  Advice for Smaller Papers EVEN WITH LIMITATIONS, DESIGN CAN BE CLEAN AND INVITING | |||
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This is part of a series of original essays relating to newspaper design, training and management, based on e-mail questions sent in by inquisitive visitors to my web sites. If you have a question or comment on these topics, send it to mehere at any time. I'll respond as soon as possible, and consider using your question in a future web posting. Articles index. Home page: www.ronreason.com A potentially bad trend I have seen (mostly in small and medium- sized newspapers) is the use of silhouetted photos and overly dramatic promo elements in the nameplate area. Can the staff - and the news - justify the use of such elements every day? |
By Ron Reason Not to be republished without permission or recirculated without attribution. David Hamilton, a master's student at the University of Tennessee and editor at The Daily Citizen-News in Chattanooga, called recently seeking information about the design of smaller newspapers for his course, "Seminar in Visual Communications." Following are his questions and my answers:
''What kind of design and layout
challenges are smaller newspapers facing now?"
Smaller newspapers traditionally have been designed and produced by
writers and editors - people trained in journalism school, which
often does not
provide sufficient design training. Now, on top of their traditional
writing,
editing and "layout" functions, these people also have to be
pagination
specialists, really learning more than ever before about the
production of the newspaper, and about its technical systems. It is
a strain for most small
newspaper editors to juggle all these tasks, and still produce
creative,
inviting pages. Not only does it eat away at their total available
time, but it
creates a potential aggravation and a distraction from doing
creative layout
work for news or features.
''What can smaller newspapers do to tackle
layout and design issues, considering the limited resources many
face?"
First, they should commit the resources to create a stylebook, or update one that is
obsolete, to clarify for
all on the staff what the accepted current styles are. This will
eliminate guesswork on deadline and re-focus attention on the
creative process.
Also, most small newspapers would do well to limit the number of
typefaces
they use (two font families with variations including bold, regular
and
italic usually will work just fine) and to restrict the number of
colors.
Sometimes small papers look too chaotic because everyone on the
staff wants
to "experiment" with their page designs. While this might be fun and
might
seem like a good "reward" for putting up with the limited resources
of a small
paper, it detracts from the professionalism of the publication.
Everyone's
ultimate goal should be to create a cohesive look for the overall
paper - pursuing one's own creative muse is nice but it should fall
under this umbrella.
''The focus of my research deals with
visual elements of newspaper design,
in particular, what attracts or deters readers visually. What are a
few
of the cutting-edge techniques smaller newspapers are using to
improve
layout and design? What are a few they should or should not
use?"
Readers are attracted visually to photographs, illustrations and
graphics,
although headlines themselves do provide lots of traffic on the
page. We often forget that type is a powerful visual element. The
well placed at-a-glance or summary box will help the reader quickly
key in on
important aspects of a story. However, using too many of all these
elements
can cause visual chaos, and detract from the content of news photos
and
stories. (You may wish to review the Poynter Institute's research
from 1990 where we studied how color and
graphic elements moved the reader's eye around the page. The
publication
"Eyes on the News" details the results of that study and can be ordered from
the Poynter Online web site.)
''What are some easy ways small newspapers
can improve their visual appeal
to readers, including photos, graphics, layout and
design?"
One of the best devices is a simple text box explaining, at a
glance, key
elements of a story. For example, a small paper may not have an
artist on
staff to create a graphic on "How to winterize your home," but this
information is easily available to any size newspaper staff (through
the
internet if nothing else) and can be pulled out in a stand-alone
text format
that can serve as what I call a "pseudo-graphic." The addition of a
small photograph from
the files (a snow drift or whatever) can help dress up the text box
even
more.
A more ambitious staff could use a cheap flatbed scanner
to scan in everyday objects based on the information in the text,
such as duct tape or window
caulk, and use those images in seconds to flesh out the text box.
No artistic skill is needed for this, but planning and thinking
ahead (to bring these winterizing objects from home) would be
required in this case.
''Do small newspapers have any advantage
at all over larger ones in layout and design? What are they? What
are the disadvantages?"
The advantage is that the staff is smaller, and theoretically,
everyone should
be working together more intimately and on a more friendly basis
that you would expect at a larger staff. This should go far in
producing better collaborations, sharing information about upcoming
stories, and brainstorming visual solutions that are realistic for
your resources.
The flip side of this (and probably more the reality for most
papers) is that small staffs are extremely strapped for time,
and even the friendliest writers and editors may neglect to inform
the layout
staff about a big upcoming project until it is too late. So planning
and
communicating are always a struggle.
Another disadvantage is that coverage tends to be very local, so
images are
often limited to what the staff has produced photographically or
artistically
(and almost always, photographers and artists are in short supply).
With a local emphasis, it is often not an option on the feature
page,
for example, to use a dramatic silhouetted photo of Anjelina Jolie or
Tom
Cruise from the latest summer blockbuster. Rather, the main image
might be
from the local pumpkin festival. So the resources may not be as sexy
as some
of the pages we see in the SND award annual, but there is potential
here
nonetheless.
''Many editors talk about developing more
of a magazine-style layout,
particularly on feature and lifestyle pages. Comments on this trend?
Is this a method smaller newspapers should try? Is this a clear
style?"
Magazine style layouts are most appropriate for feature, lifestyle
and
entertainment pages, or special sections. However, these are more
complicated layouts to strive
for, and the folks who are best prepared to do them are those who
have been trained in graphic
design or art school - not journalism school (where, by and large,
the
training of small newspaper staffs has occurred). So often you see
awkward
"magazine" style feature layouts attempted by people who haven't
been given
adequate exposure to feature typography, white space, color, and
art direction. It's a different mentality, and something small
newspapers
struggle with.
''Finally, are there any trends popping up
in small newspaper re-design you would like to point
out?"
There are good trends and bad trends.
A potentially bad trend I have seen (mostly in small and
medium-sized newspapers) is the use of silhouetted photos and overly
dramatic
promo elements in the nameplate area. Often designers will create
these devices in
prototypes with no regard for how they will play out on a daily
basis. Will you really have a cut-out photo of a fashion
model or an athlete to put up there every single day? If it's a news
photo, how do you tell the reader that? It looks pretty on a
prototype, but there are lots of potential traps.
For a
small staff, these visual "fireworks" can be a real drain, and not
worth the
trouble. I've seen newspaper staffs where an entire shift in the art
department will go
toward creating little dressy promo icons for the nameplate area,
while true
informative infographics go undone because the staff doesn't have
enough
time. (A final note on promo art: I very much prefer using a small
photo or two as tease art, rather than icons drawn in Freehand or
Illustrator, which just tend to look too cartoonish.)
A trend that I like to think is good, one that I have attempted in
my own
small newspaper redesigns, is to simplify dramatically the numbers
of fonts,
styles, and colors used in the small newspaper, and to increase the
size of
headlines and photos. This might seem an overly simplistic
explanation, and
the specific formats must be appropriate for each market, but this
approach can be the building blocks of a good redesign, and often
will result in a more clean and inviting layout. © 2006, Ron Reason. Not to be republished without permission or recirculated without attribution. Back to top of page |
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Updated: January 2006. Email me here
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