By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Mar. 24: To give a smart and enhanced display to its publications, Gorkhapatra Corporation organised a workshop on layout and design for editors and page designers on Wednesday.
Newspaper graphics and design expert Ram Krishna Rana made an elaborate presentation on different aspects of design and layout at the workshop.

Placing special emphasis on close working coordination between news desk editors and page designers, Rana shed light on both theoretical and practical points to make newspapers visually attractive, graphically balanced and clear and concise in terms of content.

Rana’s presentation touched upon both theoretical and practical aspects of page design and discussed ways for better handling of headlines, texts, photos and captions. He presented visual samples of what needs to be followed and what avoided.

Throwing light on the objective of the workshop, Executive Chairman of the Corporation Bishnu Prasad Subedi stressed the need to make Gorkhapatra publications smarter and more attractive in terms of design and readability by applying the latest technology available.

“Big changes have occurred in the field of journalism,” Chairman Subedi said and called for timely shift in the visual elements of our publications through packaging, display and presentation for better look and content quality.

As the nation’s newspapers of pride and history, Gorkhapatra and The Rising Nepal need to change the working style to fare better duly respecting the demands of the readers, Chairman Subedi said.
“In making changes, however, we should be aware to protect our unique identity,” said Chairman Subedi and added that Gorkhapatra as the oldest publication house is a great media school for all.
“We should overcome all the technological shortcomings we have now. This is high time we shone with digital technology and kept working to sustain it,” Chairman Subedi said.

Acting Chief Editor of Gorkhapatra Shiva Kumar Bhattarai stressed the need of digital shift of the corporation’s publications and said that in addition to maintaining the quality content of the newspaper, the design layout part was equally important.

“It is the element that grabs the attention of the readers. A good layout determines their choice and preference,” Bhattarai added.
Rekha Devi Shrestha, head of Information Technology and Production Departments of the Corporation talked about the plan to bring about major changes in design and layout of the corporation’s publications and expressed the hope that the workshop would be practically relevant for this purpose.

Juju Kaji Ranjit, chief of the Computer Section under the Information Technology Department of the Corporation, said that the lessons of the workshop would be taken to the workplace for further discussion and practical implementation.
Narendra Bahadur Shrestha, Manager of the Computer Section, said that corporation’s page designing works have come a long way since the time when pages used to be designed manually.