Using InDesign to create my front page was difficult for me to understand at first, as I never had any experience with the software. After some trial and error, and a few teeth-grinding labs (and Amber's ingenious assistance of course :) I was able to greatly improve my InDesign skills. For my front page, I initially had a pretty simple layout, consisting of three stories in a block-style. It looked boring and lacked any creativity whatsoever. So at the last minute, I trashed my first draft and started from scratch. I used newseum to look at many of the front pages from newspapers across the country for some insight. This is where I got the idea to add a large, centered photo, because when looking at the website full of front pages, I noticed that ones with a large center photo usually caught my eye. These front pages I studied also led me to add a mugshot going along with the two teasers in my left column, I went to google and searched for a stock photo to go along with Jordan's basketball story. Finding photo's was surprisingly easy and I decided to do the same for the bumblebee teaser.
I then looked at the day's frontpage of the R&B, I liked the teasers with photos that they had surrounding the headline, which led me to include some on my front page as well. I also saw that it was OK to have these teaser photo's somewhat covering the papers name, which in some cases looked pretty creative.
I chose which stories to cover by reading through them and deciding which I thought would be most relevant and most likely to appear on the cover of a paper. I took into consideration the timeliness (for example, I really liked the holiday story but felt like since Valentines day and St. Patricks day are over, and there aren't any holidays coming up until July 4th, that it would look odd to put that kind of story on the cover). I also thought about the relevancy of each story, for instance the budget cuts story was obviously very relevant to anyone associated with UGA, which is why I chose that story to be on the cover.
My overall experience of creating this front page was frustrating at first, but once I became accustomed to the many tools and options of the program, it was easy to place text and photos. I enjoyed the leeway I had to be creative in deciding how I would design my front page. Once I started over and began designing for the second time, I felt much more ambitious and was satisfied with how it turned out, which was both relieving and gratifying. I would not have been able to complete this front page without the insightful help from both my classmates and Amber. Thanks guys!
I then looked at the day's frontpage of the R&B, I liked the teasers with photos that they had surrounding the headline, which led me to include some on my front page as well. I also saw that it was OK to have these teaser photo's somewhat covering the papers name, which in some cases looked pretty creative.
I chose which stories to cover by reading through them and deciding which I thought would be most relevant and most likely to appear on the cover of a paper. I took into consideration the timeliness (for example, I really liked the holiday story but felt like since Valentines day and St. Patricks day are over, and there aren't any holidays coming up until July 4th, that it would look odd to put that kind of story on the cover). I also thought about the relevancy of each story, for instance the budget cuts story was obviously very relevant to anyone associated with UGA, which is why I chose that story to be on the cover.
My overall experience of creating this front page was frustrating at first, but once I became accustomed to the many tools and options of the program, it was easy to place text and photos. I enjoyed the leeway I had to be creative in deciding how I would design my front page. Once I started over and began designing for the second time, I felt much more ambitious and was satisfied with how it turned out, which was both relieving and gratifying. I would not have been able to complete this front page without the insightful help from both my classmates and Amber. Thanks guys!
Max,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you feel good about your finished product. As you (and some of your classmates) found out, once you have a plan, you can actually re-design a front page relatively quickly. Thanks for your hard work over the course of the semester.