- The inside page giving the statewide election results has a nice swirly center graphic reading "Elección 08." Not another word of Spanish appears in the paper. Still, a nice shout-out to our Hispanic community.
- Last-place county commission candidate Gene Anderson places a "Thank you for your support" ad. Problem is, the word "SUPPORT" is slapped askew, in ragged-looking white letters, over other white letters, making it hard to read. Hm, maybe someone was Designing Under the Influence?
- A rather impolitic advertising choice: The leader gives President-Elect Obama full color, but tucks him away on the inside back page. And the ad at the bottom of the page: One Stop of Madison urges you to "Scope out These Rifle Shell Savings", complete with a big gunsight graphic. Oooo... didn't think that one through, did we, Marketing?
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Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Daily Leader Makes Bang-Up Graphic Design Choices
Anyone else notice the odd graphic design choices in tonight's Madison Daily Leader? I might have time to fire up the scanner and show later, but for now, descriptions of three oddities in Wednesday's Leader layout:
The only reason we subscribe is to find boo-boos in the Leader. We're never disappointed. Here's one you'll really enjoy that nobody noticed. On the front page of Tuesday, October 28th, upper left, next to the photo of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, it says "Ted Stevens' career is cloudy after convention", but I believe it was cloudy after his CONVICTION. He was nowhere near any convention. The Leader is a hoot.
ReplyDeleteA while back the front page photo for Cecelia Wittmayer was marked as Name. Amusing and no one was hurt, but the paper lacks an independent voice not to offend local advertisers, so what's the point really? jh
ReplyDeleteDo you know how lucky we are to have an independently owned daily newspaper in Madison SD?
ReplyDeleteJon Hunter has invested his family's future in the Leader. It would've been easy for him to sell out in the 90's and pocket the profit. Jon did the opposite: he invested heavily in new equipment and technology.
I know what it takes to put together a paper every day from the inside.
Most local stories are feel-good in nature rather than an honest assessment. I don't necessarily agree with Cory's take which contains too much opinion to be journalistic, but he put them out there. Jon did recently say something like improvements to our industrial parks are nice, but job growth is the real goal, which is as far as I've seen him reach toward any real criticism of our failed employment efforts. There was also an excellent report on the women's shelter which reflected a lack of due diligence on Johannsen's part during his time as president of that board. They claimed the old shelter was sold months ago (never on the public market), but transfer of ownership is still not reflected at the tax office. People loose faith. Scrutiny is healthy. John Hess
ReplyDeleteGood points all around, John, although I will take issue with your use of the word "journalistic." I call what I do "citizen journalism," a citizen telling what he sees going on in his community. Each of us can do that, adding our voices to the collective story of who we are. But my definition of journalism does not presume to exclude opinion. I don't pretend to be anything other than what I am: one guy offering his opinion, and inviting all of his neighbors to read, evaluate, and offer their own.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy you picking through the MDL, however you should proofread your own stuff before you knock other people down.
ReplyDeleteOn your previous post you say:
"Will they got through the application process?"
I am a college dropout, and have no claim to fame for my english and grammer skills, but instead of picking through the MDL you should proofread your own stuff first.
Normally I would not call someone out on an obvious typo, because I am very notorious for them, however I felt it necessary considering this post.
Anon 12:40: yawn. The point here isn't typos. The point is some odd and, in the last case, disturbing design choices.
ReplyDeletep.s.: grammar.