Conventional wisdom of the newspapers and magazines industry is that publications should get a design and layout makeover every decade. Regrettably, because we spent considerable time (and money) rejecting several designs before selecting a design team which understood the philosophical moorings and education reform objectives of EducationWorld, while simultaneously appreciating the importance of continuity with change, we’ve been late in giving this publication the rejuvenation it needed.
However even though belatedly, after several wrong-turns and considerable heartburn, in November we found compatibility with the Delhi-based Sneha Pamneja Design which constituted a task force of four design experts and layout artists to execute this assignment.“Redesigning EducationWorld was challenging as our brief was to maintain continuity while giving the magazine a contemporary and clean look and feel. The new grid of the magazine is very flexible and conveys a sense of space and balance which invests it with global appeal reflected in the neat, retro fonts which complement the grid,” says Sneha Pamneja, chief executive of the eponymous firm. An alumna of Delhi College of Art, Pamneja invested over 10 years experience of designing coffee table books (Roli Books) and news magazines (India Today) in conceptualising and detailing the new-look EducationWorld.
Coincidently with fulfillment of a long-cherished desire to rework the design and layout of this publication, another wish — to investigate how and why Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, established in 1921 by Rabindranath Tagore, arguably among the greatest sub-continental intellectuals of the 20th century, as a path-breaking global university combining the ancient philosophy, wisdom and spirituality of India and the Orient with the science and technology of the West, has fallen off the map — has also been fulfilled. While visiting Kolkata, senior journalist Gargi Banerjee agreed to travel to Santiniketan to report and file this long-planned cover story.
The first issue of this publication in its new avatar is also enriched by a special report on the EducationWorld Early Childhood Education Global Conference 2014, our fourth consecutive annual seminar on this neglected subject. In this report, we reiterate the crucial importance of professionally administered early childhood care and education for the country’s youngest children. Very belatedly, wisdom has dawned upon the establishment that India’s grossly neglected 158 million children in the age group 0-5 are the country’s future. In this issue, we reaffirm our commitment to their cause and celebrate ECCE (early childhood care and education) providers who are discharging this vital social obligation. With these words I commend the redesigned EducationWorld to you and invite your reactions.
