27.12.2007 - The fifteenth edition. This time, you will not see a complex construction, or a theme comprehensively covered in words and images. The theme of this diary is the design itself. Small, fine and with minimum resources: back to basics.

Back to the simplicity of pen and paper, from large to smaller, from ten to three appointments a day, from more to less.
This reflects a growing need in a complex world in which we surround ourselves with equipment that can do so very much. Smart, compact devices with a detailed manual to show us how to use them that is often bigger than the device itself.
It is by no means uncommon for us to use only a fraction of the technical options. But we are all confronted with the modern inconveniences at precisely the wrong time… 'Battery low',
'Network error!'. Put simply, there are times when complex technology leaves us in the lurch and empty-handed.
This diary will always work: 366 days x 24 hours.
No more and no less.

Bart Brouwers, editor-in-chief of Sp!ts in his weblog:

"After noticing about six months ago that our content requirements were no longer in keeping with the distinctive Sp!ts design, we started thinking about a new way of presenting ourselves. We soon came to the conclusion that we wouldn't be able to do this on our own.
That's when Koos Staal came into the picture. A newspaper designer to his fingertips, with successful new or renewed newspaper designs over half the world. This was his task: give Sp!ts a new design in which the old design is still recognisable, but with the emphasis on a fresh look, coherence and user-friendliness. We also wanted a bit more space and focus for our own news items.
Months of discussions, designs, more discussions, redesigns, and so on and so forth, finally culminated on Tuesday in the long awaited launch of the new Sp!ts.
As a taster, we have shown a dummy front page, complete with the new logo, in which the words News & Entertainment – Heart and Soul of Sp!ts – will occupy a prominent position from now on."

www.spitsnet.nl

Cobouw is a newspaper that is delivered and read at the workplace in the mornings. This is not a setting that always allows someone to relax and read through the whole newspaper.
That underlines the importance of presenting the newspaper's information clearly so that readers can quickly decide what they want to read.

Apart from the editorial items, Cobouw is also an important source of building notices, which are lists containing key information about current construction projects, who is doing what, for which client, which architect, builder, within which budget.
Clear typographical designs enhance the clarity and readability of the lists.

Staal & Duiker was asked to present a new basic design and, working under a strict deadline, to implement the new style in cooperation with the technical specialists and to familiarise the Cobouw editors and designs with the new principles. The new design became a reality on 1 November 2007.
In 1989 Koos Staal was also responsible for the restyling of Cobouw. 18 years later that style, which despite having been updated in the meantime, was suffering from signs of serious wear, and the transition to tabloid format was a perfect opportunity for a makeover. A fresh look that will stand Couw in good stead for at least another 18 years.

The calendar competition has been organised by the graphic design publications Graficus, Grafisch Weekbladen and the KvGO since 1983.

Staal and Duiker were among the competition winners 8 times between 1993 and 2004.

Weekly graphic design publication editor Rien Berends explained the choice with these words:

"It will come as no surprise to connoisseurs that many top designers are commissioned to design diaries and calendars.
Gerard Unger, Paul Mijksenaar, Hans Kentie, Anton Beeke, Gerrit Noordzij.
But the very best ones are Studio Bons and the 'Northern diary collective' of Koos Staal and Geja Duiker.
This outstanding design duo from the province of Groningen made their first appearance when the calendar they designed in 1993, 'Alles op z'n tijd' (A Time for Everything) won first prize. That success was followed by a series of winning entries, mainly diaries published under their own management or in partnership with various companies in the region. That was a succession of successes that ultimate led to Staal & Duiker adding the jubilee award to various other distinctions'.

www.kalenderwedstrijd.nl

He had previously restyled the newspaper in 1998, and had won the national Anders Bording Award for the best launch in 1999.
He worked on the new design for the newspaper in Copenhagen in close partnership with the internal design team led by Ann-Britt Broström.
Simple and clear was the message. Simple and clear is what it became.
The new style was launched in September.

www.ing.dk

The book Groninger Kampioenen ('Groningen Champions'), designed by Staal&Duiker, is itself proving to be something of a champion. Since yesterday it is on display in the exhibition The Fifty Best Produced Books of 2004 at the Stedelijk Museum CS in Amsterdam.
A quote from the jury's report: "... this book became a masterpiece of design, printing, paper use, finishing and bookbinding".

From 21 October up to and including 4 December 2005, The Fifty Best Produced Books of 2004 will be exhibited at Stedelijk Museum CS in Amsterdam.

Groninger Kampioenen portrays twenty-five people from Groningen who managed to bring out the best in themselves. It was made for Grafische Industrie De Marne at Leens. Design: Koos Staal and Geja Duiker; text writing: Kees Frenay; photography: Harry Cock; pre-press and printing: De Marne; finishing and binding: Witlox.
The book may still be ordered through www.marne.nl

Hub. Hubben wrote about it in De Volkskrant of 2 November 2005

Some examples: anniversary and commemorative books, theme books, promotional and gift books, farewell books, diaries and calendars.

In 2006 the Boekmakers website will be on-line, showing examples of unusual books.

Here we show an example of the Newspaper Concept XS, as presented by Koos Staal and George Vogelaar (formerly chief editor of daily paper De Limburger and others) at the National Publishers' Congress in Amsterdam on 9 June 2005.
XS is a concept for a new, free daily paper for the growing group of 'readers pressed for time'.

The contents of this experimental issue were compiled in collaboratoion with the Amsterdam-based paper Het Parool, so this is the Amsterdam edition of XS.
XS may be published on any scale: nation-wide, regionally, locally or even for individual city neighbourhoods or streets (e.g., CityXS, RotterdamXS, GroningenXS, IslandXS, TrafalgarSquareXS, HighstreetXS); always close to its readership.
But XS may alse appear as a miniature version of a daily paper: A mini-Parool or mini-Telegraaf: a small paper as an appetizer for its big brother. Or a special XS edition to accompany organised events: F1XS, EuropeanChampionshipsXS, TourdeFranceXS, etc.

XS can be printed in small numbers on sheet-fed presses. Indeed anyone with access to new sources can thus start a new paper.
Putting together XS requires the very minimum of staff, and it is distributed through trays in the street, in bars and restaurants, and other much-frequented places.

Within the newspaper world there is a great deal of talk about 'the compact newspaper', by which people refer to the tabloid format as recently adopted by the Dutch broadsheets Het Parool and Trouw. In all daily newspaper offices in the Netherlands there are plans or trial editions for a possible switch to the tabloid format. XS takes this idea one step further: it is even more compact and besides even simpler to produce.
XS can be read in fifteen minutes, yet offers the diversity of a 'full-sized' paper; still, in contrast to the broadsheet, it does not leave the reader with a sense of guilt: 'I must read this article tonight, and that one I may get round to at the weekend...' . XS is compact and at the same time complete.

By this trial edition of XS we want to demonstrate that a sheet of paper no larger than a broadsheet page, but folded in a particular way, can be made into a proper 16-page mini-newspaper, containing over sixty news items and articles and seven advertisements. Who wouldn't call that a complete newspaper?

Koos Staal, designer
George Vogelaar, journalist