Perhaps one of the most exciting newspapers in Alabama in terms of news design, the Decatur Daily serves a vibrant, visually well-balanced paper daily for the 55,778 residents of Decatur, Ala.

What makes the Decatur Daily unique among some of the state's other newspapers is its various headline fonts, use of pull quotes and info boxes and and a dramatic, headline-heavy sidebar which stacks national stories of interest for all to see.

The Decatur Daily's news design is topped by a modern style flag using a sans serif font, followed by a bold top headline which captures a reader's attention.  The effective use of the burnt orange color for section headings, the newspaper's slogan and pull boxes helps unify the entire page in its news design.

Brennen Smith's dramatic school house photo is well placed in the center along with a feature story about Decatur High School's failure to gain traction against education improvement standards and the stigma it feels as a result.  The pull quote and photo of Principal Mike Ward makes the overall news design package attention-getting and boasts immediate importance to readers.

Like I previously mentioned when reviewing the Anniston Star, the Daily also implements a nice sidebar in their news design, especially featuring the names of those memorialized in their obituaries section.  (In Texas, I've never seen this practice; perhaps it is more commonplace than I realized.)

Bold, exciting, easy to read and navigate and with an excellent use of photographs and burnt orange color wrangling the package together, I give the Decatur Daily a stellar rating for their news design. 

Decatur must be proud.