But I still appreciate good typography, and I groan when I see bad typography. Here’s an example of the latter:

The Ts in “matters” are touching, creating the symbol for pi, instead of the shapes we are familiar with. Individual letters should not touch. This is all too common. At least negative linespacing is used, a must with all-CAPS.

Take the time to adjust your display type at least: the headlines, column logos, flags, etc. In InDesign and/or Quark, it is not all that hard and it should take only 60 seconds or so.

Attention to details like this will keep readers and keep readers happy.

If you would like a video critique of your pages, please let me know. Use the Contact page to shoot mean e-mail.

Related posts:

1. Readers or businesses?
2. Don’t just phone it in
3. No. 2: Push your brand

This post is about a couple of articles that use the Goldilocks principle to test designs. The Goldilocks principle is just what you think it is: after trying something that is too hot, hard or whatever, and something else that is too cold, soft, blah blah you settle on one that is just right.

Like a design that has too many elements, then one that has too few, and finally one that is j-u-s-t right.

In fact, the researchers found that the number of elements and symmetry played an important part in how subjects rated pages. There are lessons to be learned from the testing of others.

More important, the article pointed out that getting someone with experience to critique your work is not just helpful, it’s smart.

Why don’t you let News Design School help you by performing a video critique of a design, even just a page idea, before you reveal your new design? E-mail me with PDFs of your pages or with inquiries.

Related posts:

1. Newspaper designers are dorks
2. Attention to details with type pays off
3. Gannett and newspaper design

Well, no and maybe.

Here are four reasons why I think you should hire someone to help you with your redesign project.

1. TIME. Let’s just say it straight: you don’t have the time to do it justice. A good redesign is a time-consuming process. You are too busy chronicling the quotidian to do everything necessary for a good redesign.

A redesign project takes months; a good redesign project takes many months. You don’t want to change the product that is so familiar to readers without good reason. It creates stress and readers don’t like it. A good consultant focuses everyone on staff and has the time to do it right.

2. SKILL SET. A design consultant has the skills to do a good job not only on the looks of the final product, but on the management and business issues that surround such projects. You may know a lot about type and color, but dealing with the people takes a special skill. In my experience, I have spent more time solving management issues than I have directly dealing with design issues. The design changes are the easy part. And let’s be honest, some of the problems any redesign project has to overcome are not design problems. So you need…

3. FRESH EYES. Sometimes we get so close to a project that we can’t see the potential problem areas. An outside consultant gives you a dispassionate look at your current design and what needs to be done to make it better. The consultant probably has experience in how to do the research you need both before and after the redesign.

Not only that, but a consultant will be unafraid to ask the questions that need to be asked and you know might be difficult to ask. Every publication gets into a rut after a while. Things are done “because they’ve always been done that way,” even when no one can remember the reason why.

4. MONEY: Hey, we began with Time, why not end with Money? The only way you are going to get the job done is if (a) you are released from your normal duties a bit or (b) you are paid overtime. Either way it is going to cost the publisher a lot of coin and you are going to end up burnt out.

When considering whether to use an outside consultant, don’t consider the fees as an extra cost, consider them a long-term investment in the newspaper. Given that there will be a new design, staff training, a design stylebook, templates and front-end computer training that will last for years, it should be easy to conceptualize as a long-term project with positive short term results. This is a good thing.

Finally, you don’t have to pay a big-bucks consultant to come in and do the whole thing for you. You may wish to simply hire someone to look over your shoulder or to do the research or to help you design templates. Plus, with programs such as Crossloop, you needn’t ever worry about travel expenses.

If you want some help with your redesign, shoot me an e-mail. I’d be happy to help you.

Related posts:

1. Planning a newspaper redesign, Part 1
2. Redesign, part 3
3. When to redesign

Related posts:

1. Planning a newspaper redesign, Part 1
2. When to redesign
3. Redesign, part 3

• Serif: 57%
• Sans serif: 29%
• Other: 14%

You know you are a designer if the thought of playing around with different typefaces makes you lick your lips with anticipation. Me? As a newspaper designer, I particularly love headline typefaces, and the Choosing of the Heads is the most fun I have while leading a redesign.

I mean, what’s not to like? First, the big serif vs. sans serif debate, with loads of wonderful faces to choose from. That choice probably depends somewhat on the publisher’s personal taste (hey, she’s writing the check) and the personality of the newspaper in its own competitive marketplace.

Before I go any further into my Happy Space, I need to say how important it is to settle on your body type before you select your heads.

This is because your body type takes up the majority of the newshole and it is, in essence, long, vertical columns of a shade of gray, depending on the face and your settings. Some typefaces give a rather light gray to the body type and some a darker gray. You need to take this “type color” into consideration when selecting your headlines so you have the appropriate contrast between the two.

A light body type calls for a medium weight: you want your heads to carry more visual weight than your body copy, but you don’t want to overwhelm it. If you have a medium-dark gray body type, you are going to have to go a little stronger on your headline typeface.

Serif faces, to my eye, tend to have more evocative personalities than do sans serif faces, which can often me strong, but bland and uninteresting. It’s probably because of the serifs and the contrast between thick and thin that is usually found lacking in sans serif faces.

Of course, the obvious solution to the dilemma is to use both. Use a bold sans serif for your hard-hitting lead news story and a serif for the other stories on your section fronts. I would do this mainly on section fronts, by the way, not inside.

Once you have made your choice, I would almost guarantee that you will improve the heads by setting a negative tracking number, thus tightening the head a bit. I also recommend that you condense the typeface a bit as well, not to make it a condensed face, but just to make the presentation a little more dense. Use a condensed face that was drawn that way if that’s the look you need.

That’s it. Now, you’ve given the copyeditors the notes, it’s up to them to make the headlines sing.

Related posts:

1. Newspaper design and typography: headlines
2. Ask Dr. Design
3. What works, what doesn’t V

Sunday (old) and Tuesday (new)

Washington Post redesign

The nameplate is a little larger and cleaner looking with the weather moved from the ear to the folio line. Much better. The headline face is cleaner and more interesting visually. There is also an improved use of deck heads for the scanners. Feature heads are centered and italic. News heads remain flush left.

As I had hoped, the body type got a lot of attention, with a larger x-height and a cleaner cut: the old type looks a bit muddy by comparison. I do think it could use a bit more linespacing. I think it is condensed a bit too much, but it really doesn’t seem as squeezed as the old face. Samples at the redesign guide, linked to below.

The Post folks took the opportunity to move a few features around and do some tweaking on their web site as well. I don’t like their columnist sigs, and those little head shots look like WSJ rip-offs, which is too bad. Originality is a better path, even if the WSJ is doing well and looks good, both of which are true.

All in all, I like what the Post did in what is really a minor redesign. I like the typographic changes and they have made it cleaner and lighter without losing the Post personality. The main downer is the WSJ copying.

Here is their PDF that explains the changes. It is worth looking over if you are interested in newspaper design.

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Inspired? Let me help you touch up your paper. E-mail me for more information.

Related posts:

1. What works, what doesn't, II
2. Newspaper design tip: baseline grids
3. When to redesign