Redesign Tip #3

Don't settle for the first thing you come up with.

It is the tendency of most, myself included, to settle for the first thing they see that's better then what they had before. And while it is better, your publication deserves a full process which includes a lot trial and error.

Had I settled for the first redesign idea I came up with for Vanguard this year, we would be using Weltron Urban and Impact. Not that it wasn't better then our old Arial/Arial Black style, it just isn't as good as Vanguard is capable of being.

When you begin to do a redesign, make three, four or even five different versions of it. You want options, you want to be able to choose the best one. Or even better, you could take the best features from each and find a way to combine them into one "super style."

Also, just because you were the one assigned or have taken on the task willingly to redesign your paper, doesn't mean that you don't need to take other people's ideas into consideration . As I've said before, others will see things that you won't. They will come up with ideas that you won't. Everyone thinks differently, and while you may have one vision for the publication, the news editor may have another; you just have to be open to it.