Front pages of Expresso
Left to right: March 28, 2009; March 7, 2009; April 28, 2009
Expresso, a winner of SND.org's "World's Best-Designed," is a weekly publication in Paço de Arcos, Portugal. It has a circulation of 120,000.
For the most part, I didn't find the front pages of Expresso to be very effective. The lay-out is very neat with all the stories and pictures squared off. The headlines use different colored fonts, which I don't think add any functionality to the lay-out. Also, even though the lay-out is very neat and allows three to four stories to be on the page, I dislike how there is only enough room for the lede of a story until it is forced to jump because of a lack of space. When I read the paper, I can honestly count only about a handful of times when I've followed through and jumped to the page with the continuing story. Perhaps Expresso's reason for jumping so many stories from the front page is to make readers flip through the paper. Visually, stories on the front page (especially in the second front page shown) look as if they were cut off on accident because the length of the story is unusually short before it jumps. This is something I'm not used to seeing in U.S. papers.
Other than what I view as awkward jumps on the front page, Expresso does a good job in selecting photos that are very telling, especially in the example below where there are multiple close-ups of this man's face. This allows the reader to see his various facial expressions if they weren't described in the story.
For the most part, I didn't find the front pages of Expresso to be very effective. The lay-out is very neat with all the stories and pictures squared off. The headlines use different colored fonts, which I don't think add any functionality to the lay-out. Also, even though the lay-out is very neat and allows three to four stories to be on the page, I dislike how there is only enough room for the lede of a story until it is forced to jump because of a lack of space. When I read the paper, I can honestly count only about a handful of times when I've followed through and jumped to the page with the continuing story. Perhaps Expresso's reason for jumping so many stories from the front page is to make readers flip through the paper. Visually, stories on the front page (especially in the second front page shown) look as if they were cut off on accident because the length of the story is unusually short before it jumps. This is something I'm not used to seeing in U.S. papers.
Other than what I view as awkward jumps on the front page, Expresso does a good job in selecting photos that are very telling, especially in the example below where there are multiple close-ups of this man's face. This allows the reader to see his various facial expressions if they weren't described in the story.
March 28, 2009
But, the bottom of the lay-out has spacing issues. The space between the headline and the start of the story makes it look like there is something missing. Also, the three headlines on the bottom of the spread are all justified differently. It breaks up the amount of story text, but again the white space here makes the page look incomplete.
February 28, 2009
February 28, 2009
As it appears, this photo illustration is explaining different types of aircrafts. I really like this approach because it uses a lot of creativity. Instead of having a formal chart with each of the nine aircrafts depicted that lists its specs, the planes are placed in their "real" environment, or as they would appear when seen in the sky.
April 28, 2009
April 28, 2009
Again, the pictures chosen for this story add an interesting element to the lay-out. The string of photos at the bottom create almost a scene-by-scene storyline of its own, which I think helps me feel as if I were present at this event. As for the border, I would like to have seen something less vibrant so that the pictures of the story would have a chance to pop more, seeing that they tell part of the story while the border is merely an artistic element.
If you have a photo that accompanies a story, you don't want to rob its spotlight for a pretty page. Remember, content over design.
If you have a photo that accompanies a story, you don't want to rob its spotlight for a pretty page. Remember, content over design.
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