Design thread

Re: Design thread *Updated 1/17*

I've always run the bracket lines, and I check the records for mistakes. Then I fix those. Then I call AP and listen to their excuses for fucking them up. Then they resend the brackets. Then I laugh at AP and all the people who have to update their brackets.

 

Re: Design thread *Updated 1/17*

Thoughts?

 

Re: Design thread *Updated 1/17*

I don't know what this says about me but I find myself more and more disinterested in bowl previews.

NOW, THAT'S NOT THE DESIGNER'S FAULT, obviously. I like this page a whole lot, the way it was executed. Very clean. Like the greyouts for the Virginia teams.

A lot of people I know in the biz would have trouble giving roughly the same char count for each of the summaries.

 

Re: Design thread *Updated 1/17*

I like this as a start-of-the-bowl-season type of deal. NOT if it's all the previewing you're going to do on the bowls.

 

Re: Design thread *Updated 1/17*

A "start of the bowl season type deal" we did. The little headers over each game say "One reason you should care" or some such. We ran longer advances on most of these games, this was just our 30-40-word answer to that question. Some were serious, some were tongue-in-cheek (mostly ones we knew we would speak more on in the coming month). The little girl was a stock image that fit the concept well.

Too crowded? Too little information for such a large space? Too much color? I think those of you who stand against the doo-dads will hate this one, as it has been doo-dadified to the max.

 

Re: Design thread *Updated 1/20*

I love it.

I love helmets.

;D

 

Re: Design thread *Updated 1/20*

Waste of space. The New Orleans Bowl doesn't merit the same amount of play as the Rose Bowl, if it even merits any play. I think a smaller version of this would work as a schedule someone could hang onto. But far too much info that most people, even college football fans, won't give a crap about.

 

Re: Design thread *Updated 1/20*

 

Re: Design thread *Updated 1/20*


On the "full plate" package, it probably is too little information for full-page display.

Also, I would have put a football on the plate . . . either a real one or a chocolate one (that you could have the kid take a bite out of).

 

Re: Design thread *Updated 1/20*

Yes, that would have salvaged the whole thing.

This is a time-consuming waste. The newspaper should have deducted the pay for any time spent on it.

 

Re: Design thread *Updated 1/20*

Thanks for the constructive feedback. Just a friendly rebuttal to a couple of points: The footballs as food was an idea we had pitched around, but the package was moved up a day and we lost a lot of our tweak time. As for the too little info, the page was basically set up to provide three things. 1) A visual hook (cute/funny picture of little girl), 2) a prettied up schedule (including helmets for the 'who's who' aspect, like showing the colors of boxing trunks at the start of a random boxing match), and 3) one sentence of preview so at least each game is mentioned somewhere. Keep the page moving, keep the people reading. Of course we ran about a dozen more Rose Bowl stories in the coming month, but if we came upon a tight night and didn't have space for a legit Holiday Bowl preview, at least people would know that (hypothetically) "Wide receiver Joe A. has game-breaking abilities and should be a top-10 NFL draft pick." Just to provide a hook, something we thought was at least as valuable as a 15-inch feature on the fifth-year senior fullback (or whatnot) that few-to-no people would read.

It was designed to be a 5-minute page with simple hooks and one quick reason each game might be interesting. Anyway, thanks for the constructive criticism and if you disagree with any of the points I made above, please say so or PM me!

Have wonderful days all.

 

Re: Design thread *Updated 1/20*

Also on the Ovechkin piece, it's good work. The story is nearly worthless without this graphic element explaining it further. If I may ask, what program was used to make the top box? Is that a file shot of empty ice?