My formal journalism training happened in my junior high newspaper club. Within its lo-fi confines, we learned graphic design by pasting up our hand-drawn, hand-cut page layouts with metal rulers and rubber cement. We interviewed the janitor and winning wrestling team, focusing on the five Ws. Most memorably, we took a field trip to the city newspaper, where I was completely mesmerized by the web printing presses, giant rolls of paper, and the immense power of it all, mechanically and metaphorically.
The newspaper industry has certainly seen major changes in the two decades since I toured that printing plant, but the magic of the newspaper format continues to inspire.
Enter a new kind of Newspaper Club. The Creative Kind.
Founded on a whim three years ago by the British Design firm, Really Interesting Group, The Newspaper Club allows anyone to create and produce their own newspaper, and it has gained quite a following in the past few years.
