Last week I met with several colleagues in my department for a general design brainstorming meeting, the first of what I hope will be several. There were many of us who brought examples of our recent work and projects we're currently doing and needed some input on.A girl who works next to me and I had the same sentiment about our recent work — we feel stuck in a design rut, doing the same treatments over and over, it seems.Our colleagues offered several suggestions on how to break the monotony and add design elements without shaking up the design too much. Many of the things they mentioned, I've done numerous times, but it was good to be reminded about things I don't often execute.Here are a few pointers from our meeting:• Don't be afraid to rewrite a headline if it doesn't work for the design.• Be proactive and get involved with the story development process. Talk to the writers and editors and see what the story is about and help plan the design elements. If you wait until turn day, you won't have as much time to develop a design idea.• Elements that can break up the gray include: white space, pull quotes, men on the street (q&a's), photos, typography and by the numbers, to name a few.• If design elements aren't readily available to you, find them. Scan the story for information you can pull out for an info-graphic or fast facts bullet box. Look for interesting quotes and set them off in a pull quote. Search your paper's archives for photos that ran in the past of particular events. Just don't wait for the design elements to be given to you.Overall, the brainstorming meeting helped stimulate the creative juices in all of us. The section cover I designed the day after the meeting was one of my favorites so far. The reporter for my section returned from a short vacation and said she loved it too.I cannot emphasize enough the importance of networking with colleagues and reminding each other about different ways to make each other's work better.
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