Plastic Paper

The Digital Paper device merges traditional newspapers and online news. It combines the best of both media in one place: From newspapers, it is portable, easy to navigate, and the layout has a high contrast; From online media, it has the ability to be constantly updated, it can be randomly accessed and it is very cheap to produce.

The device would have many strengths.Distribution is made by radio/cellular signal, a very cheap and time/money saving option. News is delivered instantly to the Diper. It's updated every time the reader "opens" the Diper to read it. There is no such thing as yesterday's news. Designers have control over the final layout. The printing process is made by electromagnetic signals that change the charge of very small spheres in the paper, so there is no need to change the paper itself every time you want to read a new page. Just print the page you'd like to read. (See the graphic to understand the printing process). At the end, you don't need trees at all, saving not just money, but preserving natural resources. Personalization (not only news, but also ads) can be arranged by the user profile.

The Diper can be sold in any store. It can be used to access just one paper (best for the paper) or many (best for the reader). Readers can subscribe, or the paper can charge a few cents from the user's credit card when the system detects the Diper being used by the reader. It's also a good choice for national newspapers because it can send a personalized version depending on where the Diper is being read. This is especially good for weather, sports and community headlines. It also allows you to read past stories by selecting the day of the paper you’d like to read.

Tomorrow's Newspaper Design Contest
Harte Chair, University of Missouri and SND Foundation

What was this contest all about?

We've got to have advertising -- so how can we make it sing along with the rest of the page? Should one paper's online and print editions look like relatives -- or happy strangers? Those feature and business and news fronts are sooo predictable -- couldn't they be more exciting?

Ideas on those topics (or any other design challenge) were what Tomorrow's Newspaper Design Contest was looking for. There was no entry fee and no limit on the number of entries. Entrants submitted simple prototypes for the most imaginative ways to make newspapers better.

The could enter as a student or a professional, as an individual or a team. Top prize was $1,000.

The contest ran for 5 years, and was sponsored by the Harte Chair in Innovation at the Missouri School of Journalism and the Society for News Design Foundation.

The contest is over, but we haven't given up on newspapers or on helping designers be more innovative.