The Best in Newspaper Design

San Francisco Chronicle:: Best Front Newspaper Design

Today's BFD goes to the San Francisco Chronicle, which led with the mayor's mea culpa.

This page succeeds in obvious ways and one not-so-obvious way. The lead headline serves as an "umbrella" to organize all the related content. It also conveys the emotion-laden nature of the story and clearly communicates its message. Secondary headlines quickly speak to the salient issues.

Most pictures get their pop from large image size, but this page does something unusual: using small image size to tell the story. The face of the mayor is the tiniest on the page – smaller than any other, even in the promos. He is dwarfed by the media and diminished by his act – which speaks volumes. It's story-telling by cropping.