Flexibility

At The BG News, stories are turned in by 4 p.m., copy editors arrive at 5:30 p.m. and designers arrive at 6 p.m. Once designers arrive, they have until 10 p.m. to get their pages laid out. You might think this is plenty of time, but more than once I have had to pull the plug on a design idea at 8, 9, even 9:30 p.m. (That last one was a bad night. The designer had come up with a clever, optical illusion centerpiece involving a bowling pin. It wouldn’t have worked for two reasons. 1. It didn’t really have much to do with the story. 2. The optical illusion would have failed because both the fold and the gray newspages would have ruined the effect. I told her we couldn’t do that. She didn’t speak to me for the rest of the night. We’re still friends.)

Just like reporters always have to be aware of how their stories could change, designers have to be aware of when their idea just isn't working. Or when something else happens. Sometimes, breaking news happens and the centerpiece or lead news story could change entirely. Working at a newspaper demands a flexibility from everyone — flexibility of hours, schedules and whatever project they're working on. You have to know when your idea is going south so you can scrap it and throw together something at least mediocre to turn in by deadline. Because, you know what? The paper has to be published. No matter what.