The big read–and how to display it

This is the weekend edition of TheMarioBlog and will be updated as needed. The next blog post is Monday, September 23.

It happens every week: a client will ask me how to best display those special, exclusive and long, long stories. The Big Read, they are called.

And they are popular, even in the era of mobile, by the way.

Before I go into my recommendations, let’s take a look at one display of a big story via the Financial Times that took me by surprise, and it wasn’t just because of the loud yellow background!

On this particular day, the entire front page of the FT was devoted to this house ad, which was a four-page wrap around, all in yellow. But if you look at the top, the only teaser on the page is for a big read devoted to capitalism as well. I am not sure that the wrap around is so much a call to the piece in the teaser above, or an ad that was already planned, but they are quite synchronized here:

That teaser would lead to this inside page where the “big read” is:

The big wrap around continues:

Displaying the big story

Without a doubt, designers need to indicate a big story by displaying it somewhat different from other more common (and shorter) stories.

Boxes can do very well to do so in mobile/digital editions. Color backgrounds for the boxes, a bolder (or different version) of the chosen typeface can also differentiate a big read from other stories.

This is how some newspapers highlight longer reads, Podcasts and special coverage:

Of related interest

The Financial Times promotes ‘the new agenda’ in a new brand marketing campaign

What they are saying about The Story!

The Story is here!

You can now download my new mobile storytelling book, The Story, from Apple Books at $6.99
This is Book 1 of a Trilogy! The other two books coming soon.
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-i/id1480169411

The newspaper remains the most powerful source of storytelling on the planet. But technology threatens its very existence. To survive, the Editor must transform, adapt, and manage the newsroom in a new way. Order The Story by Mario Garcia, chief strategist for the redesign of over 700 newspapers around the world.

My chat with in Monocle Radio

Listen to my chat in Monocle Radio’s The Stack: Latest episode‘The Face’ and ‘The Story’:We welcome the return of the print version of ‘The Face’ and talk to legendary newspaper designer Mario Garcia about his latest book, ‘The Story’.
https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-stack/368/play/

My interview with CNN en Español

I was a guest in the program Encuentro, hosted by Guillermo Arduino daily at CNN en Español. The interview was about how we read on mobile devices and my introduction of my new mobile storytelling book, The Story, to a Spanish-language audience.

García: Si tienes una buena historia, la gente la va a leer

Mario’s speaking engagements

Presentation of The Story at the Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa (SIP) in Miami, as the organization celebrates its 75th anniversary serving the Latin American Press, Miami.

October 4, 2019