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CREATED BY
BRASS TACKS DESIGN

11.13.08

What makes this page a BFD: Makin' it work without art

 
 
The Wyoming Tribune Eagle had today's largest headline and biggest butt. The Duluth News Tribune had the biggest balls. The Tampa Tribune had the biggest digits. The Winston-Salem Journal had the largest quote.

The Williamsport Sun-Gazette went wacky. The Philadelphia Daily News strutted its stuff. The Plain Dealer bridged the gap between old and new. The News & Record put five pounds of text into a four-pound infographic, making it unnecessarily difficult to read. The Kansas City Star's photo-illo was all wet.

Not surprisingly, country music was tops in Nashville, but sung with more gusto in The State.

The newspaper with the best front design today is the Las Vegas Sun for makin' it work without art.

Those Obama pages were duck soup compared to the challenge the Sun met today – creating a visually appealing page without the big photos to make it so. But the Sun delivered with a clean, simple and elegant page.



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Click to see all the BFDs in the archives.

   

Designers should heed these lessons from Obama

Newspaper designers have a lot to learn from Barack Obama. For starters, he can help them save their jobs. Here's why:

Recently, Dean Singleton suggested that newspapers consider consolidating their copy desks and moving them offshore to cut costs. Singleton runs MediaNews, which publishes virtually all the papers in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as The Denver Post and other papers across the country. The scope of this initiative is not limited to copyeditors.Singleton says design tasks could move offshore, too.

Design and copy desks have already been consolidated in Florida and Michigan.

And if you think Dean is blowing smoke about moving the whole shebang offshore, think again. Those cost-saving web-width reductions we've been dealing with – from 54 inches to 50 inches and now down to 44 – were Dean's brainchild. I know – I redesigned the first of his papers, which was the first in America to get slimmed in 1995. You may disagree with Dean, but you gotta agree that most newspapers follow his lead.

Dean's comments have already drawn protests from copyeditors – and rightfully so – because their local knowledge is essential for maintaining the accuracy of the local report.

But what about designers? Is it essential that our work be performed in the U.S.A.? That depends upon whether we're journalists or merely Mac mechanics, and the burden of proof falls on us.

Newspapers and designers have been patting themselves on the back for the huge sales of the editions published on Nov. 5. But it wasn't the design of the pages that sold them – it was the historic nature of the content.

Unlike Obama, these page designs didn't break any ground. None of these pages is fundamentally better than this page from The Virginian-Pilot in 1996 – 12 years ago. The Pilot's page had all the chutzpah of last week's Obama pages, without sacrificing all the news content of a typical poster front.

I wish the design of the Obama pages had been as profound these words (I'm paraphrasing): "Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Barack could run."

But I digress. The issue is whether American newspaper designers will keep their jobs in the face of the next round of staff cuts. To do so, they'll need to demonstrate more creativity than they did on Nov. 5 – the kind of creativity that sells the paper, improves the website and makes both of them effective environments for advertising, even on days when no history is made.

It's a tall order, but no tougher than overcoming Hillary Clinton, John McCain and centuries of racial prejudice.

Don't wait for your boss to determine whether you're worth keeping. Prove to the powers that be that your effort has an impact on the bottom line.

If you need some inspiration, look no further than our next president, Barack Obama. If he were a newspaper designer, what kind of campaign would he run to prove his worth? One thing's for sure – he wouldn't waste time putting lipstick on a pig.

RedAndBluePage.com November 7, 2008  
Emanuel Was Director of Freddie Mac NewsBusters

Palin's 2012 Playbook Newsweek

NBC's Matthews: "My job to make Obama successful" NewsBusters

Obama isn't black Spectator

Emanuel Was Director of Freddie Mac NewsBusters

Obama has already broken two promises Newsbusters

Obama: Brothers should pull up their pants Boston Herald

Obama gains from unreligious Weekly Standard

Obama recession is in full swing Rush Limbaugh

Cowards trash Palin National Review

Oregon Town Elects Nation's First Openly Transgender Mayor Fox

Religious Right Still Key to Conservatism's Future CNS News

Franken gains on Coleman StarTribune

See SarahPalin.com entitled "Domain available" redandbluepage.com

GOP lawyer dispatched to retrieve Palin's clothes Los Angeles Times

Watch new press secretary confront Hannity Huffington Post

Letterman mocks McCain's defeat Huffington Post

Nader calls Obama "Uncle Tom" TV Guide

Congressman who slammed liberals loses in N. Carolina McClatchy

Franken gains on Coleman StarTribune

I slammed Sarah Palin and I'd do it again Boston Herald

Obama may create a "climate czar" AmericaBlog

Letterman Unveils Palin's Post-Election Plan AmericaBlog

Obama owes election to Bush TalkingPointsMemo

Brown rips McCain aides for blaming Palin for loss: "You picked her." Think Progress

Sayonara, Sarah The Nation

A guide to cabinet appointments Obama should resist Slate

November 6, 2008  
Michelle Obama's Style Mishap on Election Night Fox

No mandate for Obama Chicago Sun-Times

Stevens still connects with Alaskans Anchorage Daily News

GOP's rising stars Fox

Obama taps Jewish congressman for chief of staff Fox

Gay Marriage Ban Protesters, Police Clash in California Streets Fox

Russia itching to test Obama The Washington Times

Religious Right, RIP Cal Thomas

The best campaign ever – not Fred Barnes

And the winner is…Peggy the Moocher National Review

Obama's promises could be a burden Fox

NYT's Big Election Map Doesn't Show Actual Results TimesWatch

Colbert Tears Up After Obama Announced As President-Elect Huffington Post

Vacating Republicans in DC must sell their houses in terrible market The New York Times

Palin "Didn't Understand Africa Was A Continent" Huffington Post

Judgment day for Lieberman? Huffington Post

The Meaning of Obama's Win Time

Goodbye, Bradley effect The Boston Globe

Why Fox is Throwing Palin Under the Bus Daily Kos

Fox/News Corp Downgraded Amid Losses, Stock Tanks Daily Kos