mario garcia

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Center of visual impactOne of the most frequent problems with newspaper front pages is

the lack of a center of visual impact, or CVI.

It does not take an art director to know that one photograph or

illustration needs to be three times bigger than any other on the

page to provide that much needed visual entrance. A CVI is essen-

tial and is the simplest formula to guarantee a sense of proportion,

balance and design success.

The CVI can appear anywhere on the page. However, in the case

of the front page, it should be as high as possible, especially for pages

that are folded while displayed in newsstands, store shelves, or on

the kitchen table.

In a perfect world the lead photo would be related to the lead

article. When this is not possible, the CVI can refer readers to a

significant article inside the newspaper.

As more newspapers move to narrower page sizes, more pages are

appearing without a distinctive CVI. But no matter how small a

page—even in the case of A4 formats—designers must commit to

one dominant image.

pure design

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CVIs: El Tiempo excels at usinglarge images as a center of visualimpact. In this case, it’s a silhouet-ted photo.