<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/font><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/font><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/font><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/font><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n \u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000<\/font>\u671d\u967d\u79d1\u6280\u5927\u5b78<\/strong><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>\u9673\u5950\u61cb<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/strong><\/span>\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000 \u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u3000\u6307\u5c0e\u6559\u6388\u3000\u5ed6\u662d\u660c<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/font> <\/p>\n<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/font> <\/p>\nDesign Management:<\/font><\/span>
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<\/span><\/span>WHY DOES IT SEEM TO BE SO HARD?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/font><\/span><\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\nBy <\/span><\/strong><\/span>Ron Reason<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/font><\/font>
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<\/span>Not to be republished without permission or recirculated without attribution.<\/font><\/span>
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<\/font>"Why can't our layout editors (or paginators) produce better designs?"
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<\/font>"What can we do to enhance creativity?"
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<\/font>"How can we improve the planning process?"
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<\/font>"Is there any way to get our staff to collaborate more effectively?"
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<\/font>Often, these questions are on the minds of editors and art directors who invite me to visit their newsroom and provide training for the staff. Almost always, one visit to the newsroom is enough to explain why they are running into roadblocks. Following are some of the reasons why the above questions plague so many newsrooms:
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<\/font>Lack of definition in work roles<\/font><\/strong><\/span>.<\/strong> At one medium-sized paper I'm familiar with, the person who held the title of "graphics editor" also was in charge of creating prototypes for proposed new sections, scanning in and toning halftones, typesetting and tracking countless logos for use throughout the paper, and – when time allowed – produce informational graphics. And guess what usually was last on the priority list?
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<\/font>Graphics editing is not the same as design direction, which is not the same as art direction. They are three distinct duties, and the person who holds any one of those titles may not be skilled in all three areas. Define the role. In many cases, these are three duties that are too much for one person to handle. Think twice before overloading one person with all these tasks.
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<\/font>Lines of authority aren't clear<\/span>.<\/strong> "We can't cut stories at my paper, even if it means running a full jump page with no visuals. This is a writers paper," a copy editor once told me. In a later conversation, the top editor of her paper told me that he also thinks the stories run too long in his paper. Either someone (a middle manager, most likely) was strong-arming the copy desk into not cutting stories, or the desk was operating under an incredibly persistent "urban newsroom myth."
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<\/font>Secrecy.<\/strong> <\/font><\/font><\/span>It's hard to believe a centerpiece story can be in the writing and original editing stages for weeks, yet the copy desk isn't informed about it until 8 p.m. the evening before publication. But I've seen this scenario at a number of papers. The result: low morale, poor design and packaging, errors. All because someone, for whatever reason, is keeping his cards pretty close to his chest.
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<\/font>People working in isolation<\/font><\/strong><\/span>.<\/strong> At another newspaper, designers in the newsroom were laying out feature pages while the copy desk in the features department, in another room hundreds of feet away, edited the copy and wrote the headlines – without ever seeing proofs of the art for the pages, and rarely seeing the layout in progress. The result: disconnect between words and visuals on the features pages.
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<\/font>Muddy lines, if any, separating editorial duties from technical support.<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>Should the graphics editor also be the person in charge of troubleshooting Macs? Maybe so, if you're willing to give up quite a bit of attention to the editorial product in exchange. (One newsroom had its art director de-bugging Macs not only in the newsroom but all through the company. This might be a harsh reality in a small shop, but it's nearly unforgivable in a decent sized publication.)
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<\/font>Lack of training.<\/font><\/strong><\/span> Copy editors are often ill prepared to produce creative page layouts. Most of them went to journalism school, after all. They studied words, not visuals; facts, not creativity. Now in the real world, managers have given them the tools of typography, color and page architecture without realizing that most journalists have no formal education in these areas.
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<\/font>At the same time, news artists are not always the best people to produce features page design. A skill as an illustrator does not necessarily mean the person is skilled with typography, or knowledgeable about how headlines and visuals go together. All visual tasks should not be lumped into the same job description.
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<\/font>Quite often, the newspaper of 2000 is being put out with staff structures and communication processes left over from years or decades past. Periodically, it's essential to revisit the newsroom heirarchy, job descriptions, titles, turf, and processes. Are you having the right kind of meetings? Are the right people in attendance? Should you be having meetings at all? Unless your paper is exactly the same as it was in 1957, philosophically, your staff structure had better evolve.
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<\/font>One critical element missing in a lot of newsrooms is a clear system of design management. Training, coaching, critiqueing and teaching are important design management duties. Have you designated someone to do this? Do they have the authority, and the time, to do this efficiently? Designate a percentage of their work week to perform these tasks. Otherwise, they are just plugging the holes and bailing water to keep the paper afloat. Just as you'd have a city editor review the work of the staff's metro reporters, designate someone to review the layouts of the copy desk – and thoughtfully, not in a drive-by, before deadline hits.
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<\/font>So, where do you start?<\/strong> <\/font><\/font><\/span>How do you get better if any of the above describes your newsroom? Begin with a frank conversation of priorities, and review your staff to see if you have the right players in place. Does it matter that morale is low on the copy desk? If so, maybe you need to designate a champion. Are you disappointed in your paper's feature layouts? If so, you need to allocate some real design expertise in that area. (And no, this doesn't always mean bringing in a design
\ner or art director from outside. Sometimes, the design star is already on the staff, waiting to be discovered, or given a boost.)
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<\/span>?2000, Ron Reason. Not to be republished without permission or recirculated without attribution.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n\u8a2d\u8a08\u7ba1\u7406<\/span>:<\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/font>
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<\/span>WHY DOES IT SEEM TO BE SO HARD?<\/span><\/span>\u70ba\u4ec0\u9ebc\u50b3\u64ad\u696d\u4f3c\u4e4e\u662f\u9019\u9ebc\u8f9b\u82e6<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/font><\/span>\u70ba\u4ec0\u9ebc\u6211\u5011\u7684\u7de8\u8f2f\u4e0d\u80fd\u7522\u751f\u66f4\u597d\u7684\u8a2d\u8a08\uff1f<\/font><\/span>
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<\/font>"<\/font><\/span>\u6211\u5011\u80fd\u505a\u4ec0\u9ebc\u4f86\u63d0\u5347\u5275\u9020\u6027\uff1f<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/font><\/span><\/span> <\/font><\/span>
<\/font>"<\/font><\/p>\n\u6211\u5011\u600e\u6a23\u80fd\u6539\u9032\u898f\u5283\u904e\u7a0b\uff1f<\/font><\/span>"
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<\/font>"<\/font><\/span>\u6709\u4ec0\u9ebc\u65b9\u6cd5\u80fd\u4f7f\u6211\u5011\u7684\u8077\u54e1\u66f4\u52a0\u6709\u6548\u5730\u548c\u4f5c<\/font><\/span>?"
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<\/font><\/span>\u7d93\u5e38<\/span>, <\/font><\/span>\u9019\u4e9b\u554f\u984c\u662f\u5728\u9080\u8acb\u6211\u53c3\u89c0\u4ed6\u5011\u7684<\/span>\u65b0\u805e\u7de8\u8f2f\u5ba4<\/span>\u548c\u70ba\u8077\u54e1\u63d0\u4f9b\u8a13\u7df4\u7de8\u8f2f\u548c\u85dd\u8853\u6307\u5c0e\u7684\u982d\u8166\u3002\u5e7e\u4e4e\u7e3d<\/span>, <\/font><\/span>\u5230<\/span>\u65b0\u805e\u7de8\u8f2f\u5ba4<\/span>\u7684\u4e00\u6b21\u53c3\u89c0\u662f\u8db3\u5920\u89e3\u91cb\u70ba\u4ec0\u9ebc\u4ed6\u5011\u904b\u884c\u9047\u5230\u8def\u969c\u3002\u4ee5\u4e0b\u4e00\u4e9b\u539f\u56e0\u70ba\u4ec0\u9ebc\u4e0a\u8ff0\u554f\u984c\u56f0\u64fe\u8a31\u591a<\/span>\u65b0\u805e\u7de8\u8f2f\u5ba4:<\/span><\/font>
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<\/font><\/span>\u7f3a\u4e4f\u5b9a\u7fa9\u5728\u5de5\u4f5c\u89d2\u8272\u3002<\/span><\/strong> <\/font>\u6211\u8a8d\u70ba\u5728\u4e00\u5f35\u4e2d\u7b49\u5927\u5c0f\u7684\u7d19\u4e0a<\/span>, <\/font><\/span>\u4eba\u64c1\u6709<\/span>