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Why a column like this? Because too many web sites seem devoid of personality. Because the world of newspaper design can always use a little more dialogue. And because, hey, it's my web site. So I thought, why not create the first regular online column about newspaper design, on the first web site devoted to newspaper design? The goal is to discuss current issues fairly regularly; feedback and ideas for future topics are encouraged. Why "Listen With Reason?" Because "Listen to ..." sounded a little too preachy. RELATED LINK: Check out what SND judge Andrew Skwish thought of this year's competition. (Disclosure: He's my next door neighbor in Chicago.) Back to home page: www.ronreason.com (more tips on newspaper design, graphics and editing).		Got SND's latest Design magazine in the mail this week, and found a few letters at the back decrying the inequities of the annual SND contest. One designer from a smaller paper who entered the portfolio category (and apparently didn't win) makes a good point: "What the judges would never know is not only did I design the front page, but I also selected the stories, edited them, and produced the whole A section, including the weather agate. It would be nice if this effort was taken into consideration during the judging." Lord yes, it would be nice. And more fair, and perhaps more educational. But contest's aren't run this way. As SND's hard-working organizers will surely tell you, breaking down categories to account for staffing limitations, deadlines, personal motivation, etc. would compound their already vast bureaucracy. By default if nothing else, glory seems to go to the big guns. I too have long wished there were recognition for great performance by the underdogs, but learned over time to take everything with a grain of salt. My first doubts about the greater value of contests came after I won a few awards for front pages I designed at the St. Petersburg Times. In the awards annual, my pages usually carried my lonely little credit. But in the same category, amidst the other fabulous little reproductions, were many pages whose entrants read like the credits for "Titanic." Did newsrooms really exist where 21 people contributed to the front page, or to features pages that seemed little more than one large photo and an art head??? One had to wonder. Lesson: Much of this contest stuff is like comparing apples to oranges. Though St. Pete is a decent sized newspaper, during my tenure the vast bulk of the design was done by copy editors. Photo editing and graphics editing in areas like the front page were often done by us desk-folk. We also had to write headlines and captions, help edit the foreign correspondent, take calls from the concerned public, write and design the promos ... you get the picture. (Our deadline mantra: "We're so sure The New York Times gets out this way!") Is it fair to hold a newsroom like this - especially in the "gee-whiz" features categories - up against papers where trained artists and designers create most of the pages (who sometimes don't have to worry about all that "word stuff"?) Sadly, jacks-and-jills-of-all trades, such as the letter writer to SND's magazine, often don't get much glory or even respect in their newsrooms, and contests are one of the few tangible ways to realize some reward. To them I say, acknowledge that contests by their nature are quite flawed, and look elsewhere for affirmation. Resenting the judges who snub your hard-working crew is a fruitless pursuit; rest assured that designers at much larger papers feel the same way. Often, the winners feel they should have taken home more, or that the pages making the cut weren't their best. (Some people are so hard to please!) Today my SND certificates sit in a drawer. A more meaningful souvenir from my St. Pete career was the frequent, unsolicited comments from readers to the effect of "gosh, your newspaper is so approachable, thorough and well organized." Coming from the somewhat older readership, this meant a lot (though it probably wouldn't mean much to the design honcho who once visited the paper for a Quick Course and railed against its "tired" use of Univers headlines). Lesson: Over time, genuine positive reaction from readers, your partner and your mom stacks up pretty well against certificates and annuals. Thought I'd close with a few more thoughts about contests in general: Wouldn't it be interesting if the contest judges didn't enter their own newspapers for a year, just to quiet those suspicions of favoritism or lobbying? (I know, I know ... they'd never get anyone to serve as a judge.) What if the total number of pages any one newspaper could submit was limited? (Some newsrooms have spent thousands on entry fees - hard to think sheer overexposure doesn't give them a leg up over folks with more modest budgets for entries.) Do all those judges really read German, Spanish, and Estonian? If not, can they really say they are evaluating the entrants' words and visuals equally? Is it fair to hold up weekly papers against dailies, who of course have different deadlines, staffing, missions and audiences? I know better than to call for an end to, or an overhaul of, the SND contest or any other. What then would designers have to kvetch about? * * * [Closing thought: The author hasn't entered the SND contest since 1995, when fate delivered his entries to Syracuse in a plastic U.S. Postal Service bag filled with water. True story.] Do you live and die by design contests? Or think they're a waste of time?Send me your views for use in a future column. (Request anonymity if you must!) Proceed to next column: How readers react to change. Back to top of page
Bio/resume | Redesigns | Newsroom Training | Articles and Resources | Home Web posted: Sept. 12, 2000. design@ronreason.com