SND44: The best of Canadian newspaper design

By bradleyneedham | May 22, 2023

By Brad Needham

This time of year is like Christmas for those who love print newspaper design. Newspapers who still take design seriously have submitted the work they consider their best to the Society of News Design. And for those of us who are lucky enough to be a part of the judging process in one way or another, as part of the planning committee, a facilitator or judge, it’s magical. We get to look through the best designs by the world’s best designers.

But to make this year even more special, after moving to a remote a competition because of COVID-19, it was back in person, and in New York. To make it even more exciting, it was in the New York Times building. I admit I got shivers as I saw the sign from a distance.

This year I had a bit of a hybrid role, part planning committee until life got in the way, part facilitator, part floater. For the second year in a row I got to be part of the team that chooses the World’s Best Newspaper (I wasn’t a judge, so not making the decision, just helping out).

This post is about the best in Canadian media. Sadly not as many papers submit. When I won, each of the three was for the Guelph Mercury, which had a circulation in the neighbourhood of 10,000. There is nothing close to that size anymore. This year in Canada, with Postmedia being out of the mix, only three media outlets submitted entries: The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Le Devoir, which just so happens to make up two-thirds of the ownership group of Pagemasters/The Canadian Press, my employer (Globe and Torstar).

So while there were fewer entries overall, and fewer outlets, than in years past, the quality of work these publications submits is still right up there with the best in the world. In this post, I will look at the Canadian entries. I will follow up with posts on the best American papers as well as the best from around the world, and also on the winners of the World’s Best Designed, which will be announced later this week. It will be worth the wait.

In Canada, The Globe and Mail was far and away the top winner, followed by the Toronto Star and Le Devoir. The Globe finished in the top 10 overall, which I attribute largely to incredibly smart art direction.

As a bit of a legend, awards are broken down into a few categories. First, an award of excellence must get the support of three of five judges, and those judges must think this work is beyond good. It must be excellent. Work that rises above what you might expect to see normally. Then there are silver and gold medals. As the level of award goes up, so do the expectations. By the time judges reach a gold medal discussion, the entry must be essentially flawless, down to kerning, every bit of white space and so on. It should be hard to find a flaw. This year, there were no gold medals for Canadian publications.

The Globe and Mail

This year the Globe won all awards of excellence other than in photography, which is somewhat out of scope for the blog, so I will look at the AOEs. The Globe finished in the top 10 overall, with 32 awards, three of which were silver medals for photography.

As soon as I saw this page in production, I knew it would be contender. Interestingly, pages like this were raised by judges. Is this a great page or a great illustration, or both? To be a great page it needs to use the illustration as part of a total package. To be clear, this page is absolutely driven by this stunning illustration. And this is where the art direction comment comes in. The Globe consistently uses incredible illustrations to drive pages. At some point that moves beyond just incredible illustrations and into smart art direction. Not only are the illustrations beautiful, they work with the story, and elevate the page to another level. And that is precisely what happens here and in many of the pages the Globe won for.

As often is the case with Kagan McLeod illustrations, the illustration drives this page. And I always know, regardless of the paper it appears in, at a glance that it is a McLeod special. He has a distinctive style. He has been helping Canadian newspapers elevate their front pages for years, from the Globe to the Star to the National Post. And I’m sure they are grateful.

This page was part of a staff portfolio award package. I often don’t like when newspapers use different fonts for headlines, but this page works. Nice symmetry, cute illustrations, and the typography is playful and works.

Not much to say about this other than it is visually magnificent. It’s a beautiful page, smartly conceptualized and executed. This and the next three pages are from the great Brennan Higginbotham, who won an award of excellence for his portfolio or work. I won three awards, one of which was for a portfolio of work. That is the award I am most proud of as it’s for a body of work. And as Higgenbotham shows here he is far from a one-page wonder. Some beautiful work.

Using the maple leaf in a creative way in an illustration is not novel, but I am always impressed by how many amazing ways newspapers use it. To the world, Canada likely seems like a peaceful place, full of people saying excuse me and sorry. Especially sorry. But things are changing. As populism politics take hold in other countries, very much emboldened by Donald Trump’s presidency, Canada is following suit. The country is more divided than ever. And this illustration politely shows (so Canadian) that things are heating up. A great and smart illustration, nice use of white space and a witty main headline.

Just a lovely illustration, used well on a front page. NBD.

When I looked at the paper this Saturday morning I knew I’d be seeing this page in the competition. It’s one of my faves from year from the Globe. Is the song in your head yet? It makes for a very bold and colourful front page. As for the Globe entries for this post … that’s all folks.

Toronto Star

The Star submits significantly fewer entries than the Globe, and less than it used to. It’s great to see that it is still being recognized when it swings for the fences. It won four awards in total. Here are a few.

This is an example of a page with a great illustration that helps drive the story, but also a great design. The illustration needs smart typography to work, and it works.

Anyone who follows me here or Instagram would have seen this page already. It was one of the sharpest pages around the Queen’s death. Great photo choice, very simple headline in terms of content and design.

As a counter to the very simple Queen page, this is a busy page. There is a lot going on. Yet the focus of the story is clear. It does some things I might not normally like, but manages to pull it all together to make a very compelling design.

Le Devoir

Le Devoir submitted very few entries, but did a heck of job curating those entries. It won two awards in total. Here is one of the winners and one I liked that didn’t win.

Something about this illustration speaks to me. It didn’t win an award, so this is a facilitator’s special recognition, I guess. I dig it. It really draws me in, and even without knowing French well enough to read this, I feel like I really want to know what it’s about.

This page looks very much like many of the European newspaper design powerhouses. The rules, the simplicity and the attention to very small details, like the illustration around the drop cap. Love it.

I know there is other great design happening around the country. The Winnipeg Free Press, Postmedia and elsewhere have some strong designs, even in this new and more challenging newspaper world. Sadly for judges and Canadian media loves, they don’t submit.

A huge kudos to those who do, and those behind the designs, from an art direction standpoint. You all put your work out there into the world to be judged by some of the world’s best. You open it up for critiquing. And sometimes you win. All of these papers had more entries and winners than I have shown. This is merely a selection of the incredible work they produced in 2022. As the Globe page above said, what a year.

So bravo to the Canadian designers who won awards and submitted their work.

Related posts:

SND43: Best of Canada

SND42: An experience of a lifetime

Trump indicted: when a headline writes itself

By bradleyneedham | March 31, 2023

By Brad Needham

When word came out yesterday that former U.S. president Donald Trump was indicted, it was pretty obvious it was going to be the lead story on many newspaper front pages, particularly across the United States. It was the first time anyone who has held that position had been charged with a crime, though others have certainly committed some.

Nor was it surprising to see one headline splashed across more papers than anything else. While some papers carried a version of this headline, most papers went simply with: Trump indicted.

Here is a selection of 10 newspapers that used that headline. Most used the headline very similarly: big, bold and all capitals. The design that follows the head is similar in some cases, but it’s also very different in others. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is my favourite from today. It is often a design leader on big news days. Take a look.

Remembering Pele: 10 front pages for No. 10

By bradleyneedham | December 30, 2022

Brad Needham

Not long after soccer fans watched one of the greatest World Cup finals of all time, where a No. 10 cemented his place in soccer history’s greatest of all time, they lost another one of the game’s greatest, the original No. 10. Pele, the king of the beautiful game, the original icon, has died at the age of 82. Evidence of his popularity as well as that of the sport is seen on newspaper front pages around the world.

Pele is the only player to ever win three World Cups. He played in four. He truly was a legend. I remember being in elementary school and watching a movie about Pele. I don’t remember why, but I can see the classroom and screen in my head, many, many years later. I remember the scissor kick and being in awe. Later I joined my school’s soccer team. I was blown away.

Pele died Thursday, and the world mourns. Here are 10 of the best and strongest front pages, in honour of his No. 10, marking the death of a sports legend. There are pages from around the world, but perhaps no surprise Brazil, where Pele is from, has a high concentration of the best.

The first, from Correio Braziliense (Brazil) is so strong from a design standpoint. One of the few that didn’t run with a photo. It’s a beautiful page fitting of the king of the beautiful game.

Next up is O Estado de S. Paulo, also from Brazil, also took a creative approach with the art, highlighting Pele’s iconic No. 10.

Canada’s Globe and Mail is always quick to highlight a big soccer story. So of course Pele’s death would be front and centre.

Jornal de Commercio, another from Brazil, uses a strong portrait.

And below are, in order, the Toronto Star, A Tarde (Brazil), Irish Examiner, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota, with the classic scissor kick), El Universal (Mexico) and Millenio (Mexico).

Christmas on the front page

By bradleyneedham | December 24, 2022

Brad Needham

Christmas is often the best time of year when it comes to newspaper design. Unlike disasters or major events, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is the other time of the year when newspapers have similar content and often produce some great and less depressing front page content.

Below is a selection of some of the best from Christmas Eve 2022, starting with Het Parool (Amsterdam), which makes me chuckle more than anything. But it’s also a fun front page with a great illustration. I don’t know how the speech bubbles translate but in this case I kind of like it that way.

Update: I have learned what it says! And now I am glad I know. 🙂

Him: It itches

Her: You don’t say.

And of course the Canadian classics. The Globe and Mail with its elegant painting, the National Post with its stained glass and the Toronto Star with a large photo blowing out its front. In most years this is what each of the do.

And another from Canada, though not necessarily as traditional as the others. The Montreal Gazette.

And a few more from around the world. Kleine Zeitung (Graz and Klagenfurt, Austria), Oshkosh Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin), Dagens Nyheter (Stockholm, Sweden) and de Volkskrant (Netherlands).

I might add more here tomorrow if there is anything great! And my gut tells me there will be.

Update: Here are a few more pages from today! First up, the Press and Sun-Bulletin from Binghamton, New York. Next is the Gazette from Colorado Springs, the Spokesman-Review from Spokane, Washington, and finally the Kansas City Star.

Newspaper front pages: the end of Roe v. Wade

By bradleyneedham | June 25, 2022

In a devastating blow to women’s rights in the country that proclaims to be the freest in the world, the U.S. Supreme Court has officially overturned Roe v. Wade. The 1973 decision ruled the Constitution protected a woman’s right to choose an abortion. Nearly 50 years later, that ruling has been overturned, handing control to individual states to decide. Some have already enacted restrictive rules, nearly outright bans. It’s a crushing and significant decision that will likely have significant repercussions for years to come.

Its significance was clear by looking at newspaper front pages today. Not often does one topic get primary play in so many newspapers. Almost every paper I saw this morning had this as its main story. It affects everyone. Every woman. Every man. Every person.

A lot of the pages within the same newspaper chain had similar designs, so I have pulled out 10 that stood out, plus The New York Times front page from the original 1973 decision and today’s.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 25, 2022

The Star Tribune (Minneapolis), June 25, 2022

And here is The New York Times front page when the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, followed by today’s front page. On the printed page, a clear demonstration of moving backwards in American society.

The New York Times front page, Jan. 23, 1973

#SND43: World’s Best-Designed Newspaper (and other brilliant pages)

By bradleyneedham | March 29, 2022

By Brad Needham

The world is a big place. To break it down for this blog, when in came to celebrating all the magical newspaper entries from the Society for News Designs Best of News Design competition I have broken it down into Canada (because I live and work here), the U.S. and the rest of the world. And that is not to diminish the rest of the world. The work coming out from newspapers around the world is astounding, which in itself is astounding given the times we’re in. Which brings me to where I want to start. The World’s Best Designed Newspaper, SND’s highest honour.

This year I had the great honour of being a facilitator for this competition. I got to watch them wittle down the entries to four finalists, and from there to choose one paper. The discussion was riveting. It came down to the New York Times, de Volkstrant, Het Parool and Die Zeit. Anyone who follows me knows I love de Volkstrant. Seeing it make the final was very satisfying.

After days of review and debate/discussion, Die Zeit came out on top. While all these newspapers have huge strengths, Die Zeit is worthy of this lofty title.

What makes a world’s best-designed newspaper? So, so many things. One word that was heard again and again was “considered.” Everything is so considered. All the little details. Nothing was overlooked. Things like drop caps, the spacing of words that wrap around images, kerning, and so on. But also the big things. Photo choices, how and when illustrations are used, how the text worked with art and the design. The funny thing was it was so well designed, it was remarked that the design falls to the background. Except when it doesn’t. The design is so remarkably clean, but sometimes they go big. And their use of photos and graphics? Considered. Everything is so artistic, they said. The judges could tell there was collaboration between editors and designers, which is imperative if you want to go from a nice paper to a top paper. Even more needs to happen to elevate a paper to world’s best designed. Congrats to Die Zeit for doing all of this and more. It shows.

While Die Zeit may not have many of those big “wow” pages, it still has some amazing, striking pages that take their clean and refined design to another level, and that clean design is already at another level. It really is a paper that rises above. I’ll start by showing some pages from Die Zeit, followed by a selection of some of the best pages from the rest of the world, Canada and U.S. excluded. You can see those here (Canada) and here (U.S).

“Great print design paints a coherent experience for the reader where every carefully chosen element contributes to convey more than the sum of its parts.”
Judges’ statement

Die Zeit

Die Zeit is a weekly paper out of Germany. So that is one main difference from the papers it was up against. First, I will show a selection of some consecutive pages. Just to lull you into thinking it’s just a nice clean design. But this is what readers would see every day as they start flipping through their newspaper. After those pages, I’ve included some with sizzle. Text as design, illustrations and graphics, colour.

This one is one of my faves from Die Zeit. Every year one paper does a funky text design that grabs onto me and won’t let go. This was this year’s. I love the bend, that the text is still so well spaced and readable. The E. And they did more incredible text designs. They made a chicken out of text. A chicken! Wait for it. It’s coming.

This page is just funky. That’s all. I love the text treatment. The border. The pic. It actually reminds me of a design I once did, just better. So good.

A chicken! Out of text! Over a two-page spread!

I’ve included a few more separately. They were too good to be missed.

And so so many more stunning, smartly designed pages. This slide show has a number of them, but it’s still a small sampling of the work that comes out of this paper every week. Just such amazing attention to detail on every page.

The rest …

There were more than 3,500 entries in this year’s competition, up from the previous year, which is encouraging. Of those, there were more than 800 winners. If that sounds like a lot, keep in mind the 3,500 entries consist of what designers from around the world considered their best work, work worthy of award consideration. I look at 500+ front pages every day. That’s just covers. I can’t even begin to fathom how many pages are produced each year. How many great pages weren’t entered.

Alas, you’ve seen Canada. You’ve seen the U.S. Here is a very slimmed down selection of pages from the rest of the world. One of the things I love about newspapers from other countries is that they often look so different than the typical North American newspaper. They take a different approach, have different design philosophies. But one thing is clear with all them: they want to wow their readers. This will mark my last post from SND 43, but it may not be the last you see of some of the pages in this post as I try to gently coerce the incredible designers behind some of these pages to talk to me about their work. First up, Politico Europe and Politiken!

Politico Europe

There is such a range of pages from Politico Europe. A lot are illustration-driven. And the illustrations are beautiful or haunting or striking. I will start with the snowman. Every time I saw this little guy, and the person in the window, I felt something. I want to feel happy. But then …

This spread is so well done. The art is striking, the headline is strong, both words and design. It’s clean, but with some surprises. The headline is almost jarring as set up, but I feel it’s supposed to be. It’s not the age of peace, after all.

In this slide show, again, there is a great variety, starting with this dark image, and ending with a section about doers and dreamers that makes me smile. Every page makes me smile.

Politiken

I’ve long been a fan of Politiken. I feature pages from this publication on my Instagram frequently. This was a page I featured here. I put it in with my Christmas collection even though I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be a Christmas page. But the entry was called wrapping paper! So it is.

And now for something completely different. The next two pages are from the same award-winning portfolio by designer Caroline Niegaard. What strikes me about these is that they are chaotically bold. They are full of energy.

And many more. I love that this paper takes risks. And that its work is so varied. The last three I’ve chosen to show are completely different, but still within character.

Below are some others I have pulled out to highlight. Just some of my faves, but there were so many more incredible entries from other papers. First from de Volkstrant, a page that was featured on my Instagram, and then two from Dagens Nyheter, which I think does an incredible job on covers regularly.

This page from La Nacion is just so lovely. There is another from them in the slideshow.

Arab News has many great pages, but this opinion page really jumped out at me. I love the illustration, and the page itself is just clean and crisp. The American flag features prominently in pages, particularly opinion pages, around the world. It’s used in so many different ways to convey so many different ideas.

There are a few more South China Morning Post pages in the slideshow. While this is one really works because of the illustration, it was just such a compelling illustration. For the most part I didn’t include pages that won just for illustration. But they also used the small bit of display text so well. I am positive the space in the top left was left for display copy.

And the final slideshow from SND 43. There is a wide cross section of pages from multiple publications, such as The Age, The Guardian, The Day, Economic Observer out of China and more.

Canvas_Version:3.0.23

And that’s it. Another year, another awe-inspiring competition. Inspiring is the right word, as it would be impossible for any newspaper designer seeing the incredible work submitted to walk away without some new ideas, some extra enthusiasm or desire to push just a little harder.

READ MORE: A look back at SND 42
Best from Canada
And the rest

#SND43, the best American newspaper designs from 2021

By bradleyneedham | March 24, 2022

By Brad Needham

More than 3,500 entries. That’s more than 3,500 newspaper pages (way more, as multiple page entries like sections are one entry) that designers and newspapers around the world decided were their best, and submitted to the Society for News Design‘s annual design competition. Nearly 800 winners (798 Awards of Excellence, 68 Silver Medals and 18 Gold Medals). So how does one winnow that down into a blog post? One doesn’t! I tried. Not a chance. So I started by breaking out Canada due to my obvious Canadian bias! But there are still more than 700 left to choose from. So after that, I attempted to cram the rest of the world into one post, but nope. So American papers get their own post, followed by the rest of the world. Even still it’s challenging. Despite newspapers falling on tough times, designers are killing it. So this is an act of curation based on my tastes. And leaving out dozens upon dozens of entries that I dearly loved so that this doesn’t go on forever.

I had the good fortune of being a volunteer facilitator for the second year in a row, for the organization that truly changed the arc of my journalism career. Beside my desk sit five tattered SND books, which they release annually capturing the winners of these competitions. I am beyond humbled to be in three of them, one for a portfolio of work. I had six books, but one got stolen or borrowed and not returned. Do I begrudge that person? No, because my path started by … borrowing two from my first newspaper job when I left. One of those is missing. That’s just the circle of design life.

For SND 43, I was part of the World’s Best-Designed Newspaper competition. Results will come soon. But here, I present the individual entries. If you’ve not been following along, a quick summary of awards. AoE is an outstanding page, one that is deeply considered, uses typography and/or white space and/or art, etc. incredibly well. It’s not design for design’s sake. It is designed with purpose. A silver rises above even further, is exceptional among the outstanding. It could be considered state of the art. And gold. Well, on a gold page, it needs to rise to near perfection, above the outstandingly exceptional. It should be hard for a judge to find a flaw. That is why there are so few. Kerning between two letters, a crop that seems just off, too much or too little white space. All sorts of tiny details prevent a page from being elevated to this level. Because of that, finding the best way to present this (by paper, by theme, by region) is so challenging. I will start with the only gold medal for a portfolio of design (there was another for illustrations).

Brandon Ferrill, Washington Post, Gold Medal for portfolio

The first page in this slideshow was really the talk of the weekend. Universally loved. And fun. There were some hard pages, some big subjects in 2021. COVID-19 was still raging, the Capitol riot, the Taliban in Afghanistan. And so on. And then we have this happy-making page. The entire portfolio is striking. That judges moved an entire portfolio to gold says so much about the quality of this work. And trust me, you will see a lot more from the Washington Post here. When they go big, they win. We win.

Facilitator’s special recognition

At last year’s competition (my first), two pages immediately took my breath away. And it kept piling on. I waited for that experience this year. Nothing will compare to that first experience at SND. Not because the pages aren’t just as exceptional, but you start thinking differently, more critically. You know what can be done. What’s out there. But this year there was a page that really struck me (so many did). But I kept going back to this one. And it wasn’t the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times or the Star Tribune. It was the Des Moines Register. Maybe it is because I am a champion of the underdog. Maybe it’s because it uses newspaper clippings, which doesn’t often work but really does here. It’s so smartly done. Maybe the lack of colour. Seemingly simple, but quite complex. And the judges must have mostly agreed. It won a silver medal.

U.S.: The Big 4 conference

When it came to papers in the U.S., the four I mentioned above really stand out: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Star Tribune (Minneapolis, and employer of my most recent featured designer, Stacie Kammerling). I will give each paper a slideshow and little blurb. I will exclude the portfolio above from the Washington Post below.

Washington Post

I tried to choose a favourite. I really did. But the first three here are so close, for very different reasons. Some pages are driven by illustrations, some by text alone. I’ve said this before: A good illustration is good on its own, enhanced by a good design. But then there is just good design, and designing with text is skill. Also, when it comes to opinion pages, the Washington Post is among the best in the world, if not the best, largely based on smart illustrations. And I had to narrow this down. I cut some amazing pages out.

The New York Times

What can I say about the New York Times. It’s funny that it’s known as the Gray (Grey) Lady. Because once you get past that iconic grey cover (much less grey than it once was), and past the news section, it’s a marvel. Design beyond most designers’ wildest imaginations. The kids section alone is a masterpiece. Truly brilliant.

There were so many jaw-dropping pages from NYT, so this is truly just a snapshot of the work they produce. There were some I couldn’t do justice to as it would require seeing the entire section. I have included four pages from a section about the struggle of mothers because of the subject matter, and because of the judges’ comments. The section, they believe, is designed in a way intended to make you uncomfortable. It’s far from a standard design. It is jarring. I am so envious. If they are ever looking to hire a designer with a Canadian perspective, feel free to reach out. I accept. In a twist, the one A1/front page I included is so strong because it’s grey. I wrote an entire post about it when it came out in early 2021. The first two pages in the slideshow is two of my faves from the competition. I love little pictures. And the god page is boldly and smartly done.

Star Tribune

Funny thing about all of these four is that if you look at the front page each day, while they are well designed (particularly the Star Tribune, which is just a nice, clean, newsy front most days), they don’t look flashy. But then you get inside. Or then you have those big days. And wow. What is absolutely paying off for the Star Tribune is the state fair. There are always beautiful pages that come from there. To see more Star Tribune pages, other than what I’ve included here, see my recent post on designer Stacie Kammerling. A much more serious story this newspaper has handled so powerfully and with such grace is the George Floyd story. Just incredible, sensitive, yet provocative, boundary-pushing work. I will start there. Then to some fun and fair stuff (the contrast of last year’s fair and this year’s fair in cartoon figures is magical), and I have even included one of those hard-working front pages. And yes, I cut a lot again.

Los Angeles Times

And finally, the Los Angeles Times. Perhaps my favourite paper from last year’s competition. I still absolutely loved it this year. I have started with pages that just use design. Brilliant and bold typography, strong photos, creative white space. Then I get into breathtaking illustrations, followed by a few pages from a special section, which is a clear strength of the Times. They had some outstanding complete special sections, but again, I had to make some choices.

And more

Having these papers down here is not meant to dismiss any of them. They did some incredible work. I had to pare it down somehow. You can see them all here. Below are a few outstanding pages separately, and then another slideshow with more.

The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 21, 2021

This page from the San Diego Union-Tribune was one of my top pages from the competition. It’s a new take on using tallies. It is so well executed.

I put this Houston Chronicle page in for its simplicity. Proof that you don’t need to do big and wild designs to look good. I love it.

Louisville Courier Journal, July 25, 2021

This Courier Journal (Louisville) page is so compelling and is a creative play on the COVID imagery we have seen again and again. This is new. Very clever.

Here is a selection of pages from The Business Journals. They had a number of winners. They are doing such smart things with illustrations and text. The text on the first page is both understated and bold at the same time! Small, but reverse white on red with a touch of transparency.

And last but definitely not least, a selection from some other publications. I am positive I will look through the pages again and curse when I see a dozen that I forgot about. That’s how much there was to look through. It is a tribute to the incredibly hard-working and talented staff at all the newspapers or news hubs. Thank you for all your work. And your readers do too, even if they don’t know it. It’s hard to know what goes into not only the execution, but also the conception. Amazing.

So there you go. Print is alive. I just proved it.

#SND43, the best of Canadian newspaper design from 2021

By bradleyneedham | March 22, 2022

By Brad Needham

Another year, another Society for News Design Best of Newspaper Design competition! For the second year in a row, I was honoured to be a facilitator, this year in the category of World’s Best-Designed Newspaper. What a thrill. Results of that will come out on March 28.

I feel like the competition could give me fodder for months and months of content. But I will restrain myself to three posts. The first will be on the outstanding work done by Canadian papers. Next will be the rest of the world (so will be much longer!). Then finally World’s Best.

I know I am a broken record, but SND means so much to me. As a print design lover, it first and foremost offers a community of like-minded people. But it also still celebrates print design in a time when that is becoming less frequent. Looking at you Canadian media awards competitions. So many of those involved in print design are behind the scenes. Sure illustrators and photographers get credits. But art directors don’t. Page designers don’t. Headline writers don’t. But without these people, the information you get would be dull.

Canada produced some incredible work this year. However, because I have been following print design much closer over the past year, both here and on my Instagram, not much here will be new to anyone who follows me! It was a different experience this year at SND 43, as there weren’t many surprises, at least from Canada. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t exceptional, and doesn’t mean I won’t highlight it again.

There were only four newspapers to submit for awards this year, which is such a tragedy, as I know there is other amazing stuff going on in Canada, particularly with my soon-to-be former employer Postmedia, particularly the National Post. They are still producing some of the finest pages in the business, particularly in Canada. And much of that is a credit to one of my former featured designers, Raina Toomey, who moved on to the National Post in late 2021. Postmedia stopped submitting, I believe, after Gayle Grin left. She recently wrapped up some consulting at the Toronto Star, and her touch is obvious there. There were more than 300 entries overall from Canada, more than 3,500 in the competition.

The Globe and Mail won 25 awards, including 24 Awards of Excellence and one Silver Medal. To explain, an AoE is for outstanding work. Work that stands out, goes above and beyond. A silver medal rises above that, just on another level or through a higher degree of difficulty. There are also gold medals, though no Canadian publication earned one this year. For a gold, judges should have a hard time finding any flaw, down to kerning between two letters (a topic that was discussed this year, with a comment: “You could almost fit an i in there.” It should be state of the art, challenging the industry norms. The Toronto Star won eight AoEs, Le Devoir won 5 and 24 Heures 2. I won’t show all the all work here, but a selection from each.

Globe and Mail

I won’t talk too much about each page for the Globe as I have talked about the paper a lot. Things I love about the Globe are the use of illustrations — and the quality and sophistication of the illustrations — as well as its bold and smart use of white space.

This was Canada’s only medal, for illustration by Connor Willumsen.

This was one of my faves from the Globe this year. There is so much going on. A lovely illustration by Kathleen Fu. Newspapers, she’s incredible. Take note.

Here are a few illustration-driven pages. There is some really lovely stuff here. I love what Canadian papers do with their Remembrance Day covers. This one by the Globe was so well done. Elegant. Illustration by Kayla Whitney.

And a few more. The Globe does so much with their design, particularly on Saturdays and features sections. I loved the bear cover. It works for the Globe, going so dark on dark, because their cover is on glossy paper. That design might be lost on most papers. Congrats to the Globe for a solid year. Being March already, I can tell you they are off to a good start in 2022 as well!

Toronto Star

Of course I have a soft spot for the Toronto Star. I worked there, and worked directly or indirectly with the Star or Torstar for more than half of my career. Anyone who follows me will know how much I loved the page that came out after the discovery of unmarked Indigenous graves in Saskatchewan. It was so powerful. Here it is, and a few more.

I just loved the imagery here. It was so powerful at a time that needed something powerful. Something to keep the focus on this issue. It’s striking.

And here are a few more. The Star decided to invest in its print product in 2021, which was such welcome news, adding four entirely new positions, including an art director, Becky Guthrie, formerly of the National Post. You can see her influence. I hope that we continue to see such strong work.

Le Devoir

I don’t see Le Devoir as often as the previous two. But I love the design. It is smart and refined. It looks European. Nice clean lines, often simple. Here are a few top-notch pages from them. I will show four of these off individually as none have appeared here or my Instagram, starting with my fave of their submissions.

I love the contrast. The love the lines. The beautiful illustration by Audrey Malo. It is so clear where your eye is supposed to start, and clear that it’s not supposed to stop there. So well done.

The one above and below are both driven by the design, not an illustration. A great illustration is great on its own. I can be enhanced if used well. But these are just nice designs, with a basic image, images that couldn’t be more different. And below, the little condiment spills take this page to a new level. Love it. Smartly filling in some white space, but also using what is left wisely.

And then an illustration-driven page. It’s a nice, simple illustration (for a talented illustrator! Who just happens to be Cécile Gariépy). And it’s used so well. The text doesn’t take away from the fantastic art. Nicely done, Le Devoir.

24 Heures

And finally a couple from 24 Heures. Both illustration driven. Smart art, well played, yet completely different illustration styles. Even the supporting material is played differently, with the head down the side on one, and on the art on the other. But it doesn’t take away from the art. It uses the space well. First by Benoit Tardif, next by Pauline Stive.

Just some incredible stuff. And this is just from Canada’s entries.

So that’s that. I am so happy to see there is still some amazing work going on in Canada, and around the world. Up next will be about some the best newspaper pages from around the world.

War in Ukraine: how newspapers handled their front pages

By bradleyneedham | February 25, 2022

By Brad Needham

As Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine entered its first full day, we got to see how newspapers around the world displayed to their readers what was happening. Big, powerful photos (three stood out as the most commonly used) big, bold, powerful headlines. When events like this happen (though there hasn’t been an equivalent to this in a long time) we see a lot of similar ideas. We also see the power of newspapers.

Below is a selection of powerful newspaper front pages. I have chosen the ones that almost made me gasp. The power of print will never be lost on me, especially in times of crisis.

Newspapers in Canada

The photo used by National Post was seen on papers throughout the world and there are more that use it below. The Toronto Star and Globe and Mail used the same photo and the Globe and National Post used nearly the same headline, about Ukraine standing alone.

The faces of war

When war strikes, we see the casualties on front pages. The injured. The common person. Sometimes the dead. This woman was on papers all over the world, either this pic or a similar one, as seen on the National Post cover, and below. As the woman further down was also common on a lot of pages. This is what war looks like.

De Morgan, Feb. 25, 2022 (Brussels, Belgium)

de Volkstrant, Feb. 25, 2022 (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Dagens Nyheter, Feb. 25, 2022 (Stockholm, Sweded)

Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, Feb. 25, 2022 (Viby, Denmark)

Others from the U.S. and around the world

And other newspapers made different choices. Here are a few more compelling pages from around the world.

Atlanta Journal Constitution, Feb. 25, 2022

Politiken, Feb. 25, 2022 (Copenhagen, Denmark)

Spokesman Review, Feb. 25, 2022 (Spokane, Wash.)

Morgunbladid, Feb. 25, 2022 (Reykjavik, Iceland)

Metro, Feb. 25, 2022 (*São Paulo*, Brazil)

Der Tagesspiegel, Feb. 25, 2022 (Germany)

It was a big news day in Minneapolis as news also came out about the George Floyd case, another story that has caught the world’s attention over the past nearly two years. The editors had to balance a huge local story with the biggest international story.

Star Tribune, Feb. 25, 2022 (Minneapolis, Minn.)

Sadly I am sure there will be many more pages like this over the coming days and weeks. War is brutal. War is ugly. Hopefully newspapers around the world can help hold Russia to account. To show the world, to capture for history, the brutality of this unnecessary war.

I made the Olympic team: newspaper pages from Beijing

By bradleyneedham | February 23, 2022

By Brad Needham

During the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, I was so excited to check the front page designs of newspapers around the world to see what they had done. They didn’t disappoint. There were so many great front pages every day, despite Japan being a world away in terms of time zones for many newspapers. But even newspapers in North America had big splashes frequently. And thanks to COVID, we got to do it again months rather than years later with Beijing.

And this time I was asked to be part of the Olympic team at Postmedia (for a brief period after Ben Johnson won the 100-metre gold I was determined to make the Olympics, and for the record I’m pretty damn fast). I was in charge of co-ordinating the print coverage for Postmedia’s many newspapers, primarily the Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Vancouver Sun, Windsor Star, Regina Leader Post and the Sasktatoon Star Phoenix. Not for front pages, but the sports sections.

As I started watching front pages this year, I was disappointed. A friend asked if it seemed like coverage was lacking for this Olympics. I thought it was a matter of time. But it never came to be. Likely for several reasons — the time zone, the busier news season, particularly in Canada with the occupation of Ottawa, and the news around the always looming invasion of Ukraine, and likely politics. With the Games in China I wouldn’t be at all surprised if media organizations around the world made the decision to give less play to these Games. They lived online and in sports sections around the world. Front page real estate was as hot as the Brampton housing market.

There were a few front page splashes, but not many. So I will indulge myself. I will show a few of the nice front pages from the Games from around the world, but also show some of the pages I did that I was proud of. I am going to let the pages mostly speak for themselves.

And me!

There is nothing overly fancy about any of these pages. I just wanted to be simple and clean, but fun. I am happy with how they turned out. With each, I had to design in such a way that if there is a banner ad, the page can be easily adjusted and still work. The exception being the first below, celebrating the Canadian women’s hockey gold medal win, for which I did two totally separate designs.

While I was looking through the photos, I started to see a lot of people hugging, some happy, some sad. I thought, who doesn’t love hugs? And with all the reasons to not like the Olympics this time around, primarily due to their location, in a country known for human rights abuses, there were these athletes. They were overjoyed, and they were crushed. But there were hugs. Lots of hugs. This is a very small selection of the amazing photos, captured by professional photographers from around the world.

Hopefully the next Olympics will offer more, like the previous one did. So unlike the Summer Games, I won’t award medals for the top papers. Though I will say Dagens Nyheter was one of the most consistent. Until next time.