Design of the Most Popular Russian Newspapers - Case Study Example

Russian Newspaper Layout and Design We have selected the most popular Russian newspapers to analyze for design elements and layout. Komsomolskaya Pravda is the most popular newspaper in Moscow, Russia. We will compare this publication to some of its competitors; other popular Russian newspapers, namely: Pravda, Kommersant, Izvestia and Tvoi Den. In spite of the large number of newspapers available in Russia, Few Russians actually read them, only 10% compared to Sweden's 90%. Russians spend 9 minutes on average devoted to reading dailies, Turks by comparison spend 74 minutes per day. (Pravda 2007) Distrust of printed news is cited as a factor for the low readership. Many papers are sponsored by local governments who easily influence content. It may also be argued that there is considerable diversion to online sources for news. Nearly all of the print versions of papers, now have web versions. Most of the graphic elements from the print versions have been adapted to the computer screen, making print and online versions consistent and recognizable. Complicating the mix is the presence of foreign language newspapers, particularly those written in English. Some are English language versions of Russian papers, while others such as The St. Petersburg Times, Moscow Times and Neva News, are exclusively written and published for an English speaking readership. In St. Petersburg, there are no English language TV channels or radio stations, so it is assumed that these newspapers play an important role in the expatriate community as a news source. Quality of newspaper design varies widely. Some designs are surprisingly attractive, perhaps due to competition for readers' limited attention span. Much of the style differences can be correlated to the segmentation of the newspaper market and the enormous differences in taste among newspapers' target audiences. Newspapers were all originally communist party, or state owned mass media tools and typically ran stories about meetings of Party officials and anti-western propaganda during the Soviet period. Now, many of these papers have evolved into publicly consumable tabloids addressing everyday mundane Russian life. Stories are heavily weighted with scandal, public corruption exposes, and entertainment. Pravda's readership was originally over 13 million during the height of the Soviet Union, but then suffered in the post Soviet collapse and eventually closed down. It has been reborn threefold, and there is an ensuing struggle to legally maintain ownership of the once famous name, now claimed by three different publishers. Komsolmolskaya Pravda, "Young Communist Youth League's Truth", has proven the tabloid business model, having captured the largest distributorship in Russia with 745,000 daily readers.Izvestia, another one of the original Soviet Communist mouthpieces is now a liberal daily often in conflict with the current state's rigid media policy. This newspaper falls on the serious side of the spectrum, compared to the newly transformed tabloids. Tvoi Den, a new daily fits into the extreme tabloid category, covering rumors of oligarch weddings, interviews with famous prostitutes and meat packing plant scandals. Kommersant targets the business community and covers politics and economic issues. As a basis for analysis of design we employ the "Total Page Concept". Steven E. Ames (1989) has argued that the total page concept is key to good newspaper layout and design, as a method for integrating the various elements of Newspaper layout into a comprehensive whole: every aspect of the page is immediately seen as belonging on that page; ...Total Page Concept encompasses the relationship of all the parts of elements needed to create a page in a publication, such as captions for photos, headlines for news stories, the type and even the thin borders used to outline pictures or place a box around stories and advertising. " (Ames, 1989, p. 1) These principles hold for both print and web media, and we will primarily be analyzing the web versions of the newspapers. Graphic design principles also work regardless of source language, some of the online newspapers we researched have English language versions, others are only in Russian. A baseline for traditional newspaper design consists of a layout with a headline at the top of the paper, the first headline largest, the summary of the story after the headline, captioned photographs integrating well with the story they are near. Whitespace balances well with text. Komsomolskaya Pravda(2008) has a utilitarian look with generic looking headlines, all of equal size, photograph sizes seem random, lack captions and have awkward spacing within the text columns. The total layout is quite unbalanced with large obtrusive video windows competing with small unrelated story boxes scattered among the text columns. Only one colour is used both for navigation tabs and headline text; this color is a light blue identical to a Windows XP basic desktop color field, further aggravating the generic look. typeface is a bland sans serif variety similar to Arial; again giving the paper a generic un-composed look, Three unequal column widths plus the very tight horizontal grid creates an unbalanced and busy appearance; and makes skimming the news difficult for the reader. Further confusing the layout, are numerous seemingly accidentally placed banner ads that even compete for space with the headline news. The business oriented Kommersant (2008)in contrast, is refreshingly well organized. Immediately noticeable is the tasteful use of white-space to separate stories on the first page, no grid lines or headline borders are used. Photographs are un-captioned but integrate well with the text. The typeface is a tight sans-serif style that is simple and readable. The main page is only two columns wide, the second column a horizontal grid divided by subtle gray semi-transparent lines. A video section lies within a solid light-blue box below the main headlines. Photographs of columnists are shown standing next to their stories. Below the fold, subheadings maintain this excellent organization and the liberal use of white-space as a separation device. The website for Izvestia (2008), the controversial liberal daily at odds with the State's media machine, has a real newspaper look. It carries the same title logo first used in 1917, with the exception of two characters which had been changed when the official Russian alphabet eliminated a few letters. The headlines and text typeface is a strong serif style that look almost typeset for a real paper newspaper. This, along with border lines around the three vertical columns and distinctly blocked out sub sections contribute to the newspaper in hand feel. Even the video clip box is a perfect square surrounded by a strong border, giving the look of a photo more than a video. Photographs are held within the tightly bordered boxes, and thus are unmistakenly associated with their text. There are few ads on the front page and even these are unobtrusive. Overall, a conservative, professional layout and design. The original Pravda (2008), probably the most famous of the original Soviet newspapers, has an oddly distinct web presence. It prominently bears its famous logo alongside three Lenin award medals and a serial number, appearing completely unchanged from its Communist past. Strikingly, the body of the paper is a single page; simply a column of plain headlines with embedded links: no photos, no ads, just plain, almost typewritten text. All on a faux paper background. The only stylistic tool used is some bold text and the default blue links. One wonders what the intended effect is. Either to maintain the look from its pre-revolutionary beginnings as a subversive underground pamphlet, or an understated contrast to today's extreme vulgar tabloid styles, or simply stagnated web design created during the Windows 98 era? In contrast, its namesake competitor Pravda the tabloid version (2008), is a very busy chaotic design. It too uses the original famous logo, although somewhat stylized. There is no major headline, just strongly distinct subheadings separated with bold dark-blue borders. Inside the grids, one conveniently finds links to companion articles and related stories. The typeface for both the headlines and text is a sparce sans-serif . A two column paper, it displays the small column atypically on the left side under its Logo. The logo itself is almost lost in the profusion of distracting ads and tiny text boxes linking to scandalous stories, usually with sex as a topic. Photographs seem poorly chosen, some are obviously cheap stock images and are displayed so small they are almost thumbnail images. The headlines are not well differentiated either, and almost run into each other or into random links; a defect known as "tombstoning" in the publishing industry. In general, the layout and design seems poorly organized; little more than a barrage of links and text boxes. Tvoi Den (2008) meaning "your day", is known as the gutter-press leader among the tabloids and represents the extreme of Russian "scandal" journalism. The front page is always designed for maximum shock value. There is no white space whatsoever above the fold, only splashes of deep red and black; the paper seems completely saturated with ink. Photographs play a more important role than text. The main story header is simply a gigantic photograph above a huge one or two word headline. Subheadings are little more than icons, tiny photographs with snippets of leader text. Surprisingly, there are few ads, although the story sections look exactly like ads. Again, as with Pravda the tabloid version, there are many stock images instead of journalistic photographs, and the photos are sized so small that the subject may be less than clear. The contrast between dramatic splashy main headline and this collection of miniature subheadings is extreme and unbalancing. The layout and design is directed toward aggressively capturing the short attention span of potential readers and enticing them to click-through to their content of interest. References Ames, S. (1989). Elements of Newspaper Design. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Paperback. (2008). Gazeta Pravda. Available: http://www.gazeta-pravda.ru/pravda/pravda.html. Last accessed 08 August 2008. (2008). Izvestia. Available: http://www.izvestia.ru/. Last accessed 08 August 2008. (2008). Kommersant. Available: www.kommersant.ru. Last accessed 08 August 2008. (2008). Komsomolskaya Pravda. Available: http://www.kp.ru/. Last accessed 08 August 2008. (2008). Pravda. Available: http://www.pravda.ru/. Last accessed 08 August 2008. (2008). Tvoi Den. Available: http://www.tden.ru/. Last accessed 08 August 2008. Read More