In Campus Journalism: Newspaper Design

NEWSPAPER DESIGN

Makeup and Layout

Makeup – arrangement of the display elements on a printed page, including headlines, body texts, illustrations, photos, white spaces and column lines. It also refers to the page design of a newspaper while layout refers to that of a magazine or an advertisement.

Three functions of a newspaper makeup:

1. To provide attractive appearance to the individual pages and a pleasing harmony or contrast in the continuity of pages.
2. To show the relative importance of news and feature materials through their positioning in the pages.
3. To facilitate reading through the avoidance of monotony or disharmony in the appearance of newspaper pages.

Qualities of a good make-up:

A good design of a magazine.

• Contrast - A black headline next to the column of gray body type creates a pleasing contrast. Two or three subheads or quotations from the story can brighten a wide expanse of gray body text. A picture can also provide contrast in a page.
• Balance - This is achieved by arranging heavy or dark elements to offset one another. For example, a three column picture on the upper left can be balanced by a three--decked, three--column head on the right.
• Symmetry - Each space should have a focus of attention - a headline, a picture, or a combination of both to ensure that the readers’ eyes fall first on that spot.
• Unity - The page should be attractive as a whole, with all its parts fitting harmoniously together.

Makeup Patterns:

Forms of designs for the paper:

• Balance Makeup - A balanced page suggests orderliness, precision of thought and unity. Like elements (same types and sizes) are placed opposite each other with some intervening white spaces or pictures in between.
• Brace Makeup - The display elements make a pattern slanting downward from left to right across the page, like the brace of a shelf. This kind of design usually has large display of one very important story.
• Modular Makeup - The front page is divided into four segments or modules with each one having its own focus of attention. If the page of a newspaper is divided into a number of modules like a checkerboard, it is called the grid system. This is usually used in a magazine layout.

NAMEPLATE OR LOGO

The nameplate or logo of a newspaper is printed across the top of the front page. This is used as an element of display design.

General practices followed in printing the nameplate:

• The nameplate is smaller in width than the width of the newspaper page and remains the same in size and appearance.
• Placement of a story at the level above the nameplate means that the story is an important one.
• One or more headlines should fill the top of the columns beneath the nameplate, thus providing a solid base on which the nameplate may rest.

BREAKERS TO MAKE THE PAGE ATTRACTIVE

Boxed Story

A boxed story is usually a very important story or one with human interest. The box is also used to break up an expanse of gray body type or to provide a divider between two regular headlines. A boxed story should not be placed beside or adjacent a picture because its effectiveness will be weakened.

Subhead

A subhead is a single line of the same type as the body set in bold or italics that gives a gist of a part of the story that follows. It should contain a noun and a verb. Its purpose is to break a series of gray lines.

Direct Quote

A direct quote from the source of the story.

PRINCIPLES IN NEWSPAPER DESIGN

In order to make the newspaper layout attractive here are some principles to follow:

• Layout and blacker headlines and pictures should be displayed at the top of the page. Headlines below should be lighter and smaller.
• Harmony should prevail in the selection of types for headlines.
• Avoid “tombstoming” of headlines. Two headlines of the same types should not be placed side by side.
• The headline in one column should not be at the same level as any part of a headline in an adjacent column.
• Wide or unbroken space of gray body text should have subhead or quotation breakers.