Charles Apple

We started out early this morning with the best of intentions: Post as many notable fronts as we could before we had to duck out at mid-morning for a meeting across town. We’d post more this afternoon.

We returned home to discover a) Traffic at the Newseum has brought that site to a virtual standstill, and b) Folks were e-mailing us some truly stunning pages — in some cases, pages that weren’t even available this morning.

So we’ll just keep adding to this post. If you have something you’d like to show off, send it on. You know the address, right?

chuckapple@cox.net

So let’s carry on with our look at historic front pages commemorating the inauguration of President Barack Obama…

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OUR FAVORITE PAGE OF THE DAY

We’re still looking through pages. But so far, our favorite is this one by the Salt Lake Tribune:

It’s elegant. The typography is understated and, well, gorgeous. The photo is taken from an unusual angle; it would have been an arresting image of anyone.

But having the new president and his wife, strolling across the presidential seal — wow. Wow.

We asked Tribune AME Josh Awtry to tell us about it:

The vast majority of credit goes to Colin Smith for taking a photo that was difficult to work with and coming up with the typographic elegance that brought it all together.

We had a tough time finding the right photo. Like most people, we started at 10 in the morning, but just didn’t see anything that worked. Colin had close to a dozen prototypes throughout the day, but none of them had the gravity we wanted.

Our director of photography, Susan Cohen, found this photo late in the evening — it was a terrific find, and she deserves a lot of credit for rooting this one out of a sea of thousands.

From the beginning, Colin and I were against a large headline. When it reveals news — like when Obama won the election — a huge headline is warranted. But what possible news value to the reader could there be in the headline when he was inaugurated? The value of today’s paper was less the news, and more the commemoration of a historic day.

Ironically, the hardest sell on this page was me — our managing editor and editor both liked it. I thought the photo was better than ‘just good,’ but I was hoping for something a little more grand in its approach.

I pushed it right to deadline, hoping for an even better image. We had some close seconds, but in the end, I changed my mind and helped push this through — in part because it’d be unique, but mostly because I thought readers would appreciate us not shouting at them with news they already knew.

Absolutely, Josh. Fabulous work.

And to the rest of you: Yes, yes, we know. We have a professed weakness for poster fronts, especially on big news days like this.

It’s an addiction. We’ll go see a doctor about it.

One day.

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THE WIDE-ANGLE ‘PODIUM CAM’

We wrote last night about the innovative remote wide-angle camera used Tuesday by McClatchy photographer Chuck Kennedy to capture the moment from the base of the podium itself.

We’re glad to see the resulting art got a workout.

The tiny Herald of Bellingham, Wash. — circulation about 24,000 — gave the photo a very clean treatment:

The design is by Tony Briggmin. We use several of his pages in our slide shows.

Here’s a very similar approach by the Albuquerque Journal:

Love the minimal headline. What more do we need to say out there, anyway?

The Orlando Sentinel chose to zoom in even tighter on that photo. This crop turns up the volume even greater — which has even more impact for this particular paper, which dropped all its usual above-the-fold apparatus for this treatment:

Kiah Staley of the Tribune Eagle in Cheyenne, Wyo., went the completely opposite direction: She zoomed out of that photo to include the Obamas’ two daughters, Malia Ann and Sasha:

Lots of little pieces at the bottom of this page, but notice how Kiah kept them all very structured and clean. The black panel containing the reversed quote and the two well-chosen secondary photos were nice touches.

Also using this same lede art today — but with a very unusual crop — was Chicago’s RedEye:

You gotta love the headline. Soon-to-be-ex-design director Chris Courtney writes:

That was a Mike Rich cover. I handed him the election coverage back in January of last year and pretty much anything that has went down (with a couple of exceptions) has been his work.

It’s different, but so were a lot of papers today. And that’s a good thing.

The Des Moines Register hoped to find that one killer image to use on a wrap today. But, like managing editor Randy Brubaker tells us:

But, as per the discussion on your blog after the general election, we were faced with the question: Did we have the right photo for it?

They liked a crop of the McClatchy wide-angle shot. But no, they didn’t judge it to be just what they were looking for for a wrap.

Their solution? Separate photos:

Love that crowd shot. We’ll show you more like that in a few minutes. And that’s the Register’s Joe Jayjack with the design, Randy tells us.

Note the strip ad, which also wraps.

Christine Strobel of The Honolulu Advertiser also mixed these same two images:

Christine writes:

I threw this together in the morning and waited to see if any other art of the day would force me to tear it up. The only photo that came close was of Obama flashing the shaka during the parade, since that has a lot of resonance here.

We ended up running that photo huge on our “A1″ — which ran inside on A3 — and we kept this poster front.

The Charlotte Observer used the wide-angle shot huge on a sideways inside page:

Perhaps the largest use of this photo we’ve seen so far, however, was this wrap-around cover for a special section inside today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune:

That’s Colleen Kelly with the design.

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OTHER OATH SHOTS

The Charlotte Observer went with a shot of a grinning Obama taking the oath before the gistening Capitol dome:

Oh, wait — that’s not the gistening Capitol dome. That’s the back of Chief Justice John Roberts‘ head. Our bad.

Cleveland’s Plain Dealer used a much looser crop, which allowed a look at Michelle:

The more we see this picture, though, the more we see that bald spot. Perhaps our own balding head is causing us to overreact, but… damn!

The Tribune went with a slightly different angle of the moment — one that didn’t emphasize Robets’ head quite so much:

Yes, the Trib’s single-copy tabloid edition used the same cover shot:

It’s amazing how well the Tribune looks as a tab. How much longer will it be before the “World’s Greatest Newspaper” kills its broadsheet edition?

And speaking of Chicago Tabloids, today’s Sun-Times used a very tight crop of Obama — notably different from the others becasue the lack of a smile:

In fact, Obama looks positively grim. Was this before or after he and Roberts fumbled the snap from center?

The SunSentinel of Ft. Lauderdale avoided the bald-head problem by choosing a side view. The president’s warm grin makes this shot work:

We’re not so sure about all that business at the top of the page, though.See how nice and clean the stripes and typography are at the bottom? On a day like this; with photos like these — a little goes a long way. The autograph and big blue box added unnecessary clutter and pushed the president’s face down further toward the fold.

Here’s another unusual take. The Kitsap Sun of Bremerton, Wash., led with area folks and their reactions to the inauguration. Very nice.

Their lead photo, though — downpage — is a huge, panoramic shot of the moment:

The right choice? Or a misfire?

We like the sense of scale all those people give the photo. But consider this: Most of those people are Senators, Congresspeople, government officials, celebrities. All the real people are waaaay off to the left — several hundred yards away, in fact.

The rest of the design is very solid, though. Nice and clean.

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ADDRESS SHOTS

Not many papers led with photos of Obama during his inaugural address. Those that did met with mixed results.

Most that did, used the same photo the Journal Sentinel of Milwaukee did here, of Obama making his point with clinched fists:

It’s a powerful shot, and Milwaukee used it well.

Vince Chiaramonte and John Davis of the Buffalo News also went with double-fisted art today:

Again, note the typography. No one knows details of type better than Vince, who shows it off here. Very clean; very readable.

Our only quibble is that the two headers seem redundant. Why not move the faded stripe-and-seal — with the italic promo — both over the nameplate? It’d lighten the area over Obama’s head considerably and leave you with a slightly cleaner front.

Here’s an interesting one for you small-paper folks out there: The Beaufort (S.C.) Gazette:

Note how the designer, Jennifer Alliet, used the dead space in the lead photo for the main headline. Also note how the entire Obama family appears to be waving to ex-President Bush. That’s a wonderful touch — especially for rural South Carolina, where Bush is still very popular.

Jennifer writes:

We work side-by-side in the same newsroom with the designers at our sister paper, The Island Packet in Hilton Head Island, S.C. The Packet’s designer, Pamela Uhles, and I tried to make our pages different enough, that readers may want to pick up both.

Oh, yeah. Plenty of difference. Good to see McClatchy isn’t asking you guys to produce cookie-cutter work.

Remember that crowd shot we critiqued on the front of thte Kitsap Sun? Compare that to this photo on the front of the News Leader of Staunton, Va.:

Now, that’s a crowd shot. You can see people extending the mile or so to the Washington Monument. At six columns, it’s a breathtaking picture.

The rest of the page, though, falls short. We’d urge designers not to use graduated colors on typography — especially on a day like this. It’s a bell or whistle you simply don’t need.

The Press-Gazette of Green Bay, Wis., used a photo of Obama taken from the media perch, high above the podium. This would have been just after the inaugural address. Obama is turned toward us, so we can see him. Yet, we also can see — clearly and crisply — the upturned faces of his audience:

It’s a stunning photo. Green Bay wisely used it as a wraparound cover, meaning readers today saw it huge.

And notice the designer used the picture big and then got the hell out of its way. Wonderful stuff.

Likewise, the Detroit News wanted to give a sense of scale to the enormous crowd yet also show off the president on the front. And the president, they reasoned, would be a simple podium shot.

Their solution was a double-page wrap around the A-section:

Nice job. That’s designer Tyler Rau and presentation editor Richard Epps.

The News has been on a roll lately. We’ll have to keep an eye on those folks.

The tabloid Rocky Mountain News, too, did the wrap thing today:

The designer, Charles Chamberlain, added a thin blue frame and tucked the paper’s nameplate into a little red box in the upper corner. These touches set the look of the front apart from the Rocky’s usual format.

Also, another subtle touch of genius: Check out where, among the label up top, the tab fold falls. Neat, huh?

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PARADE SHOTS

Our hometown Virginian-Pilot went with a photo of what, for us, was the most frightening moment of they day: When Barack and Michele Obama climed out of their armored limo and walked for a while:

Typically for the Pilot, not only is the typography spot-on, so is the headline itself. Y’know, headline writing is a very underrated part of good page design. What your headline says is even more important than how your headline looks.

The Washington Post went with a very nice shot of a cuddly Obama couple:

That might not look like much, mixed in among all these huge front-page displays and poster fronts. But for the Washington Post, man, that’s a huge photo.

Our take: We don’t like the angle. It puts too much emphasis on the presidential limo, which looks like it’s about to run them both over.

We prefer the same moment, shot from the angle used by Newsday:

Not only does that frame put more emphasis on the presidential couple, they look positively cuddly here. Great job.

News design consultant Alan Jacobson thought so, too, naming Newsday his Best Front Page of the Day, for…

…the best crop on the best photo.

It’s better to show than to tell. Many newspapers echoed Obama’s words – “We have chosen hope over fear” – but few chose this photo which tells the tale. The Obamas’ smiles say “confidence” better than any words ever could.

And of those papers that chose this photo, none cropped it for maximum impact like Newsday, putting Mr. Obama front and center where he belonged.

Hartford used the same photo:

What makes this one great is the attention to typography. Very clean, crisp letterforms, an excellent use of white space. A lot of work — and experience — goes into understated design like this, folks.

And it pays off.

The Post-Dispatch of St. Louis chose a very similar — but not quite the same — picture:

Here’s yet another angle — not quite as flattering to Michelle, but much better for the president:

That’s Chris Carr with the design.

And here’s the aforementioned Hilton Head, S.C. Island Packet, designed by Pamela Uhles and the tightest crop yet for a parade photo:

And how ’bout that USA Today? Those guys have been on a real roll this week, departing from their usual format:

A nice job. It’s nice sometimes, when you have a very tight, regular format, to break out of it for just the right story. And this was definitely the right story.

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OTHER ANGLES

A few papers were successful in finding a way to zig when everyone else chose to zag, breaking out of the pack of sameness that seems to affect so many of us on days like this.

Do readers really care? Frankly, we’re not so sure. After all, how many of our readers make a daily pass through the Newseum — or, lately, here at the blog — and compare front pages from around the nation?

Still, it’s nice to see that independent thought still exists in newspaperland. Especially when that thought pays off well.

Take, for example, this photo on the front of the Seattle Times:

Did anyone else use that photo? If so, we’ve not yet seen it. It’s a wonderful image — Oh, lucky day for that bright blue carpet! — and the designer has played off of it quite nicely.

Equally interesting — if not equally successful — is the reverse angle used on the front of today’s Newport News, Va., Daily Press:

Yeah, they turned the page sideways. You get to see Obama interacting with the VIPs, the massive crowd on the Mall, plus you get that wonderful splash of color from the carpet.

What do we give up, though? We give up any hope of a nice above-the-fold presentation.

Perhaps the editors of the Daily Press decided they didn’t need a great rack presence to sell papers today. So, most likely, this wasn’t a problem. It’s something we need to consider, though, any time we consider turning page one on its side.

Thanks to our schedule Wednesday morning and then the subsequent meltdown of the Newseum’s servers Wednesday afternoon, we didn’t see this page by the St. Paul Pioneer Press until nearly midnight.

It’s one of our favorites of the day:

Three dramatic horizontal crops, visually telling three different visual stories. The man. The crowd. And emotion. It’s hard to top this.

Senior editor for visuals Lauri Hopple writes:

Our original hope was to do a wrap, front and back cover. Then we sold a back-page ad. So the plan became a poster-page.

The early crew (ed. Thom Fladung, photo ed. Jason Cook and me) looked through images shortly after the swearing in. We settled on a few we liked, but nothing struck us as the photo. Thom was talking two photos; I was resisting because it would be too traditional. We decided to wait and see.

When designer Amanda Willis and news editor Pat McFadden came in, I could tell they were equally dissatisfied with the images and with the idea of a traditional two-photo page. After the main news meeting, Thom, Jason, Pat, Amanda, Ben Ramsden and I put our heads together and out of that discussion the idea of a “sandwitch” emerged. Jason found the right images. Amanda and Pat worked on the words — an entire phrase instead of the usual hammer-quote head.

We were aiming for impact, for non-traditional, for broad spectrum and for historical significance. I think we hit most of those.

We don’t think we’ve seen this photo used as lead art by any other paper today:

We’re not quite sure when that was taken. Most likely at the Capitol, either right after the ceremony or as the Obamas said goodbye to George and Laura Bush, perhaps.

The only college paper we’ve seen so far: The Yale News, which was kind enough to send us its front page. The Yalies gave Obama great play, considering he went to Columbia and Harvard:

That’s a nice, tight portrait and a truly amusing file mug shot of outgoing president Bush — who is a Yale graduate.

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TEXT PAGES

We’ve not focused too much on inside pages today — hell, just this has taken us a while to compile and post — but here are a couple of examples of how papers handled the complete text of President Obama’s inaugural address.

On one end of the spectrum, we have Tony Briggmin of the Bellingham (Wash.) Herald: Very clean, very readable. With the big text up top and the four-on-six layout, though, we can call this magazine style:

And then you have the trendy approach — Not quite as readable, perhaps, especially for older readers.

This ran sideways in the Chicago tabloid RedEye:

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POYNTER’S LIVE CHAT ON INAUGURAL FRONTS

You guys logged in, right? What did they say? Is there a transcript available?

The Poynter Institute hosted a 30-minute live chat today at 1 p.m. Eastern time. The subject: Inaugural page designs. The guests: Steve Dorsey of the Detroit Free Press and Bonita Burton of the Orlando Sentinel.

We’ll try to dig up a report. In the meantime, read more about that here.

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FOR FURTHER READING

* See Tuesday’s Extra edition covers here. (Just added Milwaukee’s Extra)

* See a selection of Tuesday inaugural fronts here.

* See a selection of Monday inaugural fronts here.

* See a selection of Sunday inaugural fronts here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 9:22 am and is filed under Elections, Innovative ideas, News design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.