A Very Grady Finale

In formulating my front page, I considered several elements before attempting to create an original work. My first step was to consult the Newseum Web site to look at all of the possible options for my front page’s style. I also picked up several issues of the Red and Black and carefully considered their editorial decision making in lieu of taking the design for granted and flipping to the crossword.
I opted for a clean, crisp font for the masthead and let the creative title of our publication speak for itself. Drawing upon our lectures concerning the importance of pictures, I chose stories that had a strong, eye-catching pictures accompanying them so that I could attract the attention of my readers. As Professor Parks discussed in lecture, “design can draw readers in.” A captivating story may not grab reader interest if there is not an alluring picture to go along with it. Therefore, I chose two pictures that fit the bill for what Joe called the “cute” factor in his lecture. My main photo is of an adorable little girl, looking up as if to engage the reader. Another one of my photographs is of a dog. Following Amber’s advice in lab, I switched the placement of my photo and story concerning pet adoption so that the dog was facing inward. As we learned in lecture, it is preferable that all of the elements face inward to draw reader attention to the page itself.
The content of my stories constitutes a completely local angle, which is necessary for a small publication. It goes without saying that a smaller paper cannot outdo a large paper for covering national stories, so covering what interests Athens residents is the best way to go. With this in mind, I selected stories that covered a varied range of topics, from the economy to arts and culture. I also included the article about Zingo because it was of interest to my primary audience, the students in my class.