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The Malayalam daily Malayala Manorama has unveiled a new look. The redesign has been done by Errea Commuications, the design house of the Spanish designer Javier Errea.
Image: courtesy Newspaper Design
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Karnataka’s oldest English newspaper, Deccan Herald, has made a brave northwards foray with the launch of its New Delhi edition on 11 December 2011, 100 years after political power moved to the national capital from the east.
Vol 1, No 1 of the 63-year-old Bangalore daily arrived this morning in the usual quiet, understated manner in which The Printers (Mysore) Pvt Ltd conducts things: no carpet bombing of copies, no “roadblock” of hoardings, no massive pre-subscription drives.
“We are happy to start the Delhi edition of Deccan Herald today. It’s the seventh edition since we launched the newspaper in Bangalore in June, 1948. Our strength is the trust we have won from our readers—a trust built on credibility and our commitment to objectivity. We offer you comprehensive coverage of news without bias,” said a front-page note from the paper’s editor, K.N. Tilak Kumar.
The launch issue with a cover price of Rs 5 has a 20-page main edition and this being a Sunday, an 8-page weekend culture section titled Sunday Herald. During the week, DH will serve Delhi versions of its usual fare: a four-days-a-week city supplement titled Metrolife and a lifestyle supplement on Saturday titled Living.
Printed at the Indian Express press in Noida, DH‘s Delhi edition with four local pages gives the regional daily a more national profile, useful for reporters and newsmakers; and an additional publication centre that can be used to good effect on the advertisement tariff card.
But it also comes with massive challenges. The “Deccan” in the paper’s title has a distinctly south Indian feel; will it find resonance among readers in the North? Second, the New Delhi morning market is crowded with over a dozen newspapers with at least two more coming; can DH aspire for anything more than “organic growth”?
However, for sheer chutzpah, the timing of the Delhi launch takes some doing. Newspapers like The Telegraph have pondered coming to Delhi for at least 15 years but have not found the strength to do so. Also, DH (designed by Palmer Watson) comes at a time when the Indian newspaper industry is facing several existential issues.
But DH has established itself as a horse for the long race over six decades. The arrival, therefore, of a serious newspaper from a group which has no interests other than journalism, when the Indian media is being asked probing questions on its methods, motives and motivations, can only be good augury.
Former India cricket captain Anil Kumble (centre), the chairman and joint managing director of The Printers (Mysore) Pvt Ltd K.N. Tilak Kumar (right), and the veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar at the launch of the Delhi edition of 'Deccan Herald' in New Delhi on Sunday, 11 December 2011
Also read: Coming soon, Deccan Herald from New Delhi
Bangalore’s oldest English newspaper, Deccan Herald, is launching an edition in New Delhi, making it the first South Indian publication to reach out to readers and advertisers in the North with a decidedly South Indian title.
There has been no formal announcement from the family-owned group yet, but the buzz is that the edition may take off as early as this December, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of New Delhi as the capital of India.
An advertisement in the Delhi edition of The Hindu makes DH‘s plans clear. The ad seeks a news editor, sub-editors, city and sports reporters, artists and photojournalists “for its edition in the national capital.”
The Madras-based Hindu has long printed an edition from Delhi, but “Hindu” is a generic name with wider appeal. And the Hyderabad-based Deccan Chronicle comes out in Delhi and other cities as The Asian Age.
The “Deccan” in DH‘s title presents an altogether different challenge in terms of acceptance, especially among non-Karnataka readers unaware of the brand, its values or its core strengths.
The 63-year-old Deccan Herald pondered the possibilities of editions in the southern States in the mid 1990s, but was pegged back by a fractious family fight among the three brothers who own the paper (K.N. Hari Kumar, K.N. Tilak Kumar and K.N. Shanth Kumar) and the concomitant success of the revamped Bangalore edition of The Times of India.
DH‘s northern foray in 2011 comes after a division of responsibilities in the family helped stave off the challenge thrown by new entrants Deccan Chronicle and DNA on its home turf, and retrieve some lost ground, although ToI is the leader in Bangalore by a long way.
Also read: How Deccan Herald welcomed the Republic of India
Hindustan, the Hindi newspaper owned by the Hindustan Times group, has undergone a redesign in its 75th year. On top is the relaunch edition with the new design by Mario Garcia; below is yesterday’s front page, with an anchor story heralding the new design. Hindustan Times had been redesigned by the same designer in July 2009.
An internal communication in HT reads:
“A significant landmark achieved recently was Hindustan overtaking Dainik Bhaskar to become the 2nd largest read daily in the country…. To maintain the growth momentum, and to become more relevant to our youthful readers, we have re-launched Hindustan this morning with the new proposition “Tarakki Ko Chahiye Naya Nazariya“. From now onwards Hindustan will strive to provide readers with perspectives in a way that helps them move ahead in life.”
Also read: In its golden jubilee year, ET gets a redesign
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Quietly, almost as if it doesn’t want anybody to notice, India’s oldest and largest business paper,The Economic Times, has undergone a redesign. On top is the front page of the launch issue of the paper in its new avatar (Monday, 14 February 2011) and below is the paper from exactly a week before.
The pagination of the paper from The Times of India stable, which turns 50 this year, remains more or less the same. There are no new pages or sections. In other words, old wine in slick new bottle is enough to ward off the design challenge posed by the Hindustan Times‘ business paper, Mint.
The key changes are in the colour of the masthead from blue to black; new headline fonts; a tighter body font taking it closer towards the body font of ToI; and plenty of icons and logos, even in headlines. Keen observers of design will notice subtle shades of inspiration from designs of The Guardian, The Observer and International Herald Tribune.
The top-secret redesign, which has been subtly introduced sans announcement, has reportedly been executed by Itu Chaudhuri Associates, which designed the original template for Open magazine and was behind some of India’s best book covers in the late 1990s, including Arundhati Roy‘s Booker Prize winning God of Small of Things.
Images: courtesy The Economic Times
Also read: Good heavens, another Mario Garcia redesign
Yet another paper redesigned by Mario Garcia
How come Mario Garcia didn’t redesign this one?
The passing away of the doyen of Malayalam journalism, Kandathil Mammen Mathew, better known as K.M. Mathew, on Sunday has resulted in a rare outpouring of coverage, with Indian media proprietors burying their usual pettiness about competitors to salute one of their own.
So much so that the news of the death of the chief editor of Malayala Manorama is the front-page lead in its closest competitor, Mathrubhumi, accompanied by a front-page editorial. But the English language papers have a wealth of detail on the deceased doyen, too.
# That he was the eight child of his parents, which is why he titled his memoirs Ettamathe Mothiram (eighth ring).
# That his nickname was Mathukuttichayan ; that he was a hands-on editor; that he attended office till almost the last day.
# That he had short stint in the family’s balloon business in Bombay and as a planter in Chikamagalur before taking over the reins of the paper following his brother’s death.
# That he took the circulation of Manorama from 30,000 copies in 1973 to 18 lakhs in 2010; from one printing centre to 18.
# That the Manorama group now publishes 46 publications, and has presence in radio and television.
# That he maintained a low profile despite the soaring circulation of his paper. That, “KM never shouted; he smiled. He wouldn’t say, ‘ You’re wrong, that’s a crazy idea’. He’d say and it was sincere, ‘Very interesting, would you help me understand your thinking?’”
# That he said: “Mistakes might appear on a newspaper. I too have made mistakes. The solution is not to write a resignation letter but to ensure that such a thing does not happen in future”.
# That he kept himself abreast of even the most minute developments in the media world.
# That he introduced reader-friendly editorial packaging techniques and professional page designing, and that he got a bunch of foreigners to work on the Manorama‘s design at various stages like Edwin Taylor (The Times, London); Peter Lim, (Strait Times, Singapore); Peter Ong (American society of newspaper design) and Mario Garcia
# That he pioneered the hyper-localisation of news before “zoning” became a trend; that he thought a newspaper should reflect even the subtle issues of a region; that he brought out local editions for two or three panchayats, with less than 50,000 population.
# That he was so close to India’s ruling Nehru-Gandhi family that one of the first condolences upon news of his death came from UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi.
Illustration: courtesy Sudipto Sharma/ The Indian Express
Vijaya Karnataka, the largest selling Kannada newspaper owned by The Times of India group and edited by Visweshwar Bhat, has undergone a redesign.
Above is the front page of the first edition of the relaunched issue; below is yesterday’s front page.
This is the second revamp of the paper after ToI acquired the Bangalore-based paper four years ago, and the double-deck masthead comes just months after the City’s oldest newspaper, Deccan Herald, went for a similar double-deck masthead.
A wider column-width in the new design allows for wider front page pointer ads on column one, always a useful weapon in the hands of ToI‘s very efficient response team.
Visit the epaper: Vijaya Karnataka epaper
Also read: Good heavens, yet another Mario Garcia redesign
In a nation of a billion (plus a few hundred million) people, in the outsourcing capital of the world, Indian publishers continue to face enormous trouble in finding a designer with a pulse on local tastes to redesign their products.
And the only name on the speeddial of otherwise extremely stingy proprietors—be it in the north or south of India, be it in English or the languages, be it newspapers or magazines—is Mario Garcia™.
After having redesigned every print publication in The Hindu group over the last few years (The Hindu, Business Line, Sportstar, Frontline); after having redesigned Hindustan Times; after having redesigned Sakaal Times; after having redesigned The Week; after having designed Sakshi—and heaven knows what else in this wide and wonderful country—Mario Garcia Jr has redesigned the website of The Hindu.
Above is the beta version of the new page, below is the old version.
Future contestants of Mastermind might like to consider “Indian Newspaper Design” for their specialist round. The answer for all 10 questions is Mario Garcia.
Also read: Yet another paper redesigned by Mario Garcia
India’s second-largest English language daily newspaper, the 85-year-old Hindustan Times, has a new look from today, with new fonts, new layouts and a new masthead.
The new design, by Mario Garcia, is “benchmarked to the best international standards”, writes editor-in-chief Sanjoy Narayan in his introductory note.
“You’re holding the future in your hands,” Narayan writes.
A wraparound flanking the new paper carries a full-page advertisement for the new paper.
“It’s time newspapers stopped being confusing and boring. Stopped talking about things that don’t matter.
“It is time newspapers started highlighting real issues. Started making better sense of the world for me.
“It is time newspapers reflected the changing times. Got me excited. Got me engaged. Got me hooked.
“It is time.”
Garcia’s design supplants the one created by Michael Keegan, the Washington Post designer, who did two separate redesigns for the main paper over the last 10 years, writes former editor Vir Sanghvi, now the paper’s advisory editorial director.
Also read: Finally, a redesign not done by Mario Garcia
With competition in the air, Deccan Herald, Bangalore’s oldest English newspaper and one of India’s few single-city newspapers, has undergone a complete design overhaul.
On the left is DH of Friday, 6 March 2009; on the right is Saturday’s redesigned paper.
The man behind the redesign is Palmer Watson, the head of an international design consultancy which has been responsible for creating the design of Le Monde and El Pais, among other newspapers.
For a city emanating from coffeeland, the text typeface of the new DH is Expresso. An article introducing the new design claims DH is the first paper in the world to feature Clan as its main display font.
“The new masthead… exemplifies the can-do and youngish personality of the new DH. The promos—bolder and more colourful—are intended to hit eyeballs and kindle your interest.”
Read the article: Welcome to the new-look Deccan Herald
