The Blog Requirement

Before we get into my blog post, let me tell you a story. Somehow my final page design was not saved anywhere as a completed design, so below is a scanned copy of the print-out I turned in. I've also included a small section of the impartial design, so you can get a feel for the color.

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For my general design layout, I looked at the Newseum Web site, specifically at the Times Daily from Florence, AL. I'm sure you'll notice the similarities.

I, like some others, spent a good deal of time on my masthead. I happen to be one of those nerds who is captivated by and very picky about fonts. (As it happens, I'm still not completely satisfied with this particular font, but I suppose we have to work with what we have.)

When it came to news judgment for my front page, I picked my top story almost solely based on the quality of the photos available. I am finishing up my photojournalism emphasis, so it can't be helped. However, I did avoid that one photo of the little girl because I noticed everyone was using it.

I eased up on my photo judgment for the streaking story. That's one of those stories that just screams "Front page!" The photos weren't wonderful in quality, but it just had to be there. I also knew I was aiming for four stories on the front page, so I used as little space as possible by cropping down one of the photos from the story and using a pull quote as my only text. But since the package was looking a bit mundane at that point, I threw in some artsy quotation marks in an attempt to create a more interesting space.

For the bottom section of the page, I was aware that we had two pretty similar stories about post-graduation opportunities, so I thought I'd try my hand at a two-story package. It was helpful that I could jump inside as much as I wanted.

The refer box down the left side of the page was an element I got from the Times Daily design, but I left the content until the very end of the design process. Unfortunately, it shows. I had lofty ambitions for this portion of my page, but as the class ended, I let myself get sloppy. Most of the photos were just taken from Google Images. I did try to redeem myself somewhat with the clever "Required Reading" heading. Did it make you chuckle? If so, then I'll consider my mission complete.