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Award-Winning Newspaper Designs

By Smashing Editorial, February 11th, 2008 in Inspiration | 177 Comments | Forum

Print and Web are different. Traditional layout techniques from print, particularly an advanced formatting, aren’t applicable to the Web as CSS doesn’t offer sophisticated instruments to design such layouts (e.g. text floating around an embedded image; some “floating” techniques provide such results, however they produce bloated source code just as well).

At the same time the flexibility of the Web is hardly applicable to print as there is no way to customize a traditional periodical for reader’s convenience. Apart from that, online-reading is very different from offline-reading: in the latter both leading and the line length are usually much shorter.

However, there are a number of fundamental principles which are often being used in both media. Over the last years newspapers and web-sites started to apply similar principles of data presentation, such as the heavy use of white space and grid-based design. The results can sometimes be very similar, but often they have almost nothing at common.

This issue of monday inspiration series is supposed to provide you with some examples of outstanding newspaper designs which have been rewarded with prestigious awards (see references at the bottom of this post), and demonstrate unusual approaches of newspaper design.

Please notice that

you might want to take a look at the article Data Visualization and Infographics we’ve presented previously,
all images are clickable and lead to the sources from which they’ve been taken.

El Economista (Madrid, Spain)

El Economista uses a very traditional, subtle and unique newspaper layout. Notice how well the typography reflects the weight of single articles. Infographics support the content and headlines are surrounded by huge amount of whitespace.

Äripäev (Tallinn, Estonia)

Äripäev’s signature is the heavy use of typography. The layout may sometimes seem overcrowded, however the packaging is always clean, simple to digest and easy to read. Note the difference in weights of colors: color, grey and red are applied carefully and sparingly.

De Morgen (Belgium)

De Morgen focuses on attractive packaging and a visually appealing layout. Vivid colors offer readers more eye-candy; however, they also have a function as they e.g. clearly separate quotations from the overall article. Headlines are centered, background-colors differ from page to page.

Politiken (Copenhagen, Denmark)

Politiken has a very eye-pleasing, legible layout with soft, neutral colors. Notice the clean horizontal packaging on the right-hand side image below. The sharpness of typography is breathtaking.

The Rzeczpospolita (Warsaw, Poland)

The Rzeczpospolita displays its conservatism in a traditional, conservative layout. No fancy images, no vivid background colors in use. The content dominates and helps the layout to gain a rather traditional look.

Le Monde (Paris, France)

Le Monde presents a mix of colorful infographics, solid typography and professional content…

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Frankfurt, Germany)

…so does the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszietung: the excerpts are distributed uniformly which gives the page a clear and easy-to-read and easy-to-scan structure. It’s not always possible, though.

Expresso (Portugal)

Expresso: with rich colors, clean grid-based layout and concise typography. Notice how the colors are applied and how the content is separated (see second screenshot).

The Guardian (London, UK)

The Guardian has recently finished its redesign. Result: more vivid colors and more vivid blocks. However, the legibility and the sharpness of presentation don’t suffer. A nice example of how multiple colors can be used not destroying the balance between visual appeal and legibility.

Dubai Express (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

Dubai Express is another example of colorful yet legible layout design. The layout has 10 colors on one single page, used in different contexts in different colors. Note the sharpness of typography and use of capital letters on the front page. In this case color is definitely appropriate as the newspaper’s main topic is entertainment.

Mint (India)

Mint, financial daily in India, uses large indentation for typography and elegant visual highlights to separate the content. That works well: both attractive, scannable and easy-to-read.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (US)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (US) isn’t a boulevard-newspaper, but a local regional magazine. The layout has a clear content hierarchy and a very simple structure. Huge amount of whitespace: waste of space or a clever technique to focus readers’ attention on the main topics?

Hartford Courant (US)

The Hartford Courant is a standout in the American newspaper market. The newspaper distinguishes itself with an enduring elegance in design and typography. Though conservative in their approach, designers engage readers with the bold use of visuals. The contrast between their quiet, understated style and the gutsy photography and illustrations create a tension that captures the attention of readers.

Resources and Further References

Society of News Design
Every year The Society for News Design selects “World’s Best-Designed Newspapers”.
NewsDesigner.com
Weblog about newspaper design.
Newspagedesigner.com
Newspagedesigner.com was started in order to give news designers of all levels and locations a chance to share their work and ideas, a chance to get feedback and a chance to get noticed.
Newseum.org
The Newseum displays these daily newspaper front pages in their original, unedited form. Some front pages may contain material that is objectionable to some visitors. Viewer discretion is advised.
InnovationInNewspapers.com
The News Design Flickr Pool
BestFrontDesign.com
This site showcases the best newspaper front pages across the globe.
Newspaperaward.org
The European Newspaper Design Award.

Published in Inspiration, February 11th, 2008
Tags: awards, infographics, inspiration, newspapers

1.

Smrda (February 11th, 2008, 1:32 am)

Just a small correction. Dubai is in United Arab Emirates, not Saudi Arabia.
2.

Fred Yates (February 11th, 2008, 1:45 am)

What a great example to choose as the first, only because I saw TIn TIn!
3.

Mark (February 11th, 2008, 2:01 am)

Love this post.

I am inspired! :)
4.

liam (February 11th, 2008, 2:03 am)

El Economista and the Guardian are the best by far, a few there I don’t think should be “award winning” - But interesting collection.
5.

psd2markup (February 11th, 2008, 2:04 am)

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung looks really nice. Football looks even better shown that way :)
6.

Rob Hawkes (February 11th, 2008, 2:12 am)

Oh why wasn’t this around a few days earlier! I’ve just completed a website heavily based around the theory of newspaper design, and had to do all the research by hand. Well done with the article though, there are some excellent example of design in there, truly inspirational work with a grid, some typography and white space!
7.

johno (February 11th, 2008, 2:17 am)

El Economista and Le Monde do it for me. Love the colour palette of the former, and the type (by Jean Fraçois Porchez) of the latter. Great stuff SM.
8.

Saúl (February 11th, 2008, 2:18 am)

I love the amount of whitespace in “El economista”.
9.

George Tziralis (February 11th, 2008, 2:19 am)

I’ d add the greek ‘Eleftheros Tipos’ (=”Free Press), Link [www.e-tipos.com], winner of the best design european national newspaper award for 2007. Very inspiring post, indeed!
10.

Rolando Bouza (February 11th, 2008, 2:46 am)

I like the minimalism on Hartford Courant ! Also Guardian!

Nice Post! When are you going to to a similar post but with Innovation in Magazine Design or something like that? will be interesting.
11.

Dejan (February 11th, 2008, 4:04 am)

interesting article..
12.

Nuno (February 11th, 2008, 5:01 am)

I like very much the Expresso.
Portugal is my love…
13.

Tasos (February 11th, 2008, 5:03 am)

I love these kind of articles bring them on! DTP is something that is missing on internet.(they way you gother and present it)
14.

Connie (February 11th, 2008, 5:08 am)

I do not see a good or helpful judgement here… everything is “legible and crisp” in your eyes, but the examples are cluttered and sometimes not clear, legible and crisp but shmashed and ugly…

next time you will judge the german BILD-Zeitung a legible design with balanced use of typography and colors? ;=)
15.

Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz (February 11th, 2008, 5:21 am)

@Connie: please point exactly to the sites which are cluttered and sometimes not clear in your opinion.
16.

Bonnie (February 11th, 2008, 5:22 am)

The encore page from ‘De Morgan’ would translate nicely to a web page (just using the first 3 columns).
17.

JohnofScribbleSheet (February 11th, 2008, 5:22 am)

Economista looks great!
18.

Andy Gongea (February 11th, 2008, 6:20 am)

Some are good some are bad. But in the end it is nice to see some old school print design. I was involved in this domain for 3 years and it was quite cool.

Great resource guys.
19.

extreme webmaster (February 11th, 2008, 6:21 am)

As usual, a great compilation and a great resource. These newspaper designs are really inspirational. I will definitely use some of them on my websites.
20.

yi (February 11th, 2008, 6:46 am)

amazing = 牛逼
21.

Rodrigo (February 11th, 2008, 6:47 am)

Portugal is mistyped. By the way, nice post!
22.

Ben Leivian (February 11th, 2008, 7:18 am)

Awesome post! I really enjoyed reading this one.
23.

tzNewz (February 11th, 2008, 7:34 am)

Some of these would be very difficult to translate into web designs, but it’s something to think about.
Newspaper layout people have to take grid, and column design very seriously.
Our local paper for example is a six-column layout, but they do change things up to keep it interesting.
You get a much better idea of grid design watching how the newspaper pros do it.
24.

Jorre (February 11th, 2008, 8:25 am)

Nico to see that you included my favorite Belgian gazette! Great article!
25.

mikemike (February 11th, 2008, 8:28 am)

hmmm. A few of those are just plain, but a few are great. Good news papers, and news letters are all about Feng Shui and balance
26.

Connie (February 11th, 2008, 8:30 am)

@#15:

“The Rzeczpospolita displays its conservatism in a traditional, conservative layout.” this red is conservative? this paper is using signal red, and “conservative layout” is something else..
this page “http://www.snd.org/best27/Rzeczpospolita_files/2001J.png” is for sure not conservative layouted and easy to read…

“Äripäev” is yellow press and for sure “packaging is always clean” is not the case .

Sorry, but still I assume that you wanted to proof a thesis instead of doing some research…
27.

superxtian (February 11th, 2008, 8:33 am)

so nice to see those award winning newspapers ^^
28.

tom (February 11th, 2008, 8:55 am)

There is definitely something a Web Designer can adopt from those examples.
Very nice and different collection!
29.

Kim Siever (February 11th, 2008, 9:34 am)

If you can get a copy, Canada’s Globe and Mail is a good example of nice newspaper design. In fact, they even commissioned their own fonts.
30.

Malcolm (February 11th, 2008, 11:03 am)

Woah, great to see an Indian News Paper in this list.
31.

Syed Balkhi (February 11th, 2008, 11:55 am)

For a while i didn’t think i was going to see any from U.S, but glad that we have some good newspaper.
32.

Wender (February 11th, 2008, 12:41 pm)

Another good Brazilian site Newspaper: Link [www.estadao.com.br] !
33.

Anthony (February 11th, 2008, 2:07 pm)

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette has a nice layout. I may be a little biased towards the paper but, I’ve always thought they had a wonderful overall design. I agree with others that the el economista is remarkable.
34.

tux86 (February 11th, 2008, 2:44 pm)

I like Äripäev’s layout most. It’s catchy and clearly arranged. lovin it. But I don’t get why FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine) is award winning. I don’t like it at all!

Greetings from Frankfurt, Germany
– tux86
35.

Marlyse Comte (February 11th, 2008, 5:54 pm)

Great compilation. Interesting to see how much newspaper layout has found it’s way in todays blog sites. Good study material of how much content can be packed into little space and still keep the reader interested and the visuals appealing.
36.

Fred (February 11th, 2008, 8:29 pm)

I delivered the Hartford Courant for 3 years when I was 12. Grew up in Connecticut :)
37.

Hieu (February 11th, 2008, 8:40 pm)

El Economista is the best. I like Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also
Great inspiration resource guys, keep it up!!!
38.

Mark A. Dodge Medlin (February 11th, 2008, 9:21 pm)

It’s worth pointing out that the Society for News Design is in the process of picking the next gigantic batch of winning pages, graphics and photos. Some of the results can be found on SND’s Link [update.snd.org], if you can get past the inside baseball and “inspirational” poems.

Interesting post. It’s always eye-opening to see newspaper design through the eyes of design experts who aren’t newsprint folk.
39.

Fuadass (February 11th, 2008, 9:32 pm)

is nice to see a portuguese newspaper in the list :) ( im portugues off course :D )

congrats for the excelent work in this website.
40.

mee (February 11th, 2008, 11:41 pm)

Not bad and a good over view. But there are some missing, like the Asia section ;-)
41.

Spir (February 12th, 2008, 1:50 am)

Le monde, El Economista & Expresso are awesome
42.

angeloff (February 12th, 2008, 4:49 am)

Very very nice collection. Excellent.
43.

Clem (February 12th, 2008, 5:01 am)

Very interesting to see some newspaper Designs of other country.
44.

Johan (February 12th, 2008, 5:35 am)

Link [www.dag.nl] Dutch free newspaper, got a new design this morning. I’d say it looks pretty good as well
45.

syed (February 12th, 2008, 8:41 am)

I always like The Guardian, especially their website because of the clean cut and easy to understand navigation

Other noted websites are New York Times and The New Yorker
46.

Daniel (February 12th, 2008, 9:17 am)

I love Web graphics to Print ones. But these Newspaper designs are quite well designed. Just Excellent
47.

Creativepayne (February 12th, 2008, 9:37 am)

“The Stranger” in Seattle Wa Is always fun to look at. It’s a bit different than these though. . .
48.

Reginald (February 12th, 2008, 1:46 pm)

I found this post really informative. Keep up the good works and provide education to global internet user.
49.

violette (February 12th, 2008, 2:41 pm)

this article is really great! the designs are very innovative. it is really noticeable how nowadays CEOs (or whoever makes those decisions) have the courage to go on and publish this incredible designs! congratulations to all of them: designers, directors and Smashing Magazine Staff for publishing this article! :)
50.

aravind (February 12th, 2008, 6:49 pm)

wow.. amazing,,,!

and no doubt…! the smashing news paper is….. Hartford Courant ! :)
51.

gursel (February 13th, 2008, 12:50 pm)

this is Newspaper from Turkiye and it has very talented graphic designers Link [medya.todayszaman.com] (pdf)
52.

Daily Frappe (February 13th, 2008, 8:55 pm)

I second the vote for e-tipos out of Greece. The design is super sweet and the paper quality is just amazing. Thanks for the post Smashing! - DailyFrappe
53.

Daniel Ted Feliciano (February 13th, 2008, 10:58 pm)

Wow, amazing. I magine if newspapers the whole world over have designs like those. It’d be a much better place.
54.

emiliodobrasil (February 14th, 2008, 6:05 am)

O layout do Jornal Expresso é citado na secção “Monday Inspiration!” do site Smashingmagazine..
55.

Claudia (February 14th, 2008, 11:55 am)

Very nice article!
And apart from personal taste these layouts have the function of targeting a specific audience.
If you look at all of these layouts again keeping this in mind they tell a very interesting story about the countries they come from, the public they are targeted at and their level of education and sophistication.
Thanks for the inspiration!
56.

Michelle (February 14th, 2008, 5:12 pm)

I wish American papers embraced tabloids like the rest of the wold (and New York City)!
57.

parcacik (February 15th, 2008, 6:33 am)

it seems you failed to remember Zaman newspaper from Turkey, so they have newspaper design award from Society For News Design (SND).
58.

Lori Sedlak (February 15th, 2008, 7:26 am)

Since Newpapers are loosing market share, they have to do something to keep readership. Doing a great job with some of these papers!
59.

space (February 15th, 2008, 8:26 am)

“Eleftheros Typos” Greek Newspaper got the Europe’s Best designed newspaper award for 2007.

Link [www.e-tipos.com] (front page sample in pdf)

Link [www.e-tipos.com] (complete newspaper)

Link [www.e-typos.gr] (website but paper version is better)

Check it out!
60.

blacque (February 15th, 2008, 7:34 pm)

It’s inspired me to make a newspaper-look theme for my blog. I’ll try it :)
61.

Lukas Rieder (February 16th, 2008, 9:56 am)

Hy,

nice showcase. But I think the FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) is from the designer’s point of view really not the most stunning.
There’s a weekly newspaper called “Die Zeit”, and it’s graphics, illustrations and info graphics are stunning.

The main illustrator working for “Die Zeit” is called Smetek. You can enjoy his artwork here: Link [www.smetek.de]

Best regards from Berlin/Germany,

Lukas Rieder
62.

Toby Lynch (February 17th, 2008, 6:27 pm)

Yo.

Anyone got any idea of the typeface used on Aripaev? Both the newspaper header and the body text. If there’s any hints that would be eeexcellent.

cheers
63.

Pablo Cardozo (February 18th, 2008, 6:06 am)

Very good article, only one question: were not taken Publications in Latin America? I recommend one: Link [www.ladiaria.com.uy]

Greetings!
64.

Chocho (February 18th, 2008, 2:50 pm)

this is so cool! maybe you can put up a post for “award winning content design”, too.
65.

zamdesign (February 18th, 2008, 8:00 pm)

i like this, very much!
66.

raja (February 19th, 2008, 3:25 am)

expect the unexpectation - thank you
67.

Gunars Tisons (February 20th, 2008, 3:28 am)

to Connie
Äripäev is’nt yellow press. Äripäev in estonian means Businessday.
Estonian main business newspaper owned by Swedish The Bonnier Group.
Link [www.bonnier.com]
Greetings from Estonia.
68.

andotyjazz (February 20th, 2008, 12:03 pm)

Wow!

I was really fascinated. Tremendous collections.

BTW, thanks for the Link [www.flickr.com].
69.

david windham (February 22nd, 2008, 6:38 pm)

nice collection..
70.

John Doe (March 12th, 2008, 10:16 pm)

Great Post. Thank you for posting sources. I would like to see more analytical data on how viewers cross a page in general when it is consistent. The heat maps of Newspapers, etc ………….
71.

ajju (March 16th, 2008, 9:21 am)

it is very informative. can u send me any other site name. which gives us information about page design.
72.

-=>VillainJACK (March 18th, 2008, 10:35 am)

I’m glad I can get my toes in my mouth!

-=>VillainJACK
73.

Daniel Condurachi (March 25th, 2008, 4:38 am)

really fine examples… a great inspiration. Thank you!
74.

Nitin (April 2nd, 2008, 11:55 pm)

Really good collections. Thank you
75.

Paul Le Comte (April 7th, 2008, 2:01 am)

I was lucky enough to be at SND annual conference in Boston last year, very inspirational. Chip Kid, Tom Bodkin, Khon Vin and Mark Porter, along with the all of the other inspirational designers.

This years SND is in Vegas combined with the Society of Publication Designers, sept 08. Should be really intersting.

Link [www.sndvegas.com]

thanks for the post
76.

Tuesday Robinson (April 15th, 2008, 11:13 am)

These designs are awesome, but they privilege Europe and retrievals of the international style. Sure, the UAE, India, and the US were included, but I’m curious about Asian and South American design as well, and about what they mean for contemporary print style.
77.

Daniel (May 14th, 2008, 3:03 am)

I think the rich Emirated from Dubai paid something to show their paper here hahaahhaa.

I liked a lot that american Hartford and the El Econimista from Spain. I’m not suprised about the “Expresso” among the awarded ones. Portuguese have been making a very good, really very good job in graphic design area.
78.

creativesprites (May 19th, 2008, 1:40 am)

Nice post!

Seems newspaper design is no more black n white business. I liked Hartford Courant…
79.

Rohit (June 17th, 2008, 8:12 pm)

I think! ammm………you are doin so wonderful that no oneelse in this world is doin for inspiring designers!

You are doin this without any selfishness and thats what make all the more great!

keep up the more than excellent job :-)
80.

Joe Clifford (June 19th, 2008, 8:49 pm)

Has anyone seen a stone paper called fiberstone? I met with someone from a company called natural source printing. They claim that this uses no water and is better for the planet than recycled paper. How can that be? Is it true? Anyone had any experience printing on paper made from stone? They say you can do fiberstone paper boxes and labels and brochures?? Stone paper? Really? Sounds cool but I’d want to see it.
81.

fajarhari (July 8th, 2008, 8:32 am)

salam kenal,
terimakasih untuk blog newspaperdesign ini.
sengan adanya blog tersebut saya jadi bertambah wawasan ilmu tentang desain surat kabar..
82.

Anirban Adhikari (July 25th, 2008, 3:41 am)

Informative article.Good one.
83.

Tom (September 25th, 2008, 4:11 am)

Honestly, those designs are pretty standard. Looks like most newspapers from the ’80s. There’s better work being done out there.
84.

Irishlight (October 3rd, 2008, 7:51 pm)

Very interesting article and just what I was looking for.
85.

dotPH (October 27th, 2008, 9:36 pm)

nice.. post. this one really helps alot!! thanks
86.

Robb Montgomery (November 12th, 2008, 7:03 am)

Hello, you might wish to add one more useful link to this post:

▪ VisualEditors.com
Online community of thousands of newspaper designers and information graphics journalists.
87.

Chary (November 20th, 2008, 3:32 am)

Umm MINT is really taste now!!
88.

irfan (November 29th, 2008, 3:01 am)

So nice !!!
&
Needful to create news papers !!!
Please, send more “News paper Designs” &
Tricks to success in News Paper Making.
89.

Vicki Saguin (December 1st, 2008, 2:02 am)

Wow. I love this post. So much that I’ll be using some of the examples in my Copyediting and Layouting class. Just brilliant. thanks!
90.

Nelson Toledo (December 29th, 2008, 8:37 am)

I like the layout of the Guardian
91.

Salih S. DEMİR (January 9th, 2009, 4:28 am)

“Zaman” Turkish daily newspaper. Link []
Link [www.zaman.com.tr]
92.

Mikk Pärg (February 21st, 2009, 3:58 am)

Wow, Estonias Äripäev is one of the top noch newspapers on design.

Newer could have known that!
Im from Estonia and usually read that paper in the morning :)
Newer will look at it the same again.
93.

nirmal (March 5th, 2009, 9:29 pm)

its smashing absoulutly great works, i would like to thanks this site owners to show us this designs
94.

anil phale (April 27th, 2009, 5:18 am)

I have seen the smart layout of newspapers. Thanks.
95.

jleica24 (May 1st, 2009, 12:04 pm)

One U.S. paper that is known for its innovative design is The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va. I suggest you check it out.
96.

sreedevi.c.nair (May 14th, 2009, 10:52 pm)

its two good and iam very surprising.
97.

Francis Paul Bayan (May 26th, 2009, 3:12 am)

The newspapers posted are truly excellent..!
I’m inspired by the newspaper layouts especially now I’m studying the newspaper layout techniques…