Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Designer of the Week
Our next designer of the week is Katrina T. Lallier. She's been working at Metro US since August 2003 and is currently Editorial Art Director in Boston. Two of the last six years she lived in NYC and led the U.S. design team (for Boston, Philadelphia and New York papers). Katrina focuses on features pages for all three cities, news, special coverage, as well as pages for international use (Metro has papers in 16 countries.) She writes dance reviews, too. Before working at Metro, she interned at the Albany Times-Union. Katrina graduated from Union College with a BA in political science and earned a certificate in book and magazine publishing from Emerson College in 2005. She's a Quark junkie and self-taught newspaper designer. See more clips at http://www.ktlallier.com/.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sad news
I'm truly sorry to pass along this news. Jim Kuykendall, the Hartford Courant graphics artist who I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, passed away Saturday morning. There is a memorial service Tuesday at 4 p.m. at the Church of Christ in Newington. Read more here.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Bad news for former Maine guy
Paul Wallen, who was managing editor for visuals in Lewiston, Maine, when the Sun Journal wone 22 SND awards, has been let go at the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale because of a job elimination. Saw him speak at a workshop in Hartford several years ago while he was in Lewiston. Smart guy. Tough news. Read more here.
Designer of the week
This week we've got a self-described nuts-and-bolts designer: Charlotte Thibault of the Concord (NH) Monitor. She's an illustrator and graphic artist. Here's Charlotte's autobio:
I got my first mac in 1987 and have been stumbling through life ever since, always something new to learn, not always learning it right the first time. Still falling on my face about as many times as I do it right. I live on the river, same one as the graphic, about 3-4 miles upstream, surrounded by a farm where I just bought a half gallon of maple syrup for $22. Can't beat that.
Here's her work:
She also does some Flash work.
Click here to see her page descriptions >>>.
The gooseberries and currants are for a B-1 rail item (the state is allowing us to have some disease-resistant types now.)
Lehtinen, a recreational bridge the snowmobilers bought and constructed on old railroad bridge and gave it to the city. It connects a park to a state forest over the
Contoocook River.
OilPrice: Another rail item, the end of a series with current oil prices that ran throughout the winter.
Mountain path: illustration for a viewpoints Sunday piece about a local pastor who befriended a homeless woman, kind of about the path she's on. Pothole: rail again, soliciting readers for the worst pothole.
PSA: chart on the prostate screening studies.
I got my first mac in 1987 and have been stumbling through life ever since, always something new to learn, not always learning it right the first time. Still falling on my face about as many times as I do it right. I live on the river, same one as the graphic, about 3-4 miles upstream, surrounded by a farm where I just bought a half gallon of maple syrup for $22. Can't beat that.
Here's her work:
She also does some Flash work.
Click here to see her page descriptions >>>.
The gooseberries and currants are for a B-1 rail item (the state is allowing us to have some disease-resistant types now.)
Lehtinen, a recreational bridge the snowmobilers bought and constructed on old railroad bridge and gave it to the city. It connects a park to a state forest over the
Contoocook River.
OilPrice: Another rail item, the end of a series with current oil prices that ran throughout the winter.
Mountain path: illustration for a viewpoints Sunday piece about a local pastor who befriended a homeless woman, kind of about the path she's on. Pothole: rail again, soliciting readers for the worst pothole.
PSA: chart on the prostate screening studies.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Love those nuts and bolts
** As of 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, I've got one sports agate page**
I got an e-mail this morning from someone who sort of dismissed herself as a nuts-and-bolts designer. That got me thinking about the importance of those nuts and bolts. You wouldn't take off down the road in a car without 'em. So let's take a look at some of those nuts and bolts of design.
My first newspaper job was putting together the sports agate page at the Northwest Florida Daily News. I absolutely loved it and devoted nights to making sure it was perfect. Everything lined up, all the tabs in the standings straight as an arrow ... just anal as could be. I even did the cutting and pasting myself some nights. And this was before pagination. This was glue and strips of paper and razor blades and proof after proof to see if tab measurements were aligned. (I'd say "back in the day," but I hate that phrase.)
So let's see your sports agate page. Please try to send me a jpg over the next couple days and I'll post them later this week.
I got an e-mail this morning from someone who sort of dismissed herself as a nuts-and-bolts designer. That got me thinking about the importance of those nuts and bolts. You wouldn't take off down the road in a car without 'em. So let's take a look at some of those nuts and bolts of design.
My first newspaper job was putting together the sports agate page at the Northwest Florida Daily News. I absolutely loved it and devoted nights to making sure it was perfect. Everything lined up, all the tabs in the standings straight as an arrow ... just anal as could be. I even did the cutting and pasting myself some nights. And this was before pagination. This was glue and strips of paper and razor blades and proof after proof to see if tab measurements were aligned. (I'd say "back in the day," but I hate that phrase.)
So let's see your sports agate page. Please try to send me a jpg over the next couple days and I'll post them later this week.
Monday, March 23, 2009
The haunted blog
On the front of the R-A today is the house that inspired the soon-to-be released flick "A Haunting in Connecticut." It's in Southington, a neighbor of Waterbury. On the right is a house that is, with a few exceptions, very similar. Same builder most likely, around 1920, and the owner is dying to do some spring yardwork. How do I know? That's my house.
Some other pages from this morning ... New Haven goes big with basketball. Norwich goes big with bowling. And Lewiston goes big with a refer headline for a breaking news.
Some other pages from this morning ... New Haven goes big with basketball. Norwich goes big with bowling. And Lewiston goes big with a refer headline for a breaking news.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Day Of The Big Heads
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Talk back time
I'll be heading to the SND board meeting soon and I need help from you. Please reply to these questions:
1) How do you see SND and what does it (or should) do for you?
2) Any interest in a New England "meetup" similar to one in New York recently? It's similar to a seminar or quick course with speakers, etc.
If you aren't an SND member, tell me why.
Please reply sometime this week. Send e-mails to sgriffin@rep-am.com.
1) How do you see SND and what does it (or should) do for you?
2) Any interest in a New England "meetup" similar to one in New York recently? It's similar to a seminar or quick course with speakers, etc.
If you aren't an SND member, tell me why.
Please reply sometime this week. Send e-mails to sgriffin@rep-am.com.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Designer of the week
Our next designer of the week is Babette Augustin of The Providence Journal. Babette's been in Providence as a photo editor and designer since 1993. Unlike most papers, the photo editors there also design pages. Interesting. She has also designed business, sports, local, the Sunday paper, travel, arts, food etc, as well as working the photo assignment desk. Babette has an undergraduate degree in photojournalism from Boston University and an MFA in imaging arts from Rochester Institute of Technology. Before Providence, she worked as photojournalist in upstate New York and Washington, D.C. She lives with two beagles and a crazed Jack Russell terrier. Check out the pages ...
Previous DOW: Michael DeSalvo from Danbury, Conn., and Jill Blanchette of New London, Conn. Want to be next? E-mail me.
Friday, March 13, 2009
NENA awards
AP -- Ten newspapers were honored Friday in Boston for outstanding reporting done in the spirit of courage and independence of Publick Occurrences, the nation's first newspaper, by the New England Newspaper Association. The winners included the Republican-American's project about Burmese refugees who wound up in Waterbury. The series became a subject of one our Newspapers Matter ads.
Winners included:
If you've got any nice pages from these stories, I'd love to post them.
— The Sunday Telegraph, of Nashua, N.H., for its series, "For rent," which examined the woes of rental housing in Nashua, with an in-depth report from the perspective of both landlord and tenant.
— The Republican-American, of Waterbury, Conn., for "Refugees add life to Brass City," a year-long series on the integration of Burmese refugees to Waterbury. The series prompted the U.S. State Department to look into the practices of a long-standing refugee resettlement organization, which resulted in the revocation of its contract.
— The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press, for its investigation of the kidnapping, rape and slaying of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett, allegedly by her uncle with the help of her stepfather and the online social networking site, MySpace.com. The paper's coverage led to the governor's push to pass legislation that would keep tighter reins on repeat sex offenders.
— The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, Mass., for "Healthcare in the Berkshires," a three-day series examining the state of healthcare in the Berkshires.
— Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H., for "Defused," the gripping tale of a man who took hostages at a Hillary Clinton campaign office.
— Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine, for its reporting on Rumford, Maine, which provided detailed but fair coverage of nutty small-town politicians.
— The Keene (N.H.) Sentinel, for "Without a Net," a 360-degree look at the way businesses get around paying worker's comp insurance and the consequences when workers are injured.
— The Standard-Times, New Bedford, Mass., for "The New Immigrants," a comprehensive look at the newcomers who helped make the city of New Bedford, from Cape Verdeans who worked the cranberry bogs in the 1910s to Guatemalans who work the seafood plants today.
— The weekly Provincetown (Mass.) Banner, for "Shifts, Myths and Truths," a look at how Provincetown businesses might thrive in a downturning economy—plus rebuttals from business owners who can't find good help.
— The weekly Goffstown (N.H.) News, for "Healing together," the story about a mother and daughter who got help from modern medicine and from their community.
Winners included:
If you've got any nice pages from these stories, I'd love to post them.
— The Sunday Telegraph, of Nashua, N.H., for its series, "For rent," which examined the woes of rental housing in Nashua, with an in-depth report from the perspective of both landlord and tenant.
— The Republican-American, of Waterbury, Conn., for "Refugees add life to Brass City," a year-long series on the integration of Burmese refugees to Waterbury. The series prompted the U.S. State Department to look into the practices of a long-standing refugee resettlement organization, which resulted in the revocation of its contract.
— The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press, for its investigation of the kidnapping, rape and slaying of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett, allegedly by her uncle with the help of her stepfather and the online social networking site, MySpace.com. The paper's coverage led to the governor's push to pass legislation that would keep tighter reins on repeat sex offenders.
— The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, Mass., for "Healthcare in the Berkshires," a three-day series examining the state of healthcare in the Berkshires.
— Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H., for "Defused," the gripping tale of a man who took hostages at a Hillary Clinton campaign office.
— Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine, for its reporting on Rumford, Maine, which provided detailed but fair coverage of nutty small-town politicians.
— The Keene (N.H.) Sentinel, for "Without a Net," a 360-degree look at the way businesses get around paying worker's comp insurance and the consequences when workers are injured.
— The Standard-Times, New Bedford, Mass., for "The New Immigrants," a comprehensive look at the newcomers who helped make the city of New Bedford, from Cape Verdeans who worked the cranberry bogs in the 1910s to Guatemalans who work the seafood plants today.
— The weekly Provincetown (Mass.) Banner, for "Shifts, Myths and Truths," a look at how Provincetown businesses might thrive in a downturning economy—plus rebuttals from business owners who can't find good help.
— The weekly Goffstown (N.H.) News, for "Healing together," the story about a mother and daughter who got help from modern medicine and from their community.
Who should own newspapers?
Super-rich philanthropist Eli Broad talks about newspapers -- "You can't afford to lose newspaper journalism" -- and how they "ought to owned by foundations or wealthy families not looking for any real great economic return." See the video here.
Late-night Garden party
** UPDATE: Syracuse's coverage **
Wow. It's Friday morning and I just found out UConn lost to Syracuse in six overtimes. SIX! I left the office at 12:30 a.m., with a few minutes left in the third OT and the Huskies up several points. I left the front page so a co-worker could just plug in a score for our second (and final) edition. Since I don't have AM radio in the car -- thanks to a falling branch disconnecting the antenna embedded in the rear window -- I went to sleep assuming UConn won. What a finish I misse
d! Anybody stay late to get in the score? How'd your paper (1A and Sports) handle the late, important game? Speak up, please.
Click here to find out about the Courant's Sports cover, from designer David Holub. Their page went out about 1:55 a.m.
David wrote:
"Like any deadline-threatening game, we had a photo that would work for either a UConn win or loss for first edition that we would sub out for later editions. We had a columnist writing at the game and had two column options for first edition: If they won, we would have the column for all eds. If they lost, we had a plug ready. We also had separate charts ready to go for a win or loss.
For the first OT, the pressroom was set to let the pages go late.
When it went to a second OT is where things got interesting. I had to scrap my original game design and substitute a terrible, terrible, terrible standalone plug photo to take up the entire space of the UConn package. However, we had to have the original package ready to go at a moment's notice, win or lose, for when the game ended. Then we waited patiently during the third and fourth OTs.
Once the game hit four OTs was when it started to get that historic feel. The night sports editor, Scott Powers, made the call to scrap our now-modest package for a six-column head-and-photo package and I began feverishly re-designing, complete with a new win photo and lose photo.
I believe we flipped the page in about 15-20 minutes and had the all-new 6 OT game page at 1:50 a.m., 20-something minutes from the game's end. Much to the amazing teamwork of the Courant reporters and sports copy desk.
Now, anything less than six overtimes will just feel . . . meh."
Anyone else?
Wow. It's Friday morning and I just found out UConn lost to Syracuse in six overtimes. SIX! I left the office at 12:30 a.m., with a few minutes left in the third OT and the Huskies up several points. I left the front page so a co-worker could just plug in a score for our second (and final) edition. Since I don't have AM radio in the car -- thanks to a falling branch disconnecting the antenna embedded in the rear window -- I went to sleep assuming UConn won. What a finish I misse
d! Anybody stay late to get in the score? How'd your paper (1A and Sports) handle the late, important game? Speak up, please.Click here to find out about the Courant's Sports cover, from designer David Holub. Their page went out about 1:55 a.m.
David wrote:
"Like any deadline-threatening game, we had a photo that would work for either a UConn win or loss for first edition that we would sub out for later editions. We had a columnist writing at the game and had two column options for first edition: If they won, we would have the column for all eds. If they lost, we had a plug ready. We also had separate charts ready to go for a win or loss.
For the first OT, the pressroom was set to let the pages go late.
When it went to a second OT is where things got interesting. I had to scrap my original game design and substitute a terrible, terrible, terrible standalone plug photo to take up the entire space of the UConn package. However, we had to have the original package ready to go at a moment's notice, win or lose, for when the game ended. Then we waited patiently during the third and fourth OTs.
Once the game hit four OTs was when it started to get that historic feel. The night sports editor, Scott Powers, made the call to scrap our now-modest package for a six-column head-and-photo package and I began feverishly re-designing, complete with a new win photo and lose photo.
I believe we flipped the page in about 15-20 minutes and had the all-new 6 OT game page at 1:50 a.m., 20-something minutes from the game's end. Much to the amazing teamwork of the Courant reporters and sports copy desk.
Now, anything less than six overtimes will just feel . . . meh."
Anyone else?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Thoughts and prayers needed
This certainly isn't the type of thing I expected to write when I began this blog for SND. I learned last night that Jim Kuykendall, a terrific graphic artist at the Hartford Courant, has been moved to a hospice because of the pancreatic cancer he's been battling for some time. Melanie Shaffer, design director at the Courant, said the news was stunning. "He has been so upbeat and lighthearted about his condition, always cracking little jokes, but then we got the news today," Melanie wrote.Send a card or flowers here: The Connecticut Hospice 100 Double Beach Road, Branford, CT 06405; (203) 315-7500
If you never checked out Jim's portfolio on the old Newspagedesigner, you really missed some nice work. I met him at a New England awards banquet a year or two ago. Nice guy and a fellow native Floridian. Here are a few samples, plus a photo of Jim in a triathlon back in 2000. If anyone has a link to his work, please pass it on.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Designer of the week
This week's featured designer is Michael DeSalvo of The News-Times in Danbury, Conn., right on the western edge of New England. Michael arrived in Danbury in June 2005 as a Dow Jones copy-editing intern after graduating from the University of Missouri. His 10-week internship turned into a full-time job. Outside of work, he enjoys watching movies and sports, reading, playing guitar and experimenting with Web design ... not necessarily in that order. Help the dude out and pitch some comments.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Name that site
The good folks at SND, the new home of Newspagedesigner, want some help disassociating the old NPD from a nasty bit of Germany's history. Suggest a new name or sign up if you haven't.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Big and scary
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Do we matter? Hell yes.
Newspapers Matter.
That’s the name of a series of ads we’ve begun here at the Republican-American. The project was created by Anne Karolyi, one of our local section editors, and myself back in the fall.
It’s based on two ideas: 1) Newspapers do matter and we want readers to realize what they'll miss if they're gone. So tell them. 2) Our newspaper is its own source of free advertising. Use it. So, we came up with six examples of the Republican-American making a difference in the lives of our readers. And Executive Editor Jon Kellogg was a big help with suggestions and PR efforts in the big office.
We recently ran our second set of six ads.
The ads have told readers about a Macy’s coupon they might have missed; we’ve told them exactly how many fundraisers, fairs, chicken dinners, etc., we wrote about in a three-week stretch; we reminded them of our dedication to covering local sports; and we even shook things up with a photo of a burning flag and the declaration that we’re protecting every citizens’ rights and, therefore, democracy.
You can see them all here: www.newspapersmatter.com.
Our goal is to keep readers and hopefully gain readers. The results, based on feedback, has been positive. Readers have said they enjoy the ads and we’ve challenged reporters to write stories that qualify.
>> Another newspaper -- the Fosters Daily Democrat in Dover, N.H. -- took our idea and ran wild, adding "commercials" on the Web site and going in different formats. It's been a big hit with staff and readers as well. See what they've done here.
That’s the name of a series of ads we’ve begun here at the Republican-American. The project was created by Anne Karolyi, one of our local section editors, and myself back in the fall.
It’s based on two ideas: 1) Newspapers do matter and we want readers to realize what they'll miss if they're gone. So tell them. 2) Our newspaper is its own source of free advertising. Use it. So, we came up with six examples of the Republican-American making a difference in the lives of our readers. And Executive Editor Jon Kellogg was a big help with suggestions and PR efforts in the big office.
We recently ran our second set of six ads.
The ads have told readers about a Macy’s coupon they might have missed; we’ve told them exactly how many fundraisers, fairs, chicken dinners, etc., we wrote about in a three-week stretch; we reminded them of our dedication to covering local sports; and we even shook things up with a photo of a burning flag and the declaration that we’re protecting every citizens’ rights and, therefore, democracy.
You can see them all here: www.newspapersmatter.com.
Our goal is to keep readers and hopefully gain readers. The results, based on feedback, has been positive. Readers have said they enjoy the ads and we’ve challenged reporters to write stories that qualify.
>> Another newspaper -- the Fosters Daily Democrat in Dover, N.H. -- took our idea and ran wild, adding "commercials" on the Web site and going in different formats. It's been a big hit with staff and readers as well. See what they've done here.
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