On Aug. 18, reader David F. Oliver pointed out a design convention that I believe a lot of readers find confusing — with very good reason.
“[I] have to register my disappointment at the central placement of the JonBenet story,” he wrote. “My opinion is the wiretap story is what should be the major story on a front page. At least it is on the front page but crowded out by the size of the photo in the Ramsey case.”
The Kansas City Star’s front page that day was dominated by a large “centerpiece” about John Mark Karr, who claimed to have murdered JonBenet Ramsey almost a decade ago in Colorado. The package included two stories and two photographs, with one of Karr taking up nearly a fifth of the page’s real estate.
Along the right side, a 55-point, all-caps headline “Bush spy program is ruled illegal” described U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor’s rebuke of the government’s warrantless wiretapping system. That is a pretty large headline, and it does command attention. But I agree with Oliver that the size and design of the Karr story completely took over the page.
For decades, most newspapers editors have considered the story occupying the upper-right corner of the page the “lead” — the most important news of the day.
But many papers, like The Star, design pages around a visually-driven centerpiece that features a dominant photograph, illustration or graphic.
Some stories, like the wiretapping example, are very difficult to illustrate in an interesting way. What would be the central visual element in this case? A photograph of the judge? Not very compelling. There are some stories that simply don’t lend themselves to meaningful illustration.
Used wisely, a visual approach can communicate information more succinctly (and often more accurately) than words alone. But I also agree strongly with readers who think that photos and graphics sometimes give undue weight to a centerpiece, which might not have seen such prominent placement if it didn’t have strong accompanying art.
There is a cadre of readers who tell me they dislike photographs and graphics of any kind in a newspaper, saying they’re unnecessary in all cases. I don’t concur there, but I do think there are many times when a great photo propels a story to disproportionate play on the page.
Editors and designers want all pages, especially section covers, to have strong visual appeal. A worthy aim — but also sometimes a justification to elevate news beyond its merits.
