What we did: After multiplefailed design proposals, wedecided that a workshop set-ting, with key editors sittingdown with us to “sketch” thepaper would be ideal. Mydesigner, Foster Barnes, and I set up shop in a room withtwo Macintosh computers, a printer, and a screen.Sketches with headlines andtext came to life on thescreen, the editors comment-ed, and, by the end of thefirst day, the new Die Zeit was emerging.

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Case Study | Die ZeitThe Challenge: No amount of preparationcould ever be enough to tackle this weeklyGerman icon of intellectual journalism, anewspaper that included on its board ofdirectors Marion Gräfin Dönhoff, one ofthe most distinguished woman journalistsof the twentieth century, as well as formerGerman Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, plusdozens of extremely bright and opinionat-ed editors. We did eleven different sets ofsketches during the twenty-one monthsthat the project lasted. The first draft wasnot considered elegant enough: photo-graphs were too big, and some sectionswere too much like “those British Sundaymagazines.” The next draft was too color-ful. Then there was the version thatemphasized illustrations, and the versionthat introduced a colorful promo bar. I stillcan hear the resounding:“Take it away, thisis not us, not now, not ever.”

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What we did: For the front pageof Die Zeit, we proposed five cate-gories for art: The abstract photograph: a sub-tle connection to the topic, not adirect news link. The caricature as photo illustra-tion: a caricature with technologyapplied, so that the end resultlooks like a photo in texture, butwith the humanity of the drawing. The cartoon as photo illustration:An editorial cartoon, with photo-graphic techniques applied. The artistic photograph: a photograph that is simply artisticmerits space. The pencil drawing as photoillustration: a traditional drawing,digitized, with the end product acombination of old and new.

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What we did: We retouched theoriginal redesign in 2000 whennew editors wanted more text andlarger photographs. Both werevery good decisions, as the news-paper managed to become newsi-er and attract younger readers.

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What we did: The creation of atotally new supplement calledLeben, which our team carriedout under the direction ofTheresa Kral, allowed editors topresent a product targeted to ayoung demographic.