March 18 readings

Redesign! Fun fact: Sara Quinn is super cool and I did a workshop with her in February.
Berlin makes a really good point: "what we've managed to do is take the way that you're used to reading a big-city broadsheet daily and just sort of turn it on its ear and make it into a daily magazine about Chicago." -It's interesting that just by changing a few small things can make readers think they are no longer reading a newspaper but a magazine. Also interesting is that they didn't just "redesign" things, they changed the way they approached certain sections that changed the way people read it as well. I think it's good to do both together. Quinn is also a big fan of "varied story forms" and I think Berlin's redesign does that well, with using the best type of storytelling technique to tell each story. -The Oklahoman says a big thing they changed was the way they told each story, through tighter writing, which probably helps with spacing. Lastly, I think it's important that two out of the three papers did focus groups or testing of some sort before sending their new version out to readers.
I like that Gude adds critical thinking into the process of visual journalism- the story, the visual, then thinking about it critically to put it all together. I think that most importantly, he and his students have found ways to tell the stories in ways they think are logical. For instance, what exactly do you want to see/understand about each story? Then tell it/show it in that way.
"made me wonder whether reading on the Web is like reading a tabloid" - I think it is. People want they information as quickly and succinctly as possible. The web has that advantage of being able to click on what you want, while the newspaper format is still harder to navigate. People (my opinion completely) probably want the newspaper to be more like the web in that you can pick and choose what you want to read.
The one myth that I think has some actual standing is the first one. I always learned this one in high school and I think it sometimes still stands but only in select circumstances. It's more of a judgment call most of the time. Myth 5 is also kind of misleading. Justified type is better if you know how to deal with it and make sure it's readable. Another fun fact: Poynter uses the Latin Web site that we use to put in dummy text.
Top image is another piece of proof that text/typography is getting way more popular in the world of journalism, if done well. I also think that one thing these papers have in common is the attention to all of the small details that make up the layout. "It means an impressive attention to layout detail."