utko.com

What is Jacek Utko known for?

Jacek Utko is a Polish graphic designer and media consultant best known for redesigning newspapers and for arguing that good design can revive print media. His site presents him as an award-winning designer working across print, branding and digital products, and as a conference speaker.

What he is known for

• Newspaper redesign. Five of his designs have been named World's Best Designed Newspaper, and four were recognised as European Newspaper of the Year, according to the site. His showcase includes work for Het Parool, De Morgen, Financieele Dagblad and Gazeta Wyborcza.
• The TED talk. In 2009 he gave "Can Good Design Save Newspapers," which the site says has drawn close to 1.5 million views. That talk is probably how most people outside the design press first encountered him.
• Speaking and training. He describes lecturing in 42 countries, from TED and Adobe Max to universities and museums.
• Broader design work. Beyond newspapers, the site lists branding and product development for companies and startups, and UX/UI design for websites and apps.

How to use this

If you are evaluating him as a speaker, the TED talk is the quickest way to judge whether his style and message fit your event. If you are considering him for a redesign project, look at the newspaper case studies first, since that is the work his reputation rests on; the branding and UX/UI services are presented more briefly, so ask for comparable examples in those areas before committing.

For context on the publications involved, Het Parool is a Dutch daily (Het Parool) and De Morgen is a Belgian Dutch-language paper (De Morgen).

How can Jacek Utko's design services help my newspaper or magazine?

Jacek Utko's services are aimed at publishers who want a publication that competes on design, not just content. The site presents three main offers: print design for newspapers and magazines, branding and product development for companies and startups, and UX/UI design for websites and apps. The through-line is editorial design that has won recognition in international competitions — the page cites five "World's Best Designed Newspaper" wins, four European Newspaper of the Year awards, and work for titles including Het Parool, De Morgen, Financieele Dagblad and Gazeta Wyborcza.

What each service is for

• Print design: Redesigning or launching a newspaper or magazine, with the explicit goal of entering and winning design competitions. The showcase includes both print titles and their companion websites, so a redesign can cover both.
• Branding and product development: Revitalising an existing brand or building a new one, with optional consultation on business development or marketing strategy. This suits a publisher repositioning a title or a startup launching a media product.
• UX/UI design: Website and app design focused on usability as well as appearance. Relevant if your print product is strong but your digital edition, subscription flow or app feels dated.
• Speaking and training: Keynotes and workshops; the page notes lectures delivered in 42 countries and a 2009 TED talk, "Can Good Design Save Newspapers."

How to judge whether it fits

The strongest signal is the award record in newspaper and magazine design, which points to publishers who care about newsstand presence, brand prestige and editorial craft. If your goal is conversion-rate optimisation, ad-tech integration or a low-cost template refresh, that is a different kind of engagement. The site also describes clients as valuing a consultant who helps meet business objectives, so expect design work tied to commercial outcomes rather than aesthetics alone.

One practical note: Utko's own TED talk is the best free way to test whether his thinking matches your newsroom's culture before you make contact. Watch it, then shortlist two or three recent projects from the showcase — ideally titles similar in size and frequency to yours — and ask how each redesign affected circulation, advertising or digital subscriptions. That gives you a concrete basis for a first conversation rather than judging on awards alone.

For context on the publications named, see Het Parool and De Morgen.

What speaking topics does Jacek Utko cover for conferences or training?

Jacek Utko's speaking focuses on design's role in saving and revitalising media, drawn from his own practice as a newspaper and web designer. His signature talk is "Can Good Design Save Newspapers," which he delivered at TED in 2009 and which has reached a large online audience. Around that core, his conference and training work covers design-led turnaround of publications, branding and product development, and UX/UI design for print and digital products.

Topics you can expect

• Design and the future of newspapers — how strong visual and editorial design can revive print readership and revenue, using his award-winning redesigns of titles such as Het Parool and De Morgen as examples.
• Brand revitalisation — creating or refreshing brands for companies and startups, often tied to business development and marketing strategy.
• UX/UI and product design — building user-friendly, visually appealing websites and apps, with an emphasis on user experience.
• Creative leadership and inspiration — keynote-style talks aimed at motivating teams and employers, in the mould of a TED lecture.

Who it suits

Conference organisers wanting a headline design or media speaker; media companies and editorial teams facing declining print circulation; startups and established firms considering a rebrand; and design or product teams seeking UX/UI inspiration. Training sessions are pitched at employers and staff rather than purely academic audiences.

A practical next step

If you are booking for a conference, decide whether you want the flagship newspaper-design narrative or a narrower workshop on branding or UX. For a corporate training day, a session combining brand strategy with UX/UI principles is likely the better fit. You can review his work and talk history at Jacek Utko.

What results have Jacek Utko's designs achieved in international competitions?

Jacek Utko's site reports a sustained record in international design competitions, centered on newspaper and publication design rather than advertising or digital-product awards. The page states that five of his designs were named "World's Best Designed Newspaper," four were recognized as "European Newspaper of The Year," and his projects have collected roughly 100 awards in international design competitions. It also lists three "Cover of the Year" awards.

Those results cluster around a specific niche: print publications and their related web editions. The showcase names Het Parool, De Morgen, Financieele Dagblad and Gazeta Wyborcza as recent projects, and the featured project is Wysokie Obcasy Extra, a lifestyle magazine. If you are evaluating him for a newspaper redesign, that is directly relevant evidence. If you need a brand identity, app interface or campaign, the competition record says less, even though the site offers branding and UX/UI services.

A practical way to judge the awards is to ask which competition and category each one came from. "World's Best Designed Newspaper" and "European Newspaper of the Year" are recognizable peer-judged honors in news design; a broad count of 100 awards is more impressive as a signal of consistency than as a precise measure, since it mixes competitions and years. For a concrete decision, ask to see the award-winning issues alongside the brief and constraints behind them, then compare that work with your own publication's format, budget and deadline. The same portfolio can also be checked through his widely viewed TED talk, "Can Good Design Save Newspapers," which shows how he frames design as a business and editorial tool rather than decoration.

How does Jacek Utko approach branding and UX/UI design for startups?

Jacek Utko presents branding and UX/UI as separate but related services on his site. For startups, the branding offer is framed around revitalising an existing brand or creating a new one, with consultation on business development or marketing strategy possibly included. The UX/UI offer is framed around building websites and apps that are both visually appealing and functional, with user experience as the stated focus.

In practice, that suggests a startup could engage him at either of two moments:

• Brand-first: the company has a product but a weak or dated identity, and needs positioning, visual language and design direction before scaling marketing.
• Product-first: the brand is acceptable but the app or site is hard to use, and the priority is interface and experience work.

The site does not describe a fixed process, timeline or deliverable list for startups, so treat those as things to clarify in a first conversation.

What the page evidence supports

The clearest proof of approach is his editorial background: five designs named World's Best Designed Newspaper, four European Newspaper of the Year awards, and showcase projects including Jacek Utko work for Het Parool, De Morgen, Financieele Dagblad and Gazeta Wyborcza. His own summary of client feedback is that he creates beautiful publications and helps meet business objectives — a pairing of craft and commercial outcome that is directly relevant to startups, where design has to earn its keep.

He also describes giving talks in 42 countries, including TED, Adobe Max, universities in Japan and an art museum in Atlanta, and his 2009 TED talk "Can Good Design Save Newspapers" is cited as reaching almost 1.5 million views. That is a signal of how he thinks about design's strategic role rather than decoration.

A practical way to decide

If you are a founder choosing between a branding and a UX/UI engagement, ask which is currently costing you more: inconsistent identity that makes you look smaller than you are, or friction in the product that loses users after they arrive. Utko's portfolio leans toward publications, media brands and information-heavy products, so his strongest fit is likely a startup whose value depends on presenting content or complex information clearly — a media, publishing, fintech or data-driven product — rather than a purely transactional consumer app.

Next step: look at the Het Parool and De Morgen website projects in his showcase and compare them with your own product's information density. If the comparison feels close, a combined branding-plus-UX conversation is worth having; if not, start with the narrower of the two.

What is the key message of Jacek Utko's TED talk 'Can Good Design Save Newspapers'?

The core message is that design is not decoration but a strategic tool: good design can rescue a struggling newspaper by making it worth reading again, and the same logic extends to any product or brand. Utko's argument, drawn from his own turnaround work at papers such as Het Parool and De Morgen, is that redesign succeeds when it changes how the organisation thinks—editors, journalists and designers working as one team around the reader—rather than when it simply makes pages prettier.

His evidence is the outcome, not the theory: publications he redesigned went on to win repeated "World's Best Designed Newspaper" and "European Newspaper of the Year" recognition, and he has since spoken in 42 countries. The talk is best understood as a case for design as leadership and business strategy, delivered by a practitioner rather than a theorist.

How to use it

• If you run a publication or content product, treat the talk as a prompt to ask what your design is actually for: who reads it, in what moment, and what would make them choose it over a phone screen.
• If you are a designer pitching change, borrow the framing: lead with reader behaviour and business outcomes, not aesthetics.
• If you are booking a speaker, the talk suits media, publishing and brand teams facing disruption.

A decision criterion

Judge a redesign by whether it changes decisions inside the organisation. If nothing about how stories are commissioned, edited or displayed changes, expect the new look to fade within a year.

You can see the work behind the argument at Jacek Utko and watch the talk itself via TED.