Tommy Paulus: After being rejected as copy editor, I found my place as design editor

Oh to be a copy editor, something I never knew the sweet, sweet taste of. 

Throughout my stint on The Harbinger, I applied to be copy editor a total of four times. At that point you could’ve called it desperation — it most certainly was. 

I don’t know why I didn’t get the message after every staff list release that being a copy editor was not in my future. I don’t think my writing skills are that poor, but maybe I have a personal bias. Now that I think about it, my fellow staffers still offer AP style tips that I should definitely know by now when editing my stories — but that’s beside the point.

My second semester senior year, after a call with the benevolent Rose and Catherine, I was christened Design Editor, along with the co-inhibitor of this page, Elizabeth Mikkelson. Honestly, what a huge wave of relief. I thought for so long that I wanted to fix peoples spelling errors, but I’ve realized I can leave that to grammarly.com.

As a co-Design Editor, I was able to let my creativity shine in my work. Elizabeth and I would conduct design brainstorms every Wednesday without a deadline, filled with headline attempts and sidebar ideas like “C(R)ASHING OUT” or “A Smashing Time.” We have brainstorms for everything — print, online, photo — yet nothing for the visual appeal of design. In these gatherings, Elizabeth and I along with all the designers, voice our opinions on everyone’s ideas — which produced some killer pages. 

I always thought the quote “If at at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” was cliché and stupid. And it is. But after so many times not getting the position I thought I wanted, I finally got the position I needed. As much as I love writing and interviewing people, my heart belongs to Adobe programs, not Google Docs. InDesign allows me to throw all of my ideas on a document and see what is most appealing.  

I still got to have that one-on-one help with many of our amazing staffers, much like copy editors do. Instead of fixing structure and grammar, I would help give pointers and ideas for “spicing a page up” — a hot bed phrase heard throughout the journalism room. Being able to bounce ideas off of each other and coming up with creative ideas always surprises me with the sheer creative power of our staff.