remember that the inclusion of a blue line under the logo on Page One became a long and well fought debate at the time.  Two days before the Inquirer was going to launch, with its new blue line under a logo that had been cleaned up by Jim Parkinson, Max called me to ask: how about if we make the line gray for a few weeks then turn to blue?

Those were the worries of newspaper editors in the 1980s—- nightmares over the effect that color lines could have in creating the perception that a serious newspaper had turned less so.

But this is 2009, and blue lines are not important, bottom lines are.

Creating the foundations of the non project project

Brian Tierney, the current publisher,  greets me with a friendly smile as I enter his office.

I have not been inside an American newsroom for over two years——The Oklahoman was our last project in American soil.

Most of my time these days is spent in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. I see how newspaper and media houses in these regions discuss the future, proceed with innovation and are far from complaining and lamenting; they are celebrating new forms of storytelling across multi platforms.

I tell Brian that part of what I would like to do is to present him and his team with how newspapers outside of the US do things.  But, how do you get this conversation going when you are the one inviting yourself to carry out a non existent project?

He is game.  We have a sandwich lunch in his office.  The conversation inevitably leads to money, investors, bankruptcy proceedings.  One cannot tell the history of the modern Philadelphia Inquirer without devoting two fat chapters to its current financial state of woes.

I am happy to see that Brian is totally engaged with what I am telling him, although interrupted twice on the phone with CEOs of other major daily US newspapers.  Perhaps misery loves company.  Or maybe synergies can result from these contacts.

I sip my Diet Coke while Brian discusses advertising revenue of the past 30 days with his phone counterpart, and I wait to see the editors assembled to meet me.  Although this is project 558 in the Mario collection, I feel as nervous as if I was 22 years old and preparing to design my first page ever under the guise of a grouchy editor.

Except design is the last thing in my mind.  I see that the Inquirer looks exactly as we left it in 1986.  Should I be happy? Can any design be that durable? And, oh, that blue line under the newspaper’s nameplate looks so like it always belonged there.

Design is not in my mind at all.  Everything else is. I would not be honest if I did not tell you that for a brief moment I asked myself: Mario, what the hell are you doing here?

Who says there are no jobs in America?

Funny thing, but I am getting plenty of emails where someone offers me a “great deal” to redesign their newspaper for a fee similar to my fee with The Philadelphia Inquirer.

So far since yesterday, highlights of mails sent to me:

“Mario, we have a Sunday product that could be better if you helped us. We more than double your Philadelphia Inquirer fee, and offer you $10.“

“We are a midwestern daily with a great history, but now going through very hard times.  The Mario touch could be very welcome.  We can offer more than $20.“

 

 

Entering the building: the memories come back

I sign the visitor’s log at the entrance to the Inquirer’s building—and the guard remembered me from 1986

Finishing an envigorating run thru hot Philadelphia in July—-in front of City Hall

A METRO prototype created by Al Triviño

Front page and fashion section front for a proposed Metro redesign—-the model was not adopted

In a recent post, we discussed the importance of prototyping.

Today we received some of Al Triviño’s prototypes, which will display here one project at a time. Al is chief designer for NewsCorp (based in London).  Today we have two sample pages of his prototype for Metro, the free newspaper.

Tomorrow: Prototype for the New York Post

 

TheMarioBlog post #418

Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia on November 11, 2009