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The Herald's Extreme Makeover
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some proof
Posted by
Robert Knilands
12/8/2003 6:59:30 PM
A while back, I pledged to post proof that obits are well-read. This shouldn't be necessary, but the design-based camp seems to think this can...
A while back, I pledged to post proof that obits are well-read. This shouldn't be necessary, but the design-based camp seems to think this can be discovered only through a redesign, aka the design-based panacea.
With little effort, I found this passage from the Northwestern University Readership Institute:
"Yet the Readership Institute's Impact study of readership shows that obituaries — along with community announcements and stories about ordinary people — have the highest potential of all news items to grow readership. In other words, if newspapers can do a "better" job in presenting this kind of news, they will see positive, overall readership results."
More to come in the near future, but this shows how out of touch the design-based camp is with what readers want.
Something useful?
Posted by
[User profile deleted]
9/27/2003 8:03:03 AM
C'mon Robert. Something useful? Like what? News reporting? Waking up all the chair-moisteners in all the Sector 7G's throughout the land? Demandi...
C'mon Robert. Something useful? Like what? News reporting? Waking up all the chair-moisteners in all the Sector 7G's throughout the land? Demanding that the article about Madonna's book for children be reduced to 50 words and the one about why soldiers are dying in Iraq every single day while the president goes on vacation after vacation and doesn't attend a single funeral be turned into a full page?
You'll never get anywhere with that attitude.
as if that ever happens
Posted by
Robert Knilands
9/26/2003 6:33:28 PM
Hmm -- and how many people eat a sandwich, hold a baby, change channels on the TV and try to read a newspaper at the...
Hmm -- and how many people eat a sandwich, hold a baby, change channels on the TV and try to read a newspaper at the same time?
My guess would be few, if any. Also, this is more of the double time-waste problem -- anyone would know without doing a study that it's easier to handle a tabloid if you're going to do five things at once.
The time spent doing this study could have been used for something useful.
Tabloids a-coming
Posted by
Robertson Adams
9/26/2003 1:30:05 PM
The proclamation that tabloids are the way of the future, is nothing new from Dr. Mario Garcia. I worked on a paper which he redesigned...
The proclamation that tabloids are the way of the future, is nothing new from Dr. Mario Garcia. I worked on a paper which he redesigned in 1990. Even at that time, there was substantial research supporting the demand for tabloids -- not Eye-trac, but three dozen focus groups with real readers consuming prototypes, sandwiches, and cash.
These readers would try eating a Big Mac and holding a baby and using the TV remote and browsing the auto classifieds or lingerie sale pages with the other hand. In focus groups, the tabloids won hands down.
It was back in the newsroom where the word people felt the tabloid format hurt credibility. Readers just wanted convenience and service. They got what they wanted.
- Robertson Adams
on the "Visual" side of the fence
in Miami, Fla.
death and retirement
Posted by
Robert Knilands
9/26/2003 9:38:30 AM
One other note: I see where Dr. Mario -- annoyed that the Herald didn't shift from broadsheet to tabloid at his behest -- says some...
One other note: I see where Dr. Mario -- annoyed that the Herald didn't shift from broadsheet to tabloid at his behest -- says some people will have "to die, to retire, to whatever" in order for the paper to cross over into the magical land of tabloid.
Why is this not being questioned by Poynter -- the alleged paragon of newsroom dynamics? Is it OK to wish for the death or retirement of newsroom executives as long as it fits with the Poynter pro-visual agenda?
Does calling yourself a 'Doctor" gurantee fame and fortune?
Posted by
Robb Montgomery
9/25/2003 5:05:16 PM
Apparently it does.
Check this link out from the legendary Tim Harrower.
http://www.timharrower.com/DD/cutouts.htm
Although Tim is certa...
Apparently it does.
Check this link out from the legendary Tim Harrower.
http://www.timharrower.com/DD/cutouts.htm
Although Tim is certainly not using the title to boost his ego, gain new clients and impress the Poynter crowd by calling himself 'Dr. Tim Harrower.'
The guy dressed up in a cheap suit and white sneakers for two days at SND to selflessly educate and enertain us all with
his 'Design Bowl' contest. I 've never before learned so much about the history of newspapering while laughing so hard.
Just proves that you don't have to take yourself seriously even if you take your work seriously.
at the links
Posted by
Robert Knilands
9/25/2003 8:24:51 AM
From the links, it sounds as if Dr. Mario has worked with a number of editors during his career.
Why, then, in the story about...
From the links, it sounds as if Dr. Mario has worked with a number of editors during his career.
Why, then, in the story about the redesign of the Miami Herald, does he bemoan "working with editors?"
Is he simply saying that editors, by nature, reject things? Or is he one of the many in the design-based camp who think editors are the problem?
One has to wonder. After all, I'm sure some of the editors of the Herald have probably been with the Herald for some time. They might want to have SOME control over the paper where they've developed their careers, rather than relinquishing it to a consultant.
The 'Doctor' is in . . .
Posted by
Robb Montgomery
9/24/2003 7:59:46 PM
I don't know the reasons why the Miami Herald copy desk and the Poynter institute authors and editors refer to Mr. Garcia as 'Dr. Mario...
I don't know the reasons why the Miami Herald copy desk and the Poynter institute authors and editors refer to Mr. Garcia as 'Dr. Mario . . ." in the lead of their recently published news stories, but it's no secret the good 'doctor' introduces himself as "Dr. Mario" to all his clients.
Check out this link to his Web site where you can read 'Dr. Mario Garcia's' 12-inch bio and never learn in what discipline his degrees were awarded. Journalism is implied - but never stated. He could have studied psychology or agriculture for all we know.
http://www.garcia-media.com/about_us/mario.html
It's sloppy for news organizations to let people mislead readers by mis-using a formal title as revered as 'Dr.'
They ought to be editing the press releases from Garcia Media before running them verbatim. And Mr. Garcia should know better than to introduce himself to anyone outside of halls of academia as "Dr."
It's wrong on so many levels.
Sure there is.
Posted by
[User profile deleted]
9/24/2003 3:53:00 PM
And it's awarded based on "life experience" because the people who plod through universities and colleges to get degrees in journalism or related...
And it's awarded based on "life experience" because the people who plod through universities and colleges to get degrees in journalism or related fields aren't creative enough to think visually outside of the box in a post-millennial paradigm to advance the print media/newspaper construct through to its new beginning in post fin-de-siécle America.
Post prandially,
Alex
the "curriculum"
Posted by
Robert Knilands
9/24/2003 2:10:47 PM
Is there such a thing as a doctorate in newspaper design?
Is there such a thing as a doctorate in newspaper design?
Stuff and nonsense
Posted by
[User profile deleted]
9/24/2003 10:42:10 AM
Steve Cavendish wrote: "For all the carping about Garcia, the one thing he actually does is think about how readers perceive and process informat...
Steve Cavendish wrote: "For all the carping about Garcia, the one thing he actually does is think about how readers perceive and process information. If you want to disagree with his aesthetics, cool. But the ad hom bitching about whether he's a real "doctor" or not is crap."
This is an ideal example of what many in journalism do. A pronouncement -- in this case "ad hom bitching about whether he's a real 'doctor' or not is crap" -- is made as though it were the law of the land. That self-made determination is then used to invalidate the other side's argument.
In shorthand: you're wrong because I say your point has no merit. However, because I have said your point has no merit, I do not need to take the time to disprove it.
Questioning the use of the title "Dr." as the FIRST word of an article is a relevant ethical question BECAUSE (see, this is the part where I actually deliver a reason) it is irrelevant to his ability as a page designer. UNLESS there is such a thing as a doctorate in newspaper design. Then it is relevant.
Additionally, the use of Dr. at the beginning of a name is traditionally associated in the public's perception as a medical degree. A similar tendency toward selective title use was reported by Mark Dowie in The Nation when he took Gina Kolata's reporting apart. As reported by Dowie (and I'm recalling from memory, so this isn't letter-exact) Kolata would give one side's supporters their titles, and the other side, in one case a man with a doctorate in ecology with twenty years of work experience was described as an "environmentalist."
Garcia should not have been described as Dr. Garcia without a qualification.
right ...
Posted by
Robert Knilands
9/23/2003 7:20:12 PM
You didn't ask a question.
You also didn't provide any proof, which isn't surprising since there isn't any.
In other words, you are already...
You didn't ask a question.
You also didn't provide any proof, which isn't surprising since there isn't any.
In other words, you are already playing the game -- the game of deception.
Yawn
Posted by
Steve Cavendish
9/23/2003 5:52:49 PM
Yawn.
Nice. Answering a question with a question.
Not gonna play this game.
Thanks.
Yawn.
Nice. Answering a question with a question.
Not gonna play this game.
Thanks.
you first
Posted by
Robert Knilands
9/23/2003 3:58:41 PM
Steve:
How about if you post some evidence showing that the design-based approach attracts readers?
This means proof that it brings readers...
Steve:
How about if you post some evidence showing that the design-based approach attracts readers?
This means proof that it brings readers to the paper, NOT that their eyes go to a certain place when they're already looking at the paper.
I await the proof ...
Too early to tell
Posted by
Steve Cavendish
9/23/2003 11:00:50 AM
Wow, one week and the knives are out.
A couple of things:
1) Garcia said that we'll end up as tabloids and that's probably right....
Wow, one week and the knives are out.
A couple of things:
1) Garcia said that we'll end up as tabloids and that's probably right. But national advertising will drive this, to a certain extent, and it's gonna be a while.
2) Re: photos. Garcia has never backed away from the dominant image philosophy. He did say that the way people process information is changing and that you COULD use multiple photos in a spread.
3) Whether the Herald works or not is an open question. As someone who has seen actual copies of the paper, I can say that the inside structures are pretty fabulous. Highly readable, easy to navigate and a variety of story types. At a Poynter thing last week, he said it will take 6 weeks to shake everything out and settle into what works and what doesn't. Some of the fronts really work. Others not so much, but that's newspapering in general on a daily basis.
4) I have a preference for broadsheet, but I think the tabloid features sections are pretty interesting. Would I do the same thing? Maybe, maybe not. You're going to end up art directing 300+ magazine covers per year, essentially. That's ambitious.
5) For all the carping about Garcia, the one thing he actually does is think about how readers perceive and process information. If you want to disagree with his aesthetics, cool. But the ad hom bitching about whether he's a real "doctor" or not is crap.
6) Whether or not the "design era" has negatively affected circulation is debatable. I'd be interested in seeing a shred of evidence that showed causality.
Broadsheet Today...And Tomorrow
Posted by
Megan Lavey
9/22/2003 7:39:17 AM
Overall, I like the design. It's designed not only to appeal to the mixed Hispanic/Anglo cultures, but what I think is left unsaid is that...
Overall, I like the design. It's designed not only to appeal to the mixed Hispanic/Anglo cultures, but what I think is left unsaid is that it's probably also suppose to apply to people my age - just out of college people who turn to the Internet for the majority of their news. I don't care for the "5-Minute Herald" though, it's too flashy for me. I agree with previous feedback said that you can get the same thing by scanning headlines, section heads and summary decks.
I'm one of those who sees the word "tabloid" and instantly thinks of the National Enquirer. I know that's now not the case, with tabs like what the Chicago Tribune is doing. Still, as a young designer, I like working on broadsheet better. It's cleaner and gives me a bigger palette for design. When I was told I would be allowed to design one of our feature fronts this week, I felt like a kid getting an expensive toy at Christmas.
People have been saying for years that newspapers are going to die out. That hasn't happened yet. So I'm taking Mr..., excuse me, Dr., Garcia's words with a grain of salt. I think mainstream America's going to stick with broadsheet for awhile. At least, I hope that they do.
Abra-ca-TAB-ra
Posted by
Robb Montgomery
9/21/2003 5:34:18 PM
In 20 years I see all newspapers in a tabloid format, with fewer pages."
- Mario Garcia, Ph.D.
Ironic or prophetic? Garcia just redesigned th...
In 20 years I see all newspapers in a tabloid format, with fewer pages."
- Mario Garcia, Ph.D.
Ironic or prophetic? Garcia just redesigned the 'broadsheet' Miami Herald and then pronounces that the future is tabloids.
Actually, daily tabloids have been popping up all over the world the last few years and you probably didn't need Mario Garcia to tell you that.
So why does he make this grand pronouncement on the day his Miami Herald redesign launches?
Call me an evil rat bastard, but it sure looks like he's trying to get ahead of a trend he (for once) didn't create.
Just look at the French broadhseets that converted from BS to TAB a couple of years ago. The Record, a hot new Mexican TAB took top honors at SND two weeks ago. And what's the format for all the daily youth-oriented commuter pubs that publishers are launching or planning to launch? That's right - TAB.
BTW, his '5-minute herald' and new 'philosophy' that you can design interesting, active pages with a blitz of small photos and short, well-written stories seems awfully familiar. In fact, this 'new' approach looks and sounds a lot like the pages that form the heart of Red Streak every day in Chicago.
Indeed TABs are the future.
Gracias, Mario!
Robb Montgomery
News design editor
Chicago Sun-Times
and Executive art director,
Red Streak
'Dr.' of what, exactly
Posted by
Robb Montgomery
9/21/2003 5:27:21 PM
The public frequently identifies the title 'Dr.' only with physicians.
So why do all the recent Poynter and Miami Herald stories I read about...
The public frequently identifies the title 'Dr.' only with physicians.
So why do all the recent Poynter and Miami Herald stories I read about Mario Garcia, Ph.D start by introducing him as 'Dr. Mario Garcia?'
I believe it's AP style (and frankly more intellectually honest to readers . . .) to use the title PH.d to refer to someone who holds a doctorate.
As far as I know, Mr. Garcia does not hold a doctor of medicine, was not accepted into any residency, is not board-certified and is not a licensed physician in the United States.
Please, correct me if I am wrong.
a NEW broadsheet
Posted by
Robert Knilands
9/21/2003 1:25:20 PM
So last night, I go to my alma mater.
There's a newspaper lying on the counter of the pizza place. It looks like the Chicago...
So last night, I go to my alma mater.
There's a newspaper lying on the counter of the pizza place. It looks like the Chicago Tribune, but not quite.
I pick it up. It's the college paper -- NO LONGER A TABLOID.
Inside are comments from readers saying they like it better. The pages provide more options for readers. (Design-based people refer to these as "entry points," bringing more jargon into an industry that allegedly shuns jargon.)
There seems to be more advertising.
The only minus is the rise in glaring mistakes. I attribute this to the decrease in fact-based copy editors and the increase in visual-based designer/paginators.
But the shift to a broadsheet seems to be a success. How could this be? After all, we're being told the future is in tabloids.
About-face
Posted by
Erik Gable
9/21/2003 9:20:50 AM
So after years of being told "pick one photo, and play it big," now we're told that it's OK to run half a dozen photos...
So after years of being told "pick one photo, and play it big," now we're told that it's OK to run half a dozen photos as thumbnails if we can't make up our minds?
I always thought we made the dominant image because it would grab the eye and communicate something. The Web may have made people accustomed to lots of small images, but I don't see how that changes the theory behind having a single large dominant -- and it's worth noting that on the Web, people can click on small images to blow them up. They can't do that with a newspaper.
Good luck, Robert
Posted by
[User profile deleted]
9/21/2003 8:16:01 AM
Be prepared to confront the least pleasant aspect of human nature.
I am, of course, typing of willful ignorance. The very human desire to clin...
Be prepared to confront the least pleasant aspect of human nature.
I am, of course, typing of willful ignorance. The very human desire to cling to what has been shown to be highly unlikely because to do otherwise would be to admit that one had made a mistake.
You could drop 50 surveys indicating that the redesigned Miami Herald causes incurable eye cancer and the "visual thinkers" (I wonder what Helen Keller would say about that term.) would look back at you and say "Well, that's an interesting opinion..."
When you point out that this isn't opinion, it is fact, based on scientific and mathematical principles, they will point out that these are "only numbers" and that their "gut" tells them differently.
Presentation of fact rarely trumps opinion, especially in journalism. If it did, we wouldn't have horoscope columns in the papers. (Apparently in that instance, it's okay to corrupt children's minds with pseudoscientific tommyrot.)
I apologize for all the long (I mean "big") sentences and big words, which I'm sure are anathema (I mean "bad") for the notion of reducing the newspaper to a Dick and Jane primer.
Many upset.
Me sorry.
Real sorry.
And sad.
solid points
Posted by
Robert Knilands
9/20/2003 2:58:14 PM
John Scarborough succeeds in pointing out the flaws in this approach to "journalism."
One other thing I found amusing:
The comment about ig...
John Scarborough succeeds in pointing out the flaws in this approach to "journalism."
One other thing I found amusing:
The comment about ignoring the reader's statement that more people must have started dying after the redesign because there were more obituaries.
This just shows how out of touch the design-based approach is. Real editors, aka non-visual editors, hear these types of concerns all the time. To ignore them is to ignore what the customers want.
Which is exactly what the design-based approach does. It's self-serving, nothing more.
Also, since the Herald seems to think a redesign is necessary to "discover" that obituaries are well-read, I plan to spend a few minutes occasionally to find text pointing out this obvious fact. Whenever I do, if it's easy to copy and post, I plan to post it here.
This should send a message to the design-based people who claim the editors are the problem with newspapers. Your claims have gone unchallenged for far too long. Either start proving that what you say is right -- with more than flimsy Eye-Trac studies -- or I will post myriad proof that what you say is wrong.
I guess he's doctoring the paper
Posted by
[User profile deleted]
9/20/2003 8:55:57 AM
The article starts out "Dr. Mario Garcia."
Is he a medical doctor? Is he a graphics doctor? Perhaps he's a doctor of newspaperology.
Why do...
The article starts out "Dr. Mario Garcia."
Is he a medical doctor? Is he a graphics doctor? Perhaps he's a doctor of newspaperology.
Why do you bring it up? Is it to tell us that perhaps we should all kneel in his august presence? Or perhaps it's to point out that mere mortals such as we (or do I mean us, oh if only I was -- or do I mean were -- a doctor I would know these things) who are not doctors (in whatever field Garcia holds a degree) should know better than dare challenge the greatness that is the USA Todayification of the Miami Herald.
Most subserviently,
The non-doctored,
Alex Dering
Looks to me like a dumbing-down
Posted by
John Scarborough
9/19/2003 11:02:03 PM
I haven't seen a hard copy of the redesigned Herald, so I can't comment authoritatively on the changes. But judging by the descriptions I've read...
I haven't seen a hard copy of the redesigned Herald, so I can't comment authoritatively on the changes. But judging by the descriptions I've read and screen shots I've seen, the redesign seems long on gimmicks and short on substance.
The intentions behind the "5-Minute Herald" are admirable; but the feature is ultimately redundant and unnecessary. Broadsheets already have a built-in "5-minute read" -- it's called scanning the section fronts. I prefer this method, as it allows me to stop and linger over a story that grabs my attention.
The little overlines above each headline also strike me as duplicative. And if the intention here is to improve the scannability of the paper, the idea fails miserably. A well-written headine will instantly communicate the subject matter of a story -- no need to beat readers over the head with it. And how do editors choose an overline for an article that touches equally on several subjects? On the front page of the 9/19 issue there's a story headlined "Missile defense looked at for jets." The overline reads "Airline safety." I could have read just the headline and understood the story was about airline safety. The overline is suprefluous -- reading it merely ate up of a second of my precious time.
Which brings me to another point: Mario Garcia doesn't seem to think very much of the intelligence of Herald readers. Apparently, they're too busy to give the paper a thorough read, and must be spoon fed the day's news or enticed into reading through the use of bright, flashy graphics and lots of little pictures. Someone who has invested in the paper will invest time in reading it; the person who only wants to read headlines and short blurbs simply doesn't have the appetite for a daily paper and will probably never be a regular customer. Garcia short-changes devoted, intellectually hungry readers by wasting space on gimmicky devices like "5-Minute Herald" designed to lure the lazy and simple-minded.
a longtime reader
Posted by
Robert Knilands
9/19/2003 8:48:38 PM
As a longtime newspaper reader, I find myself both laughing and cringing.
For example:
• Redesigns make stories more attractive to the eye?...
As a longtime newspaper reader, I find myself both laughing and cringing.
For example:
• Redesigns make stories more attractive to the eye? OK -- how? The story says the size of the text didn't change. Is there something more there, or is this the usual design "miracle" that claims to draw in so many readers? (Yet there is no proof that this happens -- and there never will be, because it simply isn't true.)
• The Herald needed a redesign to realize obituaries are the most well-read part of the newspaper? Hahahahahahahahaha. I learned this during my first year on the college paper. I guess forgetting everything learned from the beginning -- as well as everything incredibly obvious -- is part of the "visual" process.
In short, as I've said before, I think newspapers would be better served to focus on their declining credibility, alarming rise in egregious errors, and poor hiring practices. These steps would improve publications for more than changing typefaces.
But I won't hold my breath waiting for this to happen.
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