It's no secret that I had a passionate hate for In Design while putting together my front page.
Having never worked with the program, and already being incompetent in computer skills, I knew I would be in for hours of painful clicking, dragging and deleting (accompanied by many curse words.)
Begrudgingly, I must admit I did learn how to use In Design somewhat sufficiently when lab was over last Wednesday. I might have even liked it.
Nevertheless, critiquing my front page in 400 words or less is going to be a little tricky.
First of all, I am pretty sure I used zero news judgment for my stories. I knew I wanted images that deserved space, even if the stories were not front page material. In my defense I'll say I was trying to focus on the design.
I wanted a simple and clean masthead that would allow space I needed for stories, but also allow a small space for a simple teaser, as seen by the turtle picture. On account of crappy photoshopping skills, my little Grady logo sits awkwardly in the upper right hand corner. Looking back, I would have moved it to the left and switched the teaser to the right to anchor the page a bit more.
In my opinion, it's hard to have a paper without a reefer. I didn't want to present a huge block of text on my front page, I ran the weather, a few promos and an index down the left side of the page. I definitely HAD to have a tornado graphic, so I hit up GOOGLE, and found the one I used for the weather. I would have loved to do something more graphically and standard with the reefer, but I had neither time nor the skills to make myself happy.
As far as modules go, I would not have used both L shaped modules because I feel like the page looks so uniform because of it. However, I was going for ease and that's what I got.
Redesigning this, I would have ran an image-less news worthy article at the top, centered a feature story with photo below it, stuck another story down the right side, and have another story with a smaller image for the bottom. However, I would need at least 3 more labs to redesign this so I think I'm out of luck for now.
I did learn a lot, but certainly not enough to ever, ever, want to do this again, especially on a daily basis. I feel like I am not even good enough for my hometown newspaper, The Brunswick News, which is probably why they refused to hire me last summer.
For someone who hated InDesign, you sure did a great job on your front page! Your paper appeals to me because of the large photos and teasers at the top. The reefer is impressive as well. You say that you did not use news judgment when deciding what stories to choose, but they look like logical choices to me. I also like the extras that you put in, even your "awkward" logo. I also agree with you about not wanting to do this everyday for the rest of our lives. I was thinking yesterday, if I hate technology so much, is journalism the right choice for me?
ReplyDeleteI think you're being too hard on yourself here. It's sort of true that the page looks a little uniform, but that's far from a sin, and I really like your refer box (even though I'm not sure you need the Grady logo there as well as in the masthead). I agree that I might have moved the teaser to the right corner of the page, but I like the image you used. I also quite like the layout and use of the image in your lead story; it's placed so that the child's face draws the eye in and creates interest in the story.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I think you did quite a good job. You're better at this than you think.
Meghan,
ReplyDeleteYou are required to read Matt Noller's comment at least three times. You are most definitely being too hard on yourself. Although you claim that your page is too standard, you have to start somewhere. You can't be innovative before you learn the basics. If I remember correctly (and I do), you finished your well-designed inside page well before the end of lab. So, be a bit more positive, missy. :) Thanks for your hard work!