A topic of much discussion and debate lately in our newsroom, letters page and online comments is the way our Page A1 design has changed in recent months. Some readers dislike us using front page real estate with big stories, pictures and graphics about the new Spider-man movie, or the brouhaha over Curt Schilling’s bloody sock. Others like the approach and believe they make the paper more appealing.

Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes:

In newspaper jargon, those stories are known as “centerpieces.” They range from stories about Schilling's bloody sock to last Thursday’s article on proposed changes to Maine’s income tax laws, or today's story about the launch of the cruise ship season in Portland. What they all have in common are broad appeal and strong photos or graphics.

We put them on the front page, and on all the other section-front covers like Local & State and Sports, along with big pictures and graphics, because we want pages that are aesthetically pleasing and grab readers’ attention. This is especially important on Page A1 because newspaper circulation is dropping. More people are getting their news from the Web, and fewer people are buying the newspaper at Wal-Mart or your local convenience store. So, we try to design front pages that will appeal to those so-called “impulse buyers” and hopefully convince them to pick up a copy of the paper.

That’s also the logic behind what we call the “promos” – those big pictures that tease to stories inside the paper that run at the top of the front page. Today's promos are the Shoestring Theater from Sunday's Old Port Festival, and the logo of a local-access Web network.

Another point: Eye-catching visuals make stories more interesting to read. On May 23, we ran a Page A1 story about a proposal in the Legislature to broaden the sales tax to include things like haircuts and dog grooming. That’s a sexy story, one that should get a lot of attention. In the old days, it probably would’ve run on the front page with a headline like “Lawmakers debate changes in sales tax.” Instead the story ran under a graphic that included pictures of all the things that could be taxed under the new law, with the headline “Tax relief may cost Mainers.”

That story and graphic created a huge buzz – it got more than 120 comments from readers online and prompted dozens of letters to the editor from angry readers. The politicians proposing the taxes were less than thrilled to be the object of so much attention, however, and at least one lawmaker complained about us using a “cute dog” to help illustrate the story.

What are tomorrow's A1 centerpiece? We don't know yet. We're looking at three choices: The state budget, the return of a Navy squadron to BNAS or an effort by Saco residents to preserve an old stone bridge. The final choice will depend on the art and how well the story turns out.

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