In November 2015, I began working for Digital First Media (DFM) in the Oakland Press building in Pontiac, MI as a paginator. I was hired in as part of the New York team, which is dedicated to designing and creating DFM papers in New York. While I mainly assist with building New York newspapers, I also occasionally design Michigan daily papers as well. These include: The Oakland Press, The Macomb Daily, The Daily Tribune and The Morning Sun. In fact, I started out mainly paginating The Morning Sun before I began working on New York editions.
Michigan content functions differently than New York content. Whereas New York content tends to be mostly pre-prepared and very rigid in what editors desire in design, Michigan content is not always pre-packaged and requires more creativity and effort on the part of the paginator. For instance, skyboxes and rails are linked to the page for New York, whereas the paginator designs them for Michigan. These pages, thus, gave me more freedom to showcase my design skills and to work with editors right here in Michigan. This includes attending Oakland Press meetings, where I interacted with editors, presented daily wire budgets and chose the front-page template for the day.
To visit DFM websites for Michigan dailies, go to:
Jessica McLean 