Can Newspapers Be Saved?
Like most newspapers, the San Francisco Chronicle has been in financial trouble for quite some time. To offset shrinking ad revenue, it cut costs by negotiating with its employees. To lure back a few advertisers and retain readers, it redesigned the paper and Web site and tweaked the content. Yesterday the Chronicle made another significant change, switching from flexographic to offset printing. Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega calls the results, which he says will banish the wrinkled pages and muddy photos that plagued the Chronicle for years, a "high-definition newspaper".

While you can't gauge the definition in the photos below, you can certainly see that the redesigned paper is image-heavy:

Steve Proctor, the newspaper's managing editor, says that the redesign and the new presses both allow for "stronger editing done on photography and imagery overall. There are so many options for designers to make products more legible and convey a scene or a story. There are so many more tools available than ever before. So you have a huge toolbox to get those stories across and inform the readers."

What do you think? Are more images the answer to keeping papers alive? Will newer presses equal happier readers and advertisers? Do newspapers even have to exist on paper, or is a Web presence sufficient? To share your opinions, and to see more examples of the new Chronicle (including a video of its heavily automated printing), go to "San Francisco Chronicle: Is It Enough?"

Terri Stone - Editor in Chief

12 Tips for Creative Pros on Facebook
Facebook offers a slew of communication tools that can help your work reach a wider audience. To make the most of this opportunity without alienating that potential audience or putting your copyrighted creations at risk, follow Dave Awl's expert advice.

Did you know that Facebook's Insights tool reveals how many people viewed a Page over a specific seven-day period?

Create an Image Sandwich in Photoshop
Chad Neuman explains how to weave a photo behind and in front of text using Photoshop. It's a great technique for brochures, newsletters, magazines, and anywhere you want to grab attention with something a little out of the ordinary.

It's surprisingly easy to combine text and an image like this:

TypeTalk: Creative Indents
Some layouts call for traditional ways to separate paragraphs. Other times, Ilene Strizver says, you can add a little visual interest with something more unusual.

Related Reading: Do you indent the first line of a first paragraph?

Scanning Around With Gene: Ye Olde Country Corn
The line between country charm and country corn is difficult to define. But Gene Gable knows it when he sees it, and it usually involves gingham. And boy, does crossing that line make him ornery!

Gingham alert! Gingham alert! This poem is from a 1960s issue of Ideals magazine, which longed for "simpler" days of old:

Related Reading: Here's an entirely different re-interpretation of history.

QuarkXPress Tips: Graphically Speaking
Good design does not live by text alone. To master QuarkXPress, add Jay Nelson's image-oriented tricks to your workflow. You'll quickly master controlling Photoshop layers in Quark, adding curves to a box, and anchoring a picture box that hangs outside a text box, yet follows along when the text flow changes.

Related Reading: CreativePro has a wealth of QuarkXPress info.

Jones Soda Contest for Lomographic Photographers

Watermark iPhone Photos

New SEO WordPress Plug-in

Webinar: Translate Print Skills to the Web

This Week's Podcast: Hard drives, software, and tips for working better in Acrobat and Illustrator

CreativePro.com Poll: Are you a cat person? Dog person? Hamster person? Fish person?

First the office chair that tweeted farts, now this.

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