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Charles Apple: The Visual Side of Journalism

 

‘USA Today’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

Feb. 2: USA Today offers do-it-yourself paper figures of Tom Brady and Eli Manning

USA Today this week offered up do-it-yourself paper action figures of Super Bowl quarterbacks Tom Brady and Eli Manning. The figures are posted on USA Today‘s web site. Readers click to download PDF files of each player. There are instructions and even a video that shows how to assemble each player. The faces are drawn by USA Today‘s Sam Ward. [...]

Jan. 25: Today is a birthday of sorts, says Richard Curtis (1)

Richard Curtis — one of the founders and then longtime managing editor of USA Today — tells us that today, in fact, is an birthday. He writes: Little known fact: Today is the 30th anniversary of the beginning of what would become USA TODAY. I remember it like it was yesterday (which is saying something for my leaky memory!!). The [...]

Nov. 17, 2011: Just how close did the White House shooter get?

A 21-year-old Idaho Falls man was arrested for firing a semiautomatic weapon at the White House Friday. Reportedly two bullets struck the house — one was stopped by bulletproof glass overlooking the Truman balcony on the building’s rounded South portico. But just how close did the shooter get? A graphic in today’s USA Today shows us: Not real close. Click [...]

Oct. 7, 2011: Denver’s Jeff Goertzen named director of graphics for Gannett digital and USA Today (2)

Denver Post graphics editor Jeff Goertzen announced via Facebook this afternoon: As of November 11, I will resign from my position at The Denver Post to work for USA Today as the director of graphics for Gannett digital in the development of visual story-telling for all digital platforms, particularly the iPad. A large part of my responsibilities will be to [...]

Oct. 6, 2011: How newspapers presented the death of Steve Jobs (7)

A Facebook friend wrote this morning: I will be very interested to see your feedback on the Jobs A1s. Some papers have a very good reason to give the obit huge treatment, but I am concerned that designers and news types tend to be such fans that they will lose sight of what their audiences want/need. I hear you. There [...]

July 6, 2011: You need a dirty mind to be an editor in this business (29)

That’s the only way you can avoid running something like this graphic — cell-camera shots of which have been zooming around the internets over the past day or so. (Pause for laughter.) It’s from the USA Today weather page, of course. It ran last Friday, July 1. Click for a larger look. If you need a larger look. Now, chances [...]

May 31, 2011: Front page coverage of the resignation of a football coach

Football coach Jim Tressel resigned Monday from Ohio State University. He was under tremendous pressure in the wake of a number of deepening scandals there that involved players trading for favors among local merchants — most notably a tattoo parlor. The bigger issue, however, was that Tressel knew about what was going on but took steps to cover it up. [...]

April 23, 2011: Yet another sign of the apocalypse — Comic Sans in the Virginian-Pilot

Yes, it’s true. The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk used Comic Sans in print today. Granted, it was a very much tongue-in-cheek usage in an editorial today. At the recommendation of page designer-turned-web producer David Putney, David posted on his Facebook page today. David writes: At my prompting, the Pilot wrote an editorial against comic sans. Unfortunately, they wrote it in comic [...]

April 5, 2011: William Couch to leave newspapers and join Twitter

William Couch — an interactive designer who played a huge, huge role in building USA Today‘s uber-successful apps for the Android, iPhone and iPad — announced tonight he will be leaving USA Today and joining Twitter as a software engineer. He made the announcement earlier today on Twitter. Of course. William writes today in his blog: Twitter has witnessed phenomenal [...]

Jan. 25, 2011: More about that USA Today design update (1)

Perhaps it’s a redesign. Perhaps it’s just a tweak. Either way, the front page of USA Today looks pretty spiffy. At least in PDF format. I’m 8,000 miles away from seeing a copy for myself, dammit, and it’s driving me nuts. I have to tell you, folks. We all take USA Today for granted. You don’t realize how much you [...]

Jan. 24, 2011: Notice anything different about today’s USA Today? (1)

On the right is today’s front page. On the left is a Monday front from about a year-and-a-half ago. See any changes? The logo is just a tad larger, with more whitespace bluespace around the sides. I’m seeing some new typefaces. And things are lining up a little differently, especially above the fold. A closer look at the new front: [...]

Jan. 4, 2011: Kalamazoo’s Kris Kinkade headed for USA Today

Kris Kinkade spotted his birthday announcement in the blog this morning and realized he needed to bring me up-to-date on his job status. Kris writes: Thanks for the birthday wish. I’d been meaning to write you, but things have been crazy busy the past couple weeks. Based on your blog posts, I’d say it has been the same for you. [...]

Nov. 6, 2010: Another sign of the apocalypse? (10)

My pal Ernie Smith — a designer for the Express tab in Washington D.C. and the creator of the ultra-cool and breezy ShortFormBlog – wrote me during my journey Friday from London to Johannesburg: You leave the country one day, and see what happens? Sigh, this entire industry falls apart without you. What he refers to is this item he [...]

Sept. 10, 2010: Jeff Dionise promoted to VP position at USA Today

Former news artist Jeff Dionise — who has been serving as USA Today‘s managing editor for visuals in the wake of Richard Curtis‘ retirement nearly two years ago — has been named the paper’s vice president of product development and design. The appointment was made two weeks ago yesterday. In a memo announcing the promotion, USA Today publisher Dave Hunke [...]

July 27, 2010: Today’s USA Today, take two

As I reported earlier… At an I-64 westbound rest stop — just before I got to Richmond — I found this in a USA Today newsrack: That’s the weekend edition from Friday. And today is Tuesday. Not good. At my next rest stop, however — on I-95 between D.C. and Baltimore — I found another USA Today rack. Curious, I [...]

July 12, 2010: USA Today comes wrapped in full-page ad today

Today’s USA Today came wrapped in a full-page ad for Jeep Grand Cherokee, reports Gannett Blog blogger Jim Hopkins: Oh, how I loathe these things. But at least it’s clear this is an ad. As opposed to the big Universal Studios ad in the Los Angles Times a couple of weeks ago. Lucia Moses of Media Week reports: Lee Jones, [...]