Awesome weather coverage on Wednesday’s front pages
Here’s why I decided to focus on weather today. This picture here (click any photo today for a larger view):
Isn’t that awesome? It was shot by Dan Cepeda of the Casper, Wyo., Star Tribune. Wouldn’t that look incredible on page one?
Why, yes. Yes, it would:
You find an awesome picture, you run it large and then you get the hell out of its way. That sounds simple, but you’d be amazed at how often folks screw that up.
The presentation desk of the Star Tribune got it right last night. Average daily circulation for the Star Tribune is 26,178.
Likewise, I found myself mesmerized by this front page as well:
That’s the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — circulation 190,841 — and a truly great picture of trees blown down by an apparent microburst at a living history museum:
I asked the Journal Sentinel’s Ed Brud who designed the page. He replies:
That was me. But the credit really goes to that great photo by the helicopter guy from our sister television station, WTMJ.
And that guy was — and still is — Mark Was.
If you have that killer photo, run it big. Kudos, Ed.
The Gazette of Billings, Mont., has been on a roll lately, following the tornadoes that hit town Sunday. Here is yet another in a series of strong photo-driven front pages:
The picture — of a local resident surveying sinkhole-like damage in her back yard — is by staffer David Grubbs. The design was by Matt Walen.
Average daily circulation for the Gazette is 46,252.
The Forum of Fargo, N.D. — circulation 49,897 — built a page around a nice infographic by staffer Troy Becker:
The photo is an AP shot from last week. Rob Beer designed the front.
The graphic is nicely done. I’d say the subtle tornado funnel embedded in the grey text box was a bit redundant. But it doesn’t wreck the page or anything.
Meanwhile, there is flooding in Indiana this week. The Journal & Courier of Lafayette, Ind., led today with a nice picture by staffer Michael Heinz of a flooded street:
Average daily circulation for the Journal & Courier is 36,000.
Up the road in Indianapolis, the Star led with this spectacular shot of a flooded campground:
The photo — by staffer Charlie Nye — was well-played at six columns by the amazing Amanda Goehlert.
Average daily circulation for the Star is 186,127.
My favorite weather treatment of the day, however, was this one by the 29,295-circulation News-Press of St. Joseph, Mo.:
The picture is by staffer Eric Keith.
Y’know, time and time again I’ve showed pages from St. Joseph. They do some very interesting work down there. If anyone from the News-Press happens to read this, please drop me a line or something. I’d love to start doling out credit to individual designers by name.
All of the pages today were posted at the Newseum. As always, Newseum, thanks on behalf of print designers everywhere for doing what you do.
June 24th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Hi Charles,
Just wanted to say thanks for the kind words. We’ve got a tremendous bunch of young designers who I’m sure will someday move on to bigger and better things, but for now we’re really glad to have them.
As you’ve noted, we’ve also got some great photogs. I’d put our small photo department up against just about anybody else in the business.
We go head to head in the racks in our town with the Kansas City Star every day. My brother, Greg, is the Deputy Editor/Art & Design down there, so that competition helps keep us on our game.
Again thanks for the kind words and the good suggestions.
Paul Branson
Presentation Editor
St. Joseph News-Press
June 24th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Oh, by the way, Ashley Bally was the designer for the flood page you featured. We also see great stuff from Dana Heldenbrand, Skye Cobb and Kandice McKee.
Paul