September update
Projects completed this spring and summer include:
Al Watan Relaunch
Saudi Arabia’s first national daily newspaper, Al Watan, was launched seven years ago by Khalid Al Faisal, Governor of the Mecca province and a leading member of the reformist wing of the Saudi royal family. Controversial and innovative, It made a huge splash at the time. A contemporary relaunch was commissioned in order to recapture some of the excitement and success of those early years. The guidance was to make the newspaper sharp and modern, somewhat like the Guardian. The senior team wanted the whole works: better use of colour, a new masthead, new customised fonts, better architecture, a reinvented front page, better use of graphics, better display for advertising and high impact on the sales racks. The fact that the paper is published in Arabic posed an extra challenge. Ryan’s design work was very favourably received and has been credited with returning Al Watan to the forefront of Saudi papers. The editor of a competitor newspaper, Okaz, wrote: “You took the Saudi press 10 years forward. I cannot do what you have done. It is a turning point in the history of the Arab press”.
Keighley News Redesign
Our redesign of the 147-year old Keighley News was unveiled to a (doubtless, sceptical) West Yorkshire readership. Editor Malcolm Hoddy and Newsquest group editor Perry Austin-Clarke, had asked for a thorough modernisation of the weekly tabloid – but one that didn’t scare off loyal readers. The end result was, in the words of Mr Austin-Clarke “ a fresher, brighter, better-organised product” ; and the latest circulation figures show a sales lift of between 3% and 3.5%.
Gulf Times Redesign
A year’s work, on and off, on Qatar’s top selling English language newspaper, the Gulf Times, came to fruition. Launch week passed in a flurry of meetings with sub-editors around their desks and late night Indian take-aways in Doha. The changes we made were huge – by any standards – and involved the whole structure and shape of the paper as well as fonts, grids and layouts. Neil Cook, the managing editor, said: “Shakeup Media did a first rate job both in design and also in working with us on implementation. Their long newspaper experience meant that the design not only looked great, it really worked in practice and helped editors improve the organisation and projection of news, comment and features. The paper overall is much improved and readers have reacted very positively”.
The Venice Report
Several months work, on and off, on a major report from Venice in Peril, the charity that finances research into the problems of Venice, saw the light of day. Chairman, Anna Somers Cocks wanted us to turn a collection of scholarly essays into a publication that looked beautiful and presented all the technical information in a series of lucid and precise graphics. Once we had selected the typefaces and decided on the best presentation of the text and display copy, we worked with some fine photographers and a mass of detailed statistical material to come up with a handsome book-length report that communicates nearly as much visually as it does in the words.
Current projects
Current occupations include two big websites — one in the education sector and one in publishing – and two magazines — one launch and one relaunch (one is a new weekly news magazine coming out next spring and the other is the redesign of a respected international title).
Other News
· We moved offices – the new address is Shakeup Media, 5th Floor, Haymarket House, 1 Oxendon Street, London SW1Y 4EE – equidistant between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square tubes
· Since January, Richard has been editor in chief and director of content for an educational web platform called imJack (imJack.com) which provides secure social networking to schools and is planning to launch a variety of material including current affairs next year. The focus is on the UK but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t develop into an international business.
· The book that Richard spent the winter working on with Stephen Green, chairman of HSBC, was published by Allen Lane in July and was subsequently long-listed by the FT for Business Book of the Year. Good Value: Reflections on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World is, of course, available from Amazon.
If we can help you with design, writing, editing or media advice please contact us through our website www.shakeupmedia.com
Add comment September 18th, 2009