mario garcia

34

Redesign while you stilllook goodA nervous publisher once asked me, “When is it time to redesign

your newspaper?”

The answer to this question is not always easy, but is quite

consistent. Many of the editors and publishers who call me do so

when their publication has had a dramatic drop in circulation or

when a competitor moves in. Sometimes when new editors arrive,

they want to innovate, to put their own visual stamp on the

newspaper.

While all of these reasons may be valid, a redesign really should be

a continuous process in the life of a publication, and should not be

prompted by dramatic events.

More than before, change is essential for a newspapers and

magazines to survive. The competition is fierce. Readers are

bombarded by more information than they can possibly process.

Papers can’t afford to wait until they look so out of date that they’re

losing readers.

The best redesigns happen when publications still look good.

They’re looking ahead to the next five years.

pure design

35

When beautiful turns better:Liberation, every designer’s choice of one of the world’s most visuallyappealing dailies, was turning thirtyand wanted to change its look. Whatto do when one starts with an aes-thetic winner? The Garcia-Mediateam first reviewed the history of thelegendary Parisian newspaper, thenconducted workshops to review waysof integrating that rich past into amore interesting presentation of thenews and features.