Archive for September 2012

30: News Flash: Yankees move to the National League in time for the playoffs (1)

Or, perhaps, it’s just another screwup by the folks at Fox Sports. If the Yankees are not moving to the National League, then I’d think this might not be the best art to use for this particular promo. Thanks to R.L. Bynum of Durham, N.C., for retweeting this today. I have a number of other goofs by Fox Sports in [...]

30: Seven papers that surprised and delighted their readers today

Surprise and delight. Two things we should be doing to our readers every day. And what better way to do that then with spectacular visuals on the front of their Sunday newspaper? Here are seven great examples of this today. And one that, apparently, didn’t go quite so well… — DES MOINES REGISTER Des Moines, Iowa Circulation: 101,915 The big [...]

30: A cute way to sneak in a ‘goodbye’

In addition to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the three Advance Publications papers in Alabama also end daily publication with today’s edition. Those papers are: the Birmingham News, the Mobile Press-Register and the Huntsville Times. Somebody in Birmingham got cute with a folio line in today’s paper. The next print edition of these Advance papers won’t come out until Wednesday. Thanks to [...]

30: Birthdays for Sunday, Sept. 30

Here’s wishing the happiest of birthdays to five superlative visual journalists… Siyabonga Africa is a digital strategist for Media24, a large South African chain of newspapers. A 2006 graduate in International Relations and Public Management at the University of Pretoria, Siyabonga earned a graduate degree in journalism from the University of Stellenbosch in 2007 and then worked as a reporter [...]

29: Let’s draw straws… loser has to pose for the sports centerpiece

From today’s Omaha World-Herald, here’s yet another great football preview front. Master sports designer Jay St. Pierre tells us: Unfortunately, I was the odd man out and had to be the model for the photo. Bonus feature: Making a cameo appearance in the glossy finish on the spiffy new black ‘Huskers hat: The ceiling tiles of, presumably, the photo department [...]

29: Birthdays for Saturday, Sept. 29

Here’s wishing the happiest of birthdays to six terrific visual journalists… Tan Ly is deputy news editor and business design director for the Washington Post. A 1996 graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Tan spent four years as a designer for the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and then three more with the San Jose Mercury News before joining the [...]

28: Great photography makes for great Friday front pages (4)

Here’s a look at five front pages today that sang primarily because of great photography and great photography that was used well. — TIMES-NEWS Twin Falls, Idaho Circulation: 18,244 In Twin Falls tonight, two rival high schools will meet for a football game. The schools are separated, evidently, by this picturesque bridge. The designer here wisely played off a gorgeous [...]

28: University of Oregon students ripped off by Yahoo News (1)

Back in the old days, a news organization had to send a staffer out to shoot a news event or pay a freelancer for his or her pictures. But that’s old school. New media has a much more efficient way of dealing with long-distance stories: Just steal content from the nearest student news source. In this case, the digital-first, mostly-online [...]

28: College paper celebrates 100th homecoming by going retro with its nameplate (3)

Sam Lane — managing editor of the student paper at the University of Iowa, the Daily Iowan, and no relation, presumably, to Lois Lane — shares with us today: This weekend is 100th Homecoming at the University of Iowa, and we wanted to do something a little special. So we decided we would dig back into our digital archives and [...]

28: USA Today ‘blue ball’: Meet the Lexington, Ky., eyeball

It looks like the USA Today “blue ball”… …may have some competition. Blue ball: Meet the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader EYEball. Granted, that’s not a new logo. That’s merely a skybox promo atop today’s edition of the 92,626-circulation Herald Leader. But it’s certainly an — ahem — eye-catching promo. Here is what the entire page looks like today. My apologies for [...]

28: Flunking the breakfast test

To an overworked copy editor, this headline might be a perfectly good way to tell — in very few words — what this story is about. But to someone who didn’t read the story first? Not so much. That ran in Thursday’s Louisville (Ky.) Courier Journal. If it makes you feel any better, the online version didn’t have the same [...]

28: Birthdays for Friday, Sept. 28

Here’s wishing the happiest of birthdays to a pair of excellent visual journalists… Latane Avery is a stay-at-home mom in Norfolk, Va. A 1984 graduate of the University of Virginia, Latane spent several years at the Virginian-Pilot including serving as features editor. She turns 50 today. Clif Page is a freelance photographer and designer in Pittsburgh, Pa. A 1977 graduate [...]

27: Making real news. But with a cartoon bomb. (4)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations today that Iran is building a nuclear bomb and pleaded for help in stopping the effort. That much you might have heard. What you might not have seen, however, was the visual aid Netanyahu whipped out during his presentation today: A stacked bar chart. In the shape of a cartoon bomb. [...]

27: Singers, coaches, referees and thieves: Ten notable Thursday front pages (1)

Here are ten front pages worthy of your attention today… — DES MOINES REGISTER Des Moines, Iowa Circulation: 101,915 Singer Andy Williams died Thursday. Did you know he was a native of Iowa? I did, but only because I lived in Iowa for five years. The Register honored Williams with a large illustration on the front today. The page was [...]

27: Typo gremlins sieze… I mean, seize… the day in Toronto (3)

If there’s one place you don’t want to make a typo in your newspaper, it’s in the lead headline. Yet, that happened today to the 332,764-circulation Globe and Mail of Toronto. Poynter’s Regret the Error columnist Craig Silverman writes: It appeared in an edition of the paper that’s distributed in only one part of the country, as far as we [...]

27: South African newspaper fires staff photographer for blowing whistle on front-page Photoshop incident (3)

A photographer was fired over a photoshopped picture on the front of a South African newspaper. But it’s not what you think. This was the front of the Citizen newspaper of Johannesburg, eight days ago: The problem? Two bodies lying on the ground on the right were cloned out of the picture. Find the original here. A debate on photo [...]

27: Need a new nameplate? If there’s an expert in your town, then hire him.

Lee Steele — design editor for Hearst’s Connecticut Media Group — writes in his design blog: I don’t remember where I first heard of Gerard Huerta, and I don’t know how I came across his Southport studio inside a converted freight station, which is decidedly on the right side of the tracks. But about a month ago, when I casually [...]

27: Birthdays for Thursday, Sept. 27

Here’s wishing the happiest of birthdays to six wonderful visual journalists… Elise Burroughs is a communications and event planning consultant based in Providence, R.I. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Elise spent six years as editor of Presstime magazine. She became director of technology conferences for the Newspaper Association of America in 2001 and then was executive director of [...]

26: For your consideration…

News you can use tonight from the Washington Post:  

26: Your belly laugh for the day

Brilliant satire today from Bad Reporter comic artist Don Asmussen of the San Fransisco Chronicle. Find Don’s online comic archive here. Previous times I’ve blogged about Bad Reporter: Various headlines Katy Perry and Sesame Street Chilean miners and a new logo for al-Qaeda The Tucson shootings Bankruptcy of Borders bookstores Charlie Sheen‘s nutty behavior The Osama bin Laden story Fake [...]