Newspaper Design: Best Front Design: Winston-Salem Journal

Today's front page provided several interesting comparisons.

A traffic tie-up in Pennsylvania offered many opportunities but few variations from The Morning Call, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Patriot-News, Reading Eagle and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Taming Ortega: The Orange County Register and O.C. Post.

Miner safety: The Courier-Journal and Herald Leader.

Tainted peanut butter: Star-Telegram and The State.

$10 billion wasted: Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Virginian-Pilot.

Today's BFD is the Winston-Salem Journal for the clarity of its FDA vs. Big Tobacco package.

Good design doesn't always mean graphic pyrotechnics. In fact, the best design should be transparent to let the content shine through the images, typography, charts, headlines, big words, text, etc.

That's what the Journal had today. The main headline clearly describes the story and provides an excellent presence for single-copy presentation. The main image was no larger or smaller than it needed to be. Two timelines show the history of smoking regulation and the declining number of smokers in this country. Yellow is used effectively throughout the package.

Room for improvement: It may have been more compelling to track the history of smoking regulation and the percentages of smokers on the same graph.

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By Alan Jacobson, Brass Tacks Design

Last week NYT Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. admitted that he really didn't know whether he'd be printing the Times in five years. Based on recent events, he is wise to admit what he doesn't know and to "Never say never."

Before you say "never" about newspapers, consider this:

Two years ago, Tony Ridder never thought he'd sell the company that bears his name.
One year ago, Gary Pruitt never thought he'd buy Tony's company.
Six months ago, Gary never thought he'd sell McClatchy's "crown jewel" – the Star-Tribune. And certainly not at a half-billion-dollar loss.
One year ago, Dennis FitzSimmons never thought he'd put Tribune up for sale.
Six months ago, Dennis never thought a qualified buyer would be so difficult to find.
We never thought papers like The Boston Globe and The New York Times would cut their newsroom staffs.
We never thought newsroom layoffs and buyouts would become as common as typos.
We never thought a guy named Craig and websites with silly-sounding names like "Yahoo" and "Google" could undermine our main sources of revenue. And we never thought classifieds were so important.
We never thought The Philadephia Inquirer (winner of 17 Pulitzers in 18 years and the biggest paper in America's fifth-largest city) would see its newsroom staff and circulation drop to the size of a secondary market.
We never thought we'd publish our stories for free online before we published them for payment in print.
A year ago, we never thought we'd see bottom-page strip ads on section fronts (unless we worked for a Gannett paper).
Six months ago, we never thought we'd see bottom-page strip ads on front pages.
A week ago, we never thought we'd see display ads on front pages.
We never thought newsroom raises would be tied to newspaper revenue, as they are now at the Boston Globe. (Four months ago, I suggested that newsroom salaries should be tied to circulation, never thinking that anything close would happen any time soon.)

There's only one thing we can be sure of: More Never Say Nevers TK.

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