Art director to run newsroom of the future

Who will run the newsroom of the future?

When asked this question, Felix Bellinger, Managing Editor of Hamburger Abendblatt replied, “It will not be the editor in chief; it will be the art director!” He went on to explain that, with tablet computers, the readers want to have a visual experience, they want to interact, touch and shake their screens. Felix spoke about how tablet computers will influence journalism during the 17th edition of the World Editors Forum in Hamburg, Germany.

Felix’s statement reflected in the worldwide newsroom leaving the art department happy and some doubts about it for many others journalists. In part, I agree with Felix. The art director for a long time in the newsroom had a secondary action and was quite marginalised by the journalist who usually didn’t exactly understand the role of the art director.

For a long time the art director accepted his marginalised position and didn’t have the voice or the recognition from colleagues of the importance of design for the newspaper.

Moving forward

But this is the past. Now the art director has a very important role in the publication and has become a requested and necessary professional in the newsroom.

In the future, we still have the editor-in-chief but the art director will play a important role in the decisions.

Even now, many newsrooms will not make any major editorial decisions before consulting the art director.

We can compare the newspaper to the construction of a building. We have the architect that projects the modern and beautiful building but we also have engineer who studies the viability of the construction and many other professionals involved. In a newspaper it is the same, a set of talented professionals with different skills are needed to deliver the best product.

With the increasing role of the art director in the newsroom, the responsibility of this position will also be higher. He will need to understand the platforms, viability and the limitations and be quick to make decisions. It won’t simply be about choosing the very best colour anymore.