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Charles Apple: The Visual Side of Journalism

Birthdays for Thursday, Sept. 2

By Charles Apple | 8:38 a.m. today | No comments

Here’s wishing the happiest of birthdays to five superlative visual journalists…

Jill Geisler is group leader for leadership and management programs at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. A 1972 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Jill spent 25 years at WITI-TV in Milwaukee, Wis., ending up as vice-president of news. She earned a Master’s degree from Duquesne University in 2004. She’s worked with Poynter, now, for more than 12 years.

Colin Bridge is a design intern for the Popejoy Hall Center for the Arts at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. A 2009 graduate of that institution, Colin has worked as a photographer for the U.S. Navy and interned for New Mexico magazine, the New Mexican of Santa Fe and the Albuquerque Journal. Colin turns 27 today.

Harrison Goodman is a designer for USA Today‘s slick, magazine publications. A 2003 graduate of the University of Maryland, Harrison spent time at the Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg, Va., before joining the the Washington (D.C.) Times in 2006 as assistant sports editor for design. He slid over to USA Today after the Times eliminated its sports department last winter. Find his portfolio here. Harrison turns 29 today.

Judy Longshaw is manager of news and media services at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. A graduate of Furman University in Greenville, S.C., Judy spent several years working at the Herald in Rock Hill.

Dave Gray is founder and chairman of XPLANE, an information design consultancy based in Portland, Ore. A 1984 graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., Dave worked as a news artist at the New Bedford (Mass.) Standard-Times, the Los Angeles Daily News, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch before leaving to run XPLANE full-time in 1996. Dave turns 45 today.

Colin, Harrison, Dave, Norm, Judy and Jill share a birthday with actors Keanu Charles Reeves, Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez-Pinault and Thomas Mark Harmon; sports greats Lennox Claudius Lewis (boxing) James Scott “Jimmy” Connors (tennis), Peter Ueberroth (baseball commissioner) and Terry Paxton Bradshaw (running his mouth); teacher/astronaut Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe and cat novelist Cleveland Amory.

Plus, today is V-J Day. Seriously.

Best wishes, all, for the very best birthday ever!

Posted in Happy birthday | No Comments »

Society for News Design names two new regional directors

By Charles Apple | 7:54 p.m. Sept. 1 | No comments

The Society for News Design named two new directors recently: Shraddha Swaroop of the Los Angeles Times and Michael Tribble of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Shraddha takes over Region 2 — the Western U.S. region — from her former colleague Pai of the San Jose Mercury News. That appointment was made Aug. 9. Find the official announcement here.

Michael takes over Region 4 — the Midwest — from Mauricio Gutierrez of the Detroit Free Press. That appointment was made Aug. 20. Find the official announcement here.

Shraddha and Michael join Melissa Angle (Region 3, the Southeast) and Lee Steele (Region 1, the Northeast) as the only four regional directors in the U.S., under the new realignment by the society this year.

If you’re like me, you’re hopelessly confused now as to which U.S.-based regional director covers what. So here’s an easy guide…

—
SND REGION ONE

Eastern U.S.: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia.

Director: Lee Steele, Connecticut Post (Bridgeport)

lsteele [at] ctpost.com

lee [at] leesteele.com

Facebook page here.
Twitter feed here.
Blog here.

—
SND REGION TWO

Western U.S.: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Director: Shraddha Swaroop, Los Angeles Times

shraddhaswaroop [at] gmail.com

Facebook page here.
Twitter feed here.

—
SND REGION THREE

Southeastern U.S.: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Puerto Rico.

Director: Melissa Angle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

mangle713 [at] gmail.com

Facebook page here.
Twitter feed here.
Blog here.

—
SND REGION FOUR

Midwestern U.S.: Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Kentucky.

Director: Michael Tribble, Cleveland Plain Dealer

mtribble [at] plaind.com

Facebook page here.
Twitter feed here.

—

I should add that if you’re not Facebook friends and a tweep of your regional director, then you’re most definitely not doing it right.

Find the entire list of worldwide regional directors on the SND mothership site.

Posted in Society for News Design | No Comments »

Deseret News layoffs reportedly include ‘all designers’

By Charles Apple | 5:09 p.m. Sept. 1 | No comments

The news out of Salt Lake City was shocking enough: Out of fewer than 200 staffers, the Deseret News laid off 57 full-time and 28 part-time staffers.

That’s 43 percent of the staff hacked, effective immediately, reports Paul Beebe of the rival Salt Lake Tribune.

The reduction includes “the entire design department,” one staffer tells me.

I’ve heard of papers eliminating their entire graphics operations. But never their design departments. Presumably, pages will now be assembled by copy editors. If they didn’t get laid off, too.

Take a look at how the paper played this massacre on A1:

Yeah. To “lead and to innovate.”

Other details reported from the debacle:

The paper will consolidate newsgathering operations with a local TV station.
The paper’s online team was not affected.
The paper’s two top editors will also lose their jobs. Instead, they’ll work in advisory roles.

The full story may never come out, however. Beebe reports:

One staffer, who asked not to be named, said News executives instructed affected employees to be careful about talking to other media about their situations so as not to put their severance packages at risk.

Oh, yes. As news organizations, we’ll send reporters to the scene of layoffs and shutdowns and all sorts of events and we’ll ask and expect everyone to be transparent and forthcoming. Just don’t expect us to be transparent and forthcoming.

Read the Salt Lake Tribune report here. Find the News‘ own story here and a brief report from an alternative paper here.

My old guide for laid-off visual journalists perhaps needs updating. But there’s still some good advice there from folks who have been through this. Find that here.

Posted in Industry woes | No Comments »

Why would this photo be Photoshopped in the first place?

By Charles Apple | 3:18 p.m. Sept. 1 | 2 comments

A web site called Photoshop Disasters last week posted, well, a disaster on the Aug. 17 front page of le Parisien, a French daily with a circulation of more than a half-million.

Unfortunately, I can’t find a copy anywhere online that doesn’t have the inset featuring the hand on the player’s shoulder:

But two whom does that hand belong? No. 22, after all, has his arms folded behind his back.

Read all about it at Photoshop Disasters.

Posted in International newspapers, Sports design, Visual ethics | 2 Comments »

Chris Morris rejoins the Las Vegas Sun

By Charles Apple | 11:18 a.m. Sept. 1 | No comments

Chris Morris announced last night via Facebook:

[I am] rejoining the Las Vegas Sun. Rehired today as art director, responsible for illustrations and graphics in the Sun, the Las Vegas Weekly and our website, lasvegassun.com.

…Stand by Nevada: A lot of ink is heading your way.

A 1987 graduate of East Texas State University in Commerce, Texas — now known as Texas A&M-Commerce — Chris worked at the San Francisco Examiner and then spent 12 years at the Dallas Morning News, the last two as presentation director. In 2006, he became art director and illustrator for the Sun.

He tells us:

I telecommuted from 2007 until December of last year. And I’ll be telecommuting as I did before, so I’m not uprooting for the job.

[I've been] living in Dallas and will continue to do so. I’ll shoot out there from time to time to reconnect with the newsroom but I’ll be working from here.

And I enjoy the content — fun stuff to illustrate most days.

I’ve been on a retainer with them for most of this year, but just with the Sun; this new arrangement will open me up to the company’s other publications and media. It made sense all around.

Like he says, the rehire was effective Tuesday.

A few samples of Chris’ work: