Kent Lyons develops Dickens newspaper

Kent Lyons is designing six newspapers and accompanying iPad apps which will be published in serialised form to mark this year’s bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth.

Dickens 2012

Most of Dickens’ novels were published episodically through newspapers. Inspired by this Kent Lyons will publish stories including Night Walks (images show), Wapping Workhouse, Oliver Twist, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and The Chimes in a serialised form.

Dickens 2012

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is Dickens’ final novel, which remained unfinished at the time of his death. A recent BBC production has written an ending to the novel, and Kent Lyons partner Noel Lyons says he is consulting with the BBC to have this licensed for the newspaper.

Dickens 2012

‘We’ve created a tabloid size newspaper using the Dickens 2012 identity, made in the style of a newspaper from 200 years ago with classic typefaces including Bodoni and Plantin but making it feel more modern,’ says Lyons who has introduced a palette of pastel colours. 

The iPad apps, says Lyons, will be centred around animation and interactivity. Lyons says he was mainly looking for a ‘pure reading experience’ with pages sliding laterally to reveal the narrative when held in portrait.

Dickens 2012

Holding the iPad in a landscape position will reveal interactive detail. The Night Walks edition will show modern location photos relating to the story.

Dickens 2012

The consultancy has already completed the branding of Dickens 2012, a celebration of the life and works of Dickens, for its clients Film London and The Charles Dickens Museum in London.

Kent Lyons initiated the bi-monthly  newspaper project  and approached The Dickens Museum which will help support the work through its Dickens 2012 celebratory events.

The iPad app and newspapers will launch at Westminster Abbey at a Dickens commemoration ceremony on 7 February. 

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  • DickensDaily.com November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I think you’ll find that, although all of Dickens’s novels were initially published serially, none were printed in newspapers or in a form that could be considered a newspaper. Bah, humbug!

  • Noel Lyons November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Interesting point. However, I’d have to disagree.

    The journals Dickens published in contained both fiction and social journalism. They were printed in columns of type on thin, acid paper. They were 24 pages (or thereabouts) long, and cost 2d, to ensure they were read by as wide an audience as possible.

    To a modern reader, you could very well describe these as newspapers. Or magazines, or journals, or zines. But we liked the idea of printing them on a paper stock most similar to the original medium, which is newspaper stock.

    What is interesting is that the original paper size – quad crown – is almost exactly the same as the iPad screen.

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