Charles Apple

I haven’t seen many pages at the Newseum the past couple of days that really caught my fancy. But I have seen a few top-of-the-page promos that struck me as inventive and fun.

The Tribune of SanLuisObispo, Calif. — circulation 35,885 — ran this fun Easter-themed art today:

Yesterday’s Tribune Eagle of Cheyenne, Wyo., contained a story that told the story of former employees of “Area 51.” long rumored to be either a storage area, crash site or Grand Central Station for flying saucers.

The way the paper illustrated its refer made me laugh out loud:

I don’t know who wrote the story on page B5, nor can I find it on the Tribune Eagle’s web site. I suspect it was this one, from the Seattle Times. It’s a fun story and worth your time.

Average daily circulation for the Tribune Eagle is 15,762.

I’ll close with one that ran nearly two weeks ago. It got past me at the time, but I’d definitely have blogged it had I noticed it.

This is, perhaps, one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of an effective use of a cultural reference — admittedly, perhaps an obscure one — in a headline:

Isn’t that wonderful?

If you don’t catch the reference, it’s still clear and lively and fun. But if you do “get it,” you immediately want to put on your Obi-Wan Kenobi outfit and thank the Force for Tim Thorsen in Charleston, S.C.

Yes, Tim says, this one was his handiwork:

It was a combination of having a wife that’s a HUGE Star Wars fan and having Kansas in my  bracket. It’s the first time she’s ever saved any of my designs — it’s now taunting me from our refrigerator door.

Average daily circulation for the Post and Courier is 86,928.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 2nd, 2010 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Fabulous headline, News design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.