Confessions of a Newspaper Graphic Designer Pt 3: When to give in

Sometimes, you've got to say "good enough", and move on.

Actually, you'll be saying that a lot - especially with the current economic state - given the nature of the newspaper design industry. You'll be heavily pressed for time, and resources are limited. Odds are, you are going with one of the lower-budget stock art resources (either free, or relatively cheap), which means, typically, lower quality of options (or fewer options in general). If you haven't read my previous posts on the subject, you can forget spending time hiring photographers or designing your own vector artwork; that's for the major design firms, not you. You've got a time crunch, and I'll try and keep this exposition brief so you can get back to it.

The most important factor is always time; you can't spend more than an hour, typically, designing one ad from start to finish, and if you can, then you aren't getting enough advertisers to support your product and staff. There are 2 important things to do in order to help speed up the process overall, assuming you have design experience; frequently look at ad designs of major studios for layout ideas (outside of work - you aren't getting paid for that stuff, son/hon), and go with your gut and use the first idea that comes to mind. That's even assuming you are afforded the luxury of layout conception, of course; the customer or sales rep may have something else in mind, which may or may not speed up the process.

Another thing to do is actually typically a big no-no in the major design world. You wouldn't (and shouldn't) do this for your art, but in this world, you've been shorted quite a bit. It's easy to play the starving artist and create your own stuff (assuming, you know, that you actually have talent), but here you have bosses, sales reps, and customers breathing down your neck wanting it now.

I'm referring to designing your ad around a piece of stock material or whatever is supplied by the client. Not ideal, I know, but if you can get inspired by a cool stock photo, then go for it. Some of my best works in the newspaper industry have come about this way, and more importantly, have worked very well for the client. You aren't working in the newspaper industry for artistic integrity (or integrity in general), so suck it up and get it done, son (or hon).

Hopefully this gives you a little more insight into the world of newspaper graphic design. Keep your head up; it's high stress, low pay, and you'll always feel like you're selling your soul. Still, there are those times where you really feel like you are supporting the dissemination of information, and it's a resume builder, if you are of that sort.