Design thread .... v.2

Here's a team page from last year's prep football tab. The ads were put on (by someone else) later, hence the huge hole along the bottom. Thoughts?

 

I disagree with you. While I like having one story of a different measure to break it up, having no solid grid on the page drives me batty.
Just my $.02.
Other than that, i think that page looks good, though I do agree witht he comments about the headlines.

For the doubletruck, I think it has a really nice, clean appearance. It's very easy to make sense of and the live art worked really well.
My only nitpick is the use of the dropcap with the placement of the headline. When I just glanced at it, I read it as "Big 11c." Obviously, when I looked at it again I realized that wasn't what it said, but....
Maybe if the "girls' softball team" had been bolded as well, it would have been more clear.

I also like the tab page, though I might have tried to square off the photos with the end of the offense section. The page has nice flow, though, and I like the quote over the CP photo.

 

Holy shit. Actual sports pages make an appearance on the design thread. I almost didn't recognize you guys

Anyway, I'm with shotty and Willie-Butch regarding that first page. Just too much gray. I like the overall layout, but you need some breakouts, mug shots, info boxes, etc. to break up the gray. Especially in the centerpiece. That's a very wide, very long chunk of text that is unbroken. At least add a pull quote for variety.

I really like Beamon's football tab page. That thing blows away the football preview I did, and I may be stealing some elements for next fall I honestly have no criticism ... other than the ridiculously gay staged feature photo.

And shotty, nice work on the all-softball team with limited art elements. My only real criticism is that Lauren Plasterer is throwing the ball right off the page. I know your hands were probably tied regarding available art, but you might have been able to move her someplace else and give the feature headline a little breathing room from the drop cap. I agree with devils claw that the bolded drop cap so close to the bolded headline is a little confusing initially. Otherwise, very strong work.

Let's see some more! This is what I was hoping this thread will be. And I promise to actually post some of my work when I return to the office on Monday.

 

Aw, thanks.

 

I know we've had this discussion before.

But I'm of the mentality that you don't rip up a perfectly good design because of misdirectional art. Frankly, nobody notices that but us design geeks. And I'm all for being anal -- god knows I am, about a variety of subjects -- but this particular "flaw" is just nit-picking for the sake of nit-picking. It's really not that big a deal.

 

In almost 4 years here I've never had the same layout twice.

 

Why not just hit the reverse button ... her number is 8 ... no one will notice. [/sarcasm, for you newbies]

I think there are times where looking off the page is definitely bad, but this case isn't one of them. She's relatively centered and her eyes are facing forward. It's not like it's a side picture of a quarterback getting ready to throw the ball off the page or a profile of Kobe letting off a jumper off the page. Each of those would be a no-no to me you'd want to avoid, especially if you're hoping to win an award ...

 

My cover tonight doesn't break the dollar bill rule, but nearly every one of my inside pages do. It's tough -- very tough -- to get away with that on an inside page.

 

Is it wire or local? If it's wire, obviously you throw a picture, mug, lister quote on there. If it's local and you don't have any of that maybe you can get your photogs or reporters to take mugs of the players and coaches ...

 

That dollar-bill rule is BS on inside pages. Just design them the best you can.

 

That's the thing. It's tough, even if you're using wire copy. If I have a 10-inch wire story and I throw in a picture, that chops it down to like 5-6 inches, which usually won't do.

Pallister's right. Do the best you can on the inside pages. Out front, however, is a different beast.

 

Absolutely. That's why I prefaced it by saying:

And then added:

I was just nit-picking. I think you did a great job. But I was under the impression that you posted your page here to get some feedback and constructive criticism from other designers. If you posted it here so you could get a gold star and we could all take turns telling you how awesome you are ... well, sorry. I guess I didn't get the memo.