On this last day of 2006, some papers led with images of Saddam's execution – raising the issue yet again about the timeliness and pertinence of newspapers that report events two days after they occur. But most front pages were dominated by year-end wrap-ups.

The San Francisco Chronicle had the most elegant year-end cover, but it begs the question whether this kind of design drives readership. The most inventive front page came from The Orange County Register.

Most papers struggled to balance their year-end packages with ongoing coverage of Ford's death. It's tough to split a baby down the middle, but that's just what the Register did with an unusual division of front-page real estate.

This is a difficult treatment to pull off. Here's how the Register used contrast to make it happen: contrast in typography (big head on the left, little head on the right), contrast in photo size (little on left, big on right) and contrast in number of photos (lots on the left, just one on the right.)

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution tried a similar split in their coverage of Ford's and James Brown's Funeral, but it wasn't quite as effective. Speaking of the "Hardest-Working Man in Show Business," The Augusta Chronicle had the best headline yet for James Brown: "Hardest work is done."

Room for improvement: The toughest part of design is knowing when you're done. The Register should have quit when it was ahead – those tchotchkas at the bottom of the page detract from an otherwise thoughtful handling of several complex elements. Yet another mugshot at the bottom, this page did not need.



• Agree, disagree or have a nomination for the next BFD? Send it

• Some recent BFDs appear below. See all