Story Design

The design and layout of a story is yet another piece included in making the story attractive to the reader. By now we have learned all about the lead. It is the first part of the story. It gives a preview and determines whether the content of the story is interesting enough to the reader. There is also the headline. It needs to tell about the story and why it is important without giving away too much information. We also learned how to fit the headline with the rest of the story. But there is a lot more to it than just fitting the headline in with the article. Another design that must be taken into consideration when designing the story is how to format the text. It can be formatted either vertically or horizontally. If there is art included in the story, such as a mug shot or photo(s), then their placement in addition to the placement of the text and headline can either make or break the readers attraction to the story. I really enjoyed learning about the different techniques involved in formatting stories in order to make them the best looking. The journalism field certainly requires talent in a wide variety of areas, not just writing.

The editing mistake I found for this week is from an article that appeared in the Deseret News. The paragraph goes as follows: The intentional burn was lit by a duck club in order to rid the wetland area of phragmites. Phragmites are an invasive plant the grow so densely, they can choke out native cattails, reeds and grasses, according to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. “…an invasive plant the grow so densely…” doesn’t work.