There it is: my front page. It also happens to be the page the class chose as the front page for our paper. I appreciated the design being chosen, although there are a few things I would change if I had the chance. Still, I guess I'm supposed to talk about how I designed it. So okay.My background in design is exclusively in newspapers. I was the editor in chief for my high school newspaper, so I did a lot of page layout there. For that reason, when I conceptualized the front page, the style I came up with was very newsy - modular, designed with clean, segmented blocks and lines, and focused on the stories themselves. I also wanted to include a refer sidebar, an index, teasers above the masthead, and a weather/sports section.
Claire and I decided what stories we would run, as well as where they would go. The budget story - as it affects so many students - would be the lead news story. The streaking story - an interesting, fun feature - would be the dominant element.
In order to lay out the stories, I looked over Newseum's front page gallery, specifically the AJC (before their weird new redesign) and the Virginian-Pilot (what up, Perry?). My masthead was designed through experimentation; I wanted something classical but striking, so I looked for a font I liked and then layed the words out in what I thought was an interesting way.
I think my teasers turned out really well. I don't have a lot to say about them other than that it was the result of me playing with visual ideas that I've always liked, and I think I pulled off what I was going for.
If I could change anything about my design (other than the unfinished refers and the fact that this image doesn't include jump-lines on most of the stories), I would do something to make the middle of the page less gray. Because the art on the streaking story is all black-and-white, the whole middle section of the page is a little bland and samey. I would either do something interesting with the art or include a pull-quote or something like that. I also wish there were more air between the stories, headlines, etc., because I think the page is a little on the cramped and busy side.
Very nicely done. It's impressive that you got two story teasers above the masthead and still managed to keep them classy and clean. The weather box looks professional. The only suggestion I might have would be to use a more colorful picture in place of the streak-story scans of old newspapers, just because you're left with an awfully big expanse of black and white type for the front page.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about your teasers. Your design looks very professional and well done, and the teasers really enhanced that. I also thought your headline for the streaking story was great (Stripping the Past Bare). Even with the main graphic being black and white, your page did not turn out boring and still manages to be eye-catching.
ReplyDeleteMatt,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your critique but was still quite proud with your end result. I wanted to thank you for all of the hard work that you put in this semester. Thank you not only for being willing to step into a leadership role, but also for doing a darn good job of actually leading. I know that you will have a bright career ahead in whatever path you take.