This might get me into trouble but here goes

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Thu May 13, 2004 11:18 pm

Does anyone expect me to take the drivel in this page from Poynter seriously?

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2004 12:06 am

You'll hardly get in trouble here. It looks like the usual designbabble to me.
I will say that the Boston Globe page used as a negative example is the worst major-newspaper Page One I've seen in a long time. It would have been more helpful if Poynter had just came out and said it sucked rather than feed us "EyeTRAC" gibberish.

[ May 14, 2004: Message edited by: blanp ]

Oeditpus Rex · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2004 1:48 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Paul Wiggins:
Does anyone expect me to take the drivel in this page from Poynter seriously?<hr></blockquote>One suspects Poynter does.

Grammatically Incorrect · **Joined:** Fri Mar 19, 2004 1:01 am **Posts:** 25

Perhaps I'm the one who's going to get into trouble . . .I jumped to the Poynter site and read it . . . and have absolutely no problem with it. Designbabble? Perhaps. But there is an equal mount of copyeditorbabble in this business, too, and photobabble, and sportsbabble and editorbabble and reporterbabble . . . Babble to many ears, but still an important part of the newspaper. If design didn't matter, we'd run the entire paper as a single copy block and save ourselves a lot of trouble. Stories must be organized, no? Then pages must be organized, too.I'll wager most of us would agree design does matter. The rub is, how much does it matter? Enough to parse the various ways to handle one of the more controversial photos of the year? I think so. Poynter may serve this stuff up in an overly earnest fashion, but if you can stomach that, there's real journalism being discussed here.[ May 14, 2004: Message edited by: Grammatically Incorrect ]

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2004 3:24 pm

No one here would suggest that "design" isn't important. The message is that it's just not that complicated.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2004 1:50 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
No one here would suggest that "design" isn't important. The message is that it's just not that complicated.<hr></blockquote>It is complicated, but the language that explains it does not need to be.

jmcg · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2004 10:31 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
I will say that the Boston Globe page used as a negative example is the worst major-newspaper Page One I've seen in a long time. It would have been more helpful if Poynter had just came out and said it sucked rather than feed us "EyeTRAC" gibberish.

[ May 14, 2004: Message edited by: blanp ]<hr></blockquote>As someone who reads the Globe almost every day (a very, very old habit) I'll add that the page one blanp appropriately trashes is quite typical of what
they're doing these days.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2004 10:32 pm

Hope endures. One day the penny will drop.

Jackie · **Posted:** Mon May 17, 2004 9:51 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
No one here would suggest that "design" isn't important. The message is that it's just not that complicated.<hr></blockquote>Yeah, it's not like we need to be told that cutlines should be good, headlines should be good, etc. We were told that in college.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Mon May 17, 2004 9:59 pm

I like seeing the old footage of Murdoch pacing round the newsroom pica rule in hand and gently (well on camera anyway) berating his staff
My objection here is that Poynter is addresing not a variety of issues that should be adressed and is being way too dogmatic on this startling Eye Trac stuff (Hey Rupes hold the front page)
It's the art of the designer to fool the eye into going where it doesn't want to go.
Otherwise it would be a grey world indeed.
The dogmaticism enables managers to blab gobbledegook. (Not at this workplace happily).There I feel better, must return to LAYOUT "P33Newshole1"
POS {0;,0;} SHAPE {0;,0; 10600;, 10600;,12094; 0;,12094;}
COLUMNOFFSET {0;}
COLUMNWIDTH {1960;}
GUTTERWIDTH {200;}
STYLEFAMILY { "Lead"}
END
and other genuine mystic incantations.[ May 17, 2004: Message edited by: Paul Wiggins ]

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