Li Qizhong, founder of "Da Zhi": Print media should present a solid "sense of weight" instead of just providing rich information
[
](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX32LxO0cvevxJpWvru_v5bD7OamTZJzTQ0reQHi7RB80-bQH YVmmxjhIThLjGRJc7012sW_eusGWZiWqIb4ZLbwikrwoD4AGYlCzAkXpRZW7npOzy0LUOOzXhxZyMljxtC5ZiZxr82B-k/s1600/news-3-1.jpg)
The seat of Li Chizhong (right) is filled with books, newspapers and magazines. It is hard to imagine that he is a senior Internet person. On the left is Chen Qiliang, Chairman of [Taiwan User Experience Design Association] (http://www.uigathering.org/) who is also visiting this time (Photo source: Deng Wenhua)
This article is reprinted from MIX 2018 Innovation Design Annual Conference, the author is Deng Wenhua. Thank you for authorizing “Content Hacker” website to reprint. Thank you hereby.
[Why are we reprinting this article] Next Weekly, which has been popular for more than ten years, withdrew from the magazine market in April 2018 and only retained online media. Does this mean that print media will no longer be able to recover? Li Chizhong, the founder of “Big Issue”, went in the opposite direction and successively founded two paper publications, “Big Issue” and “The Affairs Weekly Compilation”. From [Li Qizhong] (https://www.facebook.com/area43), we learned the “weightiness” of content on paper, and understood the meaning of different media to the target audience, and further thought about the possibility of adding points to our own different types of content creation.
Paper media entrepreneurs who bucked the trend
There is a saying from ancient times that has been passed down to this day: “If you want to hurt someone, tell him to start a magazine.”
Now there is a man named Li Qizhong (https://tedxtaipei.com/people/%E6%9D%8E%E5%8F%96%E4%B8%AD/). No one harmed him, but he went to the UK to talk about licensing the magazine “Big Issue” (http://www.bigissue.tw/). It was not enough to start a social enterprise magazine, but he actually created a “The Affairs” Weekly Editor](https://www.facebook.com/theaffairs/)》Newspaper. This time, because of the preparation for the MIX 2018 event, I finally met the founder of two print media companies who “dare” to open two print media in the Internet era, and learned:
-
It turns out that he was from an ordinary background and was not Tian Qiaozi.
-
It turns out that he majored in physics, not literature, history and philosophy.
-
It turns out that he was once the first generation of Internet excerpters in Taiwan. He also founded [Roodo Diary] (http://blog.roodo.com/) and is a senior Internet person.
Miraculously, just after interviewing Li Chi-chung on March 13, news broke out on March 15 that Taiwan’s Next Magazine (https://www.nextmag.com.tw/), which had been in business for 17 years, would cease publication on April 4 and transform itself into an online media. It feels like the early Republic of China writer Qian Zhongshu in the novel “[Fortress Besieged](https://zh.wikipedia.org /wiki/%E5%9B%B4%E5%9F%8E_(%E5%B0%8F%E8%AF%B4))” wrote: “Marriage is a besieged city. Unmarried people are desperately trying to squeeze in, but married people are desperately trying to crawl out.” If you replace marriage with paper media, it seems to make sense.
Qian Zhongshu described this scene. If it were a movie, the camera would probably not be set up on either side, but would be used as a bystander to watch the people here trying to get in and the people over there trying to get out. The same situation applies to the two print media agencies of Li Tie. He cares more about opinions and angles than paper or the Internet. This statement dates back to 1968, but it is related to movies.
Break away from the system and explore more possibilities
Li Chizhong said that two major events happened in 1968. One was “The Whole Earth Catalog” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Catalog), which had a great influence on Steve Jobs. Catalog) was founded, and the other is the movie classic “2001: A Space Odyssey” directed by Stanley Kubrick (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001%E5%A4%AA%E7%A9%BA %E6%BC%AB%E9%81%8A_(%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1))” was released. Both of them use the picture of the earth seen from outer space as the main visual. The content is also different from common magazines and movies. This is exactly what “Ambition” and “The The biggest difference between Affairs Weekly and other media.
[
](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr1v5zqknG-lyrCKMVlb_0J5T0tMMz5fUue_x7kA-bfUt0e01U TdxIQa9DAiRpWAsWT5lcuYvW43D0yXtiRPA6xq0T4aVqysE1RncXKAdY6lLrYXyjHzddVNdwYCjs4PDSe6DXo3u3iZAt/s1600/news-3-2.jpg)
Left: Cover of the first issue of the Global Catalog (Picture source: Whole Earth Catalog official website); Right: “2001: A Space Odyssey” movie poster (Picture source: IMDB)
“What is important news? Everyone’s observation and focus on things are inherently different.” Li Qizhong elaborated. We have been influenced by the values of the political, economic, educational and other “systems” of the state apparatus since we were young. Many things and concepts revolve around the system. In the case of traditional media, they start from the system and go outward to collect content, but in fact there are other possibilities. “Ambition” and “The Affairs Weekly Compilation” are like looking at the earth from outer space, taking it out to see a more complete picture, such as re-examining a person’s relationship with himself, others, nature, and the country. “First return to the original state of people, and then think about what kind of system is needed.”
Li Chi-zhong also believes that when running a print media in this era, “you need to dig into something deeper and more essential when looking at things.” He cited Japan as an example. Japan has national holidays almost every month, which can correspond to the four relationships mentioned above with oneself (for example: Coming of Age Day on January 8), with others (for example: Hardworking Thanksgiving Day on November 23), with nature (for example: August 11, Mountain Day), and with the country (for example: February 11, Founding Day). In contrast, Taiwan’s festivals still have too much institutional content.
[
](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-wVf_QOLypDn8p6IJ_F1jjQoYLQXxikztwagOaPBr3t3JmQE Y4qUlMLJZIBQ3mDpZPTuJ0Pj5RRADSbZsf4WBY7L4J3yEcWBjqf7cm60jhxTRx27vrsqYuyoV5DVnOIM2d5_LpX4Xkmd/s1600/news-3-3.png)
Japan’s national holidays list (Image source: Wikipedia)
Talking about design work from the origin of the festival, and then back to the system, Li Qizhong mentioned that some designs are only made for sensory or visual needs, without responding to why these things are used. If you think about it carefully, you should give up a lot of things. “Jobs said, ‘Everything around you that you call life was created by people who were no smarter than you.’ You have to realize this and don’t get caught up in those weird things that feel natural. Most of them are just efficiency, expediency, or cheap practices.”
In addition, Li Qizhong’s thoughts on the media include:
*Those working in the media have always used oversimplified processing methods, which is not helpful for thinking.
-
Some names have been used for a long time and may contain hidden value judgments or ideologies. After some young generations know the name, they will absorb the value system behind it and think it is their own. So maybe people in the media should constantly remind the younger generation to be able to think about these things for themselves.
-
Treating liveliness as youth and grandstanding as creativity is a very vulgar way of dealing with things and is very superficial. [
](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiicsSz9cORzKOk81WKqc0bcm_hSczcahuRMbvYLqTLonP1khj7 DXKWVJstKbMMGa3gqQgprwRegs60pn4OW-1cTbdkOrQdFCJU6S8TlLz5P8xSwEt5nu3iiNN6z6C1Xgor8TF-JmVaOeG5/s1600/news-3-6.jpg)
[
](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYaXrIRJ_fsaUqajG2flflTpEwlsXarWI9LhbxoS10BHU0P3Y0 ZgXQjHo2s1jSQ7gE_c4tzijX6igv2TndSMFrDOydI-Gxvmk5lvhv4tafXLJXCm6YnfzTJmPLQg4-qxbZNjyXOz9Jm_dz/s1600/news-3-7.png)
“The Affairs Weekly Editor” has in-depth thinking characteristics from design to content (Photo source: The Affairs Weekly Editor Fan Group)
The new recruit of the print media turned out to be a senior Internet person
Based on the above arguments, it is difficult not to equate Li Qizhong with the field of literature, history and philosophy (https://www.cna.com.tw/news/afe/201706290133-1.aspx), but in fact, he studied physics. Although I have loved reading here and there since I was a child, and have been exposed to comics, magazines, literature and science, the expectations of the surrounding environment at that time meant that boys with good grades would just study in the natural group and not think about anything else. “Most people make choices based on the atmosphere of the times and the direction of the system, and many choices are not made by themselves. Even if they are choices made by themselves, they are often choices within the framework of the system.” Li Chizhong said.
So, after running two print media in succession, you may think that Li Zhizhong should have edited the school magazine, right? Beep beep ~ Wrong answer again! Since the school is very academically oriented, there is no such thing as a school magazine. Li Chizhong responded: “My junior high school and high school both grew up in a closed environment, ha.”
I don’t know whether to say that God is joking or that he has a special arrangement. After retiring from the army, Li Chizhong came to Taipei from his hometown in Tainan to find a job. He first went to Qingfu to take computer classes and learned Office, [Authorware](https://zh.wikipedia .org/wiki/Authorware), Photoshop and other software. After graduating in mid-1997, he went online to look for a job. There were vacancies on the first page. He called to ask if there was any chance for an interview. The person immediately replied and said that he would bring his portfolio for an interview that afternoon. After the conversation, I asked him when he could go to work. He replied that it would be the next day, and he would report to Jingcheng Information the next day.
At that time, Jingcheng Information represented some database software, as well as the “Netscape” (Netscape) browser, which accounted for more than 80% of the market share. Li Qizhong recalled that when he started Netscape, he needed a Chinese homepage, so one month after joining the company, the company launched Kimo as a portal website, and he unexpectedly became one of the founding employees.
The original Qimo website was completely different from the situation after it was acquired by Yahoo. There are several channels under Qimo, such as novelty, modern, news, website directory, and search. Each channel is staffed by only one person. Li Qizhong is assigned to be in charge of the news channel and goes to various media websites every day to pick news. There are no special criteria for selection, it is purely his personal interest. He jokingly calls himself Taiwan’s first generation Internet picker. At that time, the mainstream thinking was to build a portal website. QIMO did not regard itself as a media, and the news channel accounted for a small proportion. ; It is completely different from today when Editor has the important responsibility of being on the front line of traffic diversion.
[
](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqRyyhlSPRwiv2Qx6P5ZcMPDgW7qwumUG7DRlxWEGLLqsu6Wswt szQ-jzvAIcYyzfUiLcaFS2jgY1zJSslsOzHJ5nYu_lRqJwQyyMTEF74BKVc3lSrkEpzajcWWjd8YmTp0qA9fQFLULAy/s1600/news-3-4.png)
Selecting the three main news items on the Kimo homepage was the main task in the past (Picture source: WayBackMachine)
After leaving GigaMedia, Li Tiezhong went to [Hexin Super Media] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GigaMedia_Limited) to do service planning for broadband portals; then he founded [Roodo] (http://www.roodo.com/) by chance and opened platforms such as auctions, stores, blogs, and new cultural creations. Among them, Leduo New Cultural Creation, which focuses on culture and art, won the 2009 Internet Golden Finger Annual Award. However, he admitted that after working on the Internet for so many years, services, traffic, funds, and income were often not equal. Therefore, after the launch of Ledo New Cultural Creation, some friends in the publishing industry asked him if he wanted to make a magazine.
In the Internet age, the “physicality” of paper media is even more important
Li Chizhong had already thought about this matter, but he did not want to put Ledo New Cultural Creation on paper. Instead, he read a report on the British “Big Issue” (https://www.bigissue.com/) in “2535” magazine. He thought it was interesting that the magazine could be distributed through the “social enterprise” (https://www.seinsights.asia/aboutse) model, so he took the initiative to inquire about the possibility of licensing. In November 2009, Li Qizhong personally visited the headquarters of Big Issue in the UK. The founder [John Bird] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bird,_Baron_Bird) gave him an autobiography with the words “Go ahead, the Big Issue Taiwan.” Five months later, the Taiwan version of “Big Issue” was published on April 1, 2010.
On April Fool’s Day in the Internet age, a paper magazine was deliberately published for sale to street friends. You have to admire Li Qizhong’s unique sense of humor.
One and a half years after the product was launched on the market, “Da Zhi” has sold an average of 15,000 copies, achieving an even profit and loss. All finances are self-operated by social enterprises, and no government subsidies have been received. In 2016, the average monthly actual sales of “Da Zhi” reached more than 30,000 copies. Given that a book costs 100 yuan, street vendors can get half of the income from selling it, the topic is not sensational, and there is no chain channel, compared with traditional magazines, how much they are collected and retweeted, it goes without saying that those who work on the Internet know how to make paper media. “The media still has a lot of room for challenges. The more entities are ignored, the greater the challenge will be, especially newspapers.” In 2013, Li Qizhong started thinking about making a newspaper. On June 20, 2017, “The Affairs Weekly Compilation” was born.
[
](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigyZHx-E88MnAATzFLeLVIviHLCIeBdaAOdxvZzUCsWtLKTS5k BtdtzeceO2Pe5efVeLl-E-5iQa5AsojI5WM59-vmiApbLSEPgluFxhgcDRjC8v0E69GHZAgSbUJeB9A8w8FKo9vSv8ok/s1600/news-3-11.png)
Issues of Dazhi with Chen Qizhen (left) and Tian Fuzhen (right) as covers have sold more than 40,000 copies (picture source: Dazhi official website)
There are many things in the world, and sometimes it is clearer when you look back from the other side to this side. While many people thought that the newspaper media had no clue and fled, Li Qizhong lowered his head and clasped his hands before slowly walking in. He analyzed that taking 1995 as a dividing line, print media might have been able to survive as long as they provided rich information. After that, the Internet began to become popular, and the value of information that could be found through the Internet was greatly reduced.
Therefore, the “physicality” of paper has become very important, including the touch, weight, layout, visuals and copywriting. The concepts and ideas mentioned above must be solidly felt by readers. Even “the layout must also show a sense of weight.” Li Chizhong thought for a while and replied: “Perhaps because he has been online for so long, he can feel the difference from paper media better.”
Li Qizhong may be only half right. Looking around his office, from the desktop to the bookcases to the floor, there are books, newspapers and magazines. If he hadn’t mentioned it, anyone would have thought he was a senior publisher. It’s hard to say if one day he will board a spaceship again and see the internet media planet from the paper media planet, and then fly to create an internet media outlet that will surpass everyone’s expectations.
Further reading
★ Sign up now for: MIX 2018 Innovation Design Annual Conference
