The Diari de Barcelona is to be published once again as of today, 30 April, as a non-profit medium in multi-platform format targeting a younger readership. The exceptional situation we are experiencing as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis has not hindered keeping to the foreseen launch date scheduled for the day after the last paper edition of the daily, on 29 April 1993.  

The new medium is mainly produced by students of the bachelor’s degree in Journalism, but also of the bachelor’s degrees in Audiovisual Communication, Advertising and Public Relations, and Translation and Interpreting at UPF. The Diari de Barcelona targets a generation of young people aged between 16 and 30 years. It aims to provide information from a local and a global perspective allowing young people to understand the reality of the city, of Catalonia, of Spain and of the world. The medium is committed to rigorous journalism with innovative formats, always seeking to inform truthfully and through diversity.

The Diari de Barcelona is a digital platform that will contain various types of communication media: digital newspaper, with texts and photos; videographic and sound documents for some of the information; radio in podcast form, live broadcasting via streaming, TV via IP, and new digital journalistic formats. 

This project is the result of an agreement between UPF and Barcelona City Council, owners of this historic daily since 1985. In 2019, the two institutions signed a collaboration agreement that has allowed the rebirth of the medium. 

The vision of a committed generation

A group of lecturers and students of the bachelor’s degree in Journalism have been working for months to make the new Diari de Barcelona a reality, in a format that adapts to the new times and habits of information consumption. A lengthy process of conception, design and organization has resulted in the creation of this young medium that is totally adapted to the 21^st century. It is a unique multidisciplinary project, an experimental laboratory that has enabled UPF students to achieve an innovative, cutting-edge result. 

Roger Cassany, a lecturer with the UPF Department of Communication and project coordinator, says that the newspaper is “the journalistic expression of a generation”. Moreover, he adds that its singularity will lie in the fact that it is a “generalist daily produced within the university environment, but not a university newspaper”. It is, therefore, a pioneering initiative within Spain and in Europe.

Regarding content, “the five main areas will be the environment, housing, feminism, invisible groups in society, and the future”, explains Malena Ramajo, one of the fourteen Journalism students who have participated from the outset in the conception of the newspaper, topics that clearly define the specific concerns of the young people targeted by the paper.

Another distinguishing feature of the daily, Ramajo highlights, are the people “who designed and who belong to the news team, students around twenty. That doesn’t exist in any other editorial office”. She finally stresses that “they are not encumbered by any power or advertising that might condition their neutrality”.

The interdisciplinary approach is also a very important aspect. Hence, students of different degrees have been involved. “the style manual has been drafted by students of the Faculty of Translation and Language Sciences, some of the content is provided by students of Audiovisual Communication, and the launch campaign has been directed by students doing Advertising and Public Relations”, says Roger Cassany.

The new header, the result of a competition among students of degrees in Design

The header of the Diari de Barcelona was designed by Lídia Jurado, a student on the bachelor’s degree in Design at Elisava, a UPF affiliated centre. She won the open public competition organized among students of degrees in Design offered in Catalonia. 

A total of eight entries was submitted. The jury highlighted the originality of the project presented by Lídia Jurado and believes it is the choice that best represents the voice of the generation and most easily adapts to the values that the new Diari de Barcelona seeks to convey. 

The design of the header, according to the young winner, conveys the values of the paper, focusing on the news through different eyes. For this reason, the isotype is formed by an eye with three formats, a vision that is related to concepts and feelings conveyed by Barcelona.

Lídia Jurado suggests that the first “eye” she designed represents: “an interesting, suggestive, showy look, just like Barcelona and its people”. The second evokes “a more hypnotic gaze”. The third relates to Barcelona’s urban structure, with an orderly geometric standpoint. 

The competition specifically targeted young professionals with specialized training in design, in keeping with the values of the new medium. 

Launch despite lockdown

The final stage of the work has been carried out under the state of alarm declared by the Spanish government to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Thus, the Diari de Barcelona will be a medium born during the COVID-19 quarantine.

These circumstances have implied some limitations compared to the initially envisaged content. But it also constitutes a further challenge to be overcome in the turbulent history the Diari de Barcelona.