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Oct. 9th Another arrow pointing down? What to do to avoid visual repetition
It is 11 pm in Paris, and CNN has just broken the news: In New York, the Dow Jones plunges below 9000, its lowest level in five years. Here is how The New York Times website updated the story, just before I go to bed here:
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 678.91 points, or 7.3 percent, on the day, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index ended down 7.6 percent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq was down 5.47 percent. And the reasons, by now, are a familiar litany — concerns about the credit markets, a slowdown in consumer spending, worries about the economy as a whole and the financial sector in particular.
Not only are the reasons for the plunge a “familiar litany,” as The Times describes it. The presentation of such news becomes a sort of visual litany as well. For days now we have seen front page after front page of dailies worldwide with an arrow that starts on column one, then drops dead on its head on column six. Not to mention the collage of photos of traders in places as distant as Sao Paulo and Sydney or Frankfurt and Buenos Aires.
When does a powerful image become a visual cliche? True, this is a story of major proportions: a tsunami, an earthquake and a hurricane, all wrapped into one. For the editor and designer planning page one for tomorrow’s newspaper, the options are as few as for those rescuing the banks worldwide.
I spent the day at a financial daily, La Tribune, of France. The art director, Eric Beziat, was proud of his front page yesterday, a combination photo and infographics, all arrows pointing down, of course. Little did we know, after lunch Paris time, that he would be faced with an identical story for tomorrow morning’s front page.
We had even discussed the topic: how many times can we use the fever chart with the arrows pointing down on Page One?
Not that I have the answer, mind you. However, I am already looking at those fever charts popping up in front of me as I peruse various news websites to get more information on this depressing financial story. It is one chart after the other. Yes, I know the Dow plunged below 9000. All of these websites have made their point. Tomorrow’s newspaper will even be LATER coming in with the news.
So what to do about a front page graphic? If we have exhausted the “visual litany” of an arrow facing down, or the sad faces of traders looking up at a screen, then what could be some good solutions?
Ideas that come to mind:
The type attack: Play with a type attack, a short narrative in large type that gives a synopsis of what this later bit of bad news means to the average citizen seeking a loan for a car, home or to go to college.
The local photos: If there is a story about how ordinary people are taking the news in Main Street, then a photo of local people may be more meaningful that traders in far away cities. Play up the quotes.
The illustration: This is one time when an illustration on Page One may save the day. If you have a great illustrator on board, ask him/her to capture the spirit of the story.
The editorial cartoon: Indeed, nothing new about a cartoon on Page One: it was done routinely in U.S. newspapers of the 1950s. Well, if you find an editorial cartoon that captures what this financial turmoil is all about, then, put it on Page One to go with the rest of the news package. Surprise the reader. Better to see a cartoon there than another graphic with an arrow pointing below 9000. Save the graphic for an inside page.
It is not easy to avoid visual cliches, especially for a story that is evolving during deadline. But we can try, and, with a little effort, it can be done.
And, yes, I was ready to draw an arrow to illustrate this blog entry, but pulled it out in the last minute. I was ready to commit the same sin I was preaching against, which goes to show that we are all going to be tempted by the obvious.
Visual litany does not have to be, especially when the arrows are not likely to point north anytime soon.
HOW ABOUT YOU? I would love to see what you do on your front pages of Friday, Oct. 10, as you cover this latest plunge of the Dow. Send me those pdfs to post them here, or links where they can be seen. I am sure many of you will come up with incredibly creative solutions. Share them with the rest of us!
Making music on Page One
Speaking of visual surprises on Page One: The Oklahoman’s team has just sent me this front page of today with a lead story about the announcement of the first authorized U.S. version of Britain’s prestigious Academy of Contemporary Music, which will open in Oklahoma City’s Bricktown district in 2009. Very local. Good news in the midst of a bad-news cycle. Visually, the editors and designers were not afraid to experiment here.
TheMarioBlog posting # 115
Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia on October 09, 2008
Oct. 8th US dailies experiment with front pages
Looking at recent redesigns
In an effort to make some sense of the current state of front page architecture in the United States, I have chosen to look at the front pages of the following dailies, all of which have been recently redesigned: The Hartford Courant, The Tampa Tribune, The Chicago Tribune, the Orlando Sentinel and the (Fort Lauderdale) Sun Sentinel.
Let me begin by saying that I like a lot of what all of these pages do, and how they do it. I admire the spirit of experimentation that is obvious here. Indeed, times of crisis open new windows in the creative laboratory of the newspaper. As someone who has clocked more than 35 years visiting newsrooms, I know that if anyone had suggested some of these concepts even ten years ago, he would have been shown one of the windows —the one on the 11th floor and without a parachute (try the nameplate of the newspaper on the side, as in the Hartford Courant).
Indeed, interesting times and these pages show it:
What to do with the logo
Once the most sacred of page one artifacts, now those newspaper nameplates are on wheels, or like stickies that you can put on your refrigerator door. Push them to the right (The Tampa Tribune), push them to the left (Chicago Tribune), eliminate all the letters and just use ONE initial (everyone knows S is for Sun or for Sentinel), or, follow the fashionistas and dress in classic black (Orlando Sentinel).
Yet, in each case, the strategy works, allowing for more navigational items at the top of the page.
Does anyone out there think that nameplates belong at the top of the page, reading left to right? I certainly don’t, but I have lived for decades suffocated by the plights of publishers and editors that, upon my arrival, would say: Mario, do whatever you want, but leave the nameplate at the top.
Yes, sir. Yes, ma’am.
These publishers must all be in a retirement community. A good thing.
Page One as Navigator
With the exception of the Hartford Courant, which is more texty on Page one, all the other newspapers analyzed here use their front page as a map to the inside. Finally, American newspapers are learning from their European and South American counterparts. Wonderful. It was about time.
Who does it best? In today’s front pages, The Tampa Tribune handled this best. One basically reads one story, and the rest are summaries.
Who handled it worst? The Orlando Sentinel which needs a map to understand the map. Too many mixtures of type and font styles, caps, and lowercase, and too much text in most of those copy blocks. However, their top of the page navigator is the best of them all. Concise, easy to follow.
Is there a tabloid in their DNA?
With the exception of the Hartford Courant, which, that vertical nameplate aside, remains a true classic, all the other front pages analyzed here borrowed a page or two (maybe a chapter) from the tabloid textbook. They are showing more than just a little leg, and, of course, why not? Bigger photos, bigger headlines, the surprise visual (see that spoonful of medicine at the top of The Tampa Tribune?), all of those elements attract eyeballs.
Ironically, all of these front pages do make one of my old time favorites, USA Today, look a little traditional, classic and…..tired? Indeed, USA Today still adheres to most of Arnold’s Axioms, the lead on the right, the axis of orientation around the center of the page, the hot corners. Well, time for a little botox, USA Today, although I like it the way it is.
But, you, USA Today, you should open the big window and go for a compact, a Berliner format, and show them how it can be done in America. Be the trailblazer again, why not?
This is the beginning
I am happy to see these front pages. Content and design working together here, work in progress, and perhaps, when they complete their time in the laboratory, all of these pages will come to terms with what the front page should be: content that surprises daily, headlines we have not heard before, visuals that stop us on the way to the coffee machine, and a sense of what surprises lurk inside of today’s newspaper. Simple formula. These folks are on their way there, indeed.
In Paris, France: busy with La Tribune, and doing a review of Paris Match as the staff prepares the second issue with the new design.
TheMarioBlog posting # 114
Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia on October 08, 2008
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