Text type suggestions

January 26, 2017

Ed Henninger, design

ED HENNINGER is an independent newspaper consultant and the director of Henninger Consulting.

Website: www.henningerconsulting.com
Phone: (803) 327-3322

WANT A FREE evaluation of your newspaper’s design?
Just contact Ed: edh@henningerconsulting.com | (803) 327-3322

IF THIS COLUMN has been helpful, you might be interested in Ed’s books: “Henninger on Design” and “101 Henninger Helpful Hints.” With the help of Ed’s books, you’ll immediately have a better idea how to design for your readers. Find out more about “Henninger on Design” and “101 Henninger Helpful Hints” by visiting Ed’s website: www.henningerconsulting.com

henninger_typephoto — At exactly the same size and spacing, New Century Schoolbook appears much smaller than Nimrod.

A reader emailed to mention that I’d recently written a column listing New Century Schoolbook (among others) as a typeface to toss, but that I hadn’t suggested a text face that might be better.

Good point. So, this column will focus on text typefaces I can recommend. It’s not a long list, and you might have a text face you like that’s not on my list. If so, send me a quick note and I can share some thoughts with you about your preference.

Here are my suggestions:

NIMROD. It’s just a bit more condensed than many other text types, but Nimrod has superior x-height and a stroke weight that borders on perfection. It’s the one typeface to which I compare all others. When I hear others ooh and ahh about a new text typeface, I immediately get access to that face, then do a test comparing it with Nimrod. And every time … every time … Nimrod still comes out larger and easier to read. The illustration with this column that compares Nimrod with New Century Schoolbook is a typical example. After 27-plus years as a newspaper consultant, I still recommend Nimrod first.

UTOPIA. Designed in 1989, Utopia has excellent stroke weight for use on newsprint. It’s easy to read and — like many superior text types — calls little attention to itself.

GEORGIA. I heard recently that another consultant said, “You should never use a typeface named after a place.” I’ll disagree here. A good thing about Georgia is that you probably already own it. It’s a good text face and I’ve used it in several redesigns.

CHELTENHAM. Originally designed more than 120 years ago, Cheltenham is highly readable, with excellent stroke weight. It’s a bit small, but used at the correct size, this is a face that will be a comfortable upgrade for your readers.

CENTURY OLD STYLE. It’s more condensed than Century Schoolbook and has a more newsy feel to it. Good balance in stroke weight in many of its characters and a larger x-height than some other text fonts.

BENTON MODERN. I really prefer this for display, but Benton Modern has one clear advantage over many other text faces: four different weights. Though they’re almost unnoticeable, those weight variations can work to your advantage. Which weight is best? You won’t know until you test them all on your press.

MILLER TEXT. Very traditional looking, Miller Text is just a bit too wide for my taste, but its classic proportions make it a delight to read.

One text face that will never make my list is Times. It’s too tiny and its stroke weight isn’t as uniform as the fonts mentioned above. Though many newspapers still use Times for text, I’m doing my best to make them rethink that!

I suspect that there are other text faces that might be just as good — even better — than some I’ve listed. What are you using … and should I add that typeface to the list?

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Newspapers’ status: Somewhere between ‘booming’ and ‘dead’

January 26, 2017

Kevin Slimp, technology

Kevin Slimp is director of the Institute of Newspaper Technology.

Email questions to him at
kevin@kevinslimp.com

The transition from 2016 to 2017 seemed to prompt a bit more email from folks who read my columns. I’m not sure if it was the upcoming solar eclipse predicted by some people to mark the end of the world, the death of Superman in “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice” late in the year or, more likely, response to the U.S. presidential election. Whatever the cause, readers had a lot to say and most wanted me to join them in saying it.

The most common request was to write something about fake news.

“You should write something we can include in our newspapers,” one publisher wrote.

“Please, please let people know that newspapers are real,” another wrote.

One ad manager said: “You’ve got to do this. We have to let readers and advertisers know we provide
needed resources to our communities.”

I thought about it. I found interviews of a couple of folks who made fortunes creating fake news sites in 2016.

I even went so far as looking into the possibility of creating my own fake news site, just to get firsthand knowledge for a story.

What I learned was it’s really not very hard to make a few thousand dollars with one of these sites. It’s
trickier, now that Facebook and Google are threatening to tighten up on providing advertising for them, but it is still possible.

I finally decided it just wasn’t worth the effort. Everyone should know by now that there are fake news sites out there, and anyone who doesn’t probably isn’t going to believe anything I might write about the subject anyway.

What’s been more interesting to me lately is all the news about big newspapers ramping up their staffs.
“Big Newspapers Are Booming: Washington Post To Add 60 Newsroom Jobs” is a current headline on NPR.com.

It’s not limited to the United States. “Why India’s newspaper business is booming” is the headline in a 2016 column in The Economist.

You know what I think? I think that most people don’t understand our business.

I sound like a broken record when I write that most newspapers I visit, and I probably visit more than anyone you know, are doing just fine. I’ve been at papers, like one I visited in Florida recently, looking for five editors to fill staff vacancies while I was on-site. I receive messages daily from editors and publishers looking for writers, editors, salespeople, designers and others for their operations.

Just this week I helped a weekly in Tennessee and a daily in South Carolina fill staff openings.

Like most businesses and most years, we have newspapers doing well and others doing not so well, so I might not be as quick as NPR to write that newspapers are booming.

It pains me to watch some big newspaper groups who aren’t doing well at all. I also know that there are
plenty of small papers out there having rough years. The truth, as I see it, is that most papers are doing well, especially community papers. Some big papers I visit are doing well, but most aren’t.

Election season is always tough on advertising, except political ads. When I owned a newspaper a few years
ago, we would grit our teeth in the months leading up to an election, knowing advertising would increase once a president was selected, no matter who it was.

Even my consulting business feels the pressures of election season. My phone didn’t ring a lot in October and November. I knew not to worry. I’ve been at this too long. In the first week of January, I received
requests on one day from six different newspapers, asking when I could make a visit.

I try not to get on my soapbox too often these days. Call it a New Year’s resolution, if you will, but I’m trying to look past my own initial observations and see what is really happening in our business.

Here’s what I see so far in 2017:

• Just like other years, my email and voicemail are filled with messages from newspapers and groups asking me to make a visit. Apparently our industry hasn’t gone anywhere.

• I’m hearing from newspapers, both small and large, that are updating their operations as they begin this new year.

• Attendance at my online events is very promising. Hundreds of newspaper folks attend online training events each month.

I hope NPR is right. I hope big papers are booming, and I hope that translates to small papers booming. The truth, however, is probably somewhere between “Newspapers are booming” and “Newspapers are dead.”

As I consider the hundreds of newspapers I worked with in 2016 and the thousands of emails I received from readers, it seems like newspapers are doing just fine overall.

There are even some people out there who think that the reaction to fake news that permeated social media in 2016 might bring more readers into our fold. I’ve certainly heard from several friends who have subscribed to their local papers in the past few weeks.

In 12 months, we will know. Until then, take a breath. Everything looks OK from my vantage point.

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Advertising needs motivation

January 26, 2017

John Foust, advertising

John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training.

Email for information: john@johnfoust.com

When you peel back the layers of advertising philosophy and technique, it all comes down to one thing: Motivation. People buy things because they are motivated. And the most effective ads are those that appeal to the right motivation.

There are two basic motivators: (1) desire for gain and (2) fear of loss. Think about your own experience and it’s easy to see that your purchases can be traced to a desire to get (or maintain) something you want or to prevent the loss of something you don’t want to lose.

That goes for big and small buying decisions. Why do you move to a new house? (Real estate experts say the three biggest reasons are location, location and location.) Why do you buy new tires when your old ones wear out? (Fear of an accident.) Why do you go to the movies? (Desire for entertainment.) Why do you wait for something to go on sale before buying? (Desire to save money.) Why do you buy a convertible? Why do you join a gym? Why do you buy an insurance policy?

Smart advertisers find – and stick with – the right motivators to sell their products and services. Take tires, for example. Although every brand of tire is built for safety, Michelin took that universal benefit to a new level – with imagery of smiling babies riding in the protective embrace of their tires. That strategy positioned Michelin as the “safe tire” – a benefit that is tied directly to a major motivator for parents.

You can do the same thing for your advertisers. Simply identify a dominant motivator and package it in the form of a benefit. Then make that benefit crystal clear in the headline and graphic images.

Here are some formulas to write better benefit headlines. Look for the motivational elements.

1. “How to ________ (fill in the blank).” In many cases, whatever you put after the words “how to” will automatically promise a benefit. For example, “How to simplify your vacation plans” … “How to learn a foreign language” … “How to lose five pounds in five days.”

Some words are powerful links to basic motivators. “Protect” and “secure” are strongly connected to fear of loss (“How to protect your home from intruders”). And “save” and “increase” are associated with desire for gain (“How to increase your gas mileage”).

An interesting feature of a “how to” headline is that the words “how to” can be dropped to create a shorter version of the same statement. “How to secure your retirement” can become “Secure your retirement.”

2. “Save ___ on _______.” This headline requires a specific dollar figure or percentage. (“Save 40 percent on new carpet.”)

3. “Quick and easy way to _______.” This is a promise of hassle-free ways to do things. The words “quick and easy” can be used together or alone. (“A quick and easy way to do yard work”… “A quick way to refinish furniture” … “An easy way to find the right camera.”)

4. “Free” offers like … “Buy one sandwich, get one free” or “First month’s rent free.”

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eBulletin Obituaries

January 26, 2017

Aurora Schroeder Emery

Aurora Schroeder Emery, 96, of Hingham, Mass., died Jan. 12.

Emery had been editor of the former Hingham Mirror.

She leaves three children, Nancy, Bruce and Robin; 10 grandchildren, Nina, Nathan, Alex, Shannon, Jason, Ian, Emma, Marisa, Phil and Katy; seven great-grandchildren.

Millie Rose Madrick

Millie Rose Madrick, 67, of Alfred, Maine, died Jan. 7 of ovarian cancer.

She was a photographer for 20 years for the Connecticut Post of Bridgeport. Earlier, Madrick had been a staff photographer for two years for Newsday of Long Island, N.Y., and New York City.

She leaves a sister, Kimber; a brother-in-law, John; two nieces, Jennifer and Stacy; a nephew, John.

George Krimsky

George Krimsky, 75, of Washington, Conn., died Jan. 20 after a yearlong battle with lung cancer.

After three years in the military, Krimsky was hired as a newspaper reporter in Waterbury, Conn. After a 40-year journalism career elsewhere, he returned to his hometown newspaper, the Republican-American of Waterbury, in 2005 as a columnist. He retired in 2012.

Krimsky spent 16 years with The Associated Press, beginning in 1969 in Los Angeles. He covered the arrest of convicted mass murderer Charles Manson in Los Angeles, the Lebanese civil war, and dissenters inside the Soviet Union. He was head of AP’s World Services News Department until 1985, when he left to found the International Center for Journalists in Washington, D.C.

In his later years, Krimsky was an independent media consultant and journalism trainer. He co-authored a book, “Hold the Press: The Inside Story on Newspapers.”

Krimsky leaves his wife, Paula; two children, Alissa and Michael; six grandchildren; a brother; a sister.

Robert H. Bradford

Robert H. Bradford of Cambridge, Mass., died Jan. 9 in his home.

Bradford, born in 1936, the oldest son of the late Massachusetts Gov. Robert F. Bradford, began his writing career at The Boston Globe. After a move to LIFE magazine in New York City as a photojournalist, Bradford became Chicago bureau chief for TIME/LIFE; eventually, Bradford moved to the Chicago Sun-Times and its Sunday magazine.

Beginning in the late 1970s, he was a freelance writer. Bradford had a book published on Keith Magnuson of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Bradford leaves his partner, Harriet Hofheinz; two children, Christopher and Rebecca; two stepchildren; five step-grandchildren; a brother.

Althea (Rathbone) Potter

Althea (Rathbone) Potter, 98, of Topsham, Maine, died Jan. 8 at The Highlands retirement community in Topsham.

Potter was a former reporter for The Hartford (Conn.) Times, and a member of the National League of American Pen Women.

She leaves three sons, David, Duncan and Daniel; three grandchildren, Rachel, Leslie and Nathaniel; a great-granddaughter, Evelyn.

Thomas A. Hebenton

Thomas A. Hebenton, 97, of Tewksbury, Mass., and formerly of Reading, Mass., died Jan. 9 in Lowell (Mass.) General Hospital.

Hebenton was a compositor for the former Boston Herald Traveler from 1939 to 1973, then for the former Boston Herald American for a year, and for The Sun of Lowell from 1974 to 1987.

He leaves a daughter, Sandra; a son, Bruce; two grandchildren, Jodi and Brittani; a great-grandchild, Tyler.

Harold F. Blaisdell

Harold F. Blaisdell, 93, of Portland, Maine, died Jan. 11 in his home.

Blaisdell was a printer for 40 years at the Portland Press Herald. He retired in 1986.

He leaves two sons, Frank and Warren; five grandchildren, Daryl, Alex, Angela, Spencer and Micah; three nieces; many grandnieces and grandnephews and great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews.

Frances Theresa Basiliere, Raymond J. Basiliere

Frances Theresa (Calarco) Basiliere 95, died Jan.13, a day after her husband, Raymond J. Basiliere, 90. They lived and died in Merrimack, N.H.

Frances met Raymond while she was a bookkeeper for The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press.

She also was employed at other local newspapers, including in New Hampshire, as a bookkeeper and later in advertising sales.

Raymond was head of distribution at the Burlington Free Press after serving in the military during World War II.

They leave five children, Paul, Barbara, Jane, Thomas and Robert; 11 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; a sister.

Jeanne L. Zingale

Jeanne L. Zingale, 90, of Rutland, Vt. died Jan. 14 in Mountain View Center Genesis Nursing Home in Rutland.

For 31 years, Zingale was a classified advertising sales employee for the Rutland Herald. She retired in 1990.

She leaves three children, Nancy, Joseph and Laura; two grandsons, Eric and Alex.

Antonina Therese Belsan

Antonina Therese “Nina” Belsan, 78, of Scituate, Mass., died Jan. 13 at Cardigan Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Scituate.

Belsan was a contributing writer to The Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass., and the Scituate Mariner.

She leaves three sons, James, Pete and John; a daughter, Teresa; nine grandchildren, Rachael, Hannah, Julia, Elaina, Lily, Matty, Andrew, Jackson and Seamus; two sisters; two brothers.

Rev. Edward G. St-Godard

The Rev. Edward G. St-Godard, 77, of Pawtucket, R.I., died Jan. 10 in Woonsocket, R.I.

For more than 14 years, Father St-Godard wrote a religious column in The Call of Woonsocket, dating to 2002. His column was eventually published in a four-part series, “Essays from the Pulpit.”

Father St-Godard wrote “Our Lady in Consolation Parish” (1975), “History of Our Lady of Consolation Church” (1975), “St. John’s Parish in Pawtucket” (1979), and “History of Holy Family Parish” (1991).

He leaves a godson, Robert Rovin.

Celia Kenney

Celia Kenney, 90, of Assonet, Mass., died Jan. 4 in Sarah Brayton Nursing Center in Fall River, Mass.

Kenney was a circulator for many years at The Herald News of Fall River.

She leaves a daughter, Kathleen; two brothers, Frank and John; many nieces and nephews.

Jeremiah J. ‘Jerry’ Murphy

Jeremiah J. “Jerry” Murphy, 88, of Holyoke, Mass., died Jan. 12 at Holyoke Medical Center.

Murphy was employed for many years at the company that published what is now The Republican of Springfield and its sister Sunday newspaper.

Murphy leaves three sons, James, John and Jerry; four grandchildren, Joshua, Megan, Michael and Emma; several nieces and nephews.

Edward W. Kowaleski

Edward W. Kowaleski, 85, of Waterford, Conn., died Jan. 13 at Greentree Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Waterford.

Kowaleski, who was retired, had been employed at The Day of New London, Conn.

The obituaries were written, at least in part, from published reports by Bulletin correspondents Ashleane Alabre, Sophie Cannon, Joseph Dussault, Nico Hall, Bailey Knecht, Joshua Leaston, Peyton Luxford, Michael Mattson, Julia Preszler, Eloni Porcher, and Mohammed Razzaque, undergraduate students at Northeastern University.

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Better Newspaper Competition Advertising Awards Celebration

January 20, 2018

Each year NENPA is proud to celebrate and honor truly extraordinary work through the Better Newspaper Competition. This year’s entries were evaluated by the New England Newspaper & Press Association’s distinguished panel of judges. The results of the competition recognize the excellent revenue and audience building activities that are taking place throughout New England.

The New England Better Newspaper Competition is the largest and most comprehensive journalism recognition program in the region — NENPA member newspapers from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont are invited to enter. Work published by daily, weekly and specialty newspapers during the August 1, 2016 to July 31, 2017 contest year were eligible for this competition.

On Friday, February 23, 2018, join us at the NENPA Cocktail Reception followed by the Awards Celebration to honor the Advertising Award finalists and winners!

Friday, Feb 23
5pm Cocktail Reception
6pm Awards Presentation

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Murder in a New England Newsroom 3

January 20, 2018

“Murder Ink 3” will make its debut at the New England Newspaper Convention. “Murder Ink 3” is a collection of pulp fiction by publishers, reporters, editors and novelists. Several of the writers will be on hand to read and sign the book.

Plaidswede Publishing of Concord, N.H., invited writers throughout New England to submit a murder short story that takes place in or around a newsroom or reporter. ”Murder Ink 1” made its debut at the 2016 conference, and “Murder Ink 2” was introduced at the 2017 convention. This is the third and final in this newsroom crime series.

Saturday, Feb 24 • 3:45pm

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Better Newspaper Competition Journalism Awards Banquet

January 15, 2018

Each year NENPA is proud to celebrate and honor truly extraordinary work through the Better Newspaper Competition. This year’s entries were evaluated by the New England Newspaper & Press Association’s distinguished panel of judges. The results of the competition recognize the excellent journalism that is taking place throughout New England.

This is the largest and most comprehensive journalism recognition program in the region — NENPA member newspapers from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont are invited to enter. Work published by daily, weekly and specialty newspapers during the August 1, 2016 to July 31, 2017 contest year were eligible for this competition.

Join us to celebrate with the finalists and winners at the Journalism Awards Banquet on Saturday, February 24, 2018!

Saturday, Feb 24
6pm Cocktail Reception
7pm Dinner and Awards Presentation

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CNN Newsource

January 16, 2017

Thank you to CNN Newsource for sponsoring the New England Newspaper Convention.

Visit CNN Newsource at their Exhibitor Booth during the Convention.

Since 1987, CNN Newsource has been the most widely distributed news services in the business. In today’s digital world, CNN Newsource Digital offers an affordable, one-stop solution for digital news publishing. From trusted content from CNN’s worldwide newsgathering and more than 1,100 local news and strategic partners to compelling text, video and images from a single source, CNN Newsource Digital is the end-to-end solution for all your digital news publishing needs. Visit cnn.com/newsource to learn more.

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