It’s not everyday that we see an image like the one below:
What we see above may be an artifact to some (my Columbia students included!), or a flashback for newspaper layout editors of a certain age. To me, a throwback to my very early days laying out pages at The Miami News of the 1960s. The pica ruler. The pencil. The sketch pad, complete with the dummy of the page.
Yet, all of those things are still very present when Josh Crutchmer, Print Planning Editor, The New York Times, sets out to design pages.
I am delighted to see that the art of sketching is still very much alive at the Times, as it should be everywhere. As I always tell my students, ideas that are sketched have a better chance of getting realized. I sketch on napkins, tissues and paper towels, whatever is available so an idea will not escape.
In fact this past week, while conquering jet lag in Delhi, India, I remember jumping out of bed twice to jot down an idea for a mobile design for the Hindustantimes. I did not want the concept to vanish during the night. The sketch secured that it didn’t and, my simple sketch went something like this:
A chat with Josh Crutchmer
When I saw Josh’s sketches, I knew I wanted to ask him some questions. Here we go:
Mario: What’s your take on hand drawn sketches versus going straight to the computer to start your design concept?
So when I got to the New York Times, I was firmly in the “draw it on the screen” camp. But that is not something you get a choice in at The Times. A1 is drawn on paper, at a table with members of the masthead present, as well as a photo editor, night editor and copy chief. It’s expected, and it is built into a process that spans decades. The sketch is then emailed around the world to bureau chiefs and other editors outside of our main newsroom building. Only after all of that happens is it translated digitally into the next day’s front page.
Mario: What factors favor sketching by hand versus directly on the screen?
The part that won me over about sketching was a pair of factors. First is speed, as you can draw 3-4 different, distinct sketches if needed in just a few minutes’ time. But even more important, sketching facilitates collaboration. While we sketch A1 at the Times, there is a photo editor working with the designer — most often creative director Tom Bodkin, but also regularly print hub editors Amy Kelsey and myself — and a copy chief alongside all of us, seeing the photo choice and the crop, its placement on the page, and what kind of headline is being planned.
Mario: So you agree that when it comes to collaborating on a concept, a hand drawn sketch is best?
Drawing a page on your computer, unless you’re projecting it to a big screen, does not allow any of this. The only practical manner of such real-time collaboration (short of a screen projection) is the hover — when half a dozen editors stand over the shoulder of a designer and stare at their screen, each calling out critiques or ideas in real time, often pointing at the screen or, heaven forbid, touching the screen. Put it that way, in a system that requires A1 to be a collaborative effort, and sketching is by far the only practical option.
From sketch to finished layout
Take a look here at the process going from the hand drawn sketch to the printed page at The New York Times:
Start the year with The Story
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Mario’s speaking engagements
March 13, 2020
Keynote presentation at the National Media College Association Spring Convention, New York City, NY
March 27, 2020
Keynote
New York Press Association (NYPA), Saratoga Springs, NY.
TheMarioBlog post # 3186