Judges pick 5 of the World’s Best-Designed™ Newspapers

 

February 14th, 2012

By

In its 33rd annual The Best of Newspaper Design™ Creative Competition, the Society for News Design has named five newspapers, representing four countries, the World’s Best-Designed™ Newspaper.

They are:

Excelsior, Mexíco City, Mexíco
Cir. 75,000 – 174-999 (Daily)

National Post, Toronto, ON, Canada
Cir. 75,000 – 174-999 (Daily)

Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Cir. 175,000 & over (Non-Daily)

The Grid, Toronto, ON, Canada
Cir. 25,000 – 74,000 – 74,999 (Non-Daily)

Politiken, Copenhagen, Denmark
Cir. 75,000 – 174-999 (Daily)

OVERALL JUDGES’ STATEMENT

The five publications we selected for World’s Best are very different from one another typographically and stylistically.

Excelsior uses a bold color palette and a multiple photographs on virtually every page to give it vigor and urgency. FAS and Politiken use sophisticated typography, masterful illustrations and wide broadsheet display to give them an authoritative look. The National Post revels in its narrow page width and tells stories visually as well as any newspaper in the world. The Grid has the feel of an underground paper minus most of the political coverage, but there are engaging story forms on every page that make its readers laugh or shake their head. The Grid’s journalists know their audience and they reach it brilliantly.

Looking beyond the winners, we saw a lot of newspapers around the globe that are converting from broadsheets to tabloids — and we saw many good ones that made it into the final rounds, but none that we believed that had the consistent excellence to move them into the top tier. Designers and editors of those tabloids seem to be trying to identify the right look and feel. We expect they will find their answers in the months and years ahead because many of them are already outstanding.

We saw brilliance and innovation in pockets around the globe. Bold designs came from South China and the UAE; elegance from Buffalo and Portugal; consistent excellence from Hamburg and New York.

The formula for excellence will always be less about format and typography than about the unreserved commitment to the community of readers that newspapers serve and clarity about the nature and interests of those readers. What is a perfect look for an audience in Beijing or Oslo will not likely be perfect for an audience in Buenos Aires or Charlotte. A newspaper must find the voice that speaks clearly to its unique audience of readers, and the best newspapers will always do so.

That’s what all of these World’s Best newspapers share — a certainty about who their audiences are and a bold, sure-footed approach to reaching them. All have a unique voice. All are superb. All share a commitment to print that other newspapers should emulate. They never waste a page, never waste their readers’ time. These newspapers look healthy, well-staffed and richly resourced — even if they are not. It was inspiring to see international journalists who still believe in excellence in print.

But the 33rd Society for News Design World’s Best competition was a reminder, too, of how much has been lost in so many places where journalists and ownerships seem to have lost faith, gutted their products, and undermined their relationships with their readers and their communities. The future health and vigor of the world’s newspapers will depend, as always, on the preservation and renewal of those bonds between print journalists and communities of readers. The consistent excellence represented by these five winners in this year’s World’s Best competition are proof that this ancient formula still works.

The Judges:

Bill Gaspard, China Daily, Beijing
Scott Goldman, The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com
Rhonda Prast, Missouri School of Journalism
Søren Nyeland, Politiken, Copenhagen, Denmark
Bob Unger, The Standard-Times, New Bedford, Mass.

 

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32 Responses RSS Feed

  • 11:27 am February 14th, 2012

    Class on Wednesday, Feb. 15 « Publications Editing said:

    [...] ** Take a look at world’s best designed newspapers. [...]

  • 4:05 pm February 14th, 2012

    SND elege cinco jornais como 2011 World’s Best-Designed™ « Papel Digital said:

    [...] News Design (SND) escolheu cinco títulos como vencedores deste ano da premiação que escolhe o jornal melhor desenhado do mundo. São eles: Excelsior (Cidade do México, México), National Post (Toronto, Canadá), Frankfurter [...]

  • 4:48 pm February 14th, 2012

    Quintatinta said:

    [...] The Grid (Canadá) acaban de ser elegidos por la SND como los periódicos mejor diseñados de 2011. Aquí está la noticia [...]

  • 5:04 pm February 14th, 2012

    Extra, Extra: Inspirational Speeches, Horrible Gaffes | news | Torontoist said:

    [...] to the Society for News Design, two of the world’s best-designed papers are published right here in Toronto. Congratulations to The Grid and the Post. Too bad there’s no “best website ever” [...]

  • 6:46 pm February 14th, 2012

    César Casados said:

    ¡Muchas Felicidades! ¡Excelsior!
    100% Made in México.

  • 12:40 am February 15th, 2012

    Best Designed Papers | Newsroom Management said:

    [...] recent twitter tweet mentioned a blog post that names the 5 of the best designed papers in the world. It might be useful to look at the design and layout of some of the the award [...]

  • 8:01 pm February 15th, 2012

    Eric Muniz de la Rosa said:

    Excelsior es un bonita caja de bombones que—periodísticamente—por dentro esta ¡Vacía! Se supone que obtuvo el primer lugar entre diarios con circulación de 75 mil a 175 mil ejemplares diarios. Pero la realidad nos dice que no llega ni a los 25 mil. En 2004 la revista Etcétera le atribuía una circulación, si acaso, de 15 mil ejemplares; en el 2006 esta revista “se la aumento” a 27,490; según el sitio Filos solo distribuye 29, 057 (no quiere decir que los venda todos); el periodista y autor Marco Lara Khlar le atribuye menos de 25 mil.

  • 8:08 pm February 15th, 2012

    Eric Muniz de la Rosa said:

    Excelsior could be a beautiful chocolate box, but journalistically speaking is EMPTY. Also, it was chosen as the best design for dailies with a daily circulation of 75,000 to 175,000. In reality Excelsior’s circulation doesn’t exceed 25,000. (In Mexico there are no circulations bureaus).

  • 12:39 am February 16th, 2012

    LINDA-HOANG.COM » Blog Archive » Clicks of the Day: Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 Edition! said:

    [...] Judges pick 5 of the World’s Best-Designed™ Newspapers [...]

  • 6:50 am February 16th, 2012

    Top 5 Best-Designed Newspapers in the World « Design for Journalists said:

    [...] Read the article here. Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]

  • 6:53 am February 16th, 2012

    Politiken again among World’s Best Designed Newspaper | SOCIETY FOR NEWS DESIGN SCANDINAVIA said:

    [...] Read more about the result here. [...]

  • 1:04 pm February 17th, 2012

    christopher spearpoint said:

    Oh Right… The Grid is a total rip off of our company branding. What innovation!

  • 1:49 pm February 17th, 2012

    Eoin Mahon said:

    Really thought The Guardian would make it in here

  • 3:30 pm February 17th, 2012

    Flavorwire » Take a Look at the Most Well-Designed Newspapers in the World said:

    [...] of judges. Click through to see the best-designed newspapers in the world, and then head over to SND to read more, and be sure to let us know if you agree with their picks in the [...]

  • 11:01 pm February 18th, 2012

    World’s Best Designed Newspapers | jaimejcheng said:

    [...] Check out the winners for the world’s best designed newspapers here. [...]

  • 10:09 am February 19th, 2012

    B. 1 « Stop Blowing Up My Inbox said:

    [...] I see stuff about print and typography I get happy because I appreciate how my friends can teach me more about myself and [...]

  • 10:18 pm February 19th, 2012

    Emilio R. said:

    OK, after I saw Christopher’s comment, I did a little Googling and found his company’s website. http://www.area17.com and he does have a point. In fact, most of the designs on there are really inspiring, but I am not sure about “copying” the A/ part almost exactly the same. I can see where you can take ideas from them, but, I mean… check it out: http://www.area17.com

  • 11:42 pm February 19th, 2012

    Small newspapers dominate design award | SmartPlanet said:

    [...] non-profit organization Society for News Design recently selected their top five picks for the best-designed newspapers in the world, and two of the five papers were Toronto-based. The winners [...]

  • 11:27 am February 20th, 2012

    Matt Rogers said:

    These are very well designed newspapers – I’d love to know what the judging criteria for selection was?

  • 12:59 pm February 21st, 2012

    News – 2/21/2012 | Brooklyn Art Project said:

    [...] Proof that print not only still matters… it looks good: The Society for News Design’s “Five of the World’s Best-Designed Newspapers.” [...]

  • 4:41 pm February 21st, 2012

    Print still matters | Fine Print Writing said:

    [...] pick 5 of the world’s best stylistically and typographically designed newspapers Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe [...]

  • 1:23 am February 23rd, 2012

    World’s Best Designed Newspapers — Mythophobia said:

    [...] The Society for News Design released their picks for the best designed newspapers in the world. [...]

  • 6:03 am February 28th, 2012

    Lmarques said:

    Congratulations!

  • 5:11 pm March 18th, 2012

    SND picks 5 of the world’s best-designed newspapers | Ed Henninger’s Blog said:

    [...] The story about the winners is here. Rate this: Share this:PrintEmailFacebookLinkedInTwitterLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]

  • 3:32 am April 12th, 2012

    Greg McEwan-Marriott said:

    and because I was totally asleep and unaware… i regret now not knowing about this

    I did this small “funky positive lifestyle” paper a few years ago and in 4 issues it became more popular and desired than all the other long running papers in my home town.

    First I tried to go with visual punch, BIG eye-catching front page image, clear logo type, stuck with a limited pallette, used plenty image, and decided to load only 40% max adverts to content… I stuck to the look and design, and it paid off…

    It was called footprint and you can peruse downloadable copies here http://www.imediate.co.za/site/?page_id=516

  • 4:37 pm June 20th, 2012

    Газети з найкрашчим дизайном у світі « Ihor61's Blog said:

    [...] Більше: читайте тут [...]

  • 11:36 am August 1st, 2012

    SND elege cinco jornais como 2011 World’s Best-Designed™ | Rodrigo Cunha said:

    [...] News Design (SND) escolheu cinco títulos como vencedores deste ano da premiação que escolhe o jornal melhor desenhado do mundo. São eles: Excelsior (Cidade do México, México), National Post (Toronto, Canadá), Frankfurter [...]

  • 9:24 am August 26th, 2012

    Irshad Ahmad said:

    Hi, Sir or Madam
    Mai ek Newspaper kam kar ta hoon muje app aaysa idea chayee tah k mai pages ache tarah designe karoon is k lay app muje Idea dejyee

  • 12:49 pm February 22nd, 2013

    Looking for inspiration? | Elizabeth K. Viall said:

    [...] understand the language you can make sense of the design. Remember – just this month SND named five newspapers as “world’s best designed.” The newspapers hailed from Canada, Mexico, Germany and [...]

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