There’s an interesting irony in most American newspapers, small and large alike. While the very foundation of our profession calls upon us to communicate valuable information to our readers, journalists are often terribly inept when it comes to communicating with one another.
Working on deadline day in and day out is at least partially to blame for this. We are often so used to working in isolation on our own little piece of the puzzle – be it writing, editing, making pictures or designing pages – that we sometimes fail to see the big picture.
As I spent the week wondering what topic to focus on for my first “design advice” column, I ran through all of the common design-specific questions I am faced with as a consultant, from choosing typefaces to color palettes. However, I kept coming back to the issue that plagues many newsrooms the most and settled on the notion of starting with a topic that goes much deeper than grid structures and graphic styles.
Editors and designers alike often refer to “content” as those elements in a publication which comprise the story. In a typical conversation, “content” includes text, headlines, photographs and other graphics. However, when referring to presentation, “design” is generally referred to as a separate entity. Thus, the “content” are the elements used in a “design.”
This is a common way of distinguishing among the various responsibilities in a newsroom, but it’s often the first step to dividing members of the journalistic process. In fact, design is content.
The choices we make regarding art direction, story play, packaging strategies, type size, color use and page design often has a very strong impact on the telling of a story. While it may not be on a conscious level, readers can and do respond to the presentation methods we implement, and these can sometimes dramatically impact the comprehension of and reaction to the information at hand.
Knowing this, it’s important that all editors make efforts to bring design into the planning, reporting and editing phases of a story. Design is not the mere window dressing slapped on a story during production. It is a viable form of storytelling that should be considered at every stage of a story’s development.
1. Invite designers into early discussions regarding a story’s development: Often giving a designer a little extra time to plan the packaging of a story will make the difference between a mediocre presentation and one that really supports the tone, message and clarity of a story.
2. Discuss possible photographs, fact boxes and other graphic devices during the reporting stage: These types of elements are often what readers engage first in a presentation. The visual devices can work to attract a scanning reader to a story he or she may not have read otherwise, so they should be well-written, thoughtful and effective in capsulizing important or interesting pieces of the story. However, if these are created an afterthought, they have less of a chance of achieving those goals.
3. Plan, plan, plan: The best designs aren’t created in front of a computer. They are discussed and conceptualized well in advance of the actual production process. Many editors and designers use a package planner form that lists possible alternative story structures, sidebars, graphics and other visual devices that may comprise a story. Optimizing the use of these devices can really enhance a reader’s navigation of a story.
4. Make it about the reader: Hate to say it, but reader friendly, is not editor friendly. Strong presentation often means that we have to spend a little more time thinking about how best to tell the story, and more often than not, the answer will be something other than a traditional story structure. Get designers involved in the discussion when this may be the case. The visually minded journalists may have some useful ideas about how the story should be told.