Newsdesigner.com | Missouri Retro

Missouri Retro

1:57 AM, November 10, 2004

My post on those retro eagles prompted this interesting over-the-transom submission from Mark Vasto, the publisher of the 11-week-old, 1,000-circ weekly Parkville (Mo.) Luminary. He writes:

The retro vibe is our normal style. Parkville is an old frontier town, and the town�s original newspaper was called The Industrial Luminary. The town�s founding father, Col. Park was the publisher, and he lost his press after he was ransacked by a pro-slavery mob, who took the press and threw it in the Missouri River (and tried to murder him). He said the Luminary would not be suppressed, and that it would return someday. That was in 1855. So I re-started about 11 weeks ago.

The readers absolutely love it�I can�t grow fast enough for them. My writers are local journalists who are just legendary in the town�they�re both in their seventies and they write in that old fashioned �city beat� style�one still uses his typewriter.

Fascinating stuff! And I dig the logo:

Here's a (3.4MB) PDF of the page if you want an even closer look. And best of luck, Mark!

Comments

Heads up: After you hit "post" things may be slow and you may get an error. Most likely, your comment did post. Apologies. I'm looking for a fix.

That's great! And Mark, if you want to try some different engraved looks for your mugs, try a plug-in for Photoshop called Andromeda Series Screens. There's another one called India Ink from FlamingPear.com. Looks good

Posted by: Troy at November 12, 2004 8:12 PM

I love that retro style! Does anyone know how the Wall Street Journal does their mug engraving style? It's more involved than just using the aforementioned plugins. I remember reading about it in a graphics magazine in the early 90s, but I haven't seen anything since. Thanks!

Posted by: Sean Tevis at November 13, 2004 5:05 PM

Thanks for the kind comments, my fellow newsprint designers. I'm the art director for Platte County, MO's The Parkville Luminary (albeit long distance via New York - welcome to the new age of "distance design").

Sean, I believe that The Wall Street Journal employs illustrators to create their distinct "pointillism" portraits by hand.

And Troy, we're actually using Andromeda's Cutline and Screens filters for the portraits you see now. It's an excellent piece of software. Do you recommend I use Flaming Pear's India Ink instead?

Posted by: Tom Sunshine at November 14, 2004 1:37 PM

Tom, India Ink gives better results for cross-hatching style etching and it's cheap. I believe they have a demo. Something to try :)

There used to be a good plug-in called Inklination but it's discontinued.

Even with plug-ins, I still make make a convincing etching though :(

Posted by: Troy at November 18, 2004 3:36 PM

Oh man, I'm going to have to figure out a way to get a copy of this paper. This is amazingly well-done retro, and I love what you guys have done with this.

Posted by: Ernie Smith at November 29, 2004 8:40 AM

Hi, I'm trying to locate Mark Vasto and the Parkville Luminary. He's so new, he doesn't seem to be listed anywhere, and I'd like to place an ad.... If you know how to get hold of him, please give him my email address: kcsparow@kc.rr.com.

Thanks,
Kathleen Cruden

Posted by: Kathleen Cruden at February 8, 2005 2:58 PM

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