Internship series: The Virginian-Pilot — Week 6

It’s the halfway point of my internship, so I’ve compiled a list of the handy tips and tricks I’ve learned so far

It’s hard to believe that I’ve already completed half of my internship! The time has snuck up on me, and I’m starting to feel a bit sad that I don’t have much time left. I still feel like I just started.

Luckily, I’ve learned many overarching things about working at a daily newspaper so far related to news design:

• Always keep a running list of the stage your pages are at. It’s really easy to get confused with which pages have edited photos, what has been proofed and what’s ready to send to the press.
• Do your research about the paper’s design style and look back at old editions. Sometimes when flipping through old papers, I see a cool idea or design element that I didn’t even know we could use. Then I use it whenever the opportunity arises.
• Read, read and read the articles. Great design is driven by content. It’s impossible to write a good headline, factbox or pick the best pull quote without reading the article. Sometimes the stories are just so bizarre you have to read the entire thing.
• Get up and walk around. It’s easy to just sit at your desk and stare at the screen for eight hours, but walking really helps clear your head and come up with new ideas.
• Don’t try to design all of your pages at once. Sometimes all of the content comes in at the same time and it’s really overwhelming. Just take it one story at a time, otherwise you’ll have a huge jumble of pages and none of them will look as good as they could.
• Don’t always rely on whatever art the reporter attaches to the story. If you have a better file photo in mind, or a cool illustration, go for it. Find the right picture or open up Illustrator and start drawing.
• Don’t be afraid to do a Google search to help you write the perfect pun. It’s worth it.
• Sometimes you’re going to have a page that is all text and the only art is a mugshot. It happens. And it’s okay.
• Finally, the other designers at The Pilot play a lot of Settlers of Catan. I have been converted.

I’m really excited to see what happens in the next six weeks of the internship, what other pages I’ll get to design and what other breaking news will happen. So here’s to the last half of the summer—it’s going to be great!

This is the sixth installment in our internship series, where our contributors recount their news design internship experiences in weekly updates.