Design thread .... v.2

also this is my portfolio at NPD incase i'm posting way too many pages....

http://www.newspagedesigner.com/portfolios/portfolio1.php?UserID=10597

 

It's not a weakness ... it's an art form that is really fun to experiment with. Does your paper allow you to run titles? Typography is also fun to study and play with and can really improve a package.

 

i'm sorry if i sound ignorant, but what do you mean by "titles?" sorry for the confusion

 

Instead of a headline - like you have on the news stories - many run titles on their feature packages. Instead of "Salon owner ...", you could have run a title: "Nappy By Nature", for instance (though I wouldn't have in this instance because it's the name of the store.) Then run a subhead to help explain what the title means.

On the basketball story you could have had something like, "Spin Zone" ... I don't know, that's part of the fun.

 

Regarding your most recent page, Dr. Jones: Are you deciding what gets prominent placement on these pages? If so, you may want to consider your thought process on this. For instance, why would a story about possible Bible classes in Georgia get bigger play that Bush vetoing the Iraq spending bill? That's the main thing that jumps out at me about that page. The human eye will always gravitate toward the photo first, but that story isn't nearly as important as the veto, IMO. News judgment is something that comes over time, though.

And if it's not your call, then disregard this entire post.

 

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OK, last time I looked, this site was called SPORTSjournalists.com... SPORTS.... Can we cool it with these Local and News pages and get back on the sports?

 

Go ahead and post one, dude.

Added: Otherwise, I don't know what you have to complain about.

 

For that last page, I'm a little thrown off by the unequal amount of text devoted to each story. Your lead and the bottom story probably both have 10 inches, but the two on the rail only have about 3. It might just be me, but I feel like that gives the page a very unbalanced look, and might not be giving enough of your story to get the reader to follow the jump.

and seriously, what's the big deal if they're news pages? We're talking about the DESIGN, not the content.

 

This work better?

 

Gotta be honest, Hustle. Not a big fan of the Redskins CP. It may have been better to use one slot machine cover instead of three.

 

Sorry dude, but I'm with Willie-Butch. Not a big fan. It looks like you took a picture of a slot machine with a point-and-shoot, then poorly photoshopped those other photos into your CP. Just not feeling it.