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It has been a long, grueling, unforgiving semester filled with disappointing, dream crushing, heart smashing, and most importantly, a very passionate staff that I'm extremely grateful for.
I started out this semester as a designer-turned-editor thinking this was going to be a piece of cake. To some extent this was true, but most of that notion was immediately proven wrong. Managing a staff of 10 with 40-50 writers is very hard.
But it wasn't just the staff and new management challenges which arose, it was the burden having to baby a new redesign to a publication that hasn't had a refresher in nearly eight years. Wait, yes, exactly eight years. I think we did okay, though. Those long days in the summer, pent up in front of a computer monitor with a bag of cheetos, were worth it. I had my adviser and managing editor to assist briefly at times, which took some of the burden off.
One thing that I didn't expect was having the hard-working and passionate staff that came to be. I've been with The Clarion since I started at Madison College, and I've only ever seen one or two staff who are passionate at a time. The whole lot of us invested a lot, though, and I hope it continues into next semester.
Some things I know I will be better at next semester:
- Designing efficiently: towards the last three-or-so issues, I could design nearly the entire publication alone. One of our designers left, so I had to pick up the slack. About 4 pages of slack, to be exact.
- Managing story and budget meetings
- Knowing when to use food as a bribery: almost never used it this semester, except at the end when I knew people would fall off the face of the planet.
- Knowing when to put a foot down and say no
- Planning for illustrations and graphics
- Knowing what stories to look for and who to give them to
- Reacting to staff drama: all of it focused on one staff member, who ended up having to leave us.
My graphic design classes could never teach me these things, and I'm glad I can utilize these skills now while still being able to design and have fun on a visual level.
All that's left this semester is to apply for the SND annual contest and hope for the best.
Cheers,
George
Hello Ehwan! I finally had a good look at your portfolio. I must say that you have some amazing pages, and clever photo and illustration ideas. You put a lot of energy and creativity into your work, and try to compensate when the art you have is not very good.
I especially like following pages: LUKA 05 Topik, 08 topik, James Bond, kejaksaa agung, dpr kerdilkan, hlm 52-53, merapi, Politik - Gayus 1... anti-tsunami, grafis hukum...
Some very good pages are overworked, this is when you have too many good ideas and use them all at the same time: like the 01 cover teroris, the tearing of the paper is a good effect, but using it twice is not necessary, plus you have a photo of the motorcycles on an angle, all good images but try not to use them all at the same time.
Other example would be of using colour screens behind illustrations, not always necessary, sometimes the white paper background will make the art stand out better...
Here's my advice:
-use only the two main editorial fonts for titles. Even if you are working on special stories, using decorative typefaces make good pages look like adverts: Gila Game, and Kopi premium Indonesia, the italic type is not necessary, also wisata extrem, ortu tungal...
-create a colour palette for your paper, you can have many colours but be disciplined in using them, restrain from using too much of it on backgrounds. Use the same colour palette for the infographics.
-edit your portfolio, 192 pages is too many, try to cut it down to 100 or even 50 if you can, only show your very best work.
Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions.
It was nice meeting you!
All the best!
Well, I've been meaning to start blogging about my design endeavors for a while. I suppose now – after the thrill, excitement and exhaustion that is election night – is as good a time as any.
Let me first introduce myself! I'm Adam Baumgartner, a student in the journalism-graphics program as Ball State University. I've interned at the Indianapolis Star as a page designer, and I am presently graphics editor for the Ball State Daily News.
It's quite a task.
Though I've taken a multitude of journalism classes, I've only taken one design class to date. Thus, most of my design and visual storytelling experience has come from practice, the patience of peers and self-education. I like to think it's hard work that's paying off.
Last night, hard work definitely seemed to pay off. It was election night. Designers occupied every computer in our section of the newsroom – a occurrence. The design and assistant design editors were both in to oversee the production of the paper. I was managing two staff members – Jennifer Prandato and Michael Boehnlein – in the creation of graphics for the appropriate pages.
Maps of the U.S., Indiana maps, maps of counties, maps of districts. Breakdowns of Indiana's General Assembly and the U.S. Congress. Pie charts, stacked bar charts and bar charts of voter breakdowns. Pie charts of local election statistics.
Together, I, Michael and Jen tore through the data, changing it from numeric values to graphic representations. Counting tiny dots and fact-checking every issue. Live-updating as new information came in.
It was incredible.
Everything that could be done ahead of time, we did. My staffers already had maps of Indiana and the U.S. prepared, so we could mostly fill in the blanks. This made things run much more smoothly.
Still, we had to toe the line between providing the most accurate, up-to-date information and meeting our print deadlines. The problems with print media.
In addition to the print graphics, another designer created an online click-through of how each state's electors voted since 1988.
This evening, I'll likely do the same with all the graphics we published in today's paper. I simply have to update them for the latest results and make them into an interactive.
Of course, I've been looking through the paper and noticing all of the mistakes. Some numbers would have been better represented in different forms. Some maps could have used explainer text.
These are things I'll mention in our next design meeting so we can all improve for next time.
All in all, I'm just humbled to be leading and working with such an incredible, talented and dedicated staff.
That's all for now.
Happy to get the ball rolling on this blogging thing.
Adam
With all the amazing advances in online communication over the past couple of decades, it’s easy to take for granted that we don’t quite live in a paperless society yet. But printing isn’t dead yet – far from it. Three recent advances in printing technology provide ample proof.
Take, for example, new 3-D printing technology known as “rapid prototyping,” developed by researchers at the University of the West of England in Bristol.
These researchers – drawing in lessons from ancient Egyptian ceramic art – build up objects layer-by-layer from resins, plastics and metals. The end result they’re working toward is the eventual development of a ceramic extrusion paste that can be used in a 3-D printer.
The importance of 3-D printing technology can’t be understated in medical-related fields.
In dentistry, the process of fabricating crowns has already been revolutionized by the use of digitized intra-oral scans being made from patients’ teeth.
These are uploaded into computers and e-mailed to labs, where new porcelain bridges are printed out.
Recent amazing advances in the production of customized prosthetic limbs have been greatly affected by advances in 3D printing technology.
With 3D printing, limbs can be fashioned that perfectly mirror the symmetry and function of a person’s natural limb. 3D printing also helped doctors and engineers in the Netherlands who recently fabricated a very exact prosthetic lower jaw for an 83-year-old woman who suffered from a bone infection.
The prosthetic jaw was made from 33 layers of titanium powder that were heated, fused together and coated with artificial bone. Now, this lady will be able to live out her golden years in comfort.
We live in amazing times, don’t we?
YOU CAN'T LOSE IT!
No one believes that this photo of my children and I isn't photoshopped. But it really is not. I have taken hundreds, if not thousands of pictures with my kids, but nothing compares to the representation of strength in this photo that screams "we will face any storm, together".
It brings tears to my eyes to see the silent beauty of my children trusting me to guide and protect them no matter what happens in their lives. My husband took this picture using a Canon 5D and he is amazing. With just a simple flash and outdoor setting (no reflectors required).
He may have seen something that no one else would have seen through his magical lens. I have had this photo printed with a high speed laser printer and on canvas, no matter the size, quality or cost, it is one of the most striking pictures I have ever seen.
SND 20
The First Middle East News Design Competition
This award aims to promote creative excellence and innovation in the fields of newspaper and magazine design in the Middle Eastern region.
A Senior Designer of Al Shabiba and Times of Oman newspaper in Muscat . Osama has received several awards from the SND Creative Competition, including gold and a JSR (judge’s special recognition).
Born and raised in Syria, he received his bachelors of Arts degree from Damascus University. He is a member of Fine Artists Association of Syria.
YOUR UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY
WORKSHOP II/ INFOGRAPHICS
Making infographics, communicating through images Participants will work around certain topics to make a graphic, where they will recognize the different kinds of graphics, and how each of them is suitable or not to apply, according to the content. They will recognize the most common mistakes found not only in the world of the newspapers, but in information graphics in general. Participants will be given a feedback of their work, regarding visual communication and its use in the newsroom.
Workshop trainer: Luis Chumpitaz
Tarek Atrissi
"Being in Holland helps me take the critical distance from the Arab world, where most of my projects and research relate to, and I could look and understand the large geographic area of our Arab world with an objective eye," says Atrissi. "The philosophy of my design studio has been celebrating the beauty of Arabic culture and visualising it in the most creative and exciting ways."
His current projects include designing for the V&A Museum in London - specifically 2D exhibition graphics for their forthcoming contemporary photography show about the Middle East - and a design book with the Lebanese designer Nadine Chahine.
WORKSHOP/ DESIGN CRITICS for Arabic language publication
Participants will analyse their publication and discover what the best you can do to improve the design quality while respecting your audience .
In the workshop on day 2, participants will find the best design solution for all sections and learn to think visually, participants will analyse their product and work under the guidance of the trainer.
The workshop will give the participants a critique on their typography, color, layout and visual storytelling.
Workshop chairpersons: Adonis Durado and Osama Aljawish
All participants will receive a certificate
