Newspaper Designs on a Historic Day.

It's amazing how you can just be going about your day, worrying about your Textile and Apparel Exam the next morning, dealing with some sort of drama in the back of your mind, and suddenly... something happens to make you stop everything... and all of the trivial crap of your everyday life doesn't matter for a second. Or even a few hours after that.

Sometimes it's hard for me to be a proud American and love the country I'm living in, not for any political reason, but literally because I love Europe, and especially Britain, so much and I know I'll end up living there someday. However, last night I was a proud patriot. I was proud that I was born and am living in the USA. Anyway, I'll tell you about the enormous celebration that happened on my college campus at the end of this post, but before that, here are Newseum's Top 10 Front Pages for today. I'm usually not too big on newspaper design (compared to magazine design), but when historic events happen, nothing is more chilling, powerful, or has a greater impact than a bold headline. This is what Sharon Shahid of Newseum had to say of todays front pages, and I completely agree:

"On a scale of one to 100, the death of the world's most elusive and wanted terrorist warrants the biggest font size a front page can muster. The headlines in today's Top Ten cut right to the chase, using the entire cover and a single word to tell the stunning story. Two exceptions: The Daily News in New York and Philadelphia. What's left to say?

Here is how I personally rank Newseum's Top 10... I'm not going to lie though. I mostly based this top ten on the size and use of the biggest, most powerful headline and how they designed around it. Because in these situations I think it is the most important thing.

#1

The orange font has a lot of impact for me. Against Osama Bin Laden's face, the color is alerting and eye-catching. Then the reverse colors of white on black exudes urgency, then the font and boldness lightens up as the eye moves downward. Very clever. 

#2

A big bold "DEAD" for the world to see, clean-cut and clear. However, I do wish the words would somehow lay with the photo; they seem very disconnected.

#3

A magazine-style layout which works fairly well! However, I wish the background was lighter than it is now to create more contrast with the black text and colors of Osama's face. But the text and photo connection is great. Nothing fights attention from the headline.

#4

I wish "KILLED" was bigger and wider than every other thing on that page. It's competing in size a bit with "U-T" for Union-Tribune.

#5

I like the idea of of having almost NOTHING on the front page except this historic breaking news. Just the photo and a one or two word headline. 

#6

"DEAD" emblazoned across the cover under a terrorists face speaks its message perfectly. 

#7

 A different approach to the bold headline... an interesting phrase being used instead of the obvious one or two words. Though I really do love how they wrote what every American is thinking, the red box is a little too distracting to fully enjoy this front page.

#8

Of course, headline isn't big enough for me, but the rest of the layout is very visually interesting and captivating. My eye travels to each part of the page. The horizontal photo, then the vertical coverage with 9/11 photos, Obama, and celebration pictures. The white on color is interesting.. I think I like it.

#9

Another phrase America loves hearing, but the spacing is pretty sporadic and uneven for my taste throughout this front page.

#10

How eerie that he is smiling in the photo... a little creepy. I think this front page represents a different perspective to this whole situation. Yes, he has died, but now America does feel justice has been made. The paper is primarily white, like an ever-present anxiety has been cleansed inside of us, and the light font of the headline and subhead almost represents the burden that has been taken off of our hearts after 10 heavy years. Nothing is settled or done with, that is for certain, but it is undeniable how it feels to know he is gone after what happened on September 11th.

I'm sorry this post got all political! I know this is not why you all come to Eloise, but it's very hard not to post about this historic moment... however, it is nice how design can relate to everything (i.e. newspaper front pages). 

This is the scene, not two blocks from where I live, that broke out hours after the news came out (if not earlier):

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Yes, I was there. And it was an amazing scene. Needless to say, the police force gave up after about 40 minutes... people came out dressed as Uncle Sam, American flags were everywhere, people dressed like Barack Obama were crowd-surfing, and chants of "USA! USA!" could be heard miles away.

Cheers to love, peace and justice. x

-Raquel