With newspaper readers becoming more and more visual because of the internet and interactive media, many papers are finding it necessary to redesign to keep readers interested.
This article by Ron Reason talks about how to know if your newspaper needs to redesign, and how to go about it.
Though, obviously, not all people work at a newspaper, these same principles can be used to redesign an art portfolio, or even a resume.
Logo design is a great knowledge base to have, in that newspapers are becoming more visual by adding elements like story tags, or photo illustrations that draw attention to particular stories.
This article offers a step-by-step guide to creating your own logo that will fit the needs of your specific newspaper or magazine.
This artist designs logos for commercial businesses, but if you look at the design of newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune, The Virginian-Pilot, USA Today, or the Hartford Courant, you will see that they use small logos to promote story series and steady weekly features or columns.
This visual element, though small, can draw the reader to your particular story, and also serves as a way for the reader to identify the type of story easily in the future.
With the increasing pressure for newspapers to dazzle and draw in readers using design, page designers should start thinking outside of the box.
This article brings up a great idea that many graphic editors do not consider: scanning.
Scanning can capture the true textures and colors of an object that a camera cannot. Plus, it’s easy.
When scanning using Adobe Photoshop simply click file – import – and then pick you scanner. A preview window will pop up showing your previous scan. Make sure to preview your object before you scan, in case you need to make any adjustments. Then press scan, save your picture, and you are done. No captions needed.
Check out this article for great examples of newspapers that used scanners to capture an image.
The Society for News Design, SND, is an international organization made of editors, designers, graphic artists, publishers, illustrators, photographers, and even advertising artists and Web site designers.
SND holds annual news design workshops, exhibitions, and they also hold competitions.
The SND website is a great place to find news design job postings (internships are also searchable), and design training tools.
Start your search with the SND now!
Newspapers are changing.
Content is changing, multimedia is changing, and even design is changing.
Some newspapers are now catering to their readers by changing print size. Instead of tall, long pages, newspapers are starting to print on shorter, wider, pages that are more convenient to read on the subway or at the office.
The Rocky Mountain News recently made a drastic redesign that puts into print the changes that newspapers are dealing with. The paper reduced their size, and chose new fonts to change their design to be “conceived more like a magazine.”
This Rocky Mountain News Web site explains the basic changes that The Rocky Mountain News has made, and why they decided to redesign.
Today, magazine covers are littered with high-paid celebrities and their model girlfriends. Cover design has to be catchy to draw in the attention of the readers, and apparently actors and actresses are the best way to do this. But, it didn’t always used to be that way.
This article by Coury Turczyn demonstrates the changes in cover design over time. It features “Then & Now: A Magazine Cover Design Face-off,” comparing the covers of magazines such as Vanity Fair and Fortune to 50 years ago.
While Turczyn adds in a few personal opinions, the article gives a good representation of how readers have changed, and what magazines have done with design to keep readers coming back for more.
Gabcast! Journ 475 #0
There are two sides to every story, and there are two types of people. The yankee fans, and the Red Sox fans. You might not consider yourself in either of these groups, but during the seventh game of the American League Championship Series, every one picked a side, including the media.
The article, written by Warren Watson, is an accurate representation of how different newspapers reacted to the Red Sox’s unexpected win. Watson provides a gallery of front pages that illustrates how differently eastern and western newspapers covered the game. This article is great visual proof that there is indeed two sides to every story.
Designing for a newspaper on a “big news” day, such as the death of Gerald Ford or even the Cougar’s loss in the Apple Cup, can be a challenging task. Designers struggle with how to place more focus on one story, and still accurately tell the rest of the news.
In the article “One Image, One Word,” Anne Van Wagener points out ways to accomplish just this.
In this article Wagener speaks about how simple design can make a powerful statement. She gives examples of layout during Hurricane Katrina. Wagener makes a powerful argument that a devastating phenomenon, such as September 11th or Hurricane Katrina, deserves a clean and accurate design. Rather than using several images of the event, she suggests using the most powerful image to evoke feelings from the readers. Pictures stacked upon one another can draw attention away from each photograph’s emotion. A simple, bold headline can accomplish this same effect.
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