Typography and Design ( 5,001 - 10,000 Multi-Day)Back
Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Brainerd Dispatch Entry Title: Sept. 9, 2020; Jan. 17, 2021; March 10, 2021 Entry Credit: Staff Judge Comment: The most ambitious designs across all divisions.
Photo layering over nameplate shows technical skill, but does the effect lose some of the "wow" factor if you use it every day?
There were a lot of good things in the progress edition in terms of photo use, cutouts and applying a consistent design theme.
Good mix of dominant and secondary art in general, but a few jump pages were text-heavy.
Labels, jump heads and fact boxes are attractive.
Religion page on Sept. 9 is particularly well done.
I'm not fan of non-modular design, so I'd avoid 6-col headlines over a 3-col story and an unrelated piece.
Also, as a reader, I don't like having obituaries on non-sequential pages.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Alexandria - The Echo Press Entry Title: Typography and Design Entry Credit: Echo Press Judge Comment: Well-designed and well-organized. Excellent use of photos, with varied sizes and subject matter. Labels, mug logs, folios and fact boxes look sharp.
The photo fade in the Nov. 20 nameplate was the most effective of your three submissions in terms of readability.
The default headline typeface feels a bit dated.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Willmar - West Central Tribune Entry Title: Wednesday, Sept. 9; Wednesday, Jan. 20; Saturday, March 13 Entry Credit: Staff Judge Comment: Nice use of photo fade in nameplate.
The design of the ice castle package on the Showcase section front on Jan. 20 was eye-popping, although the publication date was unreadable; I might have moved it to the right side just for that edition.
Good mix of dominant and secondary photos.
The season preview sections for boys and girls basketball were attractive.
Nice labels, page folios, jump heads and bylines.
Headlines are too small on some inside pages. And in some instances, the subheads are too close in size to the main heads. But I like the format you used for the Gov. Walz story on the March 13-14 front page.
The Jan. 20 front page uses the same "We the People" concert as other papers in this chain, and it has the same readability issue: The type in the pull quotes is too small.
