Working closely with the sports editor and given creative freedom from the executive editor, I was able to create one of my favorite pages to date. "Dadgummit, Bowden retires". Using file photos I was able to design a truly impactful front page. From the focal point of Bowden’s face, to the headline, to the quote, to Bowden through-the-years photos at the bottom of the page; each element worked in concert with each other. In the end, the page accomplished several things: provided a sense of place, a bit of humor, a sense of how important he was to the city, and a sense of his longevity with the university.
This special publication was dedicated to Bobby Bowden’s decades of service as the Seminoles head football coach. This collage was pulled together with a series of file photos. My goal was to create a poignant cover that provided a different feel than your typical commemorative sports piece. Simple, to-the-point and elegant.
That photo. Those eyes. That headline.
This cover won a First Place Sports Page Design award in the 2010 FSNE (Florida Society of News Editors) annual contest. It also was sold as an editorial poster as an additional revenue stream.
The Sunday prior to his final game as head coach of the Seminoles the Tallahassee Democrat provided extensive, in-depth coverage of the coaching legend. This page and illustration was the readers introduction to all we provided. This page was also sold separately as an "editorial poster".
There was plenty of time to plan for how I was going to approach this design. I described to the photographer what type of photo I had wanted as I was not going to be able to attend the photo shoot. What I received was not exactly how I described it. He was headed in to his final game. I wanted something with more intensity and both of his championship rings. What I received, while technically great, was more subdued than I had hoped and lacking a ring. (Bobby forgot)
The tone of the page had changed. The photo was still tack sharp and toned and edited by a true professional. It was a relatively easy adjustment. A simple “Thanks Bobby” was all that was need with this photograph. We decided to go black and white to remove any competition for the headline.
