First off the bat, you’ve stretched the text for the Newspaper’s name (Copperplate Gothic?) by 227%, which looks obvious and doesn’t look great IMO. I think it’s best to find a font that fits the space better, with any stretching of the font kept to a minimum. You applied stretching to other areas too, so I’d say try and apply the same discipline by finding a condensed font that fits better.

Using a serif font for body text won’t necessarily make the newspaper look old fashioned. There are some really forward looking serif fonts out there that’ll make it look great. Sans Serif fonts are harder to read for lengthy passages, although this being a two page newsletter, I don’t think that’ll be an issue in this case.

Hope this helps, and please post subsequent versions when you’ve taken enough advice on board - I’d like to see it develop.

JH

my 2 cents

I think you got a bit carried away with the different fonts you used
(count about 18 including the weights). I would decide on 2-3 font families
and stick with them...

a few points:
- listen to jazzhustler (try some serifs...you will be surprised)
- dont use the reflection on the top
(works for apple i know...but it doesnt suite your newspaper)
- try the boxes and dividers without the double lines
- the captions and some of the titles have to much space between the letters
(makes it hard to read)
- check the dots on the “inside box”

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/02/11/award-winning-newspaper-desig...
for your inspiration

hope this helps...keep us posted

PS: tried to download an older version of the newspaper (baronbanner.com)
but the download was 40mb...wow...a bit too big...smile

I was the high school newspaper editor in high school, and got to design the layout too — that’s how I got into graphic design. I wanted to be a journalist before that.

I would agree with all the comments above. Part of the issue, as I remember it, was the fact that the paper’s budget is a few thousand dollars, so you’re limited to some not so great fonts and some not so new software. Definitely choose a couple fonts, like a serif font for copy and a sans serif for headlines, and simplify the boxes for callout info — a simple thin dividing line would look much cleaner than a black box.

I would say you should speak with your other editors and your adviser about what the goal of the paper for the year is. Do you want to win awards and send your senior editors off to journalism school on scholarships? Or do you want to be something that connects with the students at your school and is fun for the newspaper staff? A lot of people are going to say “that’s not mutually exclusive,” but in my experience they were.

I went with the latter my senior year — it had a zine-like feel, different fonts on every page, everyone got to design their own story, and it looked like crap for the most part. I tried—briefly—to get everyone using a clean design with the same fonts and the same grid, and we were going to be a professional paper with serious stories that got me a journalism scholarship, goddamnit. But I quickly realized that the newspaper ended up in the trash, and nobody had any fun making it. So there were stories about fashion trends for girls, stories about what’s hot and what’s not, why TOLO is going to be great and super-fun for everyone, what the sports editor’s favorite Christian metal bands are, and I could write about serious stuff if I wanted to. The result was that people on the staff really cared about their stories — it was their baby, and they got to take it beginning to end, rather than handing it over to someone else to design. And there was something for everyone, so people were actually excited when the paper came out.

So that was my experience: I got to be editor as the paper was rebuilding, and the program was pretty weak, so I found it more important to have it connect with the student body and be a good experience for the staff. But part of me wished I had gone to a high school with a really strong newspaper program and I could have worked on something that won awards and got me a scholarship. The high school where I lived had a program where you could take community college courses for both college and high school credit for free, so I did that for all my other classes aside from journalism. I took graphic design courses at my community college, and that was my outlet for design I was proud of. Again, just make sure all the editors are on the same page — do you want to be Harper’s or USA Today?

Among other duties I’m the advisor for a college newspaper, and we just completed a full redesign this year; I know what you are going through. Congratulations on a great start! You do have a great start, and listening to these experts giving you advice will only make it better.

Some of the advice you are getting might be a little depressing, but don’t lose heart. It’s good advice, and it will make your paper look much better. Limit the number of fonts you use, and don’t squish or stretch them. On our paper, we ended up with two font families; both have lots of faces available for variety. Be consistent on your headlines. Don’t go rule-crazy; it’s a common mistake on student papers!

No one answered your question about the white-on-black. It’s not bad, and it does provide a huge amount of contrast. Just so you know the other side, the argument would be that it is a bit stark and harsh. Newspapers often use grays to “soften the blow,” so to speak. You might think about having the most important box (maybe the header) black but make the less important boxes gray; that would soften the page and also give the reader a clue about the hierarchy of what’s important. Also be aware that it can make the page off-balance: from a distance, “squint” at a page and see how balanced it looks.

Here are a few resources you might find helpful:

NewsDesigner.com
News Page Designer
Best Front Design (on temporary hiatus as they change editors, but the archives is still an excellent resource in the meantime)
Articles from News Design Associates
Articles from Brass Tacks Design

The last three are commercial designer’s sites, but I think they still have some helpful information.

One of the biggest things I saw was that your leaders are running into the text on the left and right of them. In the “inside” section, lower left hand corner, page one.

Don’t be afraid of small type. Never stretch your fonts.

Study every newspaper you can find. You’ll see things you never thought of doing.

Also check your first-line indentation.

You’ve decided to indent the first paragraph in each article, but not the rest of the paragraphs. This makes it look a bit like the entire article is one big block of text. Now, think about what is the use of indenting the first line in a new paragraph: letting the reader know that there’s a new block of text. Therefore, it makes more sense that you use this convention to help your readers take in all this text without it looking like one huge paragraph. The first paragraph of each article, on the other hand, can do without the first-line indentation. So, basically, you had a good idea using different indentation rules depending on the kind of paragraph (first or otherwise), and all you need to do is invert those rules, to make them useful to your readers.

Following this same advice, I’d look into making that first-line indentation a bit more subtle. Remember that style shouldn’t hinder readability. Such a big indentation can be quite distracting. Think that this convention, or rule, you’re creating should help mark a new paragraph without shouting about it. A good rule of thumb may be to set the first-line indentation to the same points as the text (if text is at 12pts, then first-line indentation should be set at 12pts). This is in no way a law, but a good guideline to begin.

Good luck!

I updated the front page of my design based on the comments I received. I used a serif font for text, updated the nameplate, stretched fonts to a minimum, used less fonts, used a gray box instead, and updated the indenting. I uploaded the revised page on my first post under samplerev1.pdf. Please critique the revised front page and inform me of any flaws.

Thank you for your feedback.

Hi dchan. I think it’s a major improvement overall. I personally still have an issue with the Banner text being stretched, as it’s still over 150%, which to me is a lot, and it looks it (IMO). I opened the file up in Illustrator and adjusted the text to just 110%, then increased the overall size to fit the available space then move everything above the body text upto the banner up a little (can’t seem to upload an image to demonstrate this at the moment). Shame you’ve gotten rid of the icon on the previous version, but then it could have made it look a tad old fashioned I suppose, and if you’re trying to appeal to students, that has to be considered.

On a Grammar point, the center spread headline should be ’The Dos & Don’ts of High School’.

JH

Hi dchan. Definitely cutting down on all the different fonts might help the design and give it a more continuous look and flow. It appeared a bit disorganized because of the multiple different fonts and was very disconcerting to look at. Best of luck with it.

Boxcar Studio
http://www.boxcarstudio.com

Thank you for sharing this project for critique. Redesigning your high school paper is an ambitious project. I have to echo many of the comments above. To reiterate:

1. Don’t stretch type. The reason behind this is that special consideration is placed how each character looks when designing a typeface. When a typeface is stretched, the stroke thickness can be drastically altered. The typeface in the mastehead was clearly stretched vertically and as a result the horizontal strokes are out of balance... not to mention other aspects of the typeface’s design that have been distorted as a result.

2. Consider a serif typeface for the body copy. As someone stated above there are serif typefaces that offer a more contemporary. On a side (but related note) be careful about your use of the word “Modern” in the context to art and design, Modern refers to a specific period in design. “Contempory” is the word with meaning you wish to express.

3. Consider an italics face for your callouts

4. The dot leadin in your “Inside” section overlaps your text

5. Too much hyphenation in your “Take Note” section

6. Too many fonts used... simplify the number of typeface you use in the design to two or three. One for the headlines, one for the body copy, and perhaps on more as needed for another specific use in the newspaper.

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Michael Browers
www.michaelbrowers.com