Gulf News Deputy Managing Editor (DME) for Business Paul A. Stober talks about the award-winning pages on the global economic meltdown.
What was the reason for the editorial package on the global recession?
The global economic meltdown is the story of the decade and we knew that we had to come up with something special on the first anniversary to explain to our readers what happened and how it affected their daily lives. We decided to make the pages design-driven to ensure that the explanation was clear.
How long did the planning and implementation process take?
We had to update the pages and the design until the last minute. We wanted the closing prices of the index closest to the first anniversary, so we waited as long as possible before sending the pages.
How much of a role did the designer play?
The designer drove much of the process. We talked about what we would like to achieve with the pages and the story that we wanted to tell. The designer developed the basic concept and it was constantly refined as it took shape and we had new ideas.
Why do you believe the pages won?
For me, the strength of the pages is that while they provide a lot of detail — including a day-by-day breakdown of share price movements — the information is presented in such a simple way that the entire dramatic story can be seen at a glance.
Design talk:
Gulf News Designer Dwynn Ronald V. Trazo talks about designing the pages and the need for advance planning to create a good package.
How did you come up with the idea for the pages?
When the request came for a spread on the anniversary of the global meltdown, I immediately knew how to do it — have a graph across two pages, have daily closing rates and a timeline run on it as well.
Not monthly, not weekly, but daily. The idea came instantly and I knew it was ‘the idea'.
How much did the editor's input help?
It only served as a challenge for me as initially the editor gave me monthly closing rates, then weekly. I only pushed harder to get what I knew we should have.
What are your emotions at winning the silver medal from the Society for News Design for the package?
Very happy but a little bit tamed, somehow when I learned no paper was doing what we did (at least not that I know of), I kind of expected that it was going to be big.
How long did you work on it?
I had at least two weeks of working on it, on and off. The key was planning ahead of time. I credit the editor for that. We had enough time to prepare because he planned ahead.
