Monthly Archive for January, 2008Page 2 of 9

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Happy birthday, Elizabeth Kane

Published
by
Charles Apple
on January 29, 2008
in Illustration, News design, Happy birthday, VizEds Blog and Graphics
. 3 Comments

Here’s wishing the happiest of VizEds birthdays to Elizabeth Kane , a senior designer at The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Elizabeth turns 28 today.

Elizabeth and Joe

Elizabeth and her fiancé, Joe, at some kind of
sporting event. Is that a new Steelers’ logo or
something? I’m pretty sure Pittsburgh doesn’t
have a pro baseball team. Photo from Elizabeth’s
Facebook profile.
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This is Elizabeth’s second time around at the Tribune-Review. She started out there as a graphic artist in 2002 before moving to a similar position at The Cincinnati Enquirer. She returned in October 2004.

Elizabeth is a 2002 graduate of Ohio University, where she worked on the student newspaper and was a varsity cheerleader. She has since served as a technical judge for the Cheerleaders of America.

A few samples of Elizabeth’s work:

Elizabeth sample 1 Elizabeth sample 2 Elizabeth sample 3 Elizabeth sample 4

See more in her NewsPageDesigner portfolio.

Elizabeth shares a birthday with Renee Fullerton of The Arizona Star, Luke Knox of The Arizona Republic, talk show host Oprah Winfrey and actors Sara Gilbert, Heather Graham and Tom Selleck.

Plus, today is Freethinkers Day. Seriously.

Best wishes for a happy birthday, Elizabeth!

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Hell freezes over? WSJ considering a sports page

Published
by
Charles Apple
on January 28, 2008
in Innovative ideas, Amusing stuff, Newspapers and VizEds Blog
. 1 Comment

Richard Pérez-Peña of The New York Times reports The Wall Street Journal is making plans to crank up a sports section. Or, at least, a sports page:

People at the paper who have been briefed on the plan say it is almost certain that a sports page, possibly tucked into Personal Journal, will be created in the next few months. But they cautioned that it was not yet clear how often the page would appear or what kinds of articles it would contain.

Stipple ball player
OK, so this isn’t really stipple. But
it’s close enough to make our point.
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Covering sports events that last late into the night would be logistically difficult for The Journal, which goes to press unusually early for a major newspaper. [New Dow Jones owner Rupert] Murdoch said at a recent meeting of bureau chiefs and editors that he wanted to find a way to address the problem.

For now, the printing schedule hampers efforts to cover late-breaking news, which suggests that a sports page would contain mostly features, commentary, analysis and investigations.

Murdoch is also considering other radical ideas, like moving The Wall Street Journal away from Wall Street, to his other building on 48th Street.

Read it in the Tuesday NYT.

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A couple of campaign-oriented briefs

Published
by
Charles Apple
on January 28, 2008
in Innovative ideas, Illustration, VizEds Blog and Graphics
. 1 Comment

A MASTER CARICATURIST AT WORK

John Kascht illustration

A video by Washington Post walks us through how master illustrator John Kascht constructs a caricature of John Edwards. My pal Patti McCracken passes along the link.

See more of Kascht’s fabulous work on his web site.

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CAMPAIGN GRAPHIC DESIGN CRITIQUED

NYT Hillary logo commentary

The RumorsDaily blog noted that The New York Times published a story back in November comparing the campaign graphics of various candidates. The Boston Globe published a similar story Sunday.

RumorsDaily, therefore, compared the two articles.

RumorsDaily concludes:

…is it really a coincidence that the two candidates who have surged in the month between when the NY Times story was posted and when the Boston Globe story was posted are the two that the Globe considered the most effective? I think the critics (at least the Globe’s Sam Berlow and Cyris Highsmith) are being unduly influenced by the popular effectiveness of the logos and not the designs of the logos themselves. This is why movie reviewers write their reviews before the public gets a chance to watch a movie, not after.

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Kudos for the Las Vegas Sun’s hotel fire coverage

Published
by
Charles Apple
on January 27, 2008
in Innovative ideas, Photojournalism, Web news design, News design, Newspapers, Industry woes and VizEds Blog
. 0 Comments

Rob Curley,  Vice President of Product Development for Washingtonpost/Newsweek Interactive, is gushing over the way The Las Vegas Sun covered the big Monte Carlo Hotel fire this week.Rob writes in his blog:

It started with a live blog updated by several members of the newsroom staff. I’m not sure how often the blog was updated, but it had new content every time I looked at it. Obviously, tons and tons of updates to it throughout the day.

Then came the photos.

Las Vegas Sun hotel fire photo
Leila Navidi/Las Vegas Sun
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Then came the overview of the Monte Carlo hotel and this incredibly well-done historical context of the fire.

Then came the videos. Here is another. And another, which seems to go with this very funny blog post.

And what made this so impressive was that with the exception of the videos, which I thought were pretty dang good, all of this coverage came while the hotel was still burning.

… To me, this was a nearly textbook example of how a local newspaper should cover a big breaking news story in its community in the iPhone era.

And, if you’re interested, the Sun published a cool story Saturday recounting, minute-by-minute, how the fire unfolded:

Ruth Santiago, who’s been on the housekeeping staff at the Monte Carlo since it opened, is cleaning rooms on the seventh floor. She’s one of 950 employees working at that hour.

Lynn Briggs of Amherst, N.H., is in town for the pageant — she’s the coach for Miss New Hampshire. She’s already checked in to her 28th-floor room and has decided to go for a walk up the Strip.

And there’s a fire on the roof of the 32-story hotel, offering a thickening column of black smoke against the winter sky.

Nobody inside knows. There aren’t any fire alarms on a roof.

But the flames are drawing gasps from pedestrians and motorists.

Back to Rob Curley’s blog: Rob goes on to give five tips on how newspapers ought to cover breaking news. It’s great stuff; make sure you check it out.

But an important point is this: It’s going to require resources.

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Happy birthday, Denise Reagan

Published
by
Charles Apple
on January 27, 2008
in News design, Happy birthday and VizEds Blog
. 3 Comments

Let’s pause on this quiet Sunday to offer the happiest of VizEds birthdays to Denise Reagan, Assistant Managing Editor for Visual Journalism of The Florida Times-Union.

Denise and Steve Dorsey

Denise smooches the Freep’s Steve Dorsey at
SND/Boston in October. Dorsey seems to be
enjoying it way too much, if you ask us.
Photo by William Couch.
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Denise has been AME in Jacksonville for two years, rapidly building The Times-Union a reputation for hiring bright, young talented designers and artists and putting that talent to use.

Example: Who else but Denise could lure Patrick Garvin to Jacksonville?

As I recall, Patrick was hotly pursued by a number of respected operations. But he decided to work for Denise, who has turned him loose to be brassy, informative and, at times, downright wacky on the pages of The Times-Union. 

Denise is responsible for a lot of Patrick’s success in Jacksonville. Just ask him.

Example No. 2: When Anna Berken graduated from the University of Minnesota last year, she spent a great summer interning with graphics legend Jeff Goertzen in Denver. But then who had the foresight to bring her in as a full-timer?

Yep. Denise did. And now Anna, too, is creating some killer work for the Times-Union. 

There are plenty of other examples, too. I mention these two because these are the two times when Denise caused me to smack myself in the head out of sheer envy.

Denise tweets Nelson Poynter

Who needs Twitter? Denise uses old-school tech
while the late Nelson Poynter looks on. Photo by
Steve Dorsey.
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Before moving to Jacksonville, Denise spent about a-year-and-a-half as news design editor of the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, and, before that, another year-and-a-half as the media planning editor at The Savannah Morning News. Denise also spent years at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Detroit Free Press and the Ft. Wayne, Indiana, News-Sentinel.

For the past three years, Denise has served as the education and training director for the Society for News Design.  A 1990 graduate of the University of Florida, Denise studied journalism, design and theater. Those last two come as no surprise to any of us who have enjoyed the skits Denise has performed at various SND functions.A few examples of the work done by Denise and her staff:

Denise Reagan sample 1  Denise Reagan sample 2  Denise Reagan sample 3  Denise Reagan sample 4

Find the Times-Union’s staff portfolio page here.

Find Denise’s older stuff in her NewsPageDesigner portfolio.

Denise shares a birthday with writer Lewis Carroll, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, actor Bridget Fonda, comic book writer and artist Frank Miller, journalist Keith Olbermann and Ross Bagdasarian, the creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks.Plus, today is Thomas Crapper Day, which commemorates the man who invented the flush toilet. Seriously.

Best wishes, Denise. I hope your birthday leaves you flushed with excitement!

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Happy birthday, Mike Dizon

Published
by
Charles Apple
on January 25, 2008
in Workshops, Happy birthday, VizEds Blog and Graphics
. 0 Comments

Here’s wishing the happiest of VizEds birthdays today (Saturday) to my friend Mike Dizon, a graphic journalist at The Straits Times of Singapore.

Michael Dizon

Michael Dizon listens to Peter Ong
discuss the ethics of photojournalism
in Manila, March 2007.
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Michael was one of the kind souls who attended a workshop last spring in Manila, where I spoke along with Kris Viesselman of National Geographic Maps, Tonia Cowan — then, of The Toronto Star — and consultant Peter Ong. When the sessions were over, Mike and his co-worker, Angel, sent me a very, very rare Star Wars figure.

Or, at least, it’s rare here in America. Perhaps the streets of Manila are paved with them or something. That might explain why you can’t find them in the U.S. Either way, I was touched by the gesture. They should be out getting drunk and instead they’re buying me action figures. What swell folks.

Dizon and company
Left to right: Peter Ong, yours truly, Tonia
Cowan, Michael Dizon and Kris Viesselman.
Photo by Michael Dizon.
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Michael is a talented artist who is equally comfortable with 3D applications, Photoshop and traditional board media illustration tools. A few samples of his work:
Dizon sample 1 Dizon sample 2 Dizon sample 3 Dizon sample 4

See more, of course, in his NewsPageDesigner portfolio.

Michael shares a birthday with hockey great Wayne Gretzky, singers Anita Baker and Eddie Van Halen, cartoonist Jules Feiffer, actors Paul Newman and Ellen DeGeneres, and American World War II Gen. Douglas MacArthur — who, incidently, lived in a penthouse suite in the Manila Hotel, where our workshop was held last year. What a coincidence, huh?

Plus, today is Australia Day. And, oddly enough, the leader of last year’s workshop — Peter Ong — lives in Australia.

Best wishes for a happy birthday, Michael! Please keep in touch!

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