Doing some Slimpicity

Ed Henninger

I recently had the distinct pleasure of sharing a full workday with news guru Kevin Slimp.

Kevin calls himself "the news guru." I too, have been called a "guru" occasionally. And, yes, I've been called many other things, too!

Kevin had been asked by the publisher of a group of papers in New Jersey to take a look at his papers and offer his suggestions for improvement.

Kevin and I had already done a couple of presentations jointly and he invited me along to help out. So, on a day in early May, we met a bit west of Asheville, N.C., to spend the day together reviewing 10 papers.

It was a delight working with Kevin and discovering that we shared many of the same thoughts about what we were seeing.

What follows is a brief look at key points we suggested. I believe many of you can find a few of these will apply to your publication.

TEXT TYPE: Throughout these papers, text was in a face that was too light, a bit too condensed – and way too small.

PHOTOS: Many were poorly cropped and some were muddy and dark. Often, there were too many in a package and none was dominant.

STORIES: Far too long. Remember, readers will only give you 12 inches to 15 inches before they quit a story.

STANDING HEADS: Inconsistent and not well designed.

PAGE LABELS: Too strong and often competed for attention with the lead headline on the page.

HEADLINES: Often the same font and size, page after page after page. Definitely need to use other fonts in the family for more contrast.

ORGANIZATION: Some event listings jumped from page to page to page – occasionally to more than eight or nine pages.

NAMEPLATES: All needed tweaking; some were badly in need of a complete redesign.

We did find that editors in most of the papers were trying their best to offer a package that was comfortable and easy to read. We appreciate those efforts. But there's a sense that some of those editors are "swimming upstream" because of a lack of design training.

It was fun working with Kevin and we're planning to do more of these evaluations as time goes by.

WANT A FREE evaluation of your newspaper's design? Just contact Ed Henninger: edh@henningerconsulting.com | (803) 327-3322

IF THIS COLUMN has been helpful, you may be interested in his books: "Henninger on Design" and "101 Henninger Helpful Hints." With the help of his books, you'll immediately have a better idea how to design for your readers. Find out more about "Henninger on Design" and "101 Henninger Helpful Hints" by visiting his website: www.henningerconsulting.com

ED HENNINGER is an independent newspaper consultant and the director of Henninger Consulting. He offers comprehensive newspaper design services including redesigns, workshops, staff training and evaluations. E-mail: edh@henningerconsulting.com. On the web: henningerconsulting.com. Phone: (803) 327-3322.