The Patriot Ledger named front page of the day (01/31/12)

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By Joe Greco

The Patriot Ledger centerpiece today shows a fine example of how a simple grid can create a tidy centerpiece. But first, let's find out about the story.

A local theater in Quincy, Mass., that's on state and federal historical registries has a new owner. The landmark 86-year-old theater has a heap of history, built for vaudeville acts and, later, second-run movies.

That info came from the nicely done ASF written by staffer Jack Encarnacao. The three salient pieces of text out front all have consistent labeling — The history, The closing, The sale. Displaying those labels on the same horizontal plane helps reinforce the three-column grid for this package. The healthy amount of white space, er, tan space helps conceal the wider text box used for the middle item.

WIth such a strong grid in place — here defined horizontally with the labels and vertically with the text — there's no need to edit each text block to the same length.

The detail shot of the marquee (no credit, unfortunately) is an ideal backdrop for the headline. Certainly not unique — I'm sure we've all seen this treatment before — but it's really well done here because of the perspective. The close-up shot of the exterior allows readers to see in great detail the Wollaston neon sign. Using a wider shot of the exterior — which you can see here — would not have worked for a package like this out front.
Another nice detail about the marquee? The lines act as a visible grid for the headline.
The bottom of the package includes a promotion to Encarnacao's full story.

Swell page.

Joe Greco is corporate design director for GateHouse Media.
Contact him at jgreco@gatehousemedia.com.

Missed front page of the day? Find the archive here.

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