In a recent international contest for newspaper design, Dubai-based veteran-competitor Gulf News won 8 awards for excellence in newspaper design, and newcomer Emirates Business 24/7, also Dubai-based, won "Graphics in Non-Breaking News Stories" in the 29th Annual Creative Design Contest. Almost 400 daily and weekly newspapers around the world voted for the winners.

Designers from both papers said that "a close collaboration between the editorial and the design team is fundamental for the high visual standard."

Luis Chumpitaz, Infographic Director at the Arab Media Group and Designer at Emirates Business 24/7 stressed the importance of graphics and photography, since they were "structural parts of today's newspapers and should count as equally communicative as the text itself." Below is an example of their well-designed newspaper layout.


















Chumpitaz and Douglas Okasaki, Designer at Gulf News believe that good newspaper design increases readership. "Design is a good tool for journalists to attract the attention of the readers to their articles," stated Okasaki.

Chumpitaz added, "Interest in the aesthetic value of the Arabic language is increasing around the world. We can arrive at great results if we manage to find teams that can assimilate international design know-how with Arabic culture and its particular sense of graphics,"


Source: Arab Press Network