Comments for News Design School

Comment on Newspaper designers are dorks by Bob

Bob — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:44:29 +0000

I’ll have to make links to my background on the About page more obvious. Also I have some samples on a page of that name on the site. Finally, I am no longer a designer, just a teacher. I don’t think I ever claimed that my work was superior to anything. One doesn’t have to be a film director to be a film direction critic. Thanks for reading.

Comment on How to educate journalists, part 2 by Bob

Bob — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:39:49 +0000

You are reacting to a comment, not my original post.

Comment on Newspaper designers are dorks by Richard Bruns

Richard Bruns — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 13:15:20 +0000

Reading an essentially anonymous one-man-show website criticizing design issues without offering samples of their own superior design.

Comment on How to educate journalists, part 2 by Richard Bruns

Richard Bruns — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 13:08:15 +0000

As a member of both classified staff and faculty of Napa Valley College, I would like to note that “distance learning courses and programs” are an important part of many established colleges from the two-year community college to the high-end private universities. In a time of Internet dominance in the lives of the young as well as a time-limited work force, the opportunity to take online courses adds significant educational opportunities. One needs to take a few precautions to make certain that advertised online courses are not put out by some sort of diploma mill, but that is easily done. As one promoting journalism online I should have thought that would have been a given.

Comment on How to educate journalists, part 2 by Cam

Cam — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:25:09 +0000

That’s unbelievable yet I’m not all that surprised. I guess on the flip side of the coin, what are these people really going to be able to do with that degree? I’m not sure any hiring manager will be fooled…

Incidentally, the google ad on this page is advertising a “CALCampus” school which offers “distance learning courses and programs” since 1986. They’re spreading!

Comment on Newspaper designers are dorks by Bob

Bob — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:13:51 +0000

Good one! I have done it. Found spelling errors, too.

Comment on Newspaper designers are dorks by Heather B.

Heather B. — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:32:58 +0000

You find yourself critiquing the selections on a menu and it has nothing to do with the food.

Comment on Layout driven newspaper pages by Bob

Bob — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:02:33 +0000

Heather: Wow. That sounds awful. Seems like they would learn a lesson from the rack sales, but newspapers didn’t reach their current state because people thought about anything….

Comment on Layout driven newspaper pages by Heather B.

Heather B. — Thu, 20 May 2010 03:53:44 +0000

Unfortunately, they aren’t the only ones. I do our “Community” section for Sunday (our publisher’s brilliant idea instead of Features or Life), and 7 of the 8 pages are formatted templates. It looks the same every weekend. Thank God I get to do the cover my way … they even let me pick different headline fonts.
They’ve also restricted us to a five-column grid on A1. If we’ve got a big project, we have been given clearance to forget it … but 6 of 7 days I could tell you what the front will look like. Stripped story across the top. 4 column cp in a double rule box. 1 story down the side. One story stripped across the bottom.
And that’s the way they want it … they say it’s consistent. I say it’s boring.
You can tell the difference on the news stand, though. On days our biggest competitor has a great A1, they sell out. And piles of our paper sit there, waiting for the bottom of a bird cage.

Comment on Layout driven newspaper pages by Bob

Bob — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:58:13 +0000

Thanks for both thoughtful replies. Heather: It certainly sounds like a frustrating position. It is as if you were trained to be a musician, hired as a musician, then all you do is play CDs for the audience. Is it just Sports that does its own pages?

Matt: In my experience, people notice whether the layout is interesting, but they wouldn’t notice that you also used the same layout last week. Of course it is not the best practice. Most newspapers (see Heather’s comment) don’t have that luxury any more. I think it is definitely worth considering, especially for smaller papers.

Thanks again for your responses.