Hi, I just had a few comments and questions about your UP publication(s). It seems to me that it’s lacking in a lot of areas and I am curious as to if these students are really journalism majors or randomly selected students to fulfill a school’s newspaper. æThe overall appearance of the paper is not reader-friendly. However, that could be due to the printer and its use of color separation, print style, etc. æIn addition to the colors, there is much white space throughout the newspaper. Have you ever heard of trapped white space and the dollar bill rule? Why not create illustrations or clip art with the contents page, or make the page labels bigger? It looks rather boring, and even if the thumbnails are in black and white, it would surely add a more in-depth look to the paper.æOne ironic factor I find is that, the copy desk editor did not even realize that there are two spaces between “Desk” and “Chief” on the UP Staff page. This coincides with the errors made in the Editor-in-Chief’s message to the students in the first issue of the year. Major articles should be read over by at least five people, because the mistakes made could be critical to observers and question competency. æThe headlines are not done in correct form. For instance, on page 4 of the October 21st issue, the headlines are supposed to continue to the end of the column, not stop an inch away from it. It’s the same on the opinions page. It would not hurt to make the headlines bigger, either bold or larger font size to get rid of the multiple areas of white space. Additionally, on page 19, the headline about FAU football is incorrect. The first line of a headline is to be longer than the second line, which can be learned in a basic layout and editing course. That is a huge NO-NO among publications. æ”The How Old Are You?” article is interesting, but, why are they in strollers? The graphic on page 12 looks like the man is in a wheelchair, yet he is standing on the front of the newspaper. The photos were also not candid, which presents a problem when that is the standard format of most newspapers. Posed shots are typically looked down upon. The double-truck spread is okay, but why so much white space in the headline? The last ‘o’ of classroom is even running into the ‘m’ and the last word of the headline is spaced out because?æWhat might be a better strategy for your newspaper is if you make the actual text of the stories larger. It looks strange to see large headlines and small type underneath them. Longer headlines need to take up the space it’s allotted. Do not stop before the column reaches the end: either make it larger or longer. Experiment with fonts; the newspaper will look much better if it follows basic modular design.æThe paper has potential, but a few quirks need to be worked out.

Danna Morris, MBA