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Tabloid dummy sheet (PDF file)Full-size dummy sheet (PDF file)Design is an extemely important, and often highly controversial, part of journalism. Any news organization (including broadcasting) projects much of its personality and attitudes, as well as its content, through its design. People who design publictions and lay them out on a day-to-day basis must be highly skilled professionals.
News and notes
New York Times redesign. The New York Times has redesigned its web site, a move that is likely to draw plenty of attention and comment. There seems to be little new or innovative about the design. It gives the site a cleaner look because of its increased use of white space. What is most disappointing, however, is that the Times has clung to the old-school thinking of maintaining a "multimedia" section. The Times does excellent graphics, videos, slideshows and audio slideshows. Those items should be integrated with the other reporting that the Times does -- if for no other reason than to make things convenient for the reader. Whatever multimedia means to the reader -- and it's not at all clear -- these reporting methods should not be something separate, and it's time for journalists to shed that kind of thinking.
More (Posted April 3, 2006)
SND.
The Society for News Design is the leading professional organization for people interested in visual journalism. The society holds a variety of meetings and workshops throughout the year and offers many services. It is especially interested in having students join and in having student chapters form on college campuses. Visit the society's web site and find out what it's all about.
Multi-tasking in your mind. Publication design requires the ability to think at many levels at the same time. To put together a good page, a layout editor has to consider the following simultaneously:
• elements present on a daily basis (news stories, pictures, graphics, etc.)
• where these elements can best be used and how they might fit together
• the general rules of good design
• the specific layout requirements of the publication.
Not an easy thing to do.
Dummy sheets. A dummy sheet is a sheet with a grid on it and is used to draw publication layouts, such as the one you can see on page 315 (Figure 17.4) of Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. This web site contains blank dummy sheets for tabloid and full size publications. (They are in Adobe PDF files.) You may download and reproduce them if you need them for your school publication.