In many media markets around the world, editors believe infographics do not belong on the front page.  (You know who you are).  Period.  No discussion.  Like, it’s against the law, or worse, that it trivializes important subjects.  Yet, increasingly, people are recognizing that visual forms convey information quickly and powerfully, and can at times achieve the goals for the front better than words and photographs.  Assuming you know how and when to use infographics.

Recent research documents this trend and offers several rationales, including:

•    Advances in technology
•    Competition from other media
•    Launch of USA Today in the mid-1980s
•    Advent of professionalism of the field of journalism
•    Participation of newspaper staff in the “broader cultural drift from Victorian style to modernism”

To me, it seems the most convincing argument is that newspapers are finally waking up to modernization, and readers are benefiting.

Increased use of infographics

This is not the first time The Independent has chosen to let a news graphic dominate page one.  In July this year, it used flags to show the vast difference in number between countries that backed an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and countries that did not (here via bloggers Jason Kottke and Paul Hammond).  

Whatever your opinion is of The Independent’s choices, that’s one thing.  What I find interesting is that while this newspaper is almost unique in allowing graphics to dominate the front page, it has license to do it because the media environment nowadays is more welcoming of visual forms.

In the United States, only a small fraction (2.4%) of newspapers use a dominant news graphic on the front page on a regular basis, as The Independent is doing, according to 2002 research by Sandra H. Utt and Steve Pasternack, published in Newspaper Research Journal under the title "Front page design: Some trends continue."

Still, according to the study, nearly half (47.2%) of US newspapers use an average of one infographic on the page one per day, with 44.6% having increased the number in the five years prior to the study.  And nearly half (46.9%) of US newspapers tend to use photographs and visuals to determine the look of the front page, with slightly less (46.3%) using news to determine it.

It is also worth noting another statistic: nearly two-thirds (62.3%) of US newspapers have been redesigned within the five years prior to the study, and 68.5% have their own design stylebook. 

(Utt and Pasternack’s study is the latest in a series of four completed every 10 years; here, 130 US newspapers responded.)

The job of the front page

The use of infographics on the front page makes perfect sense.  The issue is about the sophisticated relationship between journalism (relevant information) and design, and what a newspaper believes it owes its readers.

Researchers Kevin G. Barnhurst and John C. Nerone write in a summary of their 1991 study titled Design Trends, 1885-1985: “The goal of newspaper redesign, according to Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post, is to provide ‘readability, clarity, organization, order’ – qualities closely associated with “modern” style.” 

The infographic is an important tool of this new, modern newspaper, and shares its goals and qualities.  So, it comes as no surprise that Barnhurst and Nerone’s research also documents a rise in the usage of illustrations from 5.7% in 1895 to 21.5% in 1985.  They state: “In line with the “modern” style, the prominence of illustrations on the front page of newspapers increased, while their relationship to the verbal content of the front page grew more complex.” 

Barnhurst and Nerone attribute the evolution in newspaper design to the slow adoption of the values of modern culture by industry participants, stating:  “During the century, the newspapers in the study shifted from the complexity of the Victorian era to the simplicity of modernism.  The front pages became more orderly.  They abandoned the dense, random appearance of the nineteenth century in favor of a more spacious, more patterned appearance.  The modern front pages seek to map reality for their readers.”

The role of the front page, according to Barnhurst and Nerone, evolved “ … as primarily visual, a shop window that gave a glimpse of the world (and encouraged sales).”

At the conclusion of their study, Barnhurst and Nerone wonder whether we await a postmodern front page.  They state: “The visual (as well as the textual) presentation of news demanded order, hierarchy, and usability.  Now that a stylistic vocabulary has colonized newsroom discussions, it seems likely that future changes will follow the stylistic trends of the culture.”

(Barnhurst and Nerone’s study analyzed the front pages of three US newspapers at 10-year intervals, attempting to assess the period from the first press photograph to USA Today’s immediate impact.)

Looking at the results of later studies, Barnhurst and Nerone’s prediction seems to have a ring of truth to it.  Even after the 1980s, design has continued to evolve with cultural and societal changes.

Utt and Pasternack write: “While the 1980s seemed preoccupied with the splash of color, the spread of modular design and the arrival of large, dominant photos, in the 1990s, the focus changed to integrating words and art. Another trend became simplicity of design and ease of navigation, particularly with the arrival of the online newspaper in the mid-to-late 1990s.”

Front page criteria

So, if it’s okay to put an infographic on the front page, when should you do it?  For me, the key criterion is the same as with everything you want to put on page one: look closely at the content and answer the question: How much do my readers care about this?

And also, does a graphic work?  As designer Douglas E. Jessner of The Detroit News wrote on the popular online forum Visual Editors last year: “… graphics, photos, stories and non-narrative elements are all created equal.  Just as you don't use a screwdriver to hammer nails, you don't use a story when a graphic will work better.  Choose the items that produce maximum impact for your front, then jump the rest inside.”

(Jessner’s comments are part of a full discussion among designers on Visual Editors, chain titled “Where do graphics belong?”)

This could mean:

1.    Using infographics occasionally for really big stories
2.    Using infographics on a regular basis, whenever it works

Here are some examples:

    • In the two markets I have observed on a somewhat regular basis – Hong Kong and Malaysia – infographics on the front page are common, such as maps locating plane crashes, earthquakes, fires, typhoons and landslides; depending on the story, they are often reworkings of wire service production. In nearly every case, a small graphic is integrated into a larger story package.

    • The 2004 US presidential election results depicted in maps and charts (highlighted by Charles Apple in his analysis of front pages for the American Press Institute).

    • The crash of the Space Shuttle Columbia depicted in maps and diagrams (highlighted by Anne Van Wagener, Design Editor/Adjunct Faculty for The Poynter Institute)

    • The scope of the Asian tsunami, depicted on maps with death tolls and diagrams explaining how it happened (posted by Visual Editor’s Robb Montgomery on Newsdesigner.com and available on Newseum)

•    The US war in Iraq - first strike – depicted in maps (available on Newseum)

As for the future? 

Clearly, the industry is in flux. As Utt and Pasternack write: “The future of newspaper design is difficult to predict, but a panel of experts generally agreed on some basics: the Internet will play a major role in influencing news design; the use of graphics to tell a story will continue to grow; the emphasis will be on delivery of information rather than on looking ‘cool.’”

The good news is that the trends seems to be moving quickly towards designing for content and the readers’ desires and needs.


Sources: The Independent, Newspaper Research Journal, Visual Editors, Barnhurst/Nerone, American Press Institute, The Poynter Institute, Newsdesigner.com, Newseum