Response: SSND Judging

Yesterday I had the opportunity to watch this year's Student Society of News Design (SSND) judging. It was interesting, to say the least. I was surprised at the different things the judges discussed when it came down to the final few entries in each category. For example, in the tabloid cover category, the judges narrowed the entries down to just a few entries. They discussed whether the display type matched the images and/or concept, how well the package was executed and if they were solid concepts.

All of this really solidified a lot of things I've learned about design over the past few years. Something I've tried to work on this semester has been executing strong concepts. Easier said then done somedays. Today I was struggling with a design I'm working on for the Missourian. The story is about a local man who wrote an autobiography that centered around his childhood during the Great Depression. There isn't too much in the way of art: Two handout photos of his family in the 30s, cover art and a mug of the author. After an hour or so of moving around the different pieces of the story, I had to step back. I was treating all these elements as just that: pieces. I was having trouble picking a frame for the story, so I resorted to the random moving.

In regard to news design, something the judges looked at were overall design of front pages. My news design professor said that they didn't spend much time on the centerpieces. Rather, they looked at the page as a whole. Specifically, they looked at the other stories on the page. I thought that was interesting, especially since we place so much importance on determining the news of the day, but still having a clear, defined centerpiece. That just goes to show that you have to pay attention to what is going on in the rest of your page, not just what's the biggest.