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Charles Apple: The Visual Side of Journalism

 

‘Stock images’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

Feb. 8: Surely, I don’t need to remind you…

…where you can get free, high-resolution images of the winter storm that’s currently laying a smackdown on the Northeast. That one there — from 4:45 p.m. this afternoon — looks pretty great. But a) I’ve cropped down considerably from the original, and b) I’ve also reduced the resolution quite a bit. If you’re looking for something for tomorrow’s front page [...]

Dec. 25, 2012: A look at today’s best Christmas front pages (2)

There was an awful lot of great work out there today. Really, too much to try to take note of. However, let’s give it a try anyway, shall we? Take special note of my picks of the ten best pages of the day, mixed into the categories below in no particular order… __________________________ PHOTO-DRIVEN FRONT PAGES — No. 1: DENVER [...]

Dec. 21, 2012: You heard it here first: The world did NOT end today

…So far, that is. Were you surprised? Believe me, you’ll know when the world comes to an end: The Chicago Cubs will win the World Series first. Here’s a look at some of the day’s most notable Mayan “apocalypse” front pages… __________________ LET’S GET THIS ONE OUT OF THE WAY EARLY, SHALL WE? The Sentinel of Santa Cruz, Calif., quoted [...]

Nov. 22, 2012: Today’s ten best page-one Turkey Day presentations (1)

Lots of newspapers built elaborate Thanksgiving presentations for page one today. Here’s a look at my ten favorites… — GASTON GAZETTE Gastonia, N.C. Circulation: 24,354 What’s Thanksgiving all about? It’s about family. It’s about being grateful what what the year has given you. But it’s also about shopping. Or, to be more precise, preparing for a long day of Black [...]

Nov. 15, 2012: Five features treatments for the new ‘Breaking Dawn, Part 2′ movie (3)

I’m not a fan — at all — of the Twilight movie series. But then again, you’d expect that: I’m not a teenaged girl. At whom the entire Twilight franchise seems aimed. But young people are a demographic we should be reaching out to. So papers are wise to play up the new Twilight movie — Breaking Dawn, Part 2 [...]

Nov. 4, 2012: A look at today’s election-oriented front pages (4)

Is it just me or has this presidential election cycle seemed way too damned long? Either way, it’s finally nearing its end. Here’s how my old friend Mark Marturello illustrated this today for the Des Moines Register. Let’s take a look at the day’s most notable presentations featuring the election on the Sunday before Election Day… — DES MOINES REGISTER [...]

Nov. 3, 2012: A free font makes for a fun 8-bit entertainment cover

Kristen Hansen, a designer and copy editor for the Gwinnett Daily Post of Lawrenceville, Ga., sent us her Wreck-It-Ralph cover for Friday’s entertainment tab. She tells us: I’ve loved video games forever, so I pushed for this movie to be the cover (sometimes it’s a local play or something). Q. Did you have to draw the individual letters? Or is [...]

Sept. 27, 2012: 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 [...]

Sept. 26, 2012: What you need is a big glass of whiskey (1)

Bill Wachsberger — a designer for Gannett’s design studio in Nashville, Tenn. — writes to show us the… …Sunday Biz cover I did from the Tennessean. Something very different: Stock photo  and no ordinary headline. The lede is treated as the head. Click for a larger look: The story was about the growth of whiskey distilleries in Tennessee. I had [...]

Sept. 19, 2012: A look at today’s most interesting ‘47 percent’ pages

Before today slips totally away from us, let’s take a quick look at the day’s most interesting front pages in which Mitt Romney‘s “47 percent” video was the lead story. — BOSTON HERALD Boston, Mass. Circulation: 108,548 Nice choice  — of what I presume is file art — by the Boston Herald today. Looks like Mitt is ducking something being [...]

Sept. 10, 2012: The most interesting weekend front pages

Here’s a (slightly belated) roundup of the best and most interesting of the weekend’s front pages… _____________________________________ USE IT BIG AND GET THE HELL OUT OF ITS WAY — ST. LUCIE NEWS TRIBUNE Fort Pierce, Fla. Circulation: 29,261 That’s my favorite advice for when you have great art: Use it big and get the hell out of its way. Even [...]

July 15, 2012: Do these snowflakes seem a little flaky to you?

When you’re struck by winter weather, you may be tempted to put snowflakes and other icy-cold art atop your front page. I can’t tell you not to do that: I’ve done it a time or two myself. It’s trite, but it can work. Sometimes. It’s winter in the southern hemisphere. It’s very, very cold in South Africa this weekend. My [...]

June 5, 2012: Why MSN Now needs a photo editor (1)

Y’know, this probably is not the best choice of stock art for this particular story. Find the story here. Thanks to my anonymous source for the tip.

Feb. 20, 2012: A look at John Glenn 50th anniversary pages (1)

A number of papers out there have run packages over the past few days commemorating the flight of John Glenn, the first American in orbit. That happened 50 years ago today. Glenn wasn’t the first man in orbit, of course. That honor goes to Yuri Gagarin of what was then the Soviet Union. He flew one circuit around the Earth [...]

Jan. 27, 2012: Why God made stock art (1)

The student newspaper at Ronald Reagan High School in Doral, Fla. — in the western suburbs of Miami — ran a story last February about sexually transmitted diseases. A little more provocative than what you’d typically see in a school newspaper. But that’s good. Teens need more information about topics like that. What’s not so good, however: The Reagan Advocate [...]

Jan. 11, 2012: Phun with photos on news web sites

Jim Romenesko today tells the story of the Connecticut Post, which posted an article about a 14-year-old boy killed while walking home from a party last weekend. The odd part? Jim reports: The Hearst-owned Connecticut Post used a cropped image of the boy standing in front of a backdrop of $100 bills and giving the photographer the finger. (A reader [...]

Dec. 7, 2011: Today’s ten most interesting Pearl Harbor anniversary front pages

Many, many papers observed the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on their front pages today. Here’s a look at ten of the best. — VICTORIA ADVOCATE Victoria, Texas Circulation: 28,900 One of my favorite small-town papers — the Victoria Advocate — cleared everything off A1 today and ran a poster-like photoillustration of a local man who was [...]

Nov. 23, 2011: The Muppets take Manhattan… and Boston… and Dubuque and Elyria and Crystal Lake

Unless you’ve been hiding behind a plate of fried frog legs today, you probably know that the next blockbuster movie opened today: The Muppets. Now, this one I’d like to see. Last week’s Twilight movie? Not so damned much. I already showed you a cool Muppets treatment from last Sunday’s Boston Globe and I asked you to send me more. [...]

Nov. 18, 2011: Features treatments for the new Twilight movie (3)

As I write this, my daughter is at the early morning showing of Breaking Dawn, Part One, the new — and penultimate — movie in the Twilight series. I managed to talk her out of the midnight showing last night but couldn’t keep her away any longer. What did stay away were features treatments of this movie. Even after a [...]

Sept. 8, 2011: The best economy centerpiece illustration yet (2)

Everyone is trying to find a way to illustrate the sputtering U.S. economy. I’ve seen bar charts and fever charts. I’ve seen pages built around photos of folks lining up for unemployment. I’ve seen just about everything. Until today. Today was the first time I’ve seen an image like this to illustrate the economy. That, of course, is the Observer [...]

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