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Charles Apple: The Visual Side of Journalism

 

‘News design’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

today: How Oklahoma papers played Sunday’s deadly tornado outbreak

Only two died. That was the good news. But that’s about all the good news folks in central Oklahoma are waking up to today. At least two tornadoes ripped though the state Sunday. One started out near Edmond and stayed on the ground until it smashed into the town of Carney. The other touched down east of Norman and ripped [...]

May 17: A fun summer super-hero movie page

Amy Olding of the Lee regional design center in Munster, Ind., sends us this fun summer super-hero movie page from today’s Journal of Sioux City, Iowa. Click for a larger view: Amy tells us: I had my comic loving Significant Other look it over and used his comic collection for inspiration. Q: What font is that? Is that one of [...]

May 17: For your consideration…

Heh. That image is from the Newseum. Of course.

May 16: You gotta wonder, sometimes, about Google ads

At one point Wednesday, I clicked on a link to a story at the Chicago Tribune about the unfolding IRS scandal. What I found fascinating were the ads the Tribune added to my news. First is that Amazon ad across the top. I had been searching for “Harry Truman” earlier in the day. Google knows that and stripped an ad [...]

May 16: Three features treatments for the ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ movie (2)

Tonight, the new Star Trek Into Darkness movie opens around the country. In fact, it actually opened last night on some Imax screens. Most of the reviews I’ve seen are pretty decent. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for Saturday, which is the first chance I’ll have to see it. In the meantime, here are a few [...]

May 15: A nice use of ‘data visualization’ style… but these are actual data-driven infographics

Last year, Bill Bootz of the Oklahoman of Oklahoma City was ripping through the NBA playoffs with a gorgeous series of poster fronts.     So, what’s Bill doing this season? Glad you asked. He’s building game-numbers infographics. Click for a much larger view: Bill tells us: I was searching infographics on Pinterest and saw one from the official site [...]

May 14: Two cool Sunday sports fronts from San Diego

This page caught my eye Sunday in the Facebook timeline of U-T San Diego. Click for a much larger view: Design director Peter Nguyen tells us: The concept actually came from Anthony Tarantino (former sports designer, current A1 designer) during one of our group brainstorms. Brainstorming is an important part of our process, because I feel the best ideas come [...]

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 10: Let’s go surfin’ now. Everybody’s learning how. Come on a safari with me.

Wednesday, the newspaper I work for — the Orange County Register — ran a terrific graphic on the back page of sports that explains some of the finer points of how to surf. First, put on some Ventures or the Beach Boys. And then click this for a much larger view: These graphics were reported, written and drawn by the [...]

May 10: A huge highway fire results in a poster-front treatment in Pennsylvania

A tanker truck turned over on Interstate 81 at the intersection of U.S. 322 north of downtown Harrisburg Thursday and burst into flames. The fire burned so hot that it damaged the interstate as well as the overpass above it. The state Dept. of Transportation advised motorists to divert to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Which then closed itself when a truck [...]

May 9: A skinny governor of New Jersey, thanks to a page-one photoillustration

One of my blog readers asked Wednesday: This seems…wrong. Do you have thoughts? The page she was referring to was this photoillustration afront the Asbury Park Press. That’s New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is famously overweight and who had banding surgery on his stomach earlier this year in hopes of losing weight. The illo — by Jeff Colson of [...]

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 [...]

May 7: A very different summer movie preview from Minneapolis (1)

This unusual summer movie preview page caught my eye yesterday in the Facebook news feed. Thankfully, Mike Rice of the Minneapolis Star Tribune was kind enough to send us a PDF. Click for a much larger view. What you’re seeing here is essentially a list. A flow chart, perhaps. But presented in an interlocking, visually stimulating way that emphasizes the [...]

May 7: Let’s help a friend of publication designers everywhere

Do you know Robert Newman? You should. He’s downright legendary as a publication designer. A 1974 graduate of the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, Robert spent more than 26 years in visual leadership positions of a number of publications: Guitar World, the Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly, New York, Details, Vibe, Inside, Real Simple and Fortune. A few samples of [...]

May 7: Unidentified crime suspects on page one

Reposting photos of two alleged — and, as it turned out, falsely accused — criminals you pulled out of a Reddit thread to see if your friends can identify them: Ho-hum. Building a section front out of those photos: So last month. The new standard: Posting surveillance photos of eight alleged criminals — at the request of local police — [...]

May 6: A really cool interactive look at baseball salaries by the LA Times

Illustrator and cartoonist Greg Kelly tips us off about this really cool interactive graphic posted recently by the Los Angeles Times. This presentation breaks down the salary teams pay at each position and presents it in bubble chart format. Or, rather, half-bubble chart format. Because the really cool thing is the ability to dial up any two teams you want [...]

May 6: Palm Beach Daily News goes sideways with an A1 infographic

Alex Chihak writes: I’m an editor at one of Cox’s hubs, and we design and edit The Palm Beach Post, Austin American-Statesman and the Palm Beach Daily News, or Shiny Sheet. The Shiny Sheet is a seasonal paper. It’s daily during the season (September to May) and twice a week in the offseason. The season’s when the super wealthy people [...]

May 6: Move over, Batboy: Meet Van Meter’s winged ‘Visitor’

My old pal Nathan Groepper, creative director of the Gannett Design Studio in Des Moines, Iowa, writes: I thought this might appeal to your offbeat sensibilities. The Des Moines Register [ran on Saturday] a story about a sighting of a giant winged monster in a small town in Iowa 110 years ago. The mysterious creature was discovered in a coal [...]

May 5: A look at this weekend’s Kentucky Derby front pages

Both Lexington and Louisville went with illustrations on the covers of their Saturday newspapers to advance yesterday’s 139th running of the Kentucky Derby. The Lexington Herald-Leader put this wonderfully graphic illustration by Chris Ware on the front, showing roses falling upon the downs. Meanwhile, the Courier-Journal of Louisville went with a photoillustration of a trainer who had five horses running [...]

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