When design outshines a story ... hate that.

[MidwestSportsGuy]

With shrinking sections, I think this is becoming more and more prevalent, and it's incredibly annoying.

I'm curious as to whether anyone else is noticing this, and becoming frustrated? I'm talking about when you're compelled to pick up a newspaper based on an eye-catching front-page design, which looks like a hard-hitting, in-depth look at an interesting topic. However, when you get home to read said package, you find nothing more than a couple 12-inch charticles.

Hate that.

I buy one of my state's metro papers probably four times a week, including every Sunday. Often, I'll grab the local paper as well. Why, I don't know. Local paper has some very talented designers, as well as writers, but no space. They put together these elaborate covers, which makes you think there's going to be a great read on an important topic. But then you start reading and realize it's far from in-depth, and basically rehashes all the old info. with a couple short stories, graphs and breakouts.

Makes me want to start flipping through papers in the aisle or at the checkout counter before actually buying.

And I know stores love when folks do that.

 

[mb]

They should probably have ****tier designs so you can save your money and not disappointed when you get home.

 

[crusoes]

I know that when I get calls from people on stories I've done, they never talk about the content. All they gush about is the photo placement and the fonts we used and the breakout boxes.

 

[WaylonJennings]

I understand the frustration, but people love photos.

They take in the design subconsciously. Of course they don't call in and compliment the font. But they might say something like, "That was a really nice write-up and photo!"

 

[I Should Coco]

Makes me want to start flipping through papers in the aisle or at the checkout counter before actually buying.

And I know stores love when folks do that.

Well, what the stores really hate is when you slip off the plastic wrapper and/or brown paper cover and start reading ...

"Sorry, ma'am, but I only look at Playboy for the articles page design" :D

 

[fossywriter8]

Makes me want to start flipping through papers in the aisle or at the checkout counter before actually buying.

And I know stores love when folks do that.

Well, what the stores really hate is when you slip off the plastic wrapper and/or brown paper cover and start reading ...

"Sorry, ma'am, but I only look at Playboy for the articles page design" :D

Hands-on learner?
;)

 

[Captain_Kirk]

They should probably have ****tier designs so you can save your money and not disappointed when you get home.

mb, with statements like that, you're clearly management material....

 

[TheMethod]

This scenario is basically unheard of at my shop.

Our reporting staff is basically operating as it has for the last 10 years, while the desk is so thin, if we get an actual design that isn't a cookie cutter, it's probably a special occasion. It's not their fault. It's just the way it is.

 

[J-School Blue]

Hell, as a reporter, I loved it. Sweet design jobs did nothing but give me better clips.

As a reader, I only get "sucked in" to material I wouldn't otherwise probably read by art when it comes to magazines. At least, that's the only times I notice.

 

[deskslave]

So the solution to the problem is to make the design ****tier, rather than the story better?

Why should a designer's ability to do good work be limited by a reporter's inability to do a decent story?

 

[farmerjerome]

I'm for anything that sells more product, and I'm a sucker for a slick design too. If it makes more people buy the paper for my story, I'm happy.

 

[mb]

They should probably have ****tier designs so you can save your money and not disappointed when you get home.

mb, with statements like that, you're clearly management material....

or not very good with sarcasm

 

[BTExpress]

Why should a designer's ability to do good work be limited by a reporter's inability to do a decent story?

Because sometimes a designer's work can be misleading and/or overstate the story. And it's not always because the reporter did a bad job.

Case in point:

Local team was undergoing a coaching search. One candidate was clearly leader in the clubhouse, and it was basically his job to lose.

We did a fancy front-page spread on the coaching search, listing 5 candidates with their various backgrounds, pros, cons, etc.

Problem is, the package treated each candidate the same. Whereas in reality the leader in the clubhouse had a 95% chance of getting the job --- he did wind up getting it --- and the other four were the 2nd-, 3rd-, 4th- and 5th-place horses at Belmont behind Secretariat.

Pretty design confused the reader by making him believe it was a five-horse race.

 

[VJ]

That's not pretty design, that's the graphic not clearly laying out the fact that the one candidate was the 95% favorite and the others were clear longshots.

That's like if I said your nutgraph sucked but I was such an idiot that I thought it was the lede.

But good job not knowing what you are talking about.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

I suspect there's a good number of people here who like Best American Sports Writing volumes because they run the stories with no art.

Why does it matter, really, if "design outshines a story?" Both try to draw readers deeper into the paper and non-readers into dropping the quarters into the slot. And at first blush, readers are going to be attracted to a good design or good photos. If anything, I would be disappointed if a story I wrote that I thought was pretty good was given a block of gray and a file pic.

People for the most part are more likely to read a 15-inch story with elements than a 25-inch story. And a good reporter can still tell a story within whatever constraints given them.

 

[IGotQuestions]

I designed this section, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.

 

[cwilson3]

As a designer, I'd like to think that making the design better than the writing only helps the writer. I hope my design gets someone to read a story, and I don't care as much if they're disappointed unless I wrote the story. In a perfect world, everyone does their part, but I'm not going to dumb down my design to the level of a crappy story.