Pages from: Michael Smith | Carolina Forest Chronicle

HERE ARE SOME MORE recent pages from the Carolina Forest Chronicle.

FROM MICHAEL: This was our sports front announcing the abrupt dismissal of CCU football coach David Bennett. There’s been considerable fallout since then, including revelations the CCU president was actively and secretly recruiting Bennett’s replacement weeks before dismissing him. Joe Moglia, former CEO of TD Ameritrade, got the coaching job.

FROM ED: Overall I like the page, though some points follow.

1. I’m not sure what the lead photo—though it’s visually appealing—adds to the package.

2. Who is Beaver? I looked for him in the story here and I can’t find him. I assume he’s the person charged with embezzlement.

3. I like the play of the lead photo.

4. Good headline approach.

FROM MICHAEL: Here’s another photo page. In this one, I thought I’d invert the page so that I could run the dominant art even bigger and make a more visually interesting page. I like this better than some of my past photo pages, but I’d love to hear any ideas on how to design a truly excellent photo page. I feel like we take great photos but aren’t displaying them as effectively as we’d like.

FROM ED: It’s a good page. Not great…good. I like the play of the lead shot. I don’t like trapping the caption in the center of the four photos at right.

You asked for ideas on how to design a photo page. Following is from a column I wrote 10 years ago—but I think the key points here apply.

THE PHOTO PAGE—a phrase that would work better if “the” were all-caps, bold, underlined. Any photo page is immediately faulted unless it leads off with THE (all-caps, bold, underlined) dominant photo.

If there’s no dominant photo, what you eventually have is not a photo page but a page with a lot of photos on it.

Too many photo pages are just an agglomeration of pictures. None has any more impact than the others. None is more attractive. None is more effective. In short, all of the photos are relatively the same size, have relatively the same impact, elicit relatively the same response—and all are relatively dull and boring.

Oh, no: it’s not because of their content. Or their composition. Rather, it’s because of the display they are given. More great photos are lost on photo pages because of weak display than for any other reason.

Especially at smaller newspapers, the temptation is very strong to run every photo you’re given of a particular event. So if your photographer offers you two dozen photos of the Christmas parade, you’re going to do your best to run those two dozen photos on the photo page. Allowing room for a copy block, a headline and some captions, that means those photos will run no larger than 2 columns wide b y 2 inches deep. A lot of photos—none worth looking at.

When we run so many photos, often our reason for doing so is that we don’t want to upset:
(a) the photographer, who thinks every one of them is important and helps to tell the story; or
(b) the people who are pictured in the photos and expect that if the photo was taken it will be run.

As page designers, it’s our responsibility to select and edit the photos so that we can create a photo page that is readable and memorable. Our duty is to all of our readers, not just those who may have been the subjects in the photos. And our responsibility to the photographer is to help showcase her best work–not necessarily all of her photos.

So the most important key to a successful photo page is to choose THE photo and give THE photo good play.

Here are some other tips:
— Use a copy block to put readers in context by explaining what the story or event pictured is all about.
— Use individual caption under each photo. A grouped caption makes readers have to travel back and forth from the caption to the photos, each time trying to find the spot in the caption where they’re supposed to continue reading.
— Use only one credit if there was only one photographer on the assignment. The credit may be larger than standard credits and placed in an area of the page that will give it more emphasis.
— It’s OK to use a headline typeface that’s different from your standard headline style.
— Stay with your standard fonts for the copy block and captions., But you may want to set the copy block (if it’s not too long) flush right if it aligns to the left of a photo.
— Cluster the photos, creating an assemblage of images and using similar spacing between them.
— Apply some negative space around the outside edges of the page, giving the page some room to breathe.

Pages from: Michael Smith | Carolina Forest Chronicle

MICHAEL SENT ALONG three fronts…all dealing with a fire in his area in July. They’re in chronological order, with notes from Michael below each. My comments (natch) follow.

FROM MICHAEL:

The July 14 edition is fairly conventional. We debated whether to go four or five columns on the lead fire photo. In the end, everyone decided they thought four columns was appropriate. What are your thoughts? Is there any good litmus test for 4, 5 or even 6 columns?

FROM ED:
1.  Interesting page, what with coverage of two different fires.

2. I think the secondary photo in the condo fire package is really the more visually compelling. I’d have given it top play.

3. I’d have placed the Haley and DiSabato mugs at the top of one column, avoiding two separate text wraps.

4. Seems like a lot of space between the SC Forestry subhead and text.

FROM MICHAEL:

The July 21 fire package contains, enterprise, feature and news stories. I thought it would be fun and informative to show readers what fire resources exist in Carolina Forest. The graph exists because response times are central to the lead story. Any other thoughts? Thanks!

FROM ED:
1.  The package on the fire trucks/equipment is informative. I liked it, though I’m not sure about running the numbers in a clockwise fashion.

2. Also liked the graphic on response times.

FROM MICHAEL:

With the Hornet Fire page, none of the other media explained what a sky lantern was (a wayward sky lantern started the fire). I’m not good in Illustrator, so I used clip art and the programs I do know (Photoshop, Quark) to illustrate. We even received a letter to the editor the following week thanking us for the report.

FROM ED:
1.  I give you quite a bit of credit for the graphic. I think it’s pretty well done—and it reallyhelps to explain how the fire began.

2. Don’t know why, but here the clockwise patter for the explainer items seems to work better.

3. Ouch! That yellow ad at the bottom of these pages is really distracting and ugly. Maybe the advertising department can offer this advertiser some better ideas.

Pages from: Michael Smith | Carolina Forest Chronicle

MICHAEL HAS PROBABLY been wondering if these pages would ever see the light of day on this blog. Well, Michael (and the rest of you): rest assured that if you send a page, I’ll eventually get it posted. I’ve actually had a heavy run of pages lately, so these got pushed back a few weeks. And there are another few from Michael still in the bucket.

FROM ED:

Overall, a god package. A few points:

1. How come the mug shot of one player (Surujnauth) is not placed with the others? Is there a reason why he receives special attention?

2. I really like the angle on the lead photo. It gives us all seven players without it becoming horizontally unwieldy. Good thinking there. But…is there a reason why the photo is tilted? Please don’t tell me “visual interest.” I could put a big red circle in the photo and that would give it visual interest. Or I could run it upside down and that would give it visual interest. So…why tilted?

3. Widow at the top of the last leg on the bottom package.

FROM ED:

1. I like the use of the large photo here. Wonderful impact.

2. Not sure I’d have boxed off the story and photo at bottom. Almost makes them seem like a separate package. Perhaps just a drop shadow behind the bottom package would have been better.

3. Why the lower case “b” on “big” in the headline?

4. Good job handling the caption on the lead photo, though the last sentence in the caption is somewhat redundant to the lower headline.

FROM ED:

1. The soccer ball and the shot appear as afterthoughts here. Too bad they couldn’t have been worked into the lead photo…or was that photos something you downloaded?

2. The package on the left is nicely done—except for the round corners on the gray screen, which I find dated and distracting.

3. The space above the left package keeps drawing my eye. Yes, I’d call it trapped white space. The black vertical bar along the left edge of that package is also distracting. Why does it extend above the gray box? This is all confusing.

Page from: Michael Smith | Carolina Forest Chronicle

HERE’S AN EXTRAORDINARY PAGE from Michael. His note follows, with comments from Ed below the page.

FROM MICHAEL:

I have another A1 for this week’s paper [Ed note: June 30] that we just finished. It’s a 10-year anniversary special report on the Myrtle Beach tornado of July 6, 2001.

Here are a few thoughts: I’m required to place the postal permit in the upper right hand corner. Our paper doesn’t get delivered without it. I’m also required to have the bar code. I wanted to go six columns with the submitted tornado pic so tucked [the bar code] in the bottom left corner of the photo. It normally goes in the bottom left corner of the page under my teasers, but I eliminated my teasers to accommodate the tornado package.

It’s the best I thought I could do considering I’m our publication’s editor, lead designer, reporter and main photographer. I really do wish I could just get rid of the postal permit.

Thanks for the helpful feedback!

FROM ED:

Overall, I love the top of the page. Great play on the photo and you really did fine with the postal box and the bar code. Only two nits I’d mention:

1. I think you downplayed the nameplate too much. Almost looks like an afterthought.

2. Not sure I’d have bothered with the Rivoli Theatre story on the front. I’d have gone purely with the tornado package, making it as large as possible.

How about the rest of you? Thoughts?

Pages from: Michael Smith | Carolina Forest Chronicle

TWO MORE PAGES with graphics from Michael. Some comments from Ed…then it’s your turn to let us know what you think!

•

FROM ED:

1. I’m wondering if the information in the graphics needs to be presented graphically at all. As in…was this just done from practice? Because you had extra time on your hands? To fill space? Seems to me sports fans don’t really need all of this. So…what was the reasoining behind it all?

2. Why the black and the light blue bars? They don’t seem to correspond to team colors. Is there a reason why you chose those colors in particular? Would some other colors have been more appropriate?

3. In the 3-point shot graphic for UNC-Asheville, you “MAKE” and “MAKE.” There’s no “MISS.” Ooops!

4. Excessive space between the lead photo and its caption.

FROM ED:

1. OK, I admit it…I’m gettin’ tired of seeing that same ol’ bear.

2. GSATS acronym drove me nuts. I finally had to read into the story to find out what it stood for.

3. The package seems disjointed—probably because there’s no order to the layout of the photos. A block of four at the top, some down the right side and then three across the bottom? I find that tough to follow.

4. I’d have ditched the photos and done a map, to give the entire package better perspective. Yes, this might have taken longer, but I think this could have waited another week if that’s what it meant.

5. Dunno if this is so, but I want the red in the pie chart to be the most important piece of information. That’s because the red is where readers’ eyes go first.

•

So…that’s Ed’s contribution. What are your thoughts? If you wanna be part of this, then you gotta be part of it!

Pages from: Michael Smith | Carolina Forest Chronicle

FREQUENT CONTRIBUTOR Michael Smith jumps in with more pages. We’ll show a couple today, others in the coming weeks.

FROM MICHAEL: Hi Ed. Sorry for the blog absence, but here’s several new pages since my last submissions. As a heads up, the bar graphs on A1 for May 12 are missing year numbers, something I’m kicking myself for leaving out. I made sure to include them in graphs on A2 for May 26. All the other pages are for general critiquing. I’m looking forward to hearing everyone’s feedback. Thanks!

•

FROM ED: A few points…most of them minor:

1. You don’t state clearly enough in the schools package why the school board wants to make the move. I think that’s important enough to get it said in a subhead.

2. I want to know what the kids are doing in the photos…and their names, please. Having them as part of a graphics package doesn’t obviate the need for captions and names.

3. I wanted to see numbers with the test scores bar charts. What is considered “good?” What is “below average?”

4. The Teacher of the Year foto is v-e-r-y yellow. I’d have adjusted hue in Photoshop. Also, I’d have placed the photo in the bottom right corner of the page.

5. I wanted the VSO subhead to tell me why they’re being banned.

6. Can you take the postal permit info out of the box? It would make it less distracting.

•

FROM ED:

1. I’d have taken the graphics that are now below the jump and placed them above it, just to separate them from the ad.

2. The four-column block of type might have been helped with a pullout. Even with the graphics, the jump looks like a bit much to read all in one gulp.

How about the rest of you? What thoughts can you share with Michael?

Pages from: Michael Smith | Carolina Forest Chronicle

MICHAEL IS BACK, with three more pages for us to consider. His note follows, then the pages and comments from Ed.

FROM MICHAEL:

Hi Ed. Here’s three more pages I can hang my hat on for your blog. Here’s some brief thoughts on these pages.

The two sports pages are a center spread. I had an abundance of stats on both teams, so I thought I’d represent them graphically. The football helmets come from a site I learned about on sportsdesigner.com

On the A1, CCU winning the Big South and hosting a playoff game was a huge deal, so I ran the silhouette photo huge. The postal stamp and “attention delivery” info present design challenges. Due to postal requirements, they must run at the top – no exceptions. I tried to use this to my advantage, reversing the “attention delivery” and camouflaging the stamp since it’s not essential for readers.  I was the photographer, so I’m cool with that. Print quality wasn’t an issue. Even with the Frutiger fonts at 9.2, the reverses print clearly on our presses. Fire away!

FROM ED:

1. I really like the graphics/numbers package. Gives me “instant information gratification.” Can you tell us all what application you used to create the graphics?

2. I don’t understand why you ran the package “flipped.” Seems to me it would have made more sense to the reader to put the jumps and graphics on the second page, with the lead story, etc., on the left-hand page. Perhaps you couldn’t control that but I wish this had been more of a “package” presentation.

3. Could you at least have run a section flag/page label that would have been similar design/depth across both pages? I’m struggling to see these pages as a package otherwise.

4. Like the lead headline a lot.

FROM ED:

1. I like what you did with the lead photo…but wouldn’t want to overdo. This same technique was on one of your pages in last week’s submission. Now…let’s put it away until it’s really needed again…like in another year or so.

2. Good thinking on how to handle the postal stamp and other material there. For those of us focusing on the photo, we don’t really “see” that material. But for the mailman (and postmaster!), they’re where they need to be.

3. Have you considered decreasing the depth of the UPC code? Most of my clients can do well with a UPC that’s half the depth you have here.

So…this week Ed is pretty easy. What say the rest of you?