Can Design Save the Newspaper?

I overheard a conversation today between the managing editor and the graphics editor. It went something like this:

ME: What can we do to have a different layout

GE: Well lets use a cutout of a photo to help shape the page and be the main element

ME: Okay, so how are we going to do this

(both are now looking at a few rough sketches)

GE: I've got all these great ideas, but the composer's don't always know what I'm trying to do

ME: Not to put more work on you, but then why don't you just design the front page?

I remembered after hearing this conversation that the photo editor had mentioned a TED talk regarding this exact same topic - newspaper design.

I went to TED.com and searched for the video and low-and-behold there it was, all six minutes and eight seconds of it. [EDIT: It appears the embed code isn't working, so here is a link]

Now isn't that totally badass?!

I know personally, the thing that prevents me from picking up a regular paper in the morning (Exponent excluded) is that its just boring to read. These, on the other hand, are vibrant, living pieces of art that help to display the news.

Can page design save the industry? It did for one publisher in Eastern Europe. Could it work here in the good ol' land of opportunity? Maybe for someone brave enough to try it. Will it work for The Exponent? Probably not.

For one, layouts like these require immense amounts of planning and very skilled designers. While I'm sure our designers could develop something like this, doing it every day between classes probably isn't feasible. Secondly, lets face it, most of our news is niche and, if you aren't a student/faculty of Purdue, you aren't going to care much.

Where I do see something like this fitting in, however, is special issues. Entertainment guides, Tailgate Guides, Welcome Back, Semester in Review, etc.

Could it help The Exponent? Lets just say I don't think it would hurt to try something new every now and then.

Notes: Coach's Interview 8-25

Notes is a segment where I will break down a multimedia piece I complete and describe what I like and don't like about it. I'll talk about how it's made and why somethings happened (or didn't happen).

First Up: Coach's interview on Wednesday:



Aspects of New Media:
Video - hopefully you've gathered there is video footage involved with this piece ;)
Audio - Audio is one of the most important aspects of video, yet can stand on its own too.
Graphics - While not the main aspect here, it adds information and gives a more professional touch

Now for the detailed breakdown.

Video:

This video was shot with my Nikon D300s and a 35mm f/1.8 lens. I used a monopod to help stabilize the video, but I can't wait until I get a shoulder mount!

Overall it looks okay. I had some exposure differences from one interviewee to another, especially with coach Hope. I fixed it a bit with some color correction in post, but going from direct sunlight to shade is going to cause problems no matter what. I also had a slight focus problem when talking to coach Clark (0:50).

Audio:

The audio was capture with my Sennheiser MKE-400 shotgun mic mounted directly to the camera and plugged into the audio input.

I opted not to use a less sensitive mic like a hand-held or lavaliere microphone simply for the ease of use. I didn't want to spend the time syncing the audio in post so I traded audio quality for speed. A great example of using a strongly directional microphone like the Sennheiser is audible at 1:15.

You can also hear the wind moving across the microphone and some handling noise throughout the piece. I used the foamie that came with the microphone, I really need to get a dead-cat wind screen.

Graphics:

I added a few things at the suggestion of Maura. I made all of the graphics in Photoshop and saved them as .TIFF files with transparency layers.

Firstly I added a date-stamp in the upper right. This was pretty simple, and while anyone can look at the upload date, its quicker to just see it in the video to see if its current.

Secondly I added a "bug" to the lower right. This is a simple graphic used as a watermark.

Finally I re-vamped the super so it looks cleaner. Overall doing all of the graphics took about 20 minutes and I think it was worth it. They provide some basic information while giving the whole piece a more professional look.

Well, that's it for now. I'm off to bed!

New Media Includes...

Today in class we discussed some aspects of what new media includes. I think this is a beautiful example of three of those: Audio, Video, Graphics. Plus its just really cool to watch (and informative).