Sunday papers typically display a wider range of design solutions than daily papers. Today was no exception.

Photos: The Kokomo Tribune depended upon photos to boost single-copy sales with an interesting above-the-fold treatment. The Kansas City Star made effective use of a high-impact photo in its nameplate. But no one topped the Omaha World-Herald's flying sheep for weirdness.

Informational graphics: Both the Chicago Tribune and Sun Journal went big with airy maps and diagrams.

Typographical solutions: The Des Moines Register had a nice clean solution framed by white space. But no type solution was better than today's South Florida Sun-Sentinel, making it today's best front design.

This is clearly a dare-you-not-to-look-at-it presentation. While looking doesn't guarantee reading, it takes the first step toward closing that deal. If readers don't look at a story, then surely they won't read it.

In addition to being high-impact visually, the meaning of the biggest words is also high impact: Assault, burglary, sexual battery, with homicide set bigger than all the rest. This is using design the way it was meant to be used: to advance the content.

Room for improvement: The main package was appropriately dark, brooding and sinister. The rest of the page, including the Super Bowl box and daily digest at the bottom were light and pastel, making the page seem schizophrenic. The entire page would have reflected a single, unified design aesthetic if the secondary visual elements had been more muted, maybe with darker, dusky colors or even light gray and red to relect the palette of the main package.



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