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Charles Apple: The Visual Side of Journalism

 

‘Virginian-Pilot’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

Jan. 14: An amusing online ad juxtapositon

From the Virginian-Pilot web site… On the left and middle is a story about that cruise liner that ran aground in Italy Friday, killing at least three. On the lower left and lower right are ads for… yep. Cruise liners. Thanks to the person — who I shall not name — who posted this on Facebook today. — UPDATE – [...]

Dec. 22, 2011: An unusual ‘welcome home’ kiss (2)

Something unusual happened at one of our local Navy bases Wednesday. It’s a tradition, we’re told, that a Navy ship returning from deployment chooses one sailor by raffle to be the first onto the dock to kiss his or her loved one hello. When the dock-landing ship Oak Hill landed yesterday at Little Creek, however, the lucky couple happened to [...]

Dec. 14, 2011: Hell to the Redskins

I was delighted this morning when I ripped open my Virginian-Pilot to the sports page and found this ode to the Washington Redskins’ disappointing season. The wordplay in the headline is wonderful enough. But then that headline is supported by big-number treatments in the yellow box across the bottom. In each of the last four years — since the Redskins’ [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

Nov. 4, 2011: Confirmed: Landmark papers — including the Virginian-Pilot — will likely be split up and sold (4)

Landmark Media Enterprises of Norfolk put its properties on the market nearly four years ago. In that time, it’s managed to sell only the Weather Channel — to NBC in July of 2008. Since then, Landmark CEO Frank Batten Jr. has tried to sell the rest of his empire: The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, the Roanoke Times and the Greensboro, N.C., [...]

Oct. 6, 2011: Is it possible the S.F. Chronicle is the last paper in the U.S. with any sense?

A few minutes ago, I found myself laughing over this Steve Jobs headline in the satirical newspaper the Onion: Yeah, that sounds about right. Well, make it two American companies that possibly know what the fuck they are doing. Because I received an email this afternoon that knocked my socks off. Frank Mina — assistant managing editor for presentation at [...]

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 [...]

Sept. 24, 2011: Newsstand alert: Check out the new National Geographic

Check out the cover of the October issue of National Geographic. UPDATE: Here’s a nice scan. Click for a huge look. Oh, and note the little speech balloon at the upper right of the illo. That’s by the Virginian-Pilot‘s Sam Hundley. Sam has done some work before for National Geographic. He used to illustrate a monthly column, but that gig [...]

Sept. 21, 2011: Behind those watercolor illustrations in the Virginian-Pilot this week

Placing art or photos above the nameplate atop page one is nothing new for the Virginian-Pilot. What is new, perhaps, is the style we’re seeing from master designer/illustrator/helluvaniceguy Sam Hundley. This was Sunday’s front page… …and here’s a closer look at just Sam’s illustration, which combines a watercolor feel with the tiny spot illustrations he’s done so well in the [...]

Sept. 16, 2011: Financial advice from the Virginian-Pilot (1)

Forget the stock market. Instead, put your money into dirt and debris. Today, in fact, is the time to buy dirt and debris, according to this morning’s Virginian-Pilot. I hate to keep picking on these guys. But damn. They’re making it so easy with stuff like this. I’ve picked on these obtrusive ads in the Pilot here and here. And [...]

Sept. 15, 2011: To everything, there is a season

That was the first thing that popped into my head when I picked up my morning paper today. How unfortunate that the same phrase was used in both of the page’s two largest headlines. I’m assuming this wasn’t intentional. The story above the nameplate is about a former military base that is now open to the public. The lead story [...]

Sept. 11, 2011: A look at today’s 9/11 anniversary newspaper visuals (8)

There’s a lot of amazing work out there today. So amazing, in fact, that I was a little swamped trying to process it all. My solution was to try something unusual. I posted the first half of my material so folks could begin digesting it. And then I added as the afternoon faded into evening. Not the way I’d prefer [...]

Sept. 2, 2011: How NOT to sell today’s Virginian-Pilot. Yet again.

A few weeks ago, I showed you a Sunday front page of the Virginian-Pilot. It was a huge news day. A helicopter carrying Navy Seals — Seals based right her at Dam Neck in Virginia Beach — was shot down with multiple fatalities. The Pilot responded in a big way with a wonderful front page (left).   However, no one [...]

Aug. 29, 2011: Monday’s Hurricane Irene pages… nothing but hype? (8)

Take a memo for me, if you will. Dear Philadelphia Daily News… Thanks so much for being the only newspaper on the East Coast today to expose the ongoing Hurricane Irene story for what it really was: Nothing but overblown hype. You could get a real sense of all this today by simply taking a spin around the daily archive [...]

Aug. 28, 2011: Your annual guide to fantasy football by the Virginian-Pilot’s Bob Voros (2)

Our growing collection of football preview sections wouldn’t be complete without Bob Voros‘ annual Fantasy Football guide. Those of you who have attended my slideshows have heard my spiel about designers and artists being proactive with their ideas and generating their own content. My former colleague is the poster child for graphics department proactivity with his annual guide. Bob is [...]

Aug. 28, 2011: Up the East Coast with Hurricane Irene, via Sunday front pages (5)

Well. That storm certainly fizzled, now, didn’t it? Naturally, I’m delighted that’s the case. I was so terrified for my poor old house, back in Virginia Beach. I wasn’t happy about evacuating to Atlanta for the weekend. Still, though, at the time we left — Thursday evening — it was the right thing to do. The best-case scenario was always [...]

Aug. 27, 2011: Saturday’s notable Hurricane Irene front pages

You all know my little personal drama by now. Heeding the dire warnings about Hurricane Irene, I took my wife, daughter and assorted animals to the in-laws’ house in the suburbs of Atlanta for the weekend. The University of Missouri’s Jacqui Banaszynski paid my blog post about all this a wonderful compliment last night by tweeting: Terrif use of blog-form [...]

Aug. 24, 2011: How East Coast papers covered the Great Quake of ’11 (2)

You knew it was coming today: Wall-to-wall coverage of the Great Earthquake of 2011. Of course, folks on the West Coast and in various regions of the world are shaking their heads and wondering about us. No deaths. No suffering. No tsunami. No substantial damage to speak of. So why the fuss? Because we’re not accustomed to earthquakes in this [...]

Aug. 7, 2011: What I love and what I don’t love about the front page of today’s Virginian-Pilot (3)

It’s not surprising that the Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk today played up the story about the helicopter shot down in Afghanistan. Among the 30 dead in that incident were 22 Navy SEALs, reportedly including several members of SEAL Team Six, the unit that brought down Osama bin Laden earlier this year. SEAL Team Six is based at Dam Neck in Virginia [...]

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