Layout down from the mountaintop

Besides providing Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Tracy Collins, director, Phoenix Design Studio, brought us the 10 commandments of type, and a boatload of awesome layout ideas.

While I don't teach all of the aspects of type to my JI class, the type sheet Collins provided will be really helpful in the production class. Because the vocabulary of type might be confusing to students, this cheat sheet will be a lifesaver in class.

As soon as possible, I'm going to try to make a style sheet and implement all of the tweaks (no not twerks) to type Collins suggested. This should be one easy fix to make the school publication look more professional.

Simply sitting back and listening to how Collins critiqued pages, gently, yet with conviction, provided ideas for when I'm critiquing student layouts. Loved the idea of the "recognize sucky, understand sucky, make less sucky" and the difference with the "red tie issues." This solution will make critiques, and design changes easier for both me and my students.

While we have a preview day for the newspaper, where the staffers look at pages before they are sent to the printer, at the beginning of next year, I hope to show them examples of the good, the bad and the ugly and talk about what makes layouts that way. This should focus students on keeping the architecture of the pages simple, and readable.

Wonder what the other five commandments are?

Julie Fales
SM South
Overland Park, Kan.