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Charles Apple: The Visual Side of Journalism

 

‘Cleveland Plain Dealer’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

May 13: A look at the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Sunday missing persons wrap

Sunday, I took note of the front-page treatment by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Here it is again: Find my ode to this page — and especially to the story downpage — here. Today, I offer a correction of sorts. That was officially the front page of Sunday’s Plain Dealer and the front page that appeared at the Newseum. But that [...]

May 12: Forget the ‘feel good’ Mother’s Day story. This one is heartbreaking and powerful. And important.

As you might imagine, the Plain Dealer today led with a look back to the huge story of the week, adding details, updates and perspective to the horrifying story on the three teenaged girls who were kidnapped and then held in chains and ropes for up to a decade. These stories are powerful and I recommend them highly. But what [...]

May 8: Inside the Plain Dealer’s kidnapping rescue coverage (2)

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past two days, you’ve seen the amazing news out of Cleveland: Three women were rescued after being kidnapped and held captive in a house for a decade. Here’s how the Plain Dealer played the story on page one Tuesday: The lead art — of family members of one of the women celebrating [...]

March 14: A look at today’s Pope front pages (3)

[Freshly updated with a few more credits that rolled in throughout the day Thursday...] As you know, we have a new Pope. He’s from Argentina and is the first Pope ever from the Americas. As you might imagine, papers in Argentina went crazy with the story today. But you can spot right away why I’m reluctant to spend a lot [...]

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. 6, 2012: Today’s five best Election Day front pages (1)

Let’s start today’s roundup with one I do not like: This one from the New York Post that I’d call less of a newspaper front page and more of an editorial. I don’t have a problem with page-one editorials per se — in fact, I’ve been known to praise them from time to time. But an editorial should be labeled [...]

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. 2, 2012: Ohio is a ‘swing state’ for a reason

Ohio is a gold mine of 18 vital electoral votes Tuesday. Not only that, but also: No Republican has ever been elected president without carrying Ohio. But it’s not just the current political climate that makes Ohio a great state for political science junkies. During one stretch of a little over a half-century from 1869 to 1923 seven out of 12 [...]

Oct. 31, 2012: A handful of happy Halloween page treatments (1)

I hope you’re all stocked up with toothrot for all the little zombies who’ll be knocking at your door this evening. My daughter and I ran over to Target this morning to pick out supplies for the Apple household. Snickers, Milky Ways, Reese’s, 3 Musketeers, Starbursts and Skittles. No tricks here, please. My wife, Sharon, is slightly peeved at me [...]

Oct. 28, 2012: Plain Dealer visual journalist Chris Morris reports from the sidelines of a Cleveland Browns game

You might remember the Browns Town feature drawn weekly during this year’s Cleveland Browns football season by Chris Morris of the Plain Dealer. He takes a humorous — but factual — look at the team’s performance, the upcoming game and even speaks with fans to get their take on how the season is going. This week, Chris tells us, his [...]

Oct. 17, 2012: Plain Dealer designer Emmet Smith leaving the design side

Award-winning news designer Emmet Smith is going over to the dark side. No, not to digital. Nor to advertising. Emmet will become — Gulp! — a word journalist. Debbie Van Tassel, assistant managing editor for features of the Cleveland Plain Dealer announced today: I’m delighted to announce that Emmet Smith and Chuck Yarborough have agreed to be the P.D.‘s new pop [...]

Sept. 23, 2012: Election graphics and illustrations on Sunday’s front pages

You can tell we’re in the thick of an election year. A number of papers led their front pages today with election-themed graphics or illustrations. — BEACON JOURNAL Akron, Ohio Circulation: 88,040 Papers across Ohio teamed up for a new poll that was released today. The poll shows President Barack Obama is leading the state with 51 percent of the [...]

Sept. 16, 2012: More terrific illustration work by Chris Morris of the Cleveland Plain Dealer

From today’s Plain Dealer, here is Week Two of Chris Morris‘ weekly illustrated Cleveland Browns football game preview. Click for a readable version. Chris tells us there was… …a 6 col. x 5″ ad across the bottom of the page, so that’s why it’s shorter [than last week's]. Still covering the fan reax, the fun facts and team goals/concerns etc. [...]

Sept. 13, 2012: Are question headlines really effective on a day like this?

As you can see from these headlines, there are a lot of questions out there involving the attack this week on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya. What I don’t understand is why so many newspapers today led with question headlines. Hey, I’m not the world’s best headline writer myself — as you can see every day here in the [...]

Sept. 9, 2012: A fun way to preview today’s Cleveland Browns season-opener

There was so much fun in today’s Plain Dealer for Cleveland Browns fans today. Check out this illustrated preview of today’s Browns-Eagles game. Click, of course, for a much larger view. This is the first of what will be a weekly series of illustrated Browns game previews. The page was researched and illustrated by the Plain Dealer‘s Chris Morris. Chris [...]

Aug. 26, 2012: A look at today’s Neil Armstrong front pages (4)

Most folks did pretty well on page one today. There were relatively few mistakes and flubs. I’ve love to take credit for helping that happen — with my post yesterday afternoon — but, most likely, all the folks out there in newspaper design land have simply become more aware of the common pitfalls. My hat is off to you all. [...]

Aug. 19, 2012: A big day for illustrations on page one

Today seemed to be a great day for illustrations on page one of newspapers around the nation… — CLARION-LEDGER Jackson, Miss. Circulation: 57,710 I loved this school-related illustration afront the Jackson, Miss., paper today by Martha Stroud of the Gannett Design Studio in Nashville. However, I was struck with a huge case of déja vu. Sure enough, back in June, [...]

July 19, 2012: Why no identities in cutlines? Is this a new trend? (1)

Speaking of my roundup of weather-related front pages from yesterday… As it happened, two of the front pages I showed you used lovely pictures and used them huge to great effect. However, blog reader Scott M. Brings Plenty brought up a great question. Scott writes: Wonderful pages all, and some of the photos were incredible. Just one thing I’ve been [...]

July 18, 2012: A hot, miserable day makes for cool A1 photos (3)

Tuesday was a hot, miserable day throughout the continental U.S., it seems. Naturally, a number of papers looked for ways to illustrate the story. And, perhaps, to have a little fun with it. Here are the eight best from today’s front pages, as found at the Newseum… — HARTFORD COURANT Hartford, Conn. Circulation: 132,006 Want to see someone hot? This [...]

July 9, 2012: A quick — and amusing — video primer on Amelia Earhart

Today, the Plain Dealer of Cleveland, Ohio, kicks off a new series of humorous but instructional videos that will take on a variety of issues. Today’s issue: The ongoing search for aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. The video was a collaboration between illustrator/page designer Chris Morris (left) and online graphics editor William Neff (right).   You’re seeing a lot of Chris’ [...]

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