Graphic designers creating magic in journalism

The Fresno State Collegian has been around for over 100 years. It has gone through many changes, especially recently, with the decline of physical newspapers. Despite this, The Collegian pivoted to a news magazine called The Paw Print, which is heavy on graphics and visuals.

While the stories themselves often get the discussions with friends and coworkers, it’s the graphics that draw readers in.

The Collegian’s graphic design team is run by head graphic designer Katelyn Coffman and assistant graphic designer Catrina Johnson.

The Paw Print takes around a month to make. Stories have to be assigned to reporters and each section must have a story count. 

The graphic designers work as much as they can multiple weeks prior to production day, but most of the visuals get done a week or two before.

“Basically, it’s sacrificing like 50-80% of your time like 2 weeks before it comes out,” Coffman said. “All your attention needs to be focused on stuff.” 

Any individual graphic can take anywhere from a few minutes in Photoshop to a week across different editing software. 

Most of the designs are thought of by the duo after reading the stories and talking with editors about some rough ideas.

“I’m just very impressed with what our graphics people are able to do,” said Donald Munro, The Collegian’s faculty adviser. “I could never do it. I could never think of these visual designs.”

Despite the high praise and creative work, historically, production nights have been a nightmare for the designers. 

Multiple late nights that last until 1 to 3 a.m. can drain anyone. But the graphics team has to power through the rough night and lay out the pages of the Paw Print digitally and make sure everything aligns with the editorial board’s vision.

Although things have started to change. The Collegian implemented a staggered page system, allowing Coffman and Johnson to finish portions of the print days ahead of schedule. This leaves the final production night with a reduced workload and the ability to use brainpower on creativity opposed to staying up late.

“It’s allowed for us to be more collaborative, and it’s a lot easier on both of us as well because we’re not worried about like the doc crashing or like who’s doing what,” Coffman said.
Check out the Paw Print to see the work put in by the graphic designers.