Design. Form. Art. Function.
Four words. Four complete aspects of newspaper design. Each stands on its own and is used on its own. But, when all four merge — you have something more than just a winner.
In the case of Gulf News, it is the book An Amazing Nation, which has been awarded a silver medal and an Award of Excellence by the Society for News Design (SND).
The SND is an international organisation for news media professionals and visual communicators — specifically those who create print/web/mobile publications and products.
It was founded in 1979 as a US-registered non-profit organisation and has 1,500 members worldwide.
Special Look at An Amazing Nation
To buy your copy of An Amazing Nation: Click here
The cover of ‘An Amazing Nation’, the book brought out by Gulf News to mark the 45th year of the UAE. |
They host an annual Best of News Design competition open to newspapers and magazines from around the world. The results for the 30th edition of the competition was announced on March 8 of this year.
It is, indeed, a great honour for a newspaper to be recognised as part of this process — as it pits the very best in the world against each other.
Miguel Angel Gomez, Gulf News Design Director said: “When Design is used as a journalistic tool, it helps to tell stories to our audience in more compelling ways, and this is something Gulf News is always looking for.
“I got the idea of producing this book An Amazing Nation with two key objectives in mind — to showcase the work of the Design team in a product with a longer shelf life, something that we could be proud of, and to share with residents and visitors the story of the UAE in a visual way.
“The Design section took this as a challenge, as an opportunity to show what they are capable of and as a way to work together. We wanted to show that the UAE is moving forward to modernity with confidence, without losing its values and traditions.”
Gulf News is the top winner in the SND Best of News Design Competition from the region this year — it won 17 Awards of Excellence and one silver medal.
Gomez says the culture of the newspaper that promotes innovation, talent and diversity of artists is key to this success.
Power of diversity
“Diversity is always good because it bring different ideas, perspectives and skills to the table, this is valuable not only for the Design section but also for the entire newsroom.
“The awards feels great, the silver medal is recognition of the work by the entire team involved in the making of the book, we look forward to more such projects,” he added
The objective of SND is to “enhance communication around the world through excellence in visual journalism”. And that mark of excellence is what Gulf News always strives for.
