Designing for your readers
by Tom
This past weekend I presented a session at the Best of the Midwest conference for the Associated Collegiate Press. The conference attracts advisers and student journalists from the top colleges and universities in the midwest.
My session was titled “Designing for your Readers” and was geared toward newspaper designers and editors and their advisors. (I’ve included a sample slide as an image above.)
To be clear, these are print designers, but as I prepared my notes and researched key points, I was reminded of how smoothly best practices in print often translate to the online domain. One of the trends in newspaper design that I discussed is the continuing evolution of storytelling techniques. Traditionally, a story might be constructed using the inverted pyramid, editors and copyeditors would verify and refine the details, designers would marry the copy with a photo or illustration and the story would be sent off to press. Of course, the most successful pubs took a more progressive tack and that’s where we can apply some new thinking.
One of my recommendations to the students about storytelling was to envision a great final product, and work backwards to make sure you can deliver that. Ideally, a writer, editor, designer, and photographer/illustrator should all discuss the best ways to tell a particular story from a reader’s perspective, decide how their role fits that goal, and collaborate along the way so things stay on track. Sometimes the best way to tell a story is through a drawing, or a series of photos and captions. Once inspiration strikes, the role of each staff member can change radically. If the photographer knows that the story will be written around a series of close, serious portraits, they can focus on capturing a consistent product rather than checking to-dos off a list.
In the hands of a good designer, the result will be inviting, compelling, and memorable. And easy to read.