Like orchestra conductors, designers bring newspaper elements together to capture readers' hearts and minds

A newspaper designer is like an orchestra conductor. The conductor’s job is to make sure that all instruments are tuned and in sync.

The rhythm emitted by the synchronization of the instruments creates harmony. Similarly, our task as designers and visual journalists is to organize content to achieve visual harmony.

Harmony is design’s central goal, but it can only be achieved when all the instruments are present.

Those include stories, illustrations, photographs, captions, headlines, subheads, hairlines and various other elements that frame each individual page. Once we have these fundamental elements, we orchestrate them to tell a story.

A conductor assures that all instruments produce their respective sounds. Once they do, music is created, and simultaneously, so is beauty. As designers, we aim for beauty as well.

But what is beauty? What is a good design? In the design world, beauty defies the common meaning of the word “beautiful.” In this world, design can be dense, bare, exciting, serious and even disturbing.

In the end, beauty is when a designer has served the reader by successfully expressing the tone, feel, concept and emotions of a story and the author’s intent. For something to be beautiful, it is not necessarily embellished, or overly dramatic ““ that’s vanity. Beauty is simple and functional.

Simplicity is reflected in the Daily Bruin’s redesign. We have eliminated unnecessary lines and replaced squared edges with round ones. We have attempted to integrate the print version of the Daily Bruin with online content by designing topbars that facilitate access to radio, video and other multimedia. We have also updated our color palette so that it is more professional and clean.

We are aiming for our design to be creative and varied. The nation’s top newspapers and magazines have inspired us. We are willing to take risks. We are encouraging other sections to collaborate with us because teamwork is the key to reaching design harmony.

Like an orchestra, a newspaper’s purpose is to capture an audience, to stir emotion, to teach, to inform and to ultimately create excitement. As visual journalists, we are an integral part of that process.

Metta is the 2011-2012 Design director. Email Metta at [email protected].