Information Layering – Newspapers
The good:
1.
The Journal Gazette has set a clear hierarchy of importance with its type of information, its headlines and images. The package story is has the most proximity to Fort Wayne and it has the largest photo, as well as alt-structure showing where the new building will be.
2.
The Burlington Free Press uses varying weights of the same font for three of its headlines which helps give a clear distinction between the two stories near the bottom (neither of which have photos/alt structure).
The graphic used in the package illustrates the message of the story well,and it creates an equal balance with the stories to the right. The quick reads to the top right are seen after the package story and the image/headlines that go with the genetics lab story.
Not so good:
4.
There is a huge editorial at the top of the page. Even though the editorial doesn’t disrupt the overall eye movement around the page, it still is in an awkward position because it seems separate from the rest of the page. I would move the editorial to at least the next inside page and use whatever was used in the jump on the front. Granted, the page would risk looking comparatively empty than it does now, but the photos for the package could be reduced (the picture of a map shouldn’t be used unless it states it was an illustration by the newspaper; it also doesn’t really add much to the story and if it were removed, more room could be given to the photos that actually have something to do with the story.) The opinion piece at the bottom would also benefit from having more room so that there isn’t awkward spacing in the justified text.
5.
Unlike in the Burlington Free Press’ story about two opposing candidates, the Herald-Leader’s dual story-thing is as tall as the entire main story. The large photo is competing for dominance with the two mugshots/red+blue headers as the initial entry point for the reader’s eyes (if a reader looks at the election stories, the vertical design leads their eyes down and off the page). The two stories should be moved to the bottom of the page, maybe running side by side. The scanning reader would only see a large gap on the right side because of all the text. If the stories are moved below, then there would be a more equal distribution of weight on the page.
