There are no pages like snow pages
There were a number of interesting page one treatments regarding the blizzard that tore through the midwest and northeast over the past few days.
I’ll open with this nice picture and bold headline in the tiny Daily News of Winona, Minn.:
Staffer Melissa Carlo took the photo. The Daily News has an average daily circulation of just 10,753.
The Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald — circulation 153,340 — caught my eye for the interesting relationship between the headline and the picture:
The story, it turns out, is about residents unhappy that snowplows are creating huge piles of snow that block driveways and parking lots. That certainly is a line in the snow in the photo, though, shot by staffer Jeff Beierman.
You’ve heard me say, over and over, that sometimes, the designer’s job is to play the picture big and then get the hell out of its way. That’s what I’m seeing on my favorite front page of the day, this one by the Press-Gazette of Green Bay, Wis.:
Photo editor Jim Matthews writes:
The page one designer is Eric Ebert, our Presentation Editor. He knows how to make the most of a strong image.
He sure does. And he had a hell of a picture by staffer M.P. King with which to work. The Press-Gazette has an average daily circulation of 55,987.
Headline of the day goes to my friends at the Des Moines Register, circulation 116,876:
Lisa Fernandez shot the lede art. Kelli Morris designed the page. And Rick Shacklett wrote the hed.
Rick came up with a lot of brilliant headlines during my five years in Des Moines. Man, I miss that guy.
Not so sterling, I’m afraid, is the headline atop today’s State Journal of Madison, Wis.:
I suspect the headline is trying to say: Hey, it’s not over yet. But instead, it appears to say: Guess what? The storm did no damage!
Nice photo by Craig Schreiner, though. Average daily circulation of the State Journal is 92,213.
Along the same lines, I’m not crazy about the snowstorm hed above the fold of today’s Cincinnati Enquirer:
It could have been worse.
Well, yes, it could have. The headline is certainly accurate. Just not very compelling. The Enquirer circulates 168,511 copies daily.
It’s not a snowstorm picture, but I was impressed with this holiday-themed shot by Amelia Kunhardt on the front of the Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass.
Click for a much larger view:
You don’t see wild art that often anymore on page one. And perhaps rightfully so. But when you do use it, it should be dynamite. And this one is.
Average daily circulation for the Patriot Ledger is 51,105.