Just as a mechanic who loves his or her car will continue to fine-tune it even if it’s running fine, designers like to fine-tune newspapers.
Recently our layout editor, Catherine Rumancik, attended a Society of Newspaper Design seminar in Kansas City, Mo.
During a panel discussion, she heard: “Design is not to make a page pretty, but to remove the roadblocks to reading.”
That’s the fine-tuning part: the people who design the pages and place the stories, photos, headlines and graphics visualize what is the most attractive, easiest, enjoyable page for the readers to absorb.
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When a reader glances at the page, what is the first thing seen? Where do the eyes go? Where does the next jump take place? Is everything read, or just a certain section, image or color glanced at?
Occasionally our newspaper’s staff meet for design meetings and discuss these questions and others.
Last week our discussion included whether mugshots (the head-and-shoulder shots of people) should be color or black and white; whether to use colored screens (when a story is in a box, should it be plain, grey or other colors?), and how thick the black lines should be around photos and graphics.
We also discussed pullquotes – when a quote is selected from a story and enlarged – and icons, the little images that help identify what a story is about or to link a package or series of stories.
Lest reporters worry their words are ignored, Rumancik added that in Kansas City a speaker stressed that writing is still important: “Writing needs passion. Good writing stimulates the brain and leaves a lasting impression.”
Another speaker added that design isn’t lasting, but is a way to get readers’ attention with visual tools: it’s the writing that engages and keeps the reader.
