Newspaper Club has been making print feel exciting since 2009. The Glasgow-based specialists behind over 40 million newspapers sponsored this year's NDF zine, printed on their midi newspaper format and designed to celebrate NDF's collaborators, supporters and everything the festival has built so far.
Their work spans everything from brands like Adobe, New Balance, and Cubitts to artist portfolios, agency pitch decks, lookbooks, zines and photography books. And they’re popular (over 40 million newspapers and counting), because they’re all about making print feel accessible, exciting and worth doing.
NDF was a first for Newspaper Club. They hadn't attended before this year, but Kaye and the team kept hearing about it from people who had, and the warmth and community around the festival were what drew them in.
"We had been envious of folks who attended last year. There seems to be a real warmth and community around NDF that we were excited to be part of."
The connection came through Chris Sanders of Right Aligned Academy, who introduced Kaye to Toni and Niamh. The rest followed naturally..png)
Glasgow knows what it's like
Newspaper Club is based in Glasgow, which gives Kaye a particular perspective on what NDF is doing and why it matters.
"We know how rare it is for these big gatherings to happen outside of London. The discussions that happen in and around these events feel really impactful and meaningful, more of a call to action than just inspiration."
There's something about the scale of regional festivals, too. Smaller than big-city events, they create more space for conversations that actually change things.
"There's more opportunity to chat with people you might not otherwise meet."
For Kaye, the impact was almost immediate. Within days of the festival, conversations were already turning into potential collaborations, including a call with Eve Macdonald from Kiss Branding about spreading the word about print around the North, and a chat with Katy Cowan of Creative Boom about confidence, experience, and what everyone brings to the table.
When the lights went out
Ask Kaye about her standout NDF moment, and the answer isn't a keynote or a workshop. It's the moment a generator failed, and the lights went out.
"The NDF team drew together and created this wonderful, intimate moment. We all sat together in the semi-dark, asked questions and shared answers. Through that, I got to meet and chat to so many people, and it felt like a great leveller."
When something goes wrong, the community holds it together, and what could have been an awkward interruption became one of the most memorable moments of the festival.
Image: Print publication, a collaboration between Northern Design Festival and Newspaper Club, 2026. Publication designed by Laura Sheridan.
Why print still matters
In a world of constant notifications and competing demands for attention, Kaye has a clear sense of what print offers that screens simply don't.
"A newspaper slows things down. It's not trying to recommend five more things to click on or compete for your attention every second."
Designers tell her it's exciting to think about design away from a screen, that newsprint gives them room to play, whether that's exploring typography in unexpected ways or using imagery to take things somewhere new. Readers engage differently, too, taking their time, experiencing something tactile and fully sensory, right down to the rustle of the paper and the smell of the ink.
"People tell us they love the connection with the audience because they're not writing for algorithms or SEO. They're writing for real people who are spending real time with their work."
It's a sentiment that sits perfectly alongside this year's NDF theme of heritage. Print has been carrying stories and ideas for centuries, and there's clearly still an appetite for what it does that no screen has managed to replace..png)
Heritage in print: Kaye's favourite newspaper
For Kaye, one project above all others captures what print can really do. It comes up a lot in conversation, and it's not hard to see why.
Vocal Civilian is a newspaper created as part of an exhibition at the Museum of Design in Atlanta. The exhibition, Characters: Type in Action, explored the US civil rights movement and its relationship to design and typography. The newspaper, designed by Mark Baker Sanchez and the team at Vocal Type, wasn't just a takeaway for visitors. It was designed so that the exhibition itself could travel. The newspaper became the exhibit.
"I love that the design of the newspaper informed the work just as much as the work informed the newspaper. I absolutely adore it. You can actually borrow a copy from the Brooklyn Public Library with a library card, which is such a lovely extension of the whole idea."
It's a project that connects directly to everything Kaye believes print can be at its best. Not just a vessel for content, but a piece of design that carries meaning in its own right.
Image: Print publication, a collaboration between Northern Design Festival and Newspaper Club, 2026. Publication designed by Laura Sheridan.
Advice for young creatives
Kaye's advice is generous and honest, shaped by years of working with creatives at every stage of their careers.
"Find your community and chat with them, share your work with openness and honesty. If you don't know where to find your community, start to think about some things you'd like to do, and find out who is already making, commissioning or publishing work that makes you excited and follow that path."
And for anyone feeling the pressure to have it all figured out straight away?
"Not everyone has the answers right away. It's okay to do work that pays the bills while following your passion on the side until the right opportunity comes along."
It's reassuring advice from someone who has seen how creative careers actually develop, and a reminder that the path is rarely as straight as it looks from the outside.
Image: Print publication, a collaboration between Northern Design Festival and Newspaper Club, 2026. Publication designed by Laura Sheridan.
What's next for Newspaper Club
There's plenty in the pipeline. Newspaper Club is about to launch its own typeface, developed in collaboration with font foundry abcD8, and has already printed a type specimen to mark the occasion, in newspaper form, naturally. They're also planning a takeover of the Analogue district at the Birmingham Design Festival, sponsoring the Glasgow Print Fair and INTL, and launching Issue 2 of their publication, The Printing Press, later this year in New York.
If the zine ended up in your bag this year, hold onto it. It's a nice piece of print.
Learn more about Newspaper Club.
By Vicky Zaremba
northwords.co.uk
vicky@northwords.co.uk
