My newspaper design for Dec. 3.

This … is the paper that I design. Each Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I want to take you inside the process of how I design the Daily Union.

First, the center package. Junction City, KS is a military town, so having the soldiers front and center was a simple choice.

Junction City always has some sort of crime going on, and people love to read about crime. Which is why I put the former animal shelter director article next to the soldier kids.

The story and the standalone are the above the fold elements.

That means when people go to the racks, this is what they will see.

I always put the two (or three) strongest packages above the fold.

The middle story breaks up the fold and the anchor.

The anchor is the bottom half of the front page.

For the anchor, I decided to flip what I did up top (Even though the bottom picture goes with a story and the top is a standalone, there are some similarities.)

The left rail is something that is put on when I need to add something else. More often than not, it gets taken off.

What are you thoughts? Is there anything that I could have done differently?

Until Thursday,

Cheers.

Coming in 2014: StandMotv8d: Hyperlocal news delivered in seconds

StandMotv8d is a hyperlocal social/news network for 18 to 30 year olds to meet and discuss various topics through an innovative platform.

Who is this for: The young adults of Manhattan, Fort Riley,  Junction City, KS and the surrounding areas. 18 to 30 year olds.

What is this: A forum for young adults to read/talk about local news.

Why are we doing this: There really is no place on the internet where a hyperlocal forum for twentysomethings exists.

Why do they want this: Talking to other young adults about various things is easier. Sure they have friends of the same age, but that is the problem. Talking to someone new and older can make a world of a difference.

Why this area: Between K-state, the high schools, and Fort Riley, there are many young adults.

Where: K-state, Fort Riley, Saint X, Junction City high.

When: ???

What forum: ???

In 2014, I hope to launch a forum catered to young adults. A place where news is delivered by professional journalists in an engaging way. Young people don't read anymore. Why is that? Simple: mobile has become the go-to and newspapers deliver yesterday news.

This is a world where people know what happens seconds after it happens.

Why only young adults? Old people have newspapers. What do young adults have? Twitter, facebook? Yes. However, it's not localized.

If I can sum this up in one sentence: Hyperlocal news delivered in seconds.

(patent/trademark pending)

Working as a newspaper designer is fun work

Working at the Junction City, KS Daily Union as a newspaper designer for the last four months has been a blast.

I have learned many things about designing newspapers, such as: which stories should go on the front page, how many stories can be on one page, and designing a 21st century newspaper is not easy.

I enjoy looking at other newspapers to get inspiration from them while I learn to develop my own style.

In 2014, I will be redesigning the Daily Union from the ground up. This will be my first time doing something like this, and I can't wait.

Also, The Daily Union has some great projects coming up. Some of these ideas are really innovative. No one else is doing them.

Roadmaster - Draft

Bert McErniest’s primary career maybe a roadmaster, but what he does in his spare time might be more important.

 He is an advocate for foster children. “My wife and I sponsor about 30 teens right now,” McErniest said. “We hook up with social services and they give us a foster child to follow.”

He and his wife, Sharon, check on the kids with their caseworkers and attend court dates to make sure things go well for the child. “You would be surprised at all the bickering between the courts, the parents, the foster parents, and the relatives,” he said. “The kid really gets lost in the shuffle with all that stuff.”

This all started when he and his wife adopted three kids. The children mentioned how they felt like chess pieces because they moved around so much. So the McErniests started the program based on that and haven’t stopped since. “It’s hard to say no,” he said.

Helping out 30 teens is hard work and help is always needed. “If you can help, tell people about it, have them contact me.” McErniest said.

If interested, you can contact him at mcerniest@yahoo.com.

2012 LU football final

Coming into this year, the 2012 Lions looked poised to have one of the best offenses in program history.

But fans quickly learned that John Uribe - last year's quarterback - would not return.

Then, after a summer of competition, junior transfer Ben Gomez became the new quarterback and led the team to a 5-1 start. Gomez then got injured and senior Taylor Jasin took over. In his first collegiate start, Jasin threw four interceptions against Emporia State on Oct. 13. Not happy with that performance, head coach Patrick Ross started freshman Dillon Miller. He won three out of his five starts, including a win against the Pittsburg State Gorillas, the Div. II champions.

Despite the quarterback situation, the team went 8-3 and received a bowl invite. The record is the same as last year’s, but they faced much tougher opponents in 2012.

The Lions played the Winona State Warriors in the Mineral Water Bowl located in Excelsior Springs, Mo. on Dec 1.
They lost 41-21, but it was a closer game than the score indicated, because the Lions led twice and were down 24-14 at half.

Gomez played his first game since his ankle injury that occurred on Oct. 6. He completed 13 of 19 pass attempts, had one touchdown and two interceptions. Miller started the game and went 17 of 27 for two touchdowns and an interception.

The game started out well for LU. It took them three plays on the opening drive to score - a Miller throw to senior Andrew Helmick for 83 yards. Winona State answered with a quick drive of their own and tied the game at 7. The Lions second drive resulted in zero points, but the Warriors’ second possession ended with a field goal. It was 10-7 when the first quarter came to an end.

After drives for both teams stalled, the Lions scored their second touchdown. This time it was Gomez who completed a pass to Helmick for 58 yards. It was a 14-10 LU lead, but from there was it all Winona State. It took a 17-14 lead, then extended it to 24-14, then 31-14, and 34-14. That was when the Lions scored their last touchdown of 2012: a Miller pass to freshman wide receiver Jaron Alexander. The Warriors scored again for the final score of 41-21.

The Winona State Warriors finished their season 10-2. The team is from Winona, Minnesota and they play in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

Even though it wasn't the ending the Lions wanted, the team finished 8-4. The three regular season losses were by a total of 23 points. In two of those losses the team had a chance to win it. In the Central Missouri game, Gomez threw an interception when the Lions were down 35-28 with less than a minute left and at homecoming against Washburn, Miller got intercepted with a minute left. They lost 19-16. Jasin started the Emporia State game, threw four interceptions and the Lions lost 13-0.

“I think our kids did an outstanding job this football season,” Ross said. “They showed a lot of resiliency with all the obstacles we had throughout the season.”

The Lions dealt with two players who suffered severe injuries. Junior cornerback Tevin McCaskill injured his neck in the first game of the season against Lincoln and wore a neck brace for most of the year. And everybody knows about Sterling Thomas, the freshman cornerback from Tulsa, Okla.

“I think our players really learned to cherish every second they get out here as a football team,” Ross said. “Thank goodness for our leadership, they really carried us through the tough times.”

One of those leadership players was senior defensive tackle Malach Radigan. “It’s not about the 11 that are starting, it’s about us as a team,” Radigan said.

Radigan became a starter in 2012, recorded 63 tackles with 11 for a loss.

The team is losing 22 players including Denodus O’Bryant and Andrew Helmick. These two players rewrote the LU record books and both will go down as two of LU’s greatest athletes. I don’t have the room to list all the records they broke, but replacing them will not be easy.

In 2013, the Lions will be full members of the NCAA and MIAA. They can go to the playoffs. Miller and Gomez will battle to see who starts at quarterback and a new running back needs to be found. Even with Helmick and Matt Angell gone, most the wide receiver corps will come back. Junior cornerback Pierre Desir will return, but senior cornerback Justin Broome will be gone. Freshman linebacker Connor Harris will not only come back as a starter, but as one of the best defensive players.

The 2013 spring practices will be one of the most important in recent memory.