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She’s Back ...

Walking back into the newsroom, I was curious how it would go. It had been a year since I’d left my role as Visual / Design Lead and page designer. Since I’d moved across the Pacific to work as a freelance writer, education consultant and marketing/design gal for a small company in Beijing. I’d only peripherally followed newspapers via my social media feeds, and had skulked around Newseum only when I had a spare moment between my classes.

And here I was, semi-sneaking in the side door of my old newsroom, making a subtle entrance as people put out the next day’s paper. People would raise their heads for a moment, do the double (or triple) take and then the great attempt to catch up on a year began. I absorbed every detail I could get on how things had been - who was designing what page, who had taken what editor role, etc. I was fascinated by the new digs the Camera office had, by the shifts in roles, by how it all felt so different yet not at all different.

As I casually sifted through newspapers on folks’ desks, I still cringed a bit. On the whole, what efforts I’d made for design improvement hadn’t stuck. Not to say good work hadn’t happened - I was well aware of the brilliance of a few of my good friends in that office. The reporting and photography was still fantastic, as was the editing and decision on where to run what. The presentation desk had seen some big losses, which left me only a few familiar faces. Of them, I knew one shining star had continued to put out top-notch designs. But on the whole, I was disappointed. Hadn’t I marked just these same mistakes dozens of times before I left? Hadn’t I tried to teach alternatives to competing headlines? Hadn’t I railed about headline hierarchy, photo sizing and text breaks?

Sigh.

“It’s not your job anymore,” I’d repeat to myself. Over. And over. And over. “You need to let this go.”

But that’s the pickle I’ve found myself in. I still care - a lot - about journalism, and more specifically my old newspapers. I still stalked their front pages on social media, and looked them up on Newseum. I’d redesign them in my mind, wishing I could appear over their shoulders with helpful tips. I wanted to pick their brains. Why did you choose that font? Why did you opt for that placement? What was your process? Justify that for me - fight for your design, and we’ll see if we can’t compromise.

Alas, I couldn’t. Everyone was safe from my incessant, obsessive design mania, and were probably glad for it. Who wants some know-it-all (who absolutely doesn’t know it all) harping on them all the time?

Well. Never fear. I found a way to release a bit of the pent-up design anxiety. My friend (the aforementioned shining star) was designing the Daily Camera cover. She could probably see my open salivation at the opportunity, because she eventually turned. 

“Alex, do you want to design a page or something?”

Me: “Well, I mean ... if you don’t mind ... I could, you know ... I mean ...”

Aka: HELL YES.

Twenty minutes later, I’m flying through Methode at a rate I never dreamed possible after a year’s absence (proving how deeply engrained that godforsaken program is embedded in all our brains), tinkering with the next day’s A1.

Ah. Now that felt good. 

While it isn’t everything I’d want it to be, being my only page for a year, it felt good to give the fine folks at the Camera a page closer to the quality they deserve to get every single day. Something with a bold headline, and tons of big art. A design with white space, but doesn’t lose text to the design. It has a clear headline hierarchy and an appropriate use of color.

It was a start, anyway, to what I’d love to see coming out of that office every day.

I have a feeling, now that China feels a bit ... easier, I suppose, or at least more manageable, I’ll be hunting down news pages more often. You can take the girl out of the newsroom, but eventually she’ll just weasel her way back in and offer the same unsolicited advice she did before.

Tune in for what I hope will be a minor resurgence in design-crazed, journalist-loving posts to “A Design State of Mind”.

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Graphic Design Certification complete. Cool.

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Thinking this whole freelancing thing may not be too bad after all. Just me, my laptop and a flight of craft beer.

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And my farewell tour of sorts continues with the crew I've been part of the longest. In 2010, I became a part of the @reporterherald family, as an in-house designer if you can imagine such a thing. Their design editor taught me all my fundamentals, laying the groundwork for what I'd later become as a news designer. Their editors, reporters and copy editors taught me the rest. I love this team, and am so thankful to have been their coworker and friend for so long! Thanks for everything :)

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In Feb. 2011, I covered a Freedom to Marry event for my student newspaper. Four years later, it's still all about love.

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Time To Travel

Well, it’s as official as it can be.

In two months, I’ll be moving to Beijing for a year, to teach English.

And it’s going to be an incredible change. Scary and exciting and everything out of my comfort zone.

But it’s time for this single gal to hit the road and see what she can of the world.

I’ve been incredibly lucky. For years, I’ve worked in a profession I love, doing work I care deeply about. I’ve advocate for news design and community journalism. I’ve learned from incredible journalists, and watched as limited staffs and tight resources never stopped a group determined to give their communities the best. I care so much about these publications, and have worked tirelessly to ensure they got the best I could give them.

I’ll always be a journalist at heart.

But it’s time I try something new. Break out of my routine and see a bit more of the world.

Wish me luck!

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Well, I took the plunge. Got myself hooked up with the Creative Suite. Time to get designing!

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The front page of the Boulder Daily Camera, with out team's excellent coverage of Memorial Day's Bolder Boulder coverage. Designed by yours truly. (Came together well considering I'd run that 10K that morning ...)

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Two weeks ago, I - as the Colorado Daily nightlife columnist/Beer Girl - was invited down to @fatebrewingcompany to chat beer, food, etc with them. A great afternoon and opportunity to meet the head brewer and owner, and to sample all sorts of creative brews and appetizers. (Check out the subsequent article for the Daily here: http://bit.ly/1zI4NLu)

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It’s Official

I am now the Visual / Design Lead at Prairie Mountain Media.

A set of eyes dedicated to quality assurance across all of our publications, I shall now attempt to oversee the presentation desk's work, plan better our special sections and Sunday centerpieces, and host weekly critiques and design lessons to help how I can raise the bar for our publication's layout and design.

And while I’m extraordinarily excited for the chance to try and amp up our desk’s work, I see plenty of hurdles in my way. Thank goodness my youthful, naive enthusiasm and almost obnoxious energy for change and improvement hasn’t faded yet.

Wish me luck.

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What Do You Do When ...

You and your boss have very different views on what “good design” is?

This is a question I found myself asking, when it became obvious my editor and I disagree - strongly - on what good design is for news pages. Not to say there aren’t many different schools of thought about what makes good design. There are quite a few approaches to take that all equate to a well-designed page. I find myself constantly evolving my own definition as I grow and experiment and learn what works with what content. I’ve disagreed with choices made on incredible pages just because it isn’t my personal style.

But to hear someone argue a case for the validity of butting headlines, well ... there are some rules I just don’t think you can break and still defend.

Like butting headlines. In nearly all cases in my experience, I have found it to be laziness that allows that, not page limitations. And while altering font size or choice helps, it doesn’t change the fact that you have two headlines in direct competition. I’ve found myself stuck with that design choice only three or four times in 6 years of designing. And this has led me to believe it’s nearly always avoidable with a little creativity.

Anyway, I digress.

And I wish I had an answer for all of you to the aforementioned question. But all I can say is ... if you are practicing good design, preserving those rules that shouldn’t be broken and constantly trying to improve your skill set, don’t change. You’ll never have everyone see eye-to-eye with you, but you can set high standards for yourself and always try to obtain them.

Of course, those with other suggestions are welcome to voice them. Here’s to great page design.

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Like it or not, solutions to save local journalism are about saving newspapers, and easing their transition to the digital news era.

Matthew Hindman, an associate professor at George Washington University

Read his full study here.

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Nice play on a centerpiece graphic, making a simple package flow together well.

Sports cover for Fort Collins Coloradoan for #NationalSigningDay. Feb. 5, 2015. 

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The best journalism involves discovery. It involves surprise and wonder and excitement – and new knowledge.

Martin Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post

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A #tbt to the 2010-2011 Rocky Mountain Collegian crew at Colorado State University. Back in those days in the newsroom, we were each other's best friends, roommates, confidantes and keepers of sanity. (That's what happens when you basically live in the LSC basement.) Here's to just a few of the incredible journalists and friends I made who kick-started my career and made college one hell of an experience.

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Baron presented the 47th annual Hays Press-Enterprise Lecture at UC Riverside.

A few things I pulled from this speech:

"The tricky part is how we make the transition. We must remain committed to quality wherever we publish. We cannot make a hash out of what we do in print. Our reputation cannot be squandered. Our paying, and very loyal, subscribers deserve our best.”

Wise words for those ready to dump too quickly the print product in favor of the web. We need to make sure anything associated with our brands excels.

“While we can – and should – vigorously debate the smartest path forward, anyone living in the real world can see what human communications has become. Cynicism and pessimism cannot rule the day. We need confidence and enthusiasm, a focus on possibilities. We need to be optimistic. Those who feel they work in vain do not succeed. Success goes to those who believe they can achieve it. Similarly, we will need to acquire a spirit of entrepreneurship.“

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I sure think this design is a clever one. Simple, but incredibly intricate if you think about what it took to create that text image. Well done.

Design by Jen Meyer