A presentation I gave at Norfolk Collegiate High School in Norfolk, VA, to students interested in editorial design. It was 2011.

1. being a
newspaper
designer
luis vilches the virginian-pilot norfolk va 2011

2. what’s
what I do?

3. layout, design,
visual journalism?

4. I present
a message

5. I help the reader
understand a story

6. I do visual editing

7. what are
the goals?

8. capture the
attention of the
reader and make
him or her want to
read it

10. be honest
with the story

12. invite the reader
to interact
with the story

14. what I like
about
what I do

15. coming out with
solutions to difficult
assignments

18. coming out with
simple solutions to
complex concepts

20. getting to design
the front page on
important news
days

22. working on
projects that look
impossible

25. make cool looking
pages out of
stories without
much visual
possibilities

29. working with
other people
and their ideas

31. having fun

33. what I don’t
like about
what I do

34. struggling
it’s part of the job

35. the pressure to
come out with
something clever
all the time
sometimes you
have to let it go

36. working with
stories that are not
very exciting
although you can
always have fun

38. late changes
some of the best
pages come out of
them

40. being attached to
ideas that don’t
work

41. what
helps me

42. inspiration from
art

47. inspiration from
public signs

49. inspiration from
money

51. emotions
trying to feel what
the subject of the
story feels

54. conversations
bouncing ideas
around

56. size
i’d rather go big
than small

58. rhythm and
movement

61. trying
and failing

62. some
tips

63. think about who is
going to read it

64. think about what
you would like to
see and visualize
how you would like
it to look

65. find the way to
have fun with it
if you are not
interested it, how
are you going to
make a reader
interested in it?

66. be open to
good ideas,
and bad ones
sometimes the
best one comes
out of a bad one

67. look for impact,
you only have a few
seconds

68. simplify, less is
more, losing
something might
help gain in impact

69. be humble, you
work for the reader,
sometimes the
reader can be cruel

70. be flexible
don’t forget about
your goals

71. try, try, and try
again

72. if you want
to be a news
designer

73. be prepared
to adapt to new
ways

74. learn as much as
you can

75. persevere
this job will always
exist in one form or
another

76. you are unique,
and you produce a
unique creative
product, use it to
help you stand out

77. fin