New York? Poppy King is scanning a wall of paper. It’s bursting with colors from purple to puce in a huge floor-to-ceiling display, while stripes and plaids and floral patterns compete for attention.

(Color, Contrast & Dimension in News Design, written and researched by Pegie Stark Adam, a Poynter affiliate in the Visual Journalism area, and designed and produced by Anne Conneen, design editor at ...