News Design School » ask dr design

Who reads your newspaper?

Bob — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:30:29 +0000

The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

The New York Times is read by people who think they run the country.

The Washington Post is read by people who think they ought to run the country.

USA TODAY is read by people who think they ought to run the country, but don’t understand The Washington Post.

The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country, if they could spare the time.

The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country.

The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who is running the country.

The New York Post is read by people who don’t care who’s running the country, as long as they do something scandalous.

The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure there is a country or that anyone is running it.

The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country.
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I don’t know where this originated and it is a bit out of touch, but I found it funny. Who is reading the newspaper in your city? Let me know in the comments!

Ask Dr. Design II

Bob — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:25:56 +0000

Another session with Dr. Design…. Q: I want to use all sorts of spot color on my news pages, but the editor keeps holding me back. She says that spot color cheapens the news. What do you think? A: I am in love with your editor! The first thing you should do when the idea hits you [...] Related posts:

<a href='http://newsdesignschool.co Related posts:

Ask Dr. Design

Bob — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:33:10 +0000

Q: What do you think will happen in the world of newspaper design in 2010?

Dr. Design: 2010 will be a banner year, and I’m not talking web ads here. Here are my top 4 things to watch for.

1. Newspapers will have to go digital and designers will have to design within the
limitations of low-budget e-readers. The Kindle is bad enough, with its text-only interface,
but the tough one will be the Etch-A-Sketch DX ($49.95 at Amazon and Walmart). The new vertical format Etch-A-Sketch will match the Kindle in screen resolution, but tracing out all those body type letters will be tough. The heads will be easier. Sans serif will, finally, become popular as a body type because no one will want to draw all those tiny serifs with those two knobs.

The Etch-A-Sketch DX will challenge the Kindle

2. There will be more newspaper mergers as a way to cut costs and newspapers will continue to get thinner. Hyphenated names from the mergers will become longer making for multi-line nameplates. For instance, I predict Richmond, Va., will be left with the Richmond Times-Dispatch-Star-Exponent-Register-Press-Record-Daily (though it will be printed on actual crushed, dead trees only three times a week). Designers will have to get used to the 24-inch web, with just enough room on A-1 for one story, two refers and the bar code because the nameplate will dip below the fold.

3. To draw in younger readers, we’ll have the first graphic newspapers, sort of a merger
between traditional newspapers and the comics section. Designers will love this approach to storytelling as they will be able draw people in the news the way they want to, instead of being stuck with reality. There will be little actual news, as the younger generation will be more interested in pop culture, and they’ll be too busy tweeting and updating their Facebook status anyway. Thus, graphic newspapers will first flail, then fail.

4. Newspapers will fully embrace social media. In fact, entire newspapers will be “published” via 140-character tweets, shorter if they hope to have them RTed. This will save newspapers because younger readers are able to deal with only 140 characters at a time. Any more than that and their brain implodes. Other papers will merely update their status on Facebook instead of wasting money on ink, paper and web servers. Designers will have to learn to illustrate stories with ASCII art.

That’s it from Design Central. Onward toward 2011.

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If you need some actual help with your newspaper design, e-mail (bobnewsdesignschoolcom) me.

Newspaper shrinkage? Ask Dr. Design

Bob — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:46:59 +0000

Many newspapers shrank their broadsheet sizes by several inches before moving to tabloid size or even berliner and 8 1/2 by 11. How small will newspapers go?

“Tiny” Agate, R. I.

Experts have calculated that newspapers will be the size of a paperback book by 2012.

Dear Tiny: Good question from a Rhode Islander. Most people don’t know it, but, like newspapers, Rhode Island used to be much larger. In fact, it was so large, its founders considered naming it Rhode Continent. Sadly, revenues began to lag and the state had to cut back, losing most of its size to neighbor states and Canada.

Anyway, to your question. Most experts think that eventually newspapers will achieve the size of singularity, or the infinitely dense and infinitely small single point that many theorize was the size of the universe before the Big Bang.

Experts (and by that term I mean me) have calculated that newspapers will be the size of a paperback book by 2012, a playing card by 2014 and a postage stamp by 2015. Older readers will be mollified with a free magnifying glass with each subscription.

The Society for News Design will create a new category: stamp-size front pages with a circulation of at least seven. The haiku will become the favored format for investigative reporters.

The good news is that the smaller formats will allow newspaper companies to hire back 14 newsworkers of the more than 32,000 who have lost jobs in the past few years. And, of course, all those angels dancing on the head of a pin will have something to read.

Thanks for asking and happy layouts,
Dr. Design

If Dr. Design doesn’t give you the newspaper design answer you need, try contacting me (bobnewsdesignschoolcom) at News Design School. Dr. Design sometimes screens my e-mail, so give me a day or two to get back to you!

Ask Dr. Design

Bob — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:52:47 +0000

Dear Dr. Design: What’s the deal with capital letters? Were they invented in a capital city, like italics were invented in Italy? –Not Your Type, Dallas

Actually, Notchmytype, they were not invented in a capital city and they shouldn’t really be called capital letters, as if they were chiseled into column capitals by the ancient Greeks. They should be called majuscules (the little letters are minuscules).

The terms upper case and lower case came from printers, probably going back to Gutenberg, who kept caps in an “upper” type case or drawer and the little letters were in the “lower case”, which was, uh, below the upper type case.

So the next time your editor asks you a question about capping a word, say: “Hey, you mean majuscules?” Your editor will be so impressed, a raise and promotion will be likely!

Dr. Design
docnewsdesignschoolcom (docnewsdesignschoolcom)