Journalism!

I think that the biggest problem with creating a page in class is trying to work with what you have and not make it too boring. Since I worked on an inside page, I knew I couldn't add as many of the creative touches that I would have liked if I were working on a magazine cover or the front page of a newspaper like the Dothan Eagle from Dothan, AL or the Aurora Sentinel from Aurora, CO. (One thing I would really like to do in the future, however, is experiment with newspaper design and make it more graphically appealing and colorful. Who says papers have to be only black and white? If they're still around a few years from now...) That being said, though, I tried to find a good balance between the page looking really kind of simple and boring and it looking some what interesting. In the end, I think my page came out pretty well, but I definitely would have liked to do more with it.

I think a big issue was the content. The stories were just too long to fit on the entire page, so the majority of my time during class was spent editing and cutting stories when I really needed to be finding more pictures and moving things around. Maybe next time we should impose a word limit on all the stories and plan those out better. I think it would be a good idea if the entire class, including the editor-in-chief and managing editor - sat down at the beginning of the semester and planned everything out from the start.

Another big issue was working with the pictures. I feel like everyone had this problem too where we had these good stories (other than the fact that they were a little too long, but they were definitely good!) and no pictures to go with them - and, if they did have pictures to go with them, they just weren't good. Sorry, guys - especially if you took or submitted the photos, but I think that next time maybe we should pair up with a photojournalism class and have them shoot photos for our publication. To me, that would be a little more realistic solution to our problems, but, if that doesn't work out, maybe we should put a little more focus and scrutiny on the pictures that people do offer up. I mean, having pictures that effectively demonstrate the article content is also the responsibility of an editor, and not having good pictures definitely makes it harder to design an attractive page.

Since I only had one picture to go on my page, I tried to work with it the best I could. I put it on the left side, more or less near the top because (as I learned in ADPR Graphic Communications) that is the optical center, where the eye goes first when looking at the page. I also arranged it the way I did to add some variety to the page. I must have tried out about five different layouts for this page but liked this one the best. One of them that I had was just three straight horizontal blocks of text with the picture somewhere in there, and I thought it was too boring. With this ones, I broke it up and had the first story horizontal across the page and two vertical. I tried not to put the headlines of the two vertical stories right next to eachother (because as Paige would say, I don't like "dueling headlines"), so instead I put the headline to the "main" story below the pictures.

To make it better, I think I could have utilized a little more white space (if only I could have cut the articles down more, but I just don't like cutting quotes - it's an ethical thing for me, and I felt as though all the other information was relevant) since the page does look maybe a little bit cluttered. I also would have liked to include another picture or some more color, and I also would have liked to try grouping everything together better. I had a themed page where everything was about graduating and getting a job in the future. I would have liked to somehow made the page an entire "Job Search" package. I think what it just came down to, like I said before, is just not having the time or the space to do something like this.

Overall, though, this class was definitely a good experience and one that I feel like I would have been lost without. In my opinion, Grady should start implementing more of these kinds of classes into their curriculum where the students actually get to simulate real jobs and experiences as reporters, editors, photographers, etc. To me, journalism is one of those fields that you can really only truly learn by experience, and doing stuff like this beats just sitting in class any day - and I think that's why I like my major so much. For once, we actually get to put to use the things that we learn.

Brittany