Double Truck

Ok sorry it sounds like you are a student so time to learn some facts. when doing a two page spread like the one you have posted you need to leave a gutter. Gutter should be at least an 1/8" on to both inside edge of paper. Right now you have left a small one but you ran stuff into it. this is going to create a problem for your readers. The overall layout is ok, nothing is giveing a "WOW" factor it is kind of boreing. if you are going for the classic look I would say take a look at a few of your photos for one. The first photo gives you idea of a differnt way of breaking up your pictures. Your pull quote and time line is going to get lost in the gutter. Also how meny type face are you planning on useing the rule usely is no more then 3 and that is pushing it. Also you might one to try multipule colums in your text they are not hard to set up. I am sorry for putting in all negative comments but, learn from this. If you are not willing to learn something new then you will not go anywhere. let us know if you revamp the look. I personaly would like to see where you go with this.

That pretty much sums it up.

What was your goal?

I'm taking you at your word that this is a d true double truck, meaning that it will run as a solid spread on one side of one sheet of the newspaper. (Guys, be thinking "centerfold" but without the fold.) If that's the case, then the problem of breaking the timeline et al. isn't much of an issue, although if this goes on the usual cheapo newsprint, the fold might obliterate some of the small point sizes and graphic details.

I think that the overall layout is quite nice. I like the big building and how the rest of the spread works with it color-wise. I agree that the big block of text is much too wide for comfortable reading, especially on such a large layout. Use columns and callouts to break it up.

I advise you to use the font you chose for "I remember when" for your deck, callouts etc. rather than that italic. It's too many fonts, too many angles. The yellow teaser at the top is superfluous and junks up an otherwise elegant layout. I would just take it out entirely, or, if you can't, at least stick to a screen of K rather than a build for the color. It's too hard to read as is. Otherwise, I like the way you've managed your text.

You might have trouble with the tight registration on those little gold boxes outlined in black. There's no room for error there, and if this is going on a web press, you're almost guaranteed to be a little off-register. Use a darker color for those boxes and no outline to be safer. Are you setting your black (at 100%) to overprint everything else? You should. There was a brief discussion on this forum not long ago about this issue. Check it out.

This is really nice work for a student. I've seen seasoned professionals do not as well. You should be proud, not only for what you've accomplished on your own, but also for being willing to seek criticism and advice. Good luck with this!

Thank you for the comments so far. I am in fact a student. I am the Editor in Chief for the paper that this was created for. The "Apache Pow Wow" is the student run newspaper for Tyler Junior College.

The comments were very helpful. This was truly a double truck and it in fact turned out better than I expected on newsprint. The main reason for putting this on here was to get some constructive criticism. We come out with a paper by-weekly and I am already working on a design for the second issue. We of course will not always run a double truck. But it has worked its way into the first two designs.

Thanks for the comments. I will use some of what you said as I tackle the second layout. Keep it coming.

Chris

It's a solid layout but appears to be break the single page grid with the large text block crossing the gutter.

Normally when designing a double truck editorial spread you wouldn't abandon the column grids established for the single pages. This helps keep pages consistant and cohesive.