The Happy Newspaper

feedback

subscription card

physical paper

example news story

simple website

When I asked for any positive sources for news on my questionnaire - a lot of people responded with The Happy Newspaper by Emily Coxhead. 

The Happy Newspaper is "32 pages of colourful illustrated news stories." released quarterly to give people a round up of happy news from around the world from the previous few months. 

Emily set up The Happy Newspaper because she noticed that the two things impacting her mental health the most were social media and the news. She had gotten into the mindset that a lot of people are in - that there are only terrible things happening and we should be scared. The Happy Newspaper gave her something positive to focus on in a not so great time. 

Emily talks about the physicality of a traditional newspaper - how they're often dull and grey. The Happy Newspaper acts as an antidote to that. 

Emily hasn't always found it easy to publish the paper - the first issue that was supposed to come out was around the same time as on of the Paris Attacks. At first she immediately thought about how she couldn't publish a newspaper at that time, but was encouraged online by a French teacher to do so. 

Emily says that she's aware that there are terrible things happening. She's not trying to cover over that "with rainbows and glitter" but thinks that we should hear about the good things that are happening as well. 

I think that The Happy Newspaper is such an amazing idea. It has a prevalent following on social media as it posts some stories as well as motivational posts. I really like that it's a physical paper too - it's kind of like a traditional format. A lot of people buy their paper everyday and read it with breakfast or while commuting - it's kind of like a habit. The idea of them still being able to do that but having this positive option is really nice, as some people don't use social media. 

I really like the different elements that Emily has utilized around her newspaper also - the subscription card, simple website, and social media are all really strong. 

Thinking about what I could possibly produce in response to my issue, the idea of a newspaper came to mind. I'm unsure about how I could do something unique and different to The Happy Newspaper. I could do a digital version, but I really enjoy working with print so want to focus in that area. I could produce a motivational poster series/ campaign? Or instead of traditional newspaper that you subscribe to I could do a non-profit mini-zine sort of thing? - Like We.Sow! I will do further research into them (they're a small collective of designers that make mini-zines).