Design thread .... v.2

Great stuff, Jay. If we had a bulletin board, I'd pin it up right now.

re inside pages, though. I don't think you can say you treat inside pages like a cover for one simple reason -- ads. If you have an open inside page, sure ... you can centerpiece something, you can design like that. But if you're working around a 2x7, 2x4, 1x3 and 1x1 ... you're not squaring off everything.

 

The way that photo is played, it could easily be to the right of the text, drawing the eye in. I haven't read the story — to me the headline reads positive, rather than frustration — but I didn't think there's a specific reason for having him looking off a page.

 

I did the Acta page, that's the way the photo was shot, him staring off to the left with the rest of the photo empty on the right... just did a gradient to 100% black so the reverse type would run legible. I had some concerns about him staring off the page but in retrospect I do think it works with the story.

 

I agree. This page looks good; of course, hindsight being 20/20 and all, I think the changes you made later would have worked even better.

 

I like the page. Mostly because it looks like the guy is looking out from the dugout and onto the field, which is what he is doing.
I also think the looking off the page rule is a rule that can be broken and, truth be told, I wonder how it even came to be.
Anyone know?

 

My point was that it wasn't grammatically correct. It may sound better, but it's still wrong.

 

Well, I said I would post some of my own pages on here, so I'll stay true to my word. Please keep in mind that this is a small (7,000 circulation) weekly in the suburbs, so no AP wire stories, no national news, etc. I'm basically a one-man show with a little help from one part-time writer and one part-time photog. By posting this, I guess I've effectively outed myself, but it's worth it to get a little constructive criticism and feedback. Have at it!

 

The whole purpose behind design is to capture the readers' attention and then hold it by leading them through the stories. There's a science to it.

People are conditioned to read a certain way. A good designer knows how to tell the reader what to look at next through size, shape and direction. Readers look at photos first and then typically follow the direction of the photo.

 

Actually, studies say that people scan the page with an S-shaped eye motion.
Also, readers tend to go to the largest element first and that isn't always the largest photo.
That's the reason paper's stick the lead story on the front page in the upper right-hand corner.
In effect, it also means that modular, centerpiece design, the one that dominates thanks to Tim Harrower, might be the worst way to go.

 

Re: Bob's page....

Solid effort. A few things....Looks like the lead headline is smaller than the Gaston headline. Not sure if I like cutouts for gamers, but I don't hate it, either. The bottom cutline should probably have been aligned against the photo. At least that's what I've been taught when running cutlines beside the photo.

I like the CP. Very strong with the lead-in quote and the creative intro. I may have added a picture to the info box to pull it down further, which would have killed the dogleg.

Nice job, Bob.

 

I'm glad you went and did some research.

 

If you understand that, what don't you understand about directional photos? They push the eye to the next element. If your eye is led off the page, it breaks the continuity.