Cover photos a key to 'STERN' success

By Maria Sandra

JAKARTA (JP): A group of scavengers busily pick through a mound of garbage in East Jakarta. Nearby, children in worn-out clothes play in a large garbage container.

Around them are makeshift houses made of panels of woven bamboo. Although these simple houses are dilapidated, the occupants still joke and laugh. Their faces reflect not a hint of worry that some day their homes will be bulldozed because this is not a designated residential area.

The above is the narration of a black-and-white photo essay which a noted European photographer, Sebastian Salgado, made during his three-week stay in Jakarta.

Also dwelling on social concerns, other photos group-titled Homeless People by Mihaly Moldvay depict the poverty that grips people living in a slum area in Germany.

The photographer has captured in great detail those who make their abode under a bridge.

These are some of the photographs taken by famous photographers and published in STERN, a popular magazine in Germany and Europe.

The works of Salgado and Moldvay, along with photographs taken by Hilmar Pabel, Max Scheeler, Stefan Moses, Eerhard Seliger and other great photographers, all in an attractive layout, are on display at the Antara Journalistic Photo Gallery (GFJA) between Nov. 13 and Dec. 4.

The exhibition, which was opened by Goethe Institut director Rudolf Bath also includes the works of seven local major media publications.

The "Fokus Visual" (visual focus) exhibition, does not seek to demonstrate the expertise of STERN photographers, but it is more an attempt to explain how much the newspaper designers have accurately worked on the cover layout and design of the magazine.

Also on display are other journalistic photos such as the photos of the "masterminds" behind the Russian government by Alexander Swolenskij, the pictures on the funeral of Princess Diana by Raghu Rai. There are also many other works depicting political, economic, social and cultural events.

These photos, which were selected out of thousands of film shots and slides sent to the editor, are arranged in chronological order in order to make interesting viewing.

STERN magazine publishes 1.5 million copies per issue and in the last decade it has collected some 50 international awards, which include, among others, awards from the Art Director's Club, Berlin, in 1995 and 1996.

How vital is the visual design of the magazine's cover in accounting for the magazine's success?

This was a basic question posed by participants in a three-day workshop on photo and visual design editing organized by GFJA at Wisma Antara.

The policy of STERN, which places an artistic/visual editor on equal footing with the chief editor, is of great significance.

The artistic editor can have the authority in planning and deciding how the cover of the magazine should look in each issue.

Market demand

One important thing is that the freedom with which graphic or visual designers work on a creative and attractive cover of the magazine is a factor that has helped increase a publication's level of demand in the market.

"As a newsweekly competing with some 80 other local publications in Germany, it is demanded of STERN that it should also be able to provide as many pictures as possible. Pictures in a great number attracts more readers," explained STERN photo editor Harald Menk.

Menk has been behind many of the selections of STERN's cover photos.

His years working for the German Press Agency (DPA) and STERN have implanted in him a firm belief that good teamwork is indispensable between reporters and photographers and between photographers and visual designers in a press publication.

The quality of a publication is closely linked with the cohesiveness of the team in determining the right angle of any coverage. Good and attractive layout and visual design in a publication lure people to buy and read it.

"When reading a press publication, the reader does not simply see how good the article is written but also the quality of its visual design, including the pictures, illustrations and the designs," explained GFJA curator Yudhi Soerjoatmodjo.

The major constraint for magazine publications in Indonesia is that artistic or visual editors are not assigned as decision makers, Yudhi said.

So the problem does not lie in human resources or in the mastery of technology, he said.

Daru Paramayuga, an artistic editor of a youth magazine, said this condition prevails in the Indonesian publishing industry.

The participants say the STERN photo exhibition serves as a reminder of the need for more creative and professional layouts in magazines, especially at a time of increasing competition for readership.

Taking good photographs is one thing, but presenting it is another. That was essentially the message from the seminar.

The writer is a journalist with Foto Media magazine)