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Madness Madness
UPDATED with a pair of more-than-worthy additions at the end. You've never seen a cavalcade like this. All the contest finalists are in. Announcements will roll out this weekend. But now, the world's greatest roundup of NCAA Tournament preview pages.
Sick, SICK section from the Chicago Tribune with a MAD Magazine Theme. The fold-in answer is here. Writes Steve Cavendish:
The idea was Mike Kellams and then the execution took off in a bunch of different directions. The cover was freelanced out (I can't remember who to credit). Mike and I came up with the back page/fold piece and then Rick Tuma really nailed it. The inside pieces were from the demented mind of Phil Geib -- I count at least four different ways players could die in his Sergio Aragones-ish drawings. He also did the predictions panel on page 2.
I haven't had that much fun working on something in quite a while. One of the great secrets is that no matter how childish and inane some of the stuff Mad Magazine does appears to be, there's some pretty brilliant illustration and writing behind it. As we were talking it through, it was pretty apparent that we were all fans of it at some point (Phil might still have a subscription).
PDF: Download ChiTribMadness.pdf
Wraparound section front by the Buffalo News. Vince Chiaramonte writes:
It's an ambitious project to say the least. Assistant Sports Editor Dennis Danheiser tossed out the idea of illustrating a big dance and that's all it took to sell everyone. I immediately started coming up with some ideas for players and storylines and turned it over to Dan Zakroczemski. It was the perfect opportunity to combine the men and women's fields into one cover, something I'm pretty sure I haven't seen before. We had a lot of fun and the scenarios were endless.
We have a key on the inside to identify each person and an interactive presentation at: www.buffalonews.com/ncaa.
PDF: Download Buffalo2008MarchMadnesscover.pdf
The New York Times (Wayne Kamidoi, Lee Yarosh and Josh Penrod) went with a periodic table.
PDF: Download NYTMadnessPages.pdf
Jon Wile elaborates on the Washington Post's preview:
The cover was based on airports because we have teams coming to DC and lots of teams leaving. The Steinberg page is our blogger giving advice on how to pick a bracket with a plethora of online refers below it The capsule page is one of four. Analysis at the top with all sorts of info on each team below.
It was a collective tag team effort between myself, Manifold and Rukan.
PDF: Download WaPostNCAA2008.pdf
A few of five-plus preview pages from the Detroit Free Press. Rick Nease cover illustration. (Design by Ryan Ford, Kevin Bull and David Darby.)
Star-Tribune's Selection Sunday front (Chris Carr — when not makin' ya jump jump — design) and Omaha's tournament/subregional preview (Tim Parks design and Kent Sievers photo). That's all one image. The only Photoshop work was adding fire to the top of the O.J. Mayo photo.
Omaha preview doubletruck (content and design by Ben Vankat).
Last one from Omaha. Cover of Thursday's entertainment tab, directing fans of each team to bars and hotels where other fans of the same teams will gather. I threw this together in a panic after realizing at noon on Wednesday that nobody was assigned to design this cover for a 4 p.m. page-send deadline.
Selection Sunday and Monday fronts from the paper of record for Van Buren Avenue, The Arizona Republic.
Selection Sunday and subregional pages from the Denver Post (J. Damon Cain, Kristin Fogler and Aleta Labak).
Final Four host city San Antonio awoke to this Selection section (Josh Trudell with help from resident bracketologist Stephen Fontenot) and at right is the Wisconsin State Journal's preview front.
Dallas Morning News (Jason Dugger) and the Boston Globe (Brian Gross).
The Indiana Daily Student (Mark Koenig) and East Valley Tribune preview fronts.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Washington Times.
Tulsa World and The Oregonian.
Creative work across the board.
TWO MORE!!!
The Orlando Sentinel (Adam Shiver) and the Kansas City Star(.) (Noah Musser and Lynn Nguyen).
Posted by Josh Crutchmer
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| March 20, 2008 | Permalink
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Comments
Best. Cavalcade. Ever.
Props to my boy Joey Kirk for our Monday cover, he had to change gears on the fly when the ASU men got stiffed.
Posted by: Luke | Mar 20, 2008 8:32:50 PM
I'm really impressed with how good ALL of these designs are getting. I'm not sure there is an event all year that generates more creativity across the board.
Posted by: Rich | Mar 20, 2008 11:48:40 PM
It might have been done on the fly, but I dig that Go cover.
Posted by: Nicole Bogdas | Mar 21, 2008 12:48:50 AM
Oops. Now I sound like I don't think the rest of the work was good, which, of course, it was. Good luck to all the sports sections (especially those with regionals to cover!).
Posted by: Nicole Bogdas | Mar 21, 2008 12:53:55 AM
All I can say is WOW!
Posted by: Joe Engel | Mar 21, 2008 1:48:40 PM
Wow is right! I think as a sports design collective we really brought it this year. Well thought out, cool ideas by lots of papers.
Posted by: Nick Gayes | Mar 21, 2008 4:14:58 PM
Boy, that latest comment's a down. Good work, everyone.
Posted by: DANIEL HUNT | Mar 22, 2008 7:49:25 PM
Pretty sure I don't see 65 in large type on ANY of these pages.
Posted by: Harrison Goodman | Mar 22, 2008 8:02:46 PM
Another small hint: People already know basketball is played with a round ball which is bounced and then thrown at a metal circle. No need to keep pointing that out to people with display art, either.
Posted by: Horatio Gates | Mar 22, 2008 9:30:35 PM
And another thing. People already know it's the NCAA Tournament. No need to hit them over the head with it.
Posted by: Horatio Gates | Mar 22, 2008 9:35:10 PM
Oh yeah. Everyone knows it's Monday, March 18, 2008. No need to put that in 9-point type right under your masthead, either. What a waste.
Posted by: Horatio Gates | Mar 22, 2008 9:36:08 PM
Also. Pretty sure it's obvious that these selections were made on Selection Sunday. These 16-page sections devoting one page to each letter of that phrase are useless.
Posted by: Horatio Gates | Mar 22, 2008 9:37:41 PM
Just caught this one. I'm betting people in Buffalo already know they live in Buffalo, and that the stuff they get in the paper is news, so here's a tip: The words "Buffalo News?" useless.
Posted by: Horatio Gates | Mar 22, 2008 9:38:38 PM
Annnnnnd, we're not stupid, duh. Who doesn't know that the bracket in Omaha is hot? Setting it on fire is redundant.
Posted by: Horatio Gates | Mar 22, 2008 9:39:58 PM
A bonus pointer: I mean, seriously, does anyone not think that players going to play in basketball games won't get on airplanes? I don't think we need us an illustration pointing that out.
Posted by: Horatio Gates | Mar 22, 2008 9:42:54 PM
Just one other thing. People are well aware that they are looking at letters and pictures. There's no real reason to run an editors note to that effect on every page.
Posted by: Horatio Gates | Mar 22, 2008 9:45:34 PM
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