As senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) and represenative John Conyers (D-Mich.) prepare for hearings on saving the newspaper industry, newspaper designer Jacek Utko has succeeded in breathing new life into a declining but not dead trade.
But can an industry beholden to government subsidy (presuming that's part of the plan) truly report objectively on that very government? Should the government step on a slippery slope and interfere with the natural market forces of the media business? Or does that industry simply need new leadership and fresh thinking?
For years the newspaper business operated more or less as a cash cow, not unlike the automobile industry. Yet the world has changed with the introduction of the internet and the freer exchange of unedited ideas. Newspaper editors' power to influence public thinking is still significant, but it is not as absolute as it once was as people have alternative means to express themselves and their opinions through outlets like blogs, Facebook and Twitter. The internet has leveled the playing field to some degree and an industry that once was held as the fourth estate of government is struggling to adapt and survive in a changed world.
"Newspaper designer Jacek Utko suggests that it's time for a fresh, top-to-bottom rethink of the newspaper. (At this point, why not try it?) In his work, he's proved that good design can help readers reconnect with newspapers. A former architect, Utko took on the job of redesigning several newspapers in former Soviet Bloc nations, starting from basic principles. He worked closely with newspaper executives to figure out the business goals of their papers, and then radically reformatted the product to fit those goals. (And he wasn't afraid to break a few grids in the process.) As the art director at Warsaw’s Puls Biznesu in 2004, he redesigned this small business-focused newspaper and immediately won the SND award for world’s best-designed newspaper. Readers responded, and circulation went up. He’s now art director for the Bonnier Business Press, overseeing papers in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, and the work he oversees consistently wins major prizes (including another SND world’s-best in 2007 for Estonia’s Äripäev), despite their small teams and limited resources. "Who knew that the world's best designed newspapers are in Poland and Estonia?" June Cohen, TED"
