The bitter taste of shame over layout des...I'm just kidding

When I was in high school, my physics teacher lost about ten years of his life because he couldn't explain vectors to me. He'd state it as succinctly as he could; I'd just stare blankly and fail another quiz. Eventually, he gave into my repeated assertions that I was unteachable when it came to this particular topic, and we parted firm friends. Okay, friendly.

I've had a similar experience with newspaper layout over the years. In college, I studied print and journalism law; my experience with design and graphics was strictly limited to trips to the bar after we were done with newspaper production at the college rag, The Northern Star, where I'd hear the design crew gripe about things like "gutters," "pixels," "jumping stories" and other such issues. I managed to dodge the whole skill even when I took my first (and to date, only) job advising a student newspaper. The secret, it turns out, is to hire kids who know more than you do, so you can pretend you knew it all along.

Of course, this ruse only works so far, and over the past couple of years, I've been asked questions I couldn't answer; been presented with layout scenarios I wasn't sure how to address. I've never needed to be told my gut should not be trusted when it comes to reporting; I'm relieved that after today, I've taken a step, however small, towards absorbing a pretty extensive set of guidelines, so that I don't have to trust my gut when it comes to designing our pages either.

When Tracy Collins (pictured below) came to the Reynolds Institute today to talk to us about design, and warned us he'd be critiquing our pages, I literally could not sit still. Not because I was nervous or ashamed; far from it. I will combat anyone who challenges me on a point of writing with which I disagree, but when it comes to design, I have zero ego to bruise. For all of me, he could have spent the last half hour going through my paper page by page, tearing it apart and explaining exactly why it's a handbook for what not to do. Fine by me. Today was the first lesson in design I've ever had in my life; there will be many more to come, and the more expeditious, the better.

Collins explains the concept of "bad and good design"

So, Mr. Collins, if you're reading this, rip away. You'll be doing me and my students a favor.

Just don't ask me about vectors.

Gregg Long
Lake Park High School
Roselle, IL