Newspapers are dying for a few reasons. Readers don't want to pay for yesterday's news, and advertisers follow them. Your iPhone, your laptop, is much more handy than New York Times on Sunday. And we should save trees in the end. So it's enough to bury any industry. So, should we rather ask, "Can anything save newspapers?"
Novine izumiru iz nekoliko razloga. Čitaoci neće da plaćaju za jučerašnje vesti, a prate ih i oglašivači. Vaš telefon ili vaš laptop, puno su pristupačniji od nedeljnog Njujork Tajmsa. I svakako bi trebalo da sačuvamo drveće. Ovo je dovoljno da zakopa bilo koju granu industrije. Možda bi bolje bilo pitati: "Može li bilo šta spasiti novine?"
There are several scenarios for the future newspaper. Some people say it should be free; it should be tabloid, or even smaller: A4; it should be local, run by communities, or niche, for some smaller groups like business -- but then it's not free; it's very expensive. It should be opinion-driven; less news, more views. And we'd rather read it during breakfast, because later we listen to radio in a car, check your mail at work and in the evening you watch TV. Sounds nice, but this can only buy time. Because in the long run, I think there is no reason, no practical reason for newspapers to survive.
Postoji nekoliko scenarija za novine budućnosti. Neki kažu da treba da budu besplatne; treba da budu u formatu tabloida ili čak manje: A4. Treba da budu lokalne i da ih vode zajednice ili stručne, za manje grupe poput zanimanja - ali onda ne bi bile besplatne nego veoma skupe. Treba da budu vođene stavovima; manje vesti, više mišljenja. I radije bismo ih čitali tokom doručka, jer kasnije slušamo radio u kolima, na poslu proveravamo poštu, a uveče gledamo TV. Zvuči lepo, ali ovo može samo da bude privremeno rešenje. Zato što mislim da na duge staze, ne postoji nijedan praktičan razlog za opstanak novina.
So what can we do? (Laughter) Let me tell you my story. 20 years ago, Bonnier, Swedish publisher, started to set newspapers in the former Soviet Bloc. After a few years, they had several newspapers in central and eastern Europe. They were run by an inexperienced staff, with no visual culture, no budgets for visuals -- in many places there were not even art directors. I decided to be -- to work for them as an art director. Before, I was an architect, and my grandmother asked me once, "What are you doing for a living?" I said, "I'm designing newspapers." "What? There's nothing to design there. It's just boring letters" (Laughter) And she was right. I was very frustrated, until one day.
Dakle šta možemo da uradimo? (Smeh) Da vam ispričam svoju priču. Pre 20 godina švedski izdavač Bonijer, počeo je da plasira novine u bivšem sovjetskom bloku. Nakon par godina imali su nekoliko novina u centralnoj i istočnoj Evropi. Njima je upravljalo neiskusno osoblje, bez vizualne kulture i budžeta za vizualni izgled - na dosta mesta uopšte nije bilo umetničkih direktora. Odlučio sam da radim za njih kao umetnički direktor. Pre toga sam bio arhitekta i moja baka me je jednom pitala: "Čime se baviš?" Rekao sam: "Dizajniram novine." "Molim? Nema tu šta da se dizajnira. To su samo dosadna slova." (Smeh) I bila je u pravu. Bio sam veoma isftrustriran, sve do jednog dana.
I came to London, and I've seen performance by Cirque du Soleil. And I had a revelation. I thought, "These guys took some creepy, run-down entertainment, and put it to the highest possible level of performance art." I thought "Oh my God, maybe I can do the same with these boring newspapers." And I did. We started to redesign them, one by one. The front page became our signature. It was my personal intimate channel to talk to the readers.
Došao sam u London i video nastup Sirk di Solej. Doživeo sam otkrovenje. Pomislio sam: "Ovi ljudi su uzeli jedan jezivi, propali oblik zabave, i podigli ga na najveći mogući nivo izvođenja umetnosti." Pomislio sam: "O Bože, možda mogu da uradim isto to sa ovim dosadnim novinama." I to sam i uradio. Počeli smo sa redizajnom, jednih po jednih novina. Naslovna strana postala je naš pečat. To je bio moj lični intimni prozor za komunikaciju s čitaocima.
I'm not going to tell you stories about teamwork or cooperation. My approach was very egotistic. I wanted my artistic statement, my interpretation of reality. I wanted to make posters, not newspapers. Not even magazines: posters. We were experimenting with type, with illustration, with photos. And we had fun. Soon it started to bring results. In Poland, our pages were named "Covers of the Year" three times in a row. Other examples you can see here are from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and central European countries.
Neću vam pričati o timskom radu ili saradnji. Moj pristup bio je veoma egoistički. Želeo sam svoj umetnički izraz, svoje tumačenje stvarnosti. Želeo sam da pravim postere, ne novine. Čak ne ni magazine: samo postere. Eksperimentisali smo sa slovima, sa ilustracijama i slikama. I bilo nam je zabavno. Uskoro je počelo i da donosi rezultate. U Poljskoj, dobili smo titulu najbolje naslovne strane, tri puta zaredom. Drugi primeri koje ovde možete videti su iz Letonije, Litvanije i Estonije - iz zemalja centralne Evrope.
But it's not only about the front page. The secret is that we were treating the whole newspaper as one piece, as one composition -- like music. And music has a rhythm, has ups and downs. And design is responsible for this experience. Flipping through pages is readers experience, and I'm responsible for this experience. We treated two pages, both spreads, as a one page, because that's how readers perceive it.
Ali nije sve u naslovnoj strani Tajna je bila u tome da smo se prema celim novinama odnosili kao prema jednom komadu, kao jednoj kompoziciji - poput muzike. A muzika ima ritam, uspone i padove. I dizajn je zaslužan za ovakvo iskustvo. Listanje stranica je iskustvo čitaoca, za koje sam ja odgovoran. Odnosili smo se prema dvolisnici kao prema jednoj strani, jer su je tako posmatrali čitaoci.
You can see some Russian pages here which got many awards on biggest infographic competition in Spain. But the real award came from Society for Newspaper Design. Just a year after redesigning this newspaper in Poland, they name it the World's Best-Designed Newspaper. And two years later, the same award came to Estonia. Isn't amazing?
Ovde možete videti neke stranice iz Rusije koje su dobile puno nagrada na najvećem takmičenju infografika u Španiji. Ali prava nagrada je bila ona od Udruženja za dizajn novina. Samo godinu dana nakon redizajniranja novina u Poljskoj, nazvali su ih najbolje dizajniranim novinama na svetu. I dve godine kasnije, ista nagrada je otišla u Estoniju. Zar to nije neverovatno?
What really makes it amazing: that the circulation of these newspapers were growing too. Just some examples: in Russia, plus 11 after one year, plus 29 after three years of the redesign. Same in Poland: plus 13, up to 35 percent raise of circulation after three years. You can see on a graph, after years of stagnation, the paper started to grow, just after redesign. But the real hit was in Bulgaria. And that is really amazing.
Ono što je zaista neverovatno je da je tiraž ovih novina takođe rastao. Evo nekih primera: u Rusiji, povećanje za 11% nakon jedne godine, za 29% nakon tri godine od redizajna. Isto i u Poljskoj: povećanje od 13 sve do 35% nakon tri godine. Na grafikonu možete videti da su novine počele da rastu nakon godina stajanja, tek nakon redizajna. Ali pravi uspeh bio je u Bugarskoj. I to je zaista neverovatno.
Did design do this? Design was just a part of the process. And the process we made was not about changing the look, it was about improving the product completely. I took an architectural rule about function and form and translated it into newspaper content and design. And I put strategy at the top of it. So first you ask a big question: why we do it? What is the goal? Then we adjust the content accordingly. And then, usually after two months, we start designing. My bosses, in the beginning, were very surprised. Why am I asking all of these business questions, instead of just showing them pages? But soon they realized that this is the new role of designer: to be in this process from the very beginning to the very end.
Da li je dizajn zaslužan za ovo? Dizajn je bio samo deo tog procesa. A proces se sastojao ne samo od menjanja izgleda, nego i od potpunog unapređivanja proizvoda. Uzeo sam arhitektonsko pravilo o funkciji i formi i primenio ga na sadržaj i dizajn novina. I na čelo svega sam stavio strategiju. Prvo ćete pitati: Zašto radimo ovo? Šta je cilj? I onda podesimo sadržaj po potrebi. I onda, obično nakon dva meseca, počnemo sa dizajniranjem. Moji šefovi su bili veoma iznenađeni na početku. Zašto sam postavljao sva ta poslovna pitanja, umesto da im pokazujem stranice? Ali uskoro su shvatili da je ovo nova uloga dizajnera: da bude uključen u ovaj proces od početka do kraja.
So what is the lesson behind it? The first lesson is about that design can change not just your product. It can change your workflow -- actually, it can change everything in your company; it can turn your company upside down. It can even change you. And who's responsible? Designers. Give power to designers. (Applause) But the second is even more important. You can live in a small poor country, like me. You can work for a small company, in a boring branch. You can have no budgets, no people -- but still can put your work to the highest possible level. And everybody can do it. You just need inspiration, vision and determination. And you need to remember that to be good is not enough.
I koja je pouka svega ovoga? Prva je ta da dizajn može da promeni više od vašeg proizvoda. Može da promeni vaš način rada - zapravo može da promeni sve u vašoj kompaniji; može da je okrene naglavačke. Može da promeni čak i vas. I ko je odgovoran? Dizajneri. Dajte moć dizajnerima. (Aplauz) Ali druga pouka je još bitnija. Možete živeti u maloj, siromašnoj zemlji, kao i ja. Možete raditi u maloj kompaniji i u dosadnoj grani posla. Možete da nemate nikakav budžet, nikakvo ljudstvo - ali opet možete podići svoj rad na najviši mogući nivo. I svako može to da uradi. Samo vam treba inspiracija, vizija i odlučnost. I morate da zapamtite da nije dovoljno samo biti dobar.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.