Newspapers

A collection of newspaper layouts, both broadsheet and tabloid, showcasing various designs and compositions. These print layouts demonstrate the use of color, typography, and imagery to create visually appealing designs for newspaper covers.

From 2007 to 2012, I worked at the Catholic Herald of the Diocese of Madison, a weekly paper for which in addition to my duties, I designed 6 to 8 pages a week.

From 2014 to the present, I have worked at the Design Center for Lee Enterprises Inc., which produces digital and print news publications in more than 72 markets in 25 states. On average, a designer averages 20-30 each night, though during peak design periods that number can be upwards of 40 pages in an 8-hour shift.

In addition to page layouts, I have also created graphics and illustrations to accompany articles and packages, including locator maps and graphs.

This newspaper cover for the Morganton News Herald was somewhat difficult to create.

I had been given the copy and the photo of Thomas Burke, as well as our branding for the America 250 series of articles, but a centerpiece feature needed a little more creativity. The space was also somewhat difficult due to the mailing label and two strip ads on the page making for a very shallow rectangular area.

I hit upon the idea of using a stock picture of an American flag in the background, with a screen overlay on the right to create a space for good legibility of the text. The 250-brand kicker remained above the package, but not the width, in order to allow for some white space around the package and the blurb placed within the copy.

For the headline, I shortened it to "Revolutionary Origins," with the second word somewhat larger for both balance and to emphasize that this is a story about history, and placed the deckhead below in two lines due to its question/answer format. A drop cap helped maintain the flow for the reader as an entry point to the article.

The photo of the subject of the article I made large enough to fill about half of the depth, and to create the illusion of it being a historical painting one might see in a gallery, added a stock art gilded frame and underneath a placard with the information about the man in question. Source credits were tucked inside the placard and at the bottom of the American flag frame to keep them unobtrusive but visible.

The package was well received and copied to run on the cover of two other local newspapers.

This sports cover for the Orange County Review was part of an ongoing series to spotlight local athletes.

I was provided with the main photo and a few secondary photos (which I relegated to the jump page), the logo for the series, the copy, and a QR code.

The main photo was of a girl on a set of bleachers in her football uniform, with her helmet sitting near her. There was a lot of negative space to the right, and with the headline "Making History," I knew I could do something with that space.

The headline is intended to appear to be seated on the bleachers and was given a three-dimensional aspect as if carved in stone, to evoke the concept of history. The deckhead is tucked under the bleacher on which sits the helmet, to draw the reader's eye down through the photo. The cutline is placed as standard, and a drop cap was added to the body copy to create an entry point to the article. The QR code and its blurb was centered in the block in order to keep the package balanced. The logo above the package was made a matching blue to keep the color cohesive throughout.