You can't miss: Interactive print ads

I got one of my favorite magazines in the mail on Saturday. Usually Entertainment Weekly comes on Fridays, but since I got my Kindle, I've been downloading the e-version earlier and earlier in the week. I found something in my hard copy of the magazine this week, though, that wouldn't have been the same on a Kindle screen. It was an ad for Mio, the new(ish) water flavor things. It was the first page I turned to because it was an obnoxiously thick paper in the middle of the thin pages of the magazine. It looked like this:

The words read "Drop this ad in water and watch your whole world change."

The small black letters are fairly striking, and they intrigued me. It says, "Drop this ad in water and watch your whole world change." So naturally, I did what it said. I had no idea what to expect, but it was awesome.

I filled a cookie sheet about half way with water.

The change was instant.

Pretty cool, right? It actually makes me want to try this Mio stuff. Well-played, advertisers. Well-played.

Tornadoes and doubletrucks

On Leap Day, Feb. 29, storms twisted through southwest Missouri. They hit north and south of Springfield, which is one of the papers I design at the studio. This area is no stranger to storms (i.e. the Joplin, Mo., tornado last May), but when one devastates a town, it's still a big deal.

In case you're not keeping track (and why would you?), Feb. 29 was also my first day back from my furlough. I was slotted to handle Springfield's A section that night. Welcome back, right? Thankfully, I had a lot of help from other staffers in the studio. It was actually a living reason why these studios are such a good idea: extra hands when needed and people with experience teaching those with less. I got a lot of help from a Des Moines Register designer who handled a lot of the Iowa flooding fronts back in 2008.

Springfield cleared off 1A and essentially six ad-free pages inside for their coverage, and they could have had at least one more for my tastes. One of the pages was very text-heavy, I would have liked to spread it out a bit. You don't need to see that one. But here's the front page and the doubletruck photo spread.

With the front, Springfield rightfully wanted as many entry points as possible. They had so much stuff inside, so they needed some refer space, which I placed on top of the photo so it would read well above the fold. I also crafted a QR code refer next to the flag to draw attention to all the web coverage above the fold. The photo placement took some conversation and coercing, too. Initially, there were three destruction photos on the cover, but no people. After I switched out the secondary photo, I was able to use the first-choice secondary really big for the doubletruck. It definitely got more play there than it would have on the front. I also played the gray bar and label headline you see on the second clip on all of the storm pages in the section.

Overall, I'd say it was a success. It wasn't until after I'd sent all the pages to press that I got up from my desk. That's a good nine hours of straight designing and coordinating and critiquing and tearing apart to build new pages. I'd say it paid off. Visual journalism blogger Charles Apple even mentioned my work on his blog. I'd say that's something, right?

Furlough week to do list

This week, I get the honor of an unpaid vacation! I am actually pretty excited about this, but I can see how it is a burden on others -- especially those who have to do my work when I'm gone. There's nothing we can do about it, though, except roll with the punches. So, what am I going to do on this week of unpaid leave? I'm glad you asked!

• Apply for unemployment. Apparently I can get some money from the government while I sit on my ass for a week. Who knew? (And before I hear griping about taking government money -- I am just as entitled to it as everyone else who is unemployed. It's probably going to go straight back to the government in the form of student loan payments anyway. So there.)

• Do my taxes. I usually put this off until the last possible day, but I should probably do it sooner. I hate taxes, and mine aren't even that difficult!

• Figure out my health insurance/401(k) stuff for Gannett. I officially get health insurance on March 1 and I need to fill out some paperwork or something. I've also been delaying transferring my 401(k) accounts. I tend to put off what I don't understand. Being a grown up is hard!

• (Now for the fun stuff.) Spend some quality time with my new Kindle Fire. It is a pretty new toy, and I intend on reading/facebooking/words with friending/angry birding like crazy.

• FINISH my damn high school T-shirt quilt. I have been putting this one off for a good 6 years, and it needs to be done already! If I roll through that, I might start my college one, but I don't know if I'm ready to give up wearing some of my Marching Mizzou T-shirts.

• Last but not least is visiting one of my best friends in Madison, Wisc. She just got engaged (and I'm maid of honor!!!!), so we are going to obsess over wedding plans, try on some dresses, go see one of her plays and watch the Oscars hopefully! I haven't been able to watch the Oscars for a few years, and I miss it so. 

Sounds like a pretty good week to me!

Building bridges, building a new life

I haven't posted any of my work lately, but I really haven't been proud of anything either. My time in Springfield didn't really produce anything stellar, but since I've come to Des Moines, I've gotten to open up a little bit. Having superiors who know a thing about design and have your back is a huge factor. I wouldn't have even attempted the page I am about to show you if I didn't have people helping me or supporting my design. I like Des Moines.

Anyway, here's my latest. It's a Sunday front page for the Springfield News-Leader. I got a good eight hours to work on it, and I think it shows. The story is about a community college that is starting to offer more remedial classes in reading, writing and math for students that need a little extra help. I thought of my college days and how much I highlighted things. I even highlighted things on the hard copy of the story before I started designing the page. I kind of inspired myself.

Right click and open in a new window/tab to see a larger version.

The challenge with the centerpiece was trying to figure out how to incorporate the lead photo with the rest of the package. Springfield doesn't do a lot of cutouts, and that is what I was worried about when submitting the design to the editors. With the background dropped from the photo, though, you could focus more on the student in the foreground and what he was writing, which could very well be the text hovering above his head. I only wish he were holding a highlighter (I could also do without the deck headline), but I can't win at everything.

The miraculous part is that the editors in Springfield loved my design. I was really worried, but my bosses at the studio had my back. And they didn't even need to back me up!

A look back at 2011

OK, so 2011 wasn't my best year. Parts of it really sucked, but parts of of were absolutely amazing. Basically it was a huge roller coaster of emotions, life-changing events and self discovery. Here's how it panned out:

January

• One of my best friends got married. It was the first wedding I had ever been a part of and the best wedding I can imagine for two people who worked so hard to get there. 
• Work at the Savannah Morning News took a turn for the worse with two copy deskers in the hospital and two more open positions that took forever to fill. I worked a lot of overtime at both the paper and my second job, which was a completely different entity.
• On the plus side at work, Newseum picked up my first front page for its "Top 10" feature.

February

• As the snowpocalypse was hitting the Midwest, I was designing another awesome front page that got chosen by Newseum.
• I turned 23 and celebrated with a few willing coworkers.
• I got preventative skin cancer surgery. It takes forever to heal. Read: still not 100%. 
• Over the course of this month and the next, I became great friends with a girl who lived near me. We became each other's only true friends in Savannah, and I psuedo-got a puppy out of the deal.

March

• The newspaper launched Morris' new content management system, Content Watch. It was horrible and at least six months from go-live ready. The desk worked very hard to work out the kinks, and succeeded on most accounts over the course of a few months.
• Two of my best friends came to visit me in Savannah for their spring break. Things we did include but are not limited to: a haunted pub crawl, getting hailed on, Savannah things and a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was a fantastic time.
• I survived my first round of layoffs at the Savannah Morning News. It shook me, but the copydesk didn't lose anyone, just two empty positions. Work got harder, and it became more difficult to stay positive. I tried my hardest.

April

• I visited an old high school friend and her daughter in Memphis during the Memphis in May concert series. I saw Jason Mraz live in concert, and my life was completed.

May

• My college "Quartet" got together in Kansas City for a weekend. We had a lot of fun, and I ended up cutting off all of my hair into a style that not only makes me look grown up, but also one that I will be keeping for a while.
• Work calmed down a bit, and I decided to stick it out for a while longer. 
• I bought a new laptop for freelancing/entertainment purposes. 
• I won a Georgia Press Association award for my work on the photo illustration cover of the 2010 election guide.

June

• I moved from my apartment complex in west Savannah to a refurbished house/apartment in downtown Savannah.
• I went to Ireland to visit a friend who was studying abroad. We did a driving tour of the island, and it was one of the best vacations I'd been on. 

July

• I drove to North Carolina to see some more high school friends and hang out on the beach.
• The last Harry Potter movie premired, and a huge part of my childhood ended.

August

• My cat, Maia, got sick again. She is on drugs on an off for the next month an a half.
• I survived my second round of layoffs at the paper, but a lot of other people didn't, including my immediate manager. I started looking for another job. 

September

• Three rooms of my basement apartment flooded with sewer water. 
• I said goodbye to Maia, as her health greatly deteriorated. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.
• I redesigned my website for the Society of News Design conference in St. Louis. I was a networking queen.

October

• I saw another good friend get married in Columbia, Mo.
• I went back to Mizzou for the school's 100th Homecoming celebration. 
• I interviewed for several jobs, and I took one at the Gannett Design Studio in Des Moines. I turned in my resignation to the editor in Savannah (and my freelance job), as did three others in the matter of a week. 
• My apartment flooded two more times. I used the fact that the management didn't fix it after the first time to get out of my lease.
• Another good friend visited me in Savannah before I had to say goodbye to the beautiful city.
• The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series, and I cheered them on every step of the way.
• My best friend in Savannah has a baby shower, which makes it harder for me to leave her in Savannah.

November

• I left my first job to start my second one (with a minor stint in Springfield, Mo., in between). I moved my stuff to Des Moines in an epic roadtrip of epicness, and I moved myself to Springfield. 
• I took part in the age-old tradition of banging Big Mo at the Missouri vs. Texas football game.
• I found a roommate in Springfield, who is also moving to Des Moines.

December

• My new roommate and I find an amazing house to rent in Des Moines. 
• My non-healing surgery doesn't heal even more. I go on antibiotics only to be allergic to them and end up in the emergency room with hives, etc.
• I rang in the new year in Kansas City, which is much closer to me now, with my college friends.

So, 2012, let's make a deal. I will go on less trips and pay off some of my bills if you don't be as much of a bitch as 2011 was. Deal?

This Postsecret postcard ran today. I can't help but agree.

InDesign > Quark

I gave it a chance, guys. I really did. I opened my mind to this strange new program. I set aside my Adobe bias for a little while, and I learned about Quark. What I have concluded is that InDesign is far superior. Not only does it have more bells and whistles, but it enables you do do things quickly. Want to use the text tool without trying to click a tiny button? Just press "T." Want to access the type within a text box? Just double click. For some reason, Quark has made all its keyboard shortcuts so convoluted that you need three hands to perform them. Making type bigger requires a shortcut of four keys, and there is no easy way to move from the positioning tool to the content tool without accessing your tiny-ass toolbar up in the corner.

Basically, I'm on Team InDesign. I should make T-shirts.

Design program overload

Naturally, when you start a new job, there's a training process. Each company/newspaper/etc. has its own way of doing things, and that's cool. It's what makes them all unique. What I didn't figure out, though, was that I jumped on this design studio bandwagon a few months too early. I agreed to help out in Springfield, Mo., before they rolled into the studio in Des Moines, and the process of "rolling into" involves more than what I thought.

All through college and even at my job in Savannah, I used Adobe-based programs: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. I'd always heard the switch to Quark wasn't too hard, but I never thought I would have to switch at all. I'd always considered Quark the lesser of the two — the more outdated design program. So I was surprised to learn they used it here in Springfield. I was even more surprised to learn that when the paper rolls into the studio, it won't be designed through InDesign or Quark, but something called Layout Champ, which is a subsidiary of CCI, the Gannett-wide, web-based content management system. Learning the content management systems shouldn't be too hard, though, considering the Content Watch debacle in Savannah and how we all pulled through that.

There's also the Mac/PC aspect of the switch. I worked on a PC in Savannah, and I'm currently learning all the Quark stuff on a Mac. However, they will soon be switching us back over to PCs for the switch to CCI. But I have my own Mac at home. Ridiculous.

So, these next few months I am going to be learning a system and a program that I get to throw away come January, when I will learn a whole new system. I know I am probably making a bigger deal out of this than I should, but I just find it amusing. For now, I feel like I'm going into design program overload. I tell you what, though. I am going to be a design program champ when all is said and done.

Design program overload.