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Newspapers and Web Design

Posted on July 24th in Design — 3 Comments so far. Got something to say?

Some newspapers (RSS on paper for those who haven’t been out in a while) are impeccably designed. Others are not, but we’ll be looking at the great ones today.

Because of the medium (thin, light grey paper), the designs must embody certain qualities:

Simple design - Newspapers aren’t meant to flashy. Anything too complicated, or even barely past simple puts of readers. People don’t read newspapers for the design. While it can be a contributing factor, content is kind, just like everything else.
Readability is the #1 priority - Because newspapers are meant to be read (no commenting/interaction, complicated design, nothing to watch) there must be a balance between the aesthetic factor from the fonts and the readability. Most, if not all copy will be in a serif font (what’s a serif?), with the odd Sans font in a heading.
Use of lines - Papers have edges, so no need to have a container, but inside, lines are used to perfection to break up content and create flow. Click the thumbnail of the New York times over to the side the see a great use of lines. They’re everywhere, but not overdone and they serve their purpose well.
Under use of colour, or even not at all - There might be colours in the pictures, but a lot of popular newspapers keep the masthead black and white. Some Canadian newspapers (ie, National Post) have great colourful designs without over doing it, but a simple bold colour needs to blend, not over power.
Grid design - Newspapers make good use of grids. Things line up horizontally and vertically. Most papers also justify their paragraphs to give a very columned feeling. Next time you have a spare paper, try to find their grid, it shouldn’t be hard. They might no be sticking to it perfectly, because it depends on their images. A good image might make them compromise their grid a little.
Organization and Hierarchy - Readers need to know what’s important, and what they need to read first. The way papers are organized are that the most important info looks like it is the most important. Simple, but you’d be lost without it.

In Web Design

What does this teach us about designing for the web, and specifically blogs? Content is king, never forget it. Go for flow and organization over fancy boxes with all the trendwhore effects you can handle. Simple is good, and can still be stunning. Take the focus off your graphics and put it into your CSS and back end.