Print Layout Readings – Palmisano Press

The lead story is about the Pope in America. This story is both the largest and has the biggest picture. Although the picture that is the largest does not aways have to be connected to the lead story, but in this case it is. A local ER piece and another national piece about Obama compose the rest of the front page.
The lead art is that of the Pope touching a young girl’s face. There is not any other art to compare it to, and it relates to the lead story (once again, doesn’t always have to be true.)
In this case, the lead art and story are related.
The Pope’s story has a simple, basic font because of both it’s length and it’s massive related picture already catching the eye of the reader. There isn’t a need for a more bold font, like for the story next to it. The ER piece uses a bold font so it won’t be entirely consumed by how much room the lead story takes up. Local news about ERs is also potentially very important, so of course it’s more bold and on the front page.
Having a touching lead photo and news both local and national is a good mix of newsworthiness. A reader is more likely to pick up my paper if I can cover as much as possible in one go on the front page.

It took me a while to decide which is the main story, but the Calls of Inspiration takes the cake. It isn’t first on the page, but the font is bold, bigger than anything else, and takes up the most space. The Mecca story is just as important but doesn’t directly relate to many of the typical readers, so while it is first it’s not quite as flashy. Then follows some local and national news (which happen to be the same in this case due to location), and finally a preview of what’s inside.
The lead art also happens to be about the Pope. It’s not the only piece of art, but it is the largest and catches the eye first. Mecca’s story and the preview also have art, one to drive the point home while the other is to entice people to read more.
Once again, in this case they are.
The Pope’s first headline is somewhat of an umbrella to introduce the stories about his visit and address to congress. This sets the tone that there is more than one effect his trip is having. It shows how excessively newsworthy he is. The Chinese president is also coming, so his story is in bold with many different subheads to help the reader quickly understand what’s coming up soon any why he is here. Mecca is also in bold because it is an important, tragic event.
I can categorize the order of importance in my front page by using titles to indicate which story is most relevant to the majority of readers right now.