Design
We don't have copy editors or editorial designers as part of our staff, just section editors. Something that is very nice about the Roar system is that section editors come up with ideas for graphics and are expected to be relatively autonomous as page designers. We hold meetings with the graphics team, where section editors and artists collaborate on illustrations or page layouts that support articles the most, and look most cohesive with the whole paper.
It just goes to show that as members of Roar staff, we are more than just writers — we contribute to the entire persona of the paper and understand a vast amount about the field.
Microsoft Word - The Lion’s Roar.docx.pdfBehold — The Roar Stylebook. I've only skimmed it one time, because, to be honest, as section editors, we get the Roar style beat into us by senior staff really early on.
But if I were to have read it, I would have learned very quickly just how detailed, yet simply, the Roar design process is. Every drop cap, subhead, and 0.7 black border around photos contribute to the flow and personality that makes our paper look cohesive. Each topic and writer's voice may be vastly different between articles, but we all come together under the umbrella of design.
Volume 38: News
As a news editor, I was not in a position where I was expected, nor was I supposed to, take design thoroughly into my stride. In news, we are defined by the content of the articles and relatively dry page designs, which, honestly, I really love. It provides a class distinction between the fact that the articles on the page are neutral and purely fact. By incorporating fancy design elements and embellishments, one creates a greater opportunity for editorialization, which we try to avoid at all costs, especially on news.
Oof
Honestly, looking at it from a EIC's perspective, this isn't even that bad for a first proof. I actually just noticed that elements of the masthead have different fonts than the final pdf. I'm trying to remember if that was an error on my part or senior staff changed it without telling me. I wouldn't be surprised by either.
The first fully formed page
I love the simplicity of news formatting so much. The articles speak for themselves and the message is clear. These are the facts, and this is what you need to know. One thing, however, that we've tried to work on, especially in news, is incorporating more whitespace. Especially with this spread, there are no pull-quotes and the graphics/photos themselves are quite small and don't maximize the formatting of the text.
The 3/4 and the Column
I actually remember laying this page very well. It was in the latter half of V38, so I had begun more confidently incorporating ~subtle~ stylistic elements into the page spread.
By putting the graphic of the finish line on the bottom-right corner of the page, I was hoping to mimic a "real" race, where the runner is running off the page... hahaha...
I started placing the banners of South Spots' subheads *slightly* overlapping the line dividing the column. This is the freedom I was hoping for.
For South Spots as well, I was running low on things to write, so I decided to put a photo of the play on it, which we don't typically do for South Spots, as its usually just reserved for words. I actually really love the look of it, and started incorporating it more into my columns as to beak up text because around this time, I learned that I low-key don't like whitespace and would prefer more photos and words.
I don't know, maybe thats just me.
I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to classic formatting.
Volume 39: Centerfold
original design
So, at first, we fumbled with this spread. First of all, it was my first time laying a creative page, and my co-editor, Matan, was no better at design than I was, so we were kind of lost. We origianlly were hoping to incorporate some infographics into our spread, but then started realizing that it was a) ugly and b) really busy. This article was quite serious, and we wanted a design that reflected that.
In the last few days before publish, we asked a different graphics manager to whip us up something that could be standalone for the article. She ate. It was perfect, and we placed the whole spread on top of a white background so that the shadow of the balance scales really popped.
final
Fragmented Generation, along with being one of the most interesting topics I've ever written about, was a lot of fun to lay. When Matan and I were brainstorming design, we knew we wanted to remain synonymous with the seriousness of the article, yet wanted to keep it engaging. We mimicked a two page spread by the New York Times from the body font (Georgia) to the price of the paper in the second from the top right. We made sure to incorporate all the elements of the NYT signature style, but with a Roar twist.
infographic used on "jump" or the page behind fold's designated spot
One of my Editors-in-Chief at the time, Eva Shimkus, always supported me when I had crazy ideas, and went as far as to volunteer "Nana's whip" as our main prop to symbolize high school sex.
Although this article and photo was not as serious as some others that I've done, it was incredibly seeing people pick up the paper in interest. There was a buzz around the school about who the models were "hooking up" on the cover of the school's newspaper. Plot twist: it was me and Eva.
Fun fact: we were listening to "Smack That" by Akon when this photo was taken by our photo manager at the time, Gianna Burgess.
The other options HAHAHAHA
The main spread of this article is just ok, but I really love the infographic. We did infographics for a couple issues, and they are incredible to support our claims without taking up word-space with statistics. This one in particular is really effective because it visually represents the duration of each paper, and does so in a way that is easy to digest. Thats the whole point of infographics — making data readable and understandable.
Changemakers, an article my former co-editor Matan and I wrote, was the first where I began experimenting more with page design and incorporated magazine-style spreads into news/features articles. Although Matan and I wrote the article together, I took the lead in the design and also took the photos myself for both the main spread and for the cover.
Typically, Roar has very traditional formatting rules, but I pushed to do something different, even going as far to change the fonts of our typical hammer, subhead, and pull quote. This issue was also among the first where I started experimenting with portrait photography, something I learned to incorporate into my other photography pursuits later on.
Check out Mr. Rinaldi's caption!
Cover for Changemakers
Back for Changemakers
This is calendar material.
oink
Improper cost-of-living-adjustments + union-busting lawyers = PINK!
Julie really blessed us up with these beautiful drawings. Collectively (Sr. Staff + us [centerfold] + graphics) were all really heated with each other over this spread. None of us agreed on where each graphic should go, whether the rope was insinuating competition rather than cooperation, whether it would break up the flow of the page, etc.. Eventually, we came to an agreement, and I think it was for the better. I love this spread so much, especially because we used different graphics for each element of the coverage (piggy, rope, broken piggy). Also, the frequent usage of pull-quotes and the rope in the center of the text breaks up the legal jargon quite well, and makes the whole page way more readable and appealing.
Also, I love the look of the infographics for this one. They demonstrate the similarities, but at the same time, discrepancies, of this debate, and provide defense for both sides of the argument.
Volume 40: EVERYTHING!
As EIC, I had to incorporate design and page layout into my thinking way more than I used to. Not just of pages themselves, but also of the cover, advertisements, back page, fun page, and editorials.
The two week long strike put school on hold, but we newspapers were in full swing. In line with the unprecedented nature of this event, we upped our social media coverage of the event a lot and, especially since we had a really strong photography section this volume, got a lot of great photos from rallies. We began incorporating photography more into our covers to highlight our strength, and so I remember when I saw the above photo, I thought to myself, "I know for a fact that the cover is going to be about the strike and that we're going to publish a lot of articles about it. 'Newton Educators on Strike' would fully encapsulate all of the articles we're planning on doing, whilst maintaining the sense of breaking news and urgency that we're trying to cover."
Or something along those lines.
I took a screenshot, messily drew up the design, and then we had our cover for the last issue.
Roar x Collage Club
A big thing that I wanted to incorporate going into the new volume is diversifying our media. I mention her name previously, but Julie Wang was one of the best graphics artists we ever had and we depended on her a lot, but she graduated with Volume 39, so our graphics section was a little weaker than it was previously. To maintain the level of excellence that I believe we could meet without her, I began pursuing more mixed media into our designs, not only as a way to compensate for a weaker section, but also simply to diversify our look.
Collage club, an art club that some of my friends started about 2 years ago, was perfect for this, and was a great opportunity for members of the club to actually recieve projects. We started working with them during the summer issue, with Campaigning for Change, and the page design was such a hit that we were hoping to work together again, which we did. They're work brought a new type of creativity to Roar, and helped us embody the student creativity more accurately.
Our intentions with cover was to demonstrate our solidarity and seriousness with the article. We felt that it would be disrespectful to put a graphic on the cover for the article, and by putting photos of the students we interviewed, we would either insinuate that we are taking a particular side, or we are pitting the two against each other. We wanted to avoid that, and decided that the black did that, and with addition to the red dash, signified the gravity of the topic.
Along with that, we condensed the information of the article at the top half of the spread so that when the folded paper was distributed, all the information would be front and center without any cutoffs.
40-6 Edit + Desk
The strike was such a monumental time in our school's (and state's) history, that we needed to give it as much space as it needed in our editorial. typically, editorials only take up about a half, but this time, we knew we wanted to do a full report of the staff's perspective. Along with that, we decided to incorporate a photo and a subhead, which we REALLY don't do in editorials, as a way to communicate the seriousness of the article. Plus, its an amazing photo. How could we not use it??
Its Roar tradition that at the end of each Volume, senior members of senior staff come together and write thank you notes for the entire staff. Emma and I were the only ones on Sr. Staff so we followed tradition and wrote little snippets for everyone. Along with being a great opportunity to reminisce on our time over the volume and think fondly upon our underclassmen, the large and colorful page format drew a lot of attention.
Also, purple is me and Emma's symbolic color. I don't know why, but it just felt right.
