Mario Garcia, an American newspaper and magazine designer and media consultant as well as the owner of Garcia Media, gave a speech on the second day of the +1T Days on the topic, “There is a future for newspapers, print is eternal.” The designer gave a lot of practical examples to his audience, saying that telling the story in the best possible way one can is the most important element in page design. Garcia also discussed the design preferences used by several Turkish newspapers, comparing Zaman to “the strange fish in the tank.”
Advance of the internet and online journalism is nothing to cry about, but something that should be celebrated as it might help improve the quality of the printed press, according to design guru Garcia, who says that the time of newspapers will never pass, but urges publishers to utilize new technologies such as computer tablets |
Garcia provided a large number of practical examples for page designers, emphasizing many important factors in design in a changing media world. “The survivors are those who realize that we are living in a fast-changing media landscape. I have no time to cry, we must be celebrating,” he said, and continued: “This is the best time to tell stories. For designers it is the best time to create across platforms. At the end of the day, it all begins with a good story. The story comes first; the platform comes later.”
‘There will always be ink on paper’
The design expert said that the new era in journalism does not signal that printed newspapers will disappear. He said printed press will always carry significance. “Does it mean that printed media is on its way out? No, not at all. There will always be ink on paper,” Garcio said. He added that the challenges that emerge in the changing world of journalism presented opportunities for development for the printed press. “No medium kills another medium. It makes it better. Give people less time for another medium. Present news as quick as possible. Make your news the one that they want to read.”
Garcia also stressed the importance of tablet computers, saying this importance is bound to increase in the future. He recalled the day Steve Jobs’ new device, the iPad, came out. “On that day I knew that this would be as important as the arrival of the Internet. It is one of those landmark moments. It will go down in journalism history as the date of a new platform. It is a new form of publishing. Within five years, newspapers will be earning money from tablets. Is it a game changer? For sure. The iPad will not be the only one. In 2011 we will have 45 tablets,” Garcia said. He urged publishers to play in this field, saying: “If you are publishing a newspaper you have to start publishing on tablets. If you don’t, you are at least 15 minutes late.”
 Mario Garcia gives a seminar on newspaper design and the future of print journalism for page designers and graphic artists on the second day of Zaman daily’s +1T Days. |
Garcia said he never trained as a designer. He started out in the ‘60s as a journalist, but always watched page designers. Giving advice to page designers about how to handle the mistakes they make, he said, “The lesson you have to learn [from a mistake] is to not get married to your ideas.” He said page designers often made the mistake of taking criticism from editors personally. “‘If they hate my ideas, they hate me.’ The first reaction of a designer is, ‘The editor doesn’t like me.’ No. They like you, but not your work.” said Garcia, stressing that design is personal but some ideas can be better than others. He also said that typography is a key element in page design and that readers associate the typography used in the newspaper’s masthead with that newspaper.
Zaman is like the strange fish in the tank
Garcia also shared his opinion on the front-page designs of various Turkish newspapers such as Sabah, Milliyet and Zaman. He said the front page of most newspapers in Turkey appeared disorderly at first sight, making it difficult for readers to discern where a story ends due to lack of grid usage in page design. One exception he pointed out was the Zaman daily. The design guru also compared the general use of the color palette in Turkish newspapers, saying that Zaman differed radically in this respect, likening the difference between Zaman and the other newspapers to the difference between Placido Domingo and Lady Gaga. “Zaman is the good boy. It is very nice. It is just a masterpiece. It has a spirit which doesn’t belong here. It is the strange fish in the tank. Zaman is a masterpiece. It is nice. I like it. It could just be a newspaper from some other country, maybe Austria,” he said.
