Fresh coat of paint?

If you want to listen in on bunch of designers and graphics editors talk about the future of newspaper design and delivery head on over to the Society for Newspaper Design (SND) and check this article.

They all pretty much hit the nail on the head with suggestions that the web will influence newspaper design (already has at many papers) instead of trying to make a website look like a newspaper page. Being America-centric they are now just cluing in that designing for news delivery to cell phones and mobile devices is the wave of the future. That wave has already washed over Europe and Asia where mobile phone rates are a fraction of that in North America allowing for cheap access to data and web.

Many of the statements about quality journalism has been said for years. They are motherhood statements and are noble but nothing really changes on that front no matter how much we wish it. There will always be a class structure in journalism with its diverse media outlets feeding thier targeted audiences.

I have loved great newspaper and magazine design since I was a teen …that would be the 70’s. I was born and raised in newsprint and ink but ….you can’t help but think it may be a last ditch effort to dress up a medieval medium. Like putting a new coast of paint on the catapult before dragging it into todays high tech battlefield.

Does NEWSPAPER design matter anymore?