Page layout final

Page Design Page Design FundamentalsFundamentals

Ronnie R. SunggayRonnie R. Sunggay

What is Page Design or Newspaper Makeup?

According to Ceciliano-Jose Cruz, page design is the arrangement of illustrations and types on a page or spreadsheet which is to be reproduced graphically. Makeup is a happy marriage of aesthetics and mechanics.

Makeup maybe defined as the arrangement of the display elements on a printed page, including headlines, body text, illustrations, photos, white spaces and rule or columns lines. Makeup refers to the page design of a newspaper, while layout is that of a magazine or advertisements.

By: Alito Mendoza

Journalism for Filipinos

Newspapers like people have their own personalities. The personality of a newspaper emerges in part through the nature and quality of its makeup.

-Dewitt C. Rederick

Effective Makeup may be planned using two procedures:

1. By headline and text arrangement

2. By way of text and photo combinations

BASIC QUESTIONSBASIC QUESTIONS

• What size of newspaper format am I going to plan? Tabloid size? Newsletter/magazine size?

• For what type of readers am I laying out the newspaper?

Keep in mind your answers to the above Keep in mind your answers to the above questions when you lay out the newspaper.questions when you lay out the newspaper.

NEWSLETTER TYPE

FOR ELEMENTARY

( 3 columns)

Bracket A – 9” x 12”

Bracket B – 8 ½” x 13”

TABLOID TYPE

FOR SECONDARY

( 5 columns)

Bracket A & B

12” x 18”

Front Page Make up by Headline

and Text arrangement

1.Perfect Balance or Symmetrical Makeup

Ex. A large headline placed in the upper first two columns of front page is balanced with a corresponding large headline in the 4th and fifth upper columns. Other headlines are similarly arranged.

A one column-cut at the upper 2nd column is balanced with another one column cut at column 4. This kind of makeup gives static monotonous appearance to the paper. It should not be made from issue to issue.

PerfectBalance or

Symmetrical Makeup

2. Brace or Focus Makeup

Headlines are diagonally arranged from the upper left to the lower right hand corner or vice-versa just like a brace supporting a house. Balance is obtained by various devices such as two column heads, boxes , and cuts which are used to offset the weight concentrated in the upper right of upper left hand corner.

This kind of makeup is desirable when one story is more important than any other because the readers attention is directed to the upper right hand corner or occasionally to the upper left.

Brace or Focus Makeup

3. Broken Column Makeup

The page is broken into several units to give space to many stories. Symmetry is obtained by carefully arranging the contents so as not to cancel each other by their nearness. Large heads and cuts are placed where they give the page a pleasing pattern.

This kind of makeup is developed primarily to be able to print as many short stories on page one as possible.

Broken Column Makeup

4. Contrast and Balance Makeup

This type groups are arranged at varying distances from the center like two boys on a see-saw. It is sometimes called occult or hidden balance because the type groups with its headline may be balanced with a picture, an illustration, or a box., or instead of a type group.

No attempt is made to achieve perfect balance. This is one of the most popular kinds of front page makeup since it permits great variety from issue to issue.

Contrast

and Balance Makeup

5. Streamlined Makeup

The format is similar with that of the contrast and balance makeup. However, the nameplate is usually floated, headlines are flushed up in cap or lower case, and large body types are often used. Many closely cropped pictures are also used. Instead of boxing stories in full, the three quarter boxes are resorted to.

Often bullets, asterisks, and jim dashes are employed to introduce lead stories. This kind of makeup is commonly used by high school papers than by the national dailies.

Streamlined Makeup

Makeup by way of Text and Photo Combination Layout for Front page:

The X Format The Curve Format The L Format The J Format The Umbrella Format

Makeup of Inside Pages:

While it is true that the front page of the newspaper is its show window, attractive makeup should not be confined to this page alone. The inside and back pages should be given the same tender care, treatment and attention by the layout artist.

Inside news pages should be laid out as facing page units rather than as single pages. The principles for contrast and balance used for front page makeup should also be considered.

For Inside News pages

These pages should have a distinctive dignified and formal appearance. The masthead which should be relatively small, may anchored on any corner. Traditionally, the main editorial or editorials appear in the fist two columns. Like headlines of news stories, the titles of editorials should be of masculine appearance, not the italic or script type.

Editorial Pages

These pages must have a feminine appearance. The columns are often wider. Roman and italic types are used for text. Feminine types like the coronet, mandate and liberty families may be used.

Feature / Literary Pages

These pages have bolder but livelier appearance than the others. Their makeup should suggest action, speed and color. Large bold heads are used.

These pages have bolder but livelier appearance than the others. Their makeup should suggest action, speed and color. Large bold heads are used.

Sports Pages

PRINCIPLES OF LAYOUT / PAGE

MAKEUP

Primary optical area

Terminal optical area

ReverseReverse

S S

SweepSweep

Rank your stories. You must know what the stories are about and evaluate their news value. Don't be lazy; read them. Once you have ranked them, generally place them in descending order on the page according to their importance. Story placement is a nonverbal cue that indicates their importance to readers. Don’t sacrifice accuracy in favor of aesthetics.

Principle #Principle #11

ABOVE FOLD

BELOW FOLD


When you design, start with the art and build your page around it. Pages are built around photographs and graphics. Your design options often will become clear once you place photographs and graphics, especially if they go with stories.


Have one dominant element (Center of Visual Impact), usually a photo with a story. You must give the reader a reason to stop and look at the page. Often the dominant element is a story with a photo, but it can have more photos, quotes and graphics to provide the reader with more points of entry onto the page. Your central package must dominate the page so that the reader's eye is drawn to it.


If you only have one photo, play it BIG. Eye-Trac research shows most readers enter a page by looking at photos. If you have only one photo, make it big enough to catch the reader's attention. Photos can be smaller if you have more of them. If you have an open page, the dominant photo generally should be: • At least 3 columns if it is vertical. • At least 4 columns if it is horizontal.


Vary the sizes and shapes of the photos and graphics to add variety and visual appeal to the page. Photos that have similar shapes and sizes are dull, giving the reader little reason to sample them. If they are nearly the same, none stands out. Avoid square photographs. Never ever cut the photos to be submitted to the printing press!

Increasing photo size in layout

Decreasing photo size in layout

Bleed Bleed photo to photo to maximize maximize page page layoutlayout


Use a mixture of vertical and horizontal elements to add variety to the page and to move the reader's eyes around it. Cross the page at least once with type. Don't leave vertical gutters that run all the way down the page and divide it visually. Avoid stacking, or pancaking, stories on top of one other. None of them will stand out.

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Use photos and other graphic elements to break up the gray and to avoid tombstoning headlines. Secondary photos and graphics (subheads or pull quotes/stats or drop caps) are wonderful ways to break up headlines and to add life to the bottom of your pages. This is especially true with jumps. Make your art work for you.

Pull Quote

Pull Quote

subhead

Table/

fact box

Pull stats


Honor the hierarchy of type. Generally, headlines should decrease in size as you go down the page because the stories are less important. Use three-line headlines above two-line headlines.


Color is more effective when used sparingly. Use half-tones for boxed stories.

No color in your school paper? No problem. You have black, white and 10-15 distinctive shades of gray.

Half tone red for boxed story

Half tone blue for boxed story


Use legible conventional serif/sans serif fonts in front and other pages; fancy fonts in literary/feature pages.

Serif font samples: Times New Roman g y t G Y T

Sans Serif font sample: Arial g y t G Y T

Fancy font sample: Jokerman g y t G Y T

White space can be your most powerful design element. The eye is drawn to it, and then to the elements around it. White space should be adjacent to the outside edges of the page, not trapped in the middle and surrounded by photos and type.


Do’s and Don’ts in Page Makeup

Avoid tombstoning- Placing two or more headlines

on approximately the same level in adjacent columns especially if they are of the same point or types.

Avoid bad breaks Do not break cut stories to the

top of columns. The top of the column should have a headline or a cut.

Avoid separating related stories and pictures.

Avoid gray areas (sea of gray) Break this up with used of subheads, pull quotes or half tones.

Keep long columns of 6 points type and tabular material to a minimum especially on front page.

Avoid using a banner headline unless the story deserves it. Screaming headlines should also not be used. Screaming headline is one that is too big for a short or unimportant story.

THANK YOU!

Education

Page layout final