I'm Mark Friesen, a news designer at The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon. I've been in daily newspapers for nearly 20 years. I've also worked for the Columbia Missourian, the Gazette-Times in Corvallis, Ore., and The Ledger in Lakeland, Fla. I've done time as a reporter, copy editor, designer and design editor.

I went to the University of Missouri in the mid-'80s, as did these two:



I did not hang out with either of them. Although I did have Brad's hair for a while.

I also went to South Salem High School, as did (13 years later) this guy:



I did not have his hair.

I sometimes take photos, which you can find here. And, perhaps to confirm your suspicion that I have no idea what I'm talking about, a portfolio of some of my recent work is here.

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Khoi Vinh
Subtraction


"This is gold."
Jonathan Crowe
mcwetboy.com

"An interesting blog."
Jean François Porchez
Chez Porchez

"It's a great site, loaded with interesting topics and smart observations. Bookmark it."
Jim Coudal
Coudal Partners

"Amazing."
Jeff Jarvis
Buzzmachine.com

"Our favorite newspaper designer."
Choire Sicha
guest editor, Wonkette

"Heck, I never even knew that news was designed!"
Alan Levine
cogdogblog

"This new site by a newspaper designer is fan-fucking-tastic, as he breaks down how different papers handle the news. Reminds me of what Brill's Content used to do, critique the media, and I was wondering if anyone would ever fill some of their vacuum."
Matt Haughey
a.wholelottanothing.com

"Newsdesigner er skemmtilegt blogg um fréttatengda hönnun með áherslu á dagblöð."
Icelandic National Team

This site was coded with rudimentary HTML, PHP, CSS and BEER. The 3-column CSS layout was adapted from one found at Position Is Everything. BBEdit helped wrangle the alphabet soup, and Adobe Photoshop rearranged the pixels. Most everything is powered by Movable Type, and Dreamhost keeps all the ones and zeroes safely on their spinning platters.

The typography: David Berlow's Cheltenham FB and Giza, Matthew Carter's Verdana and Georgia, and a touch of Franklin Gothic and Utopia.

This site is best viewed with a stiff drink in hand and in any browser that is not Internet Explorer.