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Charles Apple: The Visual Side of Journalism

 

‘College journalism’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

Feb. 6: How does a college paper shake up its content for a cool new Friday edition?

The hugely talented Greg Mees — visual managing editor for the student paper at Colorado State University, Rocky Mountain Collegian — wrote me a week or so ago. Greg wrote: We are just getting back into the swing of things here at the Collegian for the spring semester and, with that, we have launched the Weekender. This is our new [...]

Feb. 2: Why you don’t mess around with a live page

Granted, it’s a student newspaper at Boston’s Suffolk University. But that’s no excuse. You mess around with a live page or with dummy copy and you’ll get burned. Eventually. Jim Romenesko posted this today and quotes the paper’s official apology. He’s also put in a call to the paper to find out what reaction has been on campus. Read it [...]

Jan. 30: One of the more subtle — and powerful — magazine covers you’ll ever see

At first, the new issue of the Penn Stater — Penn State’s alumni magazine — looks like it has a solid black front cover. But look closer. There is, in fact, very thin diagonal pattern embedded in that black surface. And then, atop those diagonal lines, is the nameplate of the magazine. Which has collapsed and fallen into a heap [...]

Jan. 24: Do they not teach kerning at the University of Minnesota? (4)

That’s the impression I get after seeing what is reportedly the University of Minnesota’s new football-specific wordmark: That’s what can happen if you forget to moor your letter “A” to the dock, folks. The school unveiled new football uniforms Friday, designed by Nike. That wordmark is part of neither the school’s official online coverage, nor is it seen in the [...]

Jan. 23: Inside the Penn State Daily Collegian’s special Joe Paterno section (5)

Unfortunately, I don’t have design credits for this. But we can enjoy the pages. Because the special commemorative edition of today’s Daily Collegian — the student paper at Penn State — is a real feast for the eyes. — UPDATE -3:45 p.m. Somewhere around 100 folks worked all day Sunday and up to 2 a.m. this morning on the 32-page [...]

Jan. 1: Study social media with Michigan State’s Karl Gude

Michigan State University professor Karl Gude asked his Facebook friends today for help in getting the word out about an online course he’s teaching this semester. Here’s the flyer: The social media course is for non-students as well as students. Karl says that, in particular, he’s hoping to reach “non-tech savvy people.” In other words, the folks who need the [...]

Dec. 22, 2011: How a visual journalist proposes in 2011 (3)

Down on one knee in a quiet setting? That’s so last century. The new romantic proposal: By pictogram. That’s the way McSweeney‘s visual columnist Larry Buchanan proposed today to his sweetie Erin Wright. Erin is represented by the glasses; Larry by the flip-flops. After you graphically propose, of course, you must go public via social media. Larry tweeted this afternoon: [...]

Dec. 16, 2011: Huntsville intern Alyson Morris moving to Naples, Fla.

Bethany Bickley, designer and illustrator for the Huntsville (Ala.) Times, writes today: Our current design intern Alyson Morris has accepted a features design position at the Naples Daily News in Naples, Florida. Ali has done fantastic work with our front page and has helped incorporate more graphics into the paper. She will be missed, but is very excited about her [...]

Dec. 12, 2011: Behind the Indiana Daily Student’s coverage of a huge basketball win (2)

Indiana University’s huge, last-second 73-72 win over No. 1-ranked Kentucky Saturday couldn’t have come at a better time for the Indiana Daily Student newspaper. The IDS — which publishes only on weekdays — had all day Sunday to work on the final edition before students bolted for home. So, what did they do? Not to mix metaphors, but they knocked [...]

Dec. 12, 2011: Darren Sanefski of Syracuse University moving to Ole Miss (1)

Darren Sanefski — currently an assistant professor of multimedia, photography and design at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University — is moving south next month. He tells us: I will start in January as an Assistant Professor and Service Journalism Lecturer in the Meek School of Journalism and New Media at Ole Miss. Ole Miss — [...]

Dec. 9, 2011: Behind Thursday’s retro front page of the Colorado State student newspaper

The Rocky Mountain Collegian — the student paper at Colorado State University in Fort Collins — celebrated its 120th anniversary yesterday with a very special retro-themed front page designed by visual managing editor Greg Mees. Click for a larger look. Greg completely dumped the paper’s usual format and went with an all-retro — except for the paid ad — front [...]

Dec. 9, 2011: A look at today’s Virginia Tech pages

We all gasped when we heard the news yesterday about gunshots and fatalities on the campus of Virginia Tech. Hasn’t that school suffered enough for one generation? That ain’t how news works, of course. And, as usual, local media rose to the challenge of covering another violent and senseless event. A look at the day’s coverage… — COLLEGIATE TIMES Blacksburg, [...]

Dec. 8, 2011: Infographics guru Alberto Cairo moving to University of Miami (2)

Alberto Cairo — director for infographics and multimedia at Época-Editora Globo, in São Paulo, Brazil and one of the more enlightened infographics brains anywhere — is returning to the U.S. to teach — this time at the University of Miami. The former University of North Carolina professor will be in Miami Jan. 1, he tells us. Alberto writes: I’ve been [...]

Dec. 8, 2011: Via e-mail: A quick discussion of internet freedom, crappy government and generational pride (1)

Hey, I love my “job” blogging for you fine folks. Not only does it keep me sharp and productive, it also leads to some really cool conversations. Here’s one from this morning. (I’m editing these to match my usual formatting and to embed links and videos and such) — Hello! My name is Danielle Morris, I am currently a senior [...]

Dec. 6, 2011: Karl Gude on the creative process (1)

If there’s one person on the planet who could sum up the creative process into one Venn diagram and make it actually meaningful — as opposed to trite or silly — it’d be Michigan State überinstructor Karl Gude. The man has been teaching “the creative process” this semester. As that semester draws to a close, Karl posts this to his [...]

Dec. 5, 2011: Twenty-five handwritten fonts. For free.

How about giving yourself some new fonts for Christmas? No? Well, how about if they’re freeware fonts? Rachel Schallom, a grad student at the University of Missouri, found a web site — Designm.Ag — offering 25 free handwritten fonts. Designm.Ag‘s Steven Snell compiled the list but cautions: As always when you are dealing with freebies, be sure to check the [...]

Dec. 5, 2011: How an (admittedly sharp) intern winds up on page one of the Los Angeles Times (2)

Sounds like the plot of a feel-good movie: Bright young intern brought in for a repeat performance at a newspaper. Sent out on a fairly routine assignment that would, presumably, run on a fairly routine page. Instead, intern scores a page one story. In the Sunday Los Angeles Times. Hmm. Stuff like that happens every week in the movies. In [...]

Nov. 29, 2011: How the University of Oregon’s student paper covered the firing of the school’s president (2)

Andy Rossback of the University of Oregon writes this morning: University of Oregon’s president was fired last night. It’s been a big topic on campus for about a week now. Unlike the other big college dismissals lately, this one is not a sex or child molestation case. Rather, this one is pure politics. From the lead story in today’s student [...]

Nov. 28, 2011: Inside today’s special edition of the Syracuse University Daily Orange (1)

Overnight, we heard from Katie McInerney, a senior at Syracuse University. Last year, she was editor-in-chief of the Daily Orange, the independent student paper there. Before that, she was the presentation director. Katie writes: As I’m sure you’ve heard, SU is dealing with the sexual assault allegations against (former) associate coach Bernie Fine. Sunday evening was clearly the breaking point, [...]

Nov. 19, 2011: Iowa State student paper puts out a special online edition today

UPDATE – 8:30 P.M. This post was completely rewritten from what I posted Saturday afternoon, in order to reflect comments from the paper’s editor. Who was up real late last night, obviously — Folks in Ames, Iowa, are over the moon today after the Iowa State Cyclones pulled off a stunning double-overtime victory over No. 2-ranked Oklahoma State last night. [...]

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