cutouts

Whenever I get a call from a designer asking me to come back to sports because they want to show me something, I instantly take a deep breath. I wish I didn't and sometimes there is no reason for it. But I take it. I get that same feeling when I hear the word cutout. I see the value of cutouts and I do think sometimes, there are circumstances, where they work. But I also think that it is a fine, narrow road.

So, sports had asked me if we could do cutouts for the top of the page to illustrate different basketball stories we had. One on Dick Vitale's return and one on Bob Knight resigning.

Deep breath.

We talked about it. We talked about the pictures. We talked about the idea. We talked about the scale.

Deep breath.

A few hours later, I check the pages and see something we hadn't talked about. Vitale's shoulder and Knight's shoulder are totally overlapping and are into each other (not what you see here.)

I am all about trying new things and seeing how things work. I understand when designers are laying pages out, things change. What they might have "envisioned" doesn't turn out right in the reality of the situation. That's understandable. But what is hard for me, is that I feel when we talk about doing cutouts and other things to pictures, I am invoking a trust in designers. To do what we talked about and to still try and maintain the integrity of the picture.

When things change and page layouts turn out differently- I like to talk about and to be included in the discussion. Doesn't have to be a deep, intense discussion. Simple and to the point. Just so we can be sure that all elements of the equation are content with the situation - and all sides are being voiced. I think that is fair and reasonable.

After another conversation with sports, we decided to have shoulders not overlap and the gray line appeared.

And I took another deep breath.