SND Update: Miscellany

Newspaper Death Watch

2008-04-30T23:02:00Z

Advertising Age has launched the first in a series of articles on the future (or non-future) of newspapers from the perspective of advertisers, along with a poll asking readers to guess the lifespan of newsprint.

South African paper rethinks page numbers

2008-04-22T22:37:00Z

“To commemorate World AIDS day on December 1st the South African newspaper Cape Argus used their page numbers on the top of every page of the newspaper to educate the public on statistics relating to the AIDS pandemic in South Africa. All the statistics were collected from UNICEF and the South African Department of Health.” (via osocio.org and bestadsontv)

Khoi Vinh takes questions

2008-04-21T17:44:01Z

Khoi Vinh, design director of NYTimes.com, is answering reader-submitted questions from April 21-25. “As design director, Mr. Vinh leads a group of 11 visual designers, information architects and design technologists in continually improving and extending the user experience at NYTimes.com.”

Reduction in force

2008-04-11T20:45:00Z

The Mercury News’ Martin Gee has posted a gallery of photos from his paper’s post-layoff newsroom. (via E&P)

Martin says, in his introduction:

“the last round of layoffs and buyouts really hurt me. i mean, each one does but this one especially. this place feels like a morgue. an abusive relationship. remnants everywhere. empty cubicles. empty chairs. abandoned office equipment. goodbye emails. besides looking for a new job and building a massive assemblage, this is a way for me to deal.”

This week in links

2008-04-04T19:20:00Z

These are worth a read:

Links that stink on news sites — Jack Shafer grumbles about the “link riots” polluting newspaper Web sites.
Multimedia: An Adolescent, but No Longer an Orphan — Judges comments from this year’s NPPA awards for online work.
Ten typographic mistakes everyone makes.
Two great articles at A List Apart: Findability, Orphan of the Web Design Industry outlines the lost art of helping users find the content they seek. Sign Up Forms Must Die champions “gradual engagement” instead of frustrating forms.
CopyMove is an application to screen news photos for suspicious alterations (i.e. cloning).
Think You Know Your Web Traffic? examines the imperfect metrics we use to gauge success online.

Roger Black on the personality of type

2008-04-02T04:09:01Z

Newsweek interviews Roger Black — noted designer and SNDVegas speaker — on “what the font you choose says about you.” In the related story, catch quotes from Matthew Carter, Sam Berlow and Gary Hustwit.

Slate’s Shafer on ‘Inside the Times’

2008-04-02T01:32:00Z

Slate’s Jack Shafer says with the expanded summaries on A2/A3, “Now the newspaper reads as if it begins with three speed bumps.” Tom Bodkin, assistant managing editor and design director at the Times, defends the new section: “The criticism I’ve heard is, ‘We’ve got to plow through four pages until we get to the real news?’ You know, plowing through four pages? I feel like I’d like to put together a little video that shows you how to turn two pages.”

Notice something? Google goes dark

2008-03-29T11:23:00Z

The Google homepage has gone dark today in a symbolic effort. Why? It’s part of the worldwide energy conservation effort known as Earth Hour. Will you dim the lights tonight from 8-9 local time?

ACES in Denver: Check out the conference site

2008-03-29T11:20:01Z

SND friend Daniel Hunt alerts us to the ACES conference site, which is built with Expression Engine. Daniel says he noticed SND’s new site (the one you’re reading now) and decided to try out the platform for the American Copy Editors Society. The group holds its annual gathering in Denver soon. Nice work, if we do say so: smartly designed, great use of color, easy to navigate and full of essential information. Check the site April 10-12 for handouts. Lurkers welcome, Daniel says.

H&FJ Crime-Fighting Division

2008-03-26T18:41:00Z

Jonathan Hoefler blogs about his typographic sleuthing in the Smoking Gun’s investigation of “how a federal inmate duped the Los Angeles Times, fabricated FBI reports, and linked Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs to 1994 ambush of Tupac Shakur.”

Time’s Worst Covers

2008-03-11T20:59:00Z

Time magazine is running a feature on their worst covers of the past 85 years. “Sometimes we swing and miss. And sometimes we put ice cream on the cover.”

Typographica’s favorites from 2007

2008-03-11T18:23:00Z

“The Oscars of type design” — selected by 25 graphic and type designers, including David Berlow, Ellen Lupton, and Erik Spiekermann.

Don’t miss Minuscule by Thomas Huot-Marchand, designed for readability at extremely small sizes (think 2pt). Also some impressive systems: Anselm, Purista, Urbana, Gloriola, FF Meta Serif, and many others.

NEW DOWNLOAD: Robert Newman on brainstorming

2008-03-08T06:45:00Z

The gang at SND Boston just updated their web site to include a copy of Robert Newman’s presentation on brainstorming design. Great stuff from a guy who art directed everything from Entertainment Weekly to the Village Voice to Vibe to Real Simple. Link

Say NO to video? Conversations with the Video God

2008-03-01T22:09:00Z

Richard Koci Hernandez of the Mercury News weighs in on the “radioactive topic” (as Trent Nelson terms it) of the wisdom of newspaper video:

And no matter how hard I try, it’s just not working. We don’t seem to be making the kind of money you said we would and people aren’t really watching. … I guess I’m saying let’s just get back to basics. Maybe I’m wrong. But I think it’s a discussion we should be having right now, instead of just drinking the Kool Aid. Maybe this is just one of my old time caffeine infused rants, either way this is my crisis of faith in the Video God.

Steve Duenes answers reader questions

2008-02-29T01:35:01Z

New York Times graphics director Steve Duenes is responding to questions this week, part of an ongoing “Talk to the Newsroom” series. An excerpt: “My point is that information graphics are not just art. They’re a combination of art and journalism and a little bit of science.”