How do you catch your reader's attention?
The average reader spends 2.5 seconds judging a page. You have to grab them with a BIG headline, and a flashy picture, and another picture lower down with a large caption, otherwise you're likely to lose them.
Examples of Bad Design from the past -
Extreme Vertical:
Extreme Horizontal:
Tombstoning:
Symmetrical Layout: Classical or boring? Very inflexible layout.
General Rules of Thumb:
LAYOUT & DESIGN
- All stories should be shaped like rectangles. Pages should consist of rectangles stacked together.
- Avoid placing any graphic element in the middle of a leg of type
- Avoid placing art at the bottom of a leg of type
- Text that wraps below a photo should be at least one inch deep
- In vertical layouts, stack elements in this order: photo, outline, headline, text.
- Every page should have a dominant piece of art
- Avoid dummying a photo directly on top of an ad.
- Avoid boxing stories just to keep headlines from butting; it's best to box stories only if they're special or different
TEXT
- The optimum depth for legs of text is from 2 to 10 inches
- Avoid dummying legs of text more than 20picas wide, or narrower than 10 picas.
- Use italics, boldface, reverses or any other special effects in small doses.
- Type smaller than 8 point is difficult to read. Use small type sparingly, and avoid printing it behind a screen.
HEADLINES
- Every story needs a headline.
- Headlines get smaller as you move down the page. Smaller stories get smaller headlines.
- 5-10 words is optimum for most headlines.
- Never allow an art element to come between the headline and the start of a news story.
- Don't butt headlines. If you must, run the left headline several counts short, then vary their sizes and the number of lines
- Writing headlines: Avoid stilted wording, jargon, omitted verbs, bad splits; write in the present tense.
PHOTOS
-Shoot photos of real people doing real things
- Directional photos should face the text they accompany.
- When in doubt, run one big photos, make one dominant - that is, substantially bigger than any competing photo.
- Try to vary the shapes and sizes of all photos (as well as stories) on a page.
OUTLINES
- To avoid confusion, run one cutline per photo; each cutline should touch the photo it describes.
- When cutlines run beside photos, they should be at least 6 picas wide.
- When cutlines run below photos, square them off as evenly as possible on both sides of the photo. They should not extend beyond either edge of the photo.
- Avoid widows in any cutline more than one line deep.
Cutline - Caption
A Jump is a page turn.
Widow - ?
Extreme Vertical:
Extreme Horizontal:
Tombstoning:
Symmetrical Layout: Classical or boring? Very inflexible layout.
General Rules of Thumb:
LAYOUT & DESIGN
- All stories should be shaped like rectangles. Pages should consist of rectangles stacked together.
- Avoid placing any graphic element in the middle of a leg of type
- Avoid placing art at the bottom of a leg of type
- Text that wraps below a photo should be at least one inch deep
- In vertical layouts, stack elements in this order: photo, outline, headline, text.
- Every page should have a dominant piece of art
- Avoid dummying a photo directly on top of an ad.
- Avoid boxing stories just to keep headlines from butting; it's best to box stories only if they're special or different
TEXT
- The optimum depth for legs of text is from 2 to 10 inches
- Avoid dummying legs of text more than 20picas wide, or narrower than 10 picas.
- Use italics, boldface, reverses or any other special effects in small doses.
- Type smaller than 8 point is difficult to read. Use small type sparingly, and avoid printing it behind a screen.
HEADLINES
- Every story needs a headline.
- Headlines get smaller as you move down the page. Smaller stories get smaller headlines.
- 5-10 words is optimum for most headlines.
- Never allow an art element to come between the headline and the start of a news story.
- Don't butt headlines. If you must, run the left headline several counts short, then vary their sizes and the number of lines
- Writing headlines: Avoid stilted wording, jargon, omitted verbs, bad splits; write in the present tense.
PHOTOS
-Shoot photos of real people doing real things
- Directional photos should face the text they accompany.
- When in doubt, run one big photos, make one dominant - that is, substantially bigger than any competing photo.
- Try to vary the shapes and sizes of all photos (as well as stories) on a page.
OUTLINES
- To avoid confusion, run one cutline per photo; each cutline should touch the photo it describes.
- When cutlines run beside photos, they should be at least 6 picas wide.
- When cutlines run below photos, square them off as evenly as possible on both sides of the photo. They should not extend beyond either edge of the photo.
- Avoid widows in any cutline more than one line deep.
Cutline - Caption
A Jump is a page turn.
Widow - ?
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