"el Periódico de Catalunya" owes its dynamic and urban effect to their use of colours and font for headlines. Thus, it lends itself well to Barcelona and Catalonia. Most of the articles are accompanied by small infographics and service boxes. The page layout is dynamic. Front pages are often devoted to a single topic wih a concise presentation by means of headlines and photos.
Masthead. Printed in the font Helvetica and using white letters on a red bar, the measthead develops a modern and somewhat aggressive basic note. The date is put in yellow on the right.
Front Page Story. This page is designed like a poster. It deals with a debate about the future of air traffic.
Typography. Headlines have always been printed in the Helvetica with "el Periódico": a straight and sober, but not really fashionable font. But it stillcreates this modern and updated appearance - liberal and future-oriented.
Amount of Topics. The editorial staff relies on the appeal of a single-topic front page, if the topic is intersting enough to attract a wide audience. The rise in circulation by 25,000 copies within two years is a strong confirmation of their policy.
What is there to Learn? Most European newspapers follow the policy of offering a great number of topics on their front pages, as they do not know for sure what might interest their readers most. Following the example of their Spanish colleagues, they should at least put some emphasis on the front page story and present other topics on a much smaller scale.
Facts. The headline reads "Autonomy 2006: Today they decide about 29,689 million Euro". The white space creates a generous effect. A perfect solution is the large size of the figures.
Visualization. The Arabic characters are meant to indicate a debate about Islam in Catalonia. The two portaits and corresponding quotations refer to viewpoints in this debate. A very good visualization.
Text, Picture and Infographics. The America Cup is the topic on this double page. The illustration of the Spanish boat on the right contains a number of figures which are explained in a table next to it. They refer to the crew's different jobs. The snall inserted graphics at the bottom of the page indicates the width, height and surface of the sails.
Sectional Front Page. A new section is introduced by a left and right page. The section title is larger than those of normal pages. The interview on ths page is broken up by quotations.
Typical Inside Page. The topic jellyfish is introduced by a photo. The infographics on the right explain first-aid measurements. The article is supplied by a service box with further details on this topic.
"el Periódico" has a print run of 200,000 copies. Since 2005 the circulation has risen by 25,000 copies. The newspaper in the half Nordic format is issued in two languages: Catalan and Spanish. They employ 250 journalists, 24 photographers and 16 layouters.