Capture the essence of the story with
graphics and typography The Society of Publication Designers
Society for News Design
garciamedia
22 Great design agencies
Keep in mind the sites above are design sites maintained by professional designers.
Headlines are for news. Titles can add meaning and style to a news feature or feature. Combining type and photos can brighten a layout in the publication. But beware. News photographers believe their photos should stand alone. Use these elements judiciously. But use them.
When planning a feature layout, the designer and photographer and writer should work together to capture the essence of the package.
• Topic of your article:
• Tone of the article:
• Emphasis of the article:
Do you want to select type with a personality? Arty, masculine, feminine, zany, somber, scary — you get the idea. But don't use more than one arty font and use it sparingly.
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Play with words: puns, alliteration, rhyme, allusion to literature, allusion to history or geography, etc, but keep the tone of the article in mind. Now, suppose after all this planning you still have not filled the package. Not a problem.
Consider these options.
• Pulled quote• Planned space — White space — or negative space — should not be trapped in the interior of the package. It will explode. Use the space to compress the elements into one cohesive unit.
• Initial cap(s) — A large (at least three times larger than the body type) on the first letter of the article. These serve as points of entry on the page as well as "spacers."
• A spacer is exactly what it sounds like, a device to "take up space." That may be a little simplistic, but that's the way it often works. However, if that's all it does, it may not work and the reader will know it is simply "taking up space." It must tie in with the other techniques you choose to use.
• Famed news designer Dr. Mario Garcia advocates an old friend — subheads — as navigational tools in long features or news stories. He writes: " Behold the subhead, that most minuscule of all navigational tools in the designer’s box, but, alas, how effective to allow for 'finger reading' as today’s fast paced and impatient readers decide to move around the content of a story at their pace, sort of 'I already know the first part of the story, so let me jump to this next segment, which appears interesting.'" And he suggests they should be flush left within the copy; perhaps a color added will make them even more useful.
Consistent design style, "the look" Depending on the typographic design style of your publication, you may be limited in fonts you use. This consistency comes from selection of only two or three fonts to usethroughout the publication in your body copy, headlines, subheads, pulled quotes, lead-ins, etc. This establishes the consistent design.
A feature package should be a WOW amid the consistency of the basic design.
Just because you have a gazillion fonts on your computer doesn't mean you should use them. Look for the type's readability, personality and eye-appeal.
Where do you find ideas?
Look at your favorite magazines and web sites for design ideas and clever use of type and graphics; "adapt" them for your use. That doesn't mean "rip off" them.
Be careful your publication doesn't look like a type book, and try to space the feature packages apart. Several WOWs in a row will turn off the reader. Do you agree?
• The best places for these feature or news feature packages Good on page 1, the double truck and the back page. If you have sections, such as Entertainment , Sports or Opinion, you may use on the section front. If you have more than two pages in a section, use a right hand page to introduce the section. No need to have big, bold space-wasters at the top of the page.
• Designer Ron Reason has this to say about design for smaller newspapers: "A trend that I like to think is good, one that I have attempted in my own small newspaper redesigns, is to simplify dramatically the numbers of fonts, styles and colors used in the small newspaper, and to increase the size of headlines and photos. This might seem an overly simplistic explanation, and the specific formats must be appropriate for each market, but this approach can be the building blocks of a good redesign, and often will result in a more clean and inviting layout."
• Be selective. You may have 20 photos of the big game, but one well-chosen large photo that tells the story would be better. A loss may mean a photo of crying fans, a victory may call for a jubilant player holding up a No. 1 sign.
• Ditto for the big dance, the school carnival or other campus events. If you want to use more than one, vary the sizes and one should be at least twice the size of the others. Group them together in a way that they tie together.
• Browse beautiful feature packages at the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors web site.
• SND Society for News Design is a great organization to help student designers.
Examples of combo titles.
- Font — A set of characters. In the world of metal type, this means an alphabet, with all its characters, in a size.
- Family — A related set of typefaces.
- Flush left — Setting lines of text so that any extra space is on the right, and the text is against the left margin. Also called ragged right.
- Flush right — Setting lines of text so that any extra space is on the left, and the text is against the right margin.
- Initial Cap — A large initial capital in a paragraph that extends through several lines.
- Leading — Originally a horizontal strip of soft metal used for vertical spacing between lines of type. Now, the vertical distance from the baseline of one line to the baseline of the next.
- Personality of type -- the feeling imparted by a typeface, layout, or page of type.