Charles Apple

The Indianapolis Star has been publishing some wonderful photography this football season.

And they’ve certainly not let up during Super Bowl Hype Week. (Go here to find the Star’s Super Bowl stories and galleries.)

Today, I was struck by the nicely-played lede art on page one:

Interestingly, the page is relatively busy — there’s a lot going on here. But it’s all nicely structured and prioritized for the reader. Keep this in mind, because I’ll bring it up again in a moment.

The lede art is a truly wonderful photo by staffer Matt Kryger showing a mass of reporters straining to hear the words of defensive Colts standout Dwight Freeney, who has an injured ankle (Click for a larger view):

The Star always does solid work, but they’re really cranking this week. Kudos to editor Dennis Ryerson, visuals gurus Scott Goldman and Ryan Hildebrandt and their team.

Average daily circulation for the Star is 201,823.

Now, contrast the top of that page with this one by the Daily Advertiser of Lafayette, La., circulation 40,496.

Come to think of it, compare that big gold-and-black promo with the rest of the Daily Advertiser’s own page. There’s simply waaay too much stuff crammed up there.

Yes, I understand the Daily Advertiser is one-fifth the size of the Star. But I’m not talking about resources here. I’m talking about structured presentation and hierarchy of typography and readability. What the DA needed was a little pruning — does everything have to be listed in this promo box? — and a little white space.

It’s possible to throw spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks. Sometimes, you get something interesting. But sometimes, all you end up with is a big, greasy mess.

The Sun Herald of Buloxi, Miss. — circulation 44,613 — tried something interesting to get fans involved in its Saints coverage:

The Sun Herald is inviting readers to come up with funny acronyms using the words “Saints” and “Colts”:

I’m a little surprised to find this particular item on page one today. Even during Super Bowl Hype week smack in the middle of Saints country, this seems an idea better-suited for the features front.

I applaud the attempt, though.

We’ll close today with my favorite front of the day — by Express, the commuter tab published by the Washington Post and another paper that’s been on a big presentation roll following its recent redesign.

The story was the proposed ending of the military’s “Don’t ask don’t tell” policy:

The lettering looks very militaristic — with the khaki and olive-drab colors and the stencil font — and the striked-out approach was spot-on.

Express was also singled out for praise in the Newseum’s own Top Ten Front Pages feature. Average daily circulation for Express is 183,916.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 2:25 pm and is filed under A look at the day's fronts, News design, Photojournalism, Sports design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.