To Kearn or not to Kearn: Keep it on Track

Yesterday, Tracy Collins, Director of Phoenix Design Studio, came and talked to us about newspaper design and typography. Since I am a wanna-be graphic designer, I was very excited to get some tips on how to make type look better.

First he talked about newspaper set up. He discussed how papers are set up well and how some designers and newspapers really get it all wrong! He showed how the paper that he works for, The Arizona Republic, sets up its homepage and other national papers.

The layout of The Arizona Republic.

He also looked at the newspapers that the fellows sent in before we arrived and showed the good, the bad and the ugly. He described how some of us got it right with our publications, how some can improve on bad aspects and how others need to completely change it up.

That was a benefit, because as the teacher, a lot of time we are the last stop and we do not get any professional feedback. It  allowed me to see what other teachers and newspapers are doing right and take some pointers.

I have taken some continuing education at the local college on typography, Illustrator and Indesign, so I knew some of the information about kerning.

Tracy shows a slide giving all the terminology of type.

There are some things that I found interesting, like the different amounts of spacing in all of the different fonts out there.

He also gave us some handouts that I know I will have my students use for resources, especially the 10 commandments of type.

Divona Phillips
Irving High School
Irving, Texas