July 14, 2015 - Issue 28

Design Workshop with Ed Henninger. Register by July 28 and SAVE $50.

Friday, August 14, 2015
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. 
Burnsville, MN

Join the Minnesota News Media Institute and trainer Ed Henninger, one of the world’s leading design consultants for community newspapers, for a daylong workshop focused on news design.

Last summer, Ed's news design session sold out! This year, he's back in Minnesota for more.Ed has worked with newspapers all over the world and is bringing his expertise to MNA members for one day only!  Seats are limited so sign up today.  

Morning session:

You Call the Shots is a bold, new presentation idea offered nowhere else. Leave it to Ed Henninger to break the mold again!

The concept is simple: We ask those attending what topics are most important to them. What questions do they have about news design? What do they most want to know? What design points can we clear up for them?

Attendees will review Ed's list of 101 topics, and check off the items they most want to discuss. We will tabulate the returns, placing those topics that gain the most interest at the top of the list for Ed's presentation.

Some of the topics are more about philosophy, design thinking and approach. Others focus more on assembly, design details and getting the job done quickly and efficiently.

Click here to download Ed's list of 101 topics

Afternoon program:

Page Evaluation Session: participants will submit PDF files from their papers ahead of the workshop for on-the-spot evaluations on August 14:

• Page 1.
• Sports front.
• Feature front.
• And inside page of their choosing.

About the presenter:

Ed Henninger has been an independent newspaper consultant since 1989 and is the Director of Henninger Consulting in Rock Hill, SC. He is universally recognized as the world’s leading design consultant for community newspapers.

Workshop Information:

Location:
Better Business Bureau Events Center
220 South River Ridge Circle
Burnsville, MN 55337

Registration fee: $75 (early bird registration by July 28) --
fee includes lunch

Henninger: Outlaw funky fonts

Some call them “decorative.” Or “illustrative.” Or “expressive.”I call them funky fonts.

These are typefaces like Snowcap. Or University Roman. Or Comic Sans. Or Mistral. Or Barbatrick. Or Typewriter. Or Toolbox. Or Giddyup. Or Critters. Or Curlz. Or Nueva. Or… Or… Or…

They’re all funky fonts—and none of them deserves a place in your newspaper.

Funky fonts are: Cheap. Cliché. Dated. Silly. They’re also difficult to read. But the real problem with funky fonts is that they tend to draw too much attention to themselves, becoming a dominant part of the design of a page.

If you want to use funky fonts, save them for those advertisers who find them appealing. But let’s not use them in our page designs.

Funky fonts may have a place in other publications—like church bulletins or high school yearbook—but I can’t think of a designer for a high-class magazine (Elle, GQ, Vogue and NatGeo come to mind) who would debase a design with a funky font.

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Congrats to NNA Newspaper Contest Winners!

COLUMBIA, MO—Judging results have been processed and winners of the National Newspaper Association 2015 Better Newspaper Editorial Contest and Better Newspaper Advertising Contest have been posted online at www.nnaweb.org.

Winners will be recognized at the award breakfast to be held Saturday, Oct. 3, during NNA’s 129th Annual Convention & Trade Show at the St. Charles Convention Center in St. Charles, MO. Visit NNA’s events webpage to register online for the convention or to purchase breakfast tickets: www.nnaweb.org/convention.

Congrats to the following winning Minnesota Newspapers:

• Eden Valley-Watkins Voice, Eden Valley
• Frazee-Vergas Forum, Frazee
• Hutchinson Leader, Hutchinson
• Litchfield Independent Review, Litchfield
• The Northern Light Region, Baudette
• The Paynesville Press, Paynesville
• Pine Journal, Cloquet
• The Times – Blooming Prairie, Blooming Prairie

MNA Public Notice Site - House Ads Now Available!

In 2014, MNA successfully launched its online clearinghouse of Minnesota public notices. Many MNA-member newspapers are up and running on the site, posting public notices weekly - or more often - on the 

Our goal is to have 100% participation by MNA member newspapers and we're getting closer every day. Please sign up today, or give us a call to learn more about the site.

Click here for more info and to view/download ads!

Register Now for July Webinars! 

Check out the upcoming webinars from Online Media Campus!

Are you spending too much time looking through your digital photos trying to find the best ones, only to settle on whatever’s “good enough” after a few minutes? With today’s digital cameras, we should be taking LOTS and LOTS of photographs of every event. Taking them is easy… it’s what to do next that can be a killer. With Adobe’s Bridge and Photoshop, you already have one of the most powerful photo-processing duos on the planet. Learn how to use them together properly to slice your photo production time dramatically, improve quality and leave your photos in a format that is flexible for changing later.