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The Lake Sun newspaper in Camdenton, Mo., covers all matters of the Lake of the Ozarks, which is a massive man-made lake created with the the construction of the Bagnell Dam more than 80 years ago. The 1,100 miles of shoreline include some 70,000 homes.
So when Ameren, operator of the hydroelectric power plant at the dam, files a new shoreline management plan, people are going to read this front page.
And what a front page it is.
Designer Eric Dundon moved the left rail down and across the bottom to make room for the story by staff writer Rance Burger — and rightfully so. The news Ameren story occupies about one half of the entire front page. The most notable element on the front, and easily the most difficult to produce, is that fantastic timeline that details the long-awaited encroachment plan that began in 2001. Getting the entire timeline on the cover keeps the information together.
The timeline here is well done. It's uncluttered, tightly edited and organized. The unlabeled red line isn't entirely needed because there are no dates presented on the line, but it does help to keep readers on track.
There are only two small details I would change about this package:
1. Because there's so much text on the left side of this package, I would have argued to transpose the main story text and the main photo, which was shot by Dundon. Doing so would create a more visually balanced page.
2. The content promotion below the photo refers people to local reaction from area representatives and includes mugs of two nameless people. Some readers may recognize the two there, but always identify mugs.
The strength of the news warranted the move of the rail and the strength of the content warranted the presentatioin. Really nice page!
Joe Greco is corporate design director for GateHouse Media.
Contact him at jgreco@gatehousemedia.com.
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