iiLi^y Dai;:, K\u^\l!j *5 (ftp Bttgto-8«tim [ 1 [Ml NEWSPAPER DESIGNER'S HANDBOOK Sixth Edition TIM HARROWER evropský EOOálflí ._ fond v ČR EVROPSKÁ UNtE INVESTICE DO ROZVOJE VZDELÁVANÍ InTorraatlan Center. : ■-.SíraijJf crfc)p*ar.;,.. lb Newspaper □eiloner'i Kinůt>«3 ok. 6/e rlJe APusaaJJOJ" teste's ffcjWMOs is a step by step gukfe to evere aspect at Tifiw^paper desipn. frcrn bs;>i cag& SayoutTo com pies infGpraphics. The new rarttlu-n reatur&s dazeos tif tipw Dsge-jasi-gri examples, as well as pKapnded cR.-tiLin hfi web design and irurcased emphasis on digital eriatography, Thi5 textbook ror journalism ^rudent^ -arid professionals alike. It i= badad wiSi . . nxamc.'Hs. adme. d=sjgr> idoas. a/id enerosas thai leatfi students ho* to : man:c»:i:e triebastf element: ol desert [photon headlines, a™ tejtj; treats . r.n-artq. ni^ps. and rfianrain;. de?mn attfatOYe phofn spreads; ad"J effective., ■ appealina sidatiars co iomple" stories; crsatc lively, prying faaruro page ■ wail with coiDr. and redesign a LiewsDaoer, AS For additional resources, visit the Newspaper Designer's Handbook Online Learning Center at www. mhhe. com/harro wer6. The Web site features exercises, quizzes, flashcards, and chapter outlines, plus additional resources for instructors. Uatfedni knihovna FSS MU 8rno 4240763899 AT NEWSPAPE DESIGNER' HANDBOO Sixth edition WRITTEN & DESIGNED BY TIM HAHiOWER ""HI McGraw-Hill Higher Education Boston Burr Ridge, IL Dubuque, IA New York San Francisco St. Louis Bangkok Bogota Caracas Kuala Lumpur Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan Montreal New Delhi Santiago Seoul Singapore Sydney Taipei Toronto 4240763899 McGraw-Hill Higher Education Published by McGraw-HiE, an imprint of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright © 2008,2002,1998, 1995, 1992,1989. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. This book is printed on acid-fee paper. 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 WDQ/WDQ 0 ISBN: 978-0-07-299669-2 MHID: 0-07-299669-2 Publisher: Frank Mortimer Sponsoring Editor: Suzanne Earth Editorial Assistant: Erika Lake Developmental Editor: Craig Leonard Marketing Manager: Leslie Oberhuber Interior and Cover Designer: Tim narrower Production Editor: Brett Cokcr Manager, Photo Research: Brian J. Pecko Production Supervisor: Tandra Jorgensen Printing: Worldcolor Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Harrower, Tim. The newspaper designer's handbook / written & designed by Tim Harrower.—6th ed. p,cm. Includes index. ISBN-13: 978-0-07-299669-2 (acid-free paper) ISBN-10: 0-07-299669-2 (acid-free paper) 1. Newspaper layout and typography I. Title Z253.5.H27 2007 686.2'252—dc22 2007018880 The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion of a Web site does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw-Hill, and McGraw-Hill does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these sites. www,mhhe.com CONTENTS 2 Preface 4 Some quick history 6 Current trends 14 Online news design 16 The news media of the future 18 What it's called 20 Tools of the trade 22 Basic typography 26 Four basic elements 27 Headlines 30 Text 32 Photos 34 Cutlines 36 Drawing a dummy 40 A broadsheet dummy 41 A tabloid dummy 42 Troubieshooting 44 Exercises 48 Stories without art 50 Mug shots 53 Text shapes 54 One horizontal photo 57 One vertical photo 60 The dominant photo 62 Big vertical, small horizontal 64 Big horizontal, small vertical 66 Two verticals 68 Two horizontals 70 Adding mug shots 71 Troubleshooting 73 Exercises 76 Grids 78 Pages without art 84 Pages with art 86 Modular page design 88 Front page design 89 Flow chart: section front design 90 Designing Page One 96 Making stories fit 98 Inside pages 100 Double trucks 102 Bad juxtapositions 103 Rules of thumb 104 Troubleshooting 106 Exercises 110 Some photo guidelines 111 Good photos 116 Bad photos 118 From the camera to the page 119 Processing digital images 120 Sizing photos 121 Halftones & screens 122 Scanning images 124 Cropping photos 126 Stand-alone photos 127 Photo spreads 130 Photo spread guidelines 132 Studio shots 133 Photo illustrations 134 Illustrations 136 Feature art checklist 138 Risky business 139 Troubleshooting 141 Exercises 144 The flag 145 Logos & sigs 148 Liftout quotes 150 Decks & summaries 152 Bylines 153 Credit lines 154 Spacing 155 Rules & boxes 156 Refers, teasers, promos 157 Breaking up text 158 Jumps 159 Troubleshooting 162 Writing for non-readers 165 Sidebars & infographics 166 Fast facts 167 Bio boxes 168 Lists 170 Checklists 171 Q&A's 172 Quizzes 174 Surveys & polls 175 Quote collections 176 Charts & graphs 178 Tables 179 Ratings 180 Timelines 181 5tep-by-step guides 182 Diagrams 184 Maps 186 Graphics packages 188 Package planning 190 Graphics gallery 194 Graphics guidelines 197 Troubleshooting 200 Bending the rules 202 The Stewart variations 206 Wraparounds & skews 208 Photo cutouts 209 Mortises & insets 210 Screens & reverses 212 Display headlines 216 Types of color 218 Adding color to a page 220 Color guidelines 222 Printing full color 223 Troubleshooting 226 Redesigning your paper 228 Evaluating your paper 230 Gathering examples 231 Compiling a shopping list 232 Building prototypes 234 Testing & promotion 235 Writing a stylebook 236 Launching and following up 237 Redesign gallery 241 Troubleshooting 244 246 248 250 252 254 256 258 260 264 Transforming print pages into Web pages Home page design Story page design Special project design Adding online extras Planning online packages Packaging a major news event Setting up your site Web design guidelines Web site checklist m 266 Exercise answers 278 Graphics gallery 283 The proportion wheel 284 Glossary 293 Index 296 Credits PREFACE long, long time ago, people actually loved reading newspapers. Imagine. They'd flip a nickel to the newsboy, grab a paper from the stack and gawk at headlines that screamed: SOLON! MOLL LEVY HIKE BID! They'd gaze lovingly at long, gray columns of type that looked like this ■ — and they'd say, "Wow! What a lot of news!" Today, we're different. We swim in a media stream of Web sites, smart phones, giant TVs and tiny iPods. We collect data in a dizzying array of ways. We don't need long, gray columns of type anymore. We won't read long, gray columns of type anymore. In fact, when we look at newspapers and see those long, gray columns of type, we say, uYow! What a waste of time!" Let's face it: Today5s media consumers are spoiled. They want their news to be stimulating. Engaging. Easy to grasp. Instantly informative. And that's where you come in. If you can design stories that are inviting, informative and easy to read, you can — for a few minutes each day, at least — successfully compete with the relentless digital media drip we're drowning in. You can keep a noble American institution — the newspaper — alive for another day. Because let's face it: To many people, newspapers are dinosaurs. They're big and powerful, but they're clumsy and slow-witted, too. And though they've endured for eons, it may be only a matter of time before they either: ♦ become extinct, which happened to other popular forms of communication (remember smoke signals? The telegraph?). Or else they'll: ♦ evolve into a new species — a portable, interactive video newsgizmo tailored to your own tastes and interests. This has actually been headed our way for decades now, but most newsroom dinosaurs were too slow-witted to see it. PREFACE Many media experts insist that, no matter how advanced futu civilizations may become, humans will still enjoy the look and feel of newspapers in their hands. Think it' true? Yes, the days of ink-on-dead-tree journalism may be numbered, but it's not dead yet. It's still a bazillion-dollar industry with tremendous influence and importance. So while the wizards at Apple and Google dream up slick new technogadgets, we'll continue to do our best with the basics: Ink. Paper. Lots of images, letters, lines and dots. A good designer can arrange them all smartly and smoothly, so that today's news feels familiar and yet.......new. But where do newspaper designers come from, anyway? Face it: You never hear children saying, "When I grow up, my dream is to lay out the Opinion page!' You never hear college students saying, "I've got a major in rocket science and a minor in sports infographks." No, most journalists stumble into design by accident. Without warning. Maybe you're a reporter on a small weekly, and one day your editor says to you, "Congratulations! I'm promoting you to assistant editor. You'll start Monday. Oh, and ... you know how to lay out pages, don't you?" Or maybe you've just joined a student newspaper. You want to be a reporter, a movie critic, a sports columnist. So you write your first story. When you finish, the adviser says to you, "Uh, we're a little short-handed in production right now. It'd really help us if you'd design that page your story's on, OK?" Now, traditional journalism textbooks discuss design in broad terms. They ponder vague concepts like balance and harmony and rhythm. They show award-winning pages from The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. "Nice pages," you think. But meanwhile, you're in a hurry. And you're still confused: "How do I connect this picture to this headline?" That's where this book comes in. This book assumes you need to learn the rules of newspaper design as quickly as you can. It assumes you browse newspapers once in a while, but you've never really paid attention to things like headline sizes. Or column logos. Or whether pages use five columns of text instead of six. This book will introduce you to the building blocks of newspaper design: headlines, text, photos, cutlines. We'll show you how to shape them into a story — and how to shape stories into pages. After that, we'll look at the small stuff (logos, teasers, charts and graphs) that make more complicated pages work. We'll demonstrate attention-grabbing gimmicks like subheads that help you break up long, gray columns "type — YO! CHECK OUT THIS ATTENTION-GRABBING SUBHEAD — not to mention bullets, to help make short lists "pop" off the page: ♦ This is a bullet item. ♦ And so is this. ♦ Ditto here. We'll even explore liftout quotes, which let you dress up a quote from somebody famous — say, Mark Twain — to catch your reader's eye. Yes, some writers will try anything to get you to read their prefaces. So if you made it all this way, ask yourself: Did the page design have much to do with it? 3- 1AM NOT THE EDITOR AND SHALL ALWAYS TRY TO DO RIGHT AND BE GOOD, SO THAT GOD WILL NOT MAKE IVEE ONE. Mark Twain SOME QUICK HISTORY Publick Occurrences, America's first newspaper, made its debut 300 years ago. Like other colonial newspapers that followed, it was printed on paper smaller than the pages in this book, looking more like a pamphlet or newsletter. Most colonial weeklies ran news items one after another in deep, wide columns of text. There were no headlines and very little art (though it was young Ben Franklin who printed America's first newspaper cartoon in 1754). After the Revolutionary War, dailies first appeared and began introducing new design elements: thinner columns, primitive headlines (one-line labels such as PROCLAMATION) and — this will come as no surprise — an increasing number of ads, many of them parked along the bottom of the front page. PUBLICK OCCURRENCES laß», TkväiJ J<2»» ijlfr. itfjfc 17 iV &&i%lt lid tt* Cwartaj/t J J< /»-»ijl,a «rt 4 »vnifKff *t S'-f *fQt-CWTftdCn kfprTj vimtTj) Jit* nr «„(ic'^ii Of/:>- 7**f *»ulfii man ^p/fi, i», FitÄ.TTÄ fasst:ttfi 4>ftta >k> BäixQVt >'*tK:- ■irCliiüg.i,. «ifcj/i rieClwilSi'.C^'M* Ill -Sf t.JWJ, ».-.<•» ;-r,-MUj «■wj/ „, »j,f f. f f»fti io iflj;; t inurf, rifting tt rlt i,fi fw. ljr*l ff inr Snfamni'H. jfj;J gitflt lit'! Jf* (w™ üMtctial-an-fiii-E i* mj iit*£ii*J ii P* tifoj- sf /Infi O«ur«0<« Filfr Rcpwis, ty'dttovjlf mis, 4*i a the FirB ftjifit ^«f, it ARiliwisAaifavfiÜfcltcMCt! * a fid ointtMuitiwtyiff, ytHw\ THE Cfc[31f«ftta ft.JB.nr (n feme ■p>r!j.r>f I'liwxq!*, fcart Otwi? ap-j»friKtd adayflf Ttiiishl»!-'ifl6IO röodObn si ferrying '>•'' =»ifeio c( Cftrtui fci Hii eEräg tlirrn: nan o ^tot- EjjTjfJtmjf tewwth M«!itr.Mirig. ,Tn ob&rifJ^ Ü1- (Jjsbandoipi, tia: &om tbcfi, it trbit ii in tbt Focm. fetrif- AÜVri fftitrr tt»i&iaCtii il itls Doit i.f la: !«r, itutexilM bit ^<") ft. ucw('i!(^ i«« Ulittfng alwM b;£inn:og of thii*;i«lh i UHptrW-^Mn brtongi^g w niBaiof «J« Tonn, prl^ fi tety fr.yvt} Afr-.rif ^pffotdSITR|, Mware Tenpu-.&ii we tint liJi! Lpg tiw tbtupawncucT a S>*i'in« t .-H ^fjn, iwuing tfwI/ jjuf,(j jilt Wile, II« jDtfTt! (i»t atfv«a:sfj5 of if* ^Jrtdmiiy «hkt ht chemtpädUliinw, Hi tyirn.oi't *mi9B-indi!HjB[Ery bKf long, bitö tins fijp» pofWf iftiMi!f4 tml he [>«••;<; .MitrlrW cuseutwiM lufSre tetttcd. thao^h m; hid, vtiy iMkJW fuendi to twfc i|l<^ ski j-'p tspi «.Jlnüefetpea hurt, (tsntit ftjjuliT5i». hiffifclfisr turm. Buc E «IttijtiJirtit^ J» ftftW icrv rra'th ■iiii'.fi- It i? it«.t-g*jc fjrnsoee bctri Tifli ^f it i!;,:n pitfall VtaiTB^, nsHiihsltri« tns.rrafbetn fa Mcital, Ik mtaiSÄt cf uaic Jiaic Colonial printing presses couldn't handle large sheets of paper, so when Publick Occurrences was printed in Boston on Sept 25, 1690, it was only 7 inches wide, with two 3-inch columns of text The four-page paper had three pages of news (the fast page was blank), including mention of a "newly appointed" day of Thanksgiving in Plimouth. (Plimouth? Publick? Where were all the copy editors in those days?) THE 1§I| Throughout the 19th cen-g||mH| tury, all newspapers looked pretty much the same. Text was hung like wallpaper, in long rows, with vertical rules between columns. Maps or engravings were sometimes used as art. During the Civil War, papers began devoting more space to headline display, stacking vertical layers of deckers or decks in an endless variety of typefaces. For instance, The Chicago Tribune used 15 decks to trumpet its report on the great fire of 1871: FIRE! Destruction of Chicago! 2,000 Acres of Buildings Destroyed.... The first newspaper photograph was published in 1880. News photos didn't become common, however, until the early 1900s. Wqt flilqjflßlttt Inqtürtr, MURBERP resident uwiUBcrsirr2==;i^-i This 1865 edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the assassination of President Lincoln with 15 headline decks. Like most newspapers of its era, it uses a very vertical text format: When a story hits the bottom of one column, it leaps to the top of the next to continue. lfff88ÖUGT!ÜN MORE QUICK HISTORY THE FÄRLY 2ÖTH CENTURY By about 1900, newspapers began looking more like — well, like newspapers. Headlines grew bigger, bolder and wider. Those deep stacks of decks were gradually eliminated to save space. Page designs developed greater variety as news became departmentalized (Crime, Foreign, Sports and so on). The '20s saw the rise of the big-city tabloids — those half-sheet papers packed with photos and sensational sledgehammer headlines. As the years went by, papers kept increasing the traffic on each page, using ever more photos, stories and ads. CAPT. FRIED RESCUES SEA FLYER II GANG LINKED TO MURDER OF BABY; RANSOM TRY FOILED ;lf»en^t.Ki»»VWiii y^W.nil JCTT.m5 i q..«i Hop F«iIi~Im6 eddy of crm -=-=---,|9P 8esse .............--, B,K< m OF KILLERS ... «MKFLTir " ID GET KM,«» MORE ----- Malta Kidnaps OrlciK lo Rri: ?.'.-"..V:V^ r'.T~t7.-.™"C Km EMJ Fitln i'jifMrt ;v.;-^vur.i-''£;: ;».., War Tactics to Battle Fear;^™^^^t^;^|i^^S!^^^ '.r.'Gisifiä™iw Akron Mooring ^^S'? iWSMSM ™™~8ffiK£ H^ver Orders Hunt for Gang Takes All DaySiSSSSSppp^iSii -- "^H™£™! By f/ie J 930s, mosf newspapers had the ability to run cartoons, photos and wide headlines, as we see in this 1932 edition of the Los Angeles Times. Note the number of stories on this page. For decades, American front pages commonly displayed 15-20 story elements. With those all-cap headlines, these pages gave readers a strong sense of urgency. THE til -TOC DISTANT PAST If By today's standards, even the handsomest papers from 50 years ago look clumsy and old-fashioned. Others, like the page at right, look downright ugly. Still, most of the current trends in page design were in place by the late '60s: ♦ more and bigger photos; ♦more refined headline type (except for special feature stories and loud front-page banners); ♦ a move from 8- and 9-col-umn pages to a standardized 6-column page; ♦ white gutters between columns instead of rules. As printing presses continued to improve, full-color photos became common in the early '80s, thus ushering in the modern era of newspaper design. Seminoles 1-PointBowl Choice Oner Wyoming äj?7 Blue Vs. Gray 'Wide Open' Can Bucks!, Cool Hot'Leafs? ~ ._jJl.._ ^"rKft-Uu™ I'-^- ~z-x - IUP S379 I air ana 75*1 "-^ -~"—- This 1966 sports page from The Oregon Journal is astoundingly bad — but to he fair, it's a typical example of mid-60s design. The bizarre shapes of its photos and stories collide in a distracting jumble. After printing pages like these for years, editors finally realized that taking page design seriously might not be such a bad idea. IHTRODBSIH CURRENT TRENDS Compared to the newspapers of yesteryear, todays news pages look lively and sophisticated. That's partly due to technological advances. But today's editors also realize that readers are inundated hy slickly designed media, from movies to Web sites to TV commercials. Sad to say, most consumers judge a . -product by the package it comes in. They simpl) won't respect a product — or a newspaper — that looks old-fashioned. To look modern, newspapers now use: ♦ Color. Full-color photographs have / become standard on section fronts across / the country. Throughout the paper, color is applied both decoratively (in ads and illustrations) and functionally (in photos, in graphics, and in logos and / headers that organize pages to help , guide readers). ♦ Informational graphics, Papers don't just report the news — they illustrate it with charts, maps, diagrams, quotes and fast-tact . sidebars that make complex issues easier for readers to a grasp. ♦ Packaging. Mod tin readers are busy. Picky. Impatient. So editors try / to make every page a<< user-friendly as they can by designing briefs, roundups, scoreboards, pro- / mos and themed packages that are easy to find and quick to read. ♦ Modular layout. We'll explain this later. In a nutshell, it simply means all stories are neatly stacked in rectangular shapes. In the past, newspapers were printed in a ví sizes. Today, virtually all newspapers are printed either as broadsheets (large, full-sized papers like USA Today or the Detroit Free Press, shown above) or tabloids (half-sized papers like The National Enquirer — OK, maybe that's a bad example — or, say, The Christian Science Monitor). In the pages ahead, we'll examine examples of modern American newspaper design. Most of these are broadsheet pages, but remember: Whatever your paper's format, the same basic design principles apply. .J' On this front page you can see examples of >*a* modern news packaging al work: the bold color and typography; the appealing graphics and promos; the variety of ways in which editors summarized the news. CURRENT TRENDS SOUTH BAV VAUJEMfflU , ms^be ^ A teen na mature; | if i?an Joseitlemtrjg Nous Governor's green vision for state Ts iPhonc right call for Apple? nocheatmjt, no stealing This page from the San Jose Mercury news provides an appealing example of front-page formatting: The centerpiece iPhone story fills half the page with a dramatic, magazine-style layout. Though just three stories start on Page One, briefs and promos send readers inside. ; news stories demand bigplay. After U.S. troops invaded Iraq, it took months to capture ousted dictator Saddam Hussein — but when it happened, the Virginian-Pilot ran the story BIG. Note the loud headline, the giant photo and the guide to all the stories running inside. Some newspapers use the front page as a menu that teases readers to look inside the paper. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution prints this version of Page One for its street-sale Saturday edition. There are no complete stories here —just lively highlights designed to tweak your curiosity. FiSE §11; Todays Page One is a blend of traditional reporting and modern marketing 0E?l§i ^at see'cs t0 answer tne question: What grabs readers? Is it loud headlines? Big photos? Juicy stories? Splashy colors? Or do readers prefer thoughtful, timely analyses of current events? Hard to say. Though newspaper publishers spend fortunes on reader surveys, they're still unsure what front-page format reaches readers the best. As a result, most papers follow one of these Page One design philosophies: ♦ The traditional: No fancy bells or whistles — just the top news of the day. (For tabloids, that means 2-4 stories; for broadsheets, 4-6.) Editors combine photos, headlines, and text — usually lots of text — in a sober, straightforward style. ♦ The magazine cover: These pages use big art and dynamic headlines to highlight a special centerpiece. In tabloids, this package dominates the cover (and may even send you inside for the text). In broadsheets, a front-page package is given lavish play, flanked by a few subordinate stories. ♦ The information centet*: Here, the keywords are volume and variety. By blending graphics, photos, promos and briefs, these fast-paced front pages provide a window to what's inside the paper, a menu serving up short, appetizing tidbits to guide readers through the best of the day's entrees. But the options don't end there. Some papers run editorials on Page One. Some add cartoons. Some print obituaries, calendars, contests — even ads. Almost anything goes, as long as readers respect it, enjoy it and buy it. 7 ,.. . INTRODUSTJÖR .;. CURRENT TRENDS Popular feature pages provide lots of variety: lifestyle stories, columns, humor, entertainment. At The Kansas City Star, the lead story on this feature page announces a Halloween contest (send us your scariest ghost story!). Running along the bottom of the page are assorted gossip items, oddball factoids and a columnist. Tfö (Hkr Break Entertainment coverage is enormously popular with readers — and full-page section fronts provide terrific opportunities for flash and flair. On this Virginian-Pilot guide to weekend fun, the lead story combines type trickery and digital photo effects to preview a local Kanye West concert. At larger newspapers, feature coverage expands to include food, travel and fashion — topics that often receive big, magazine-style treatments. This is the cover of a Dallas Morning News fashion supplement with lots of color, lots of photos and lots of ads. It takes a dedicated team of editors, designers, photographers and -writers to pull it off. R"ITlJiE PISES As time goes by, feature sections become more popular — and their range gets £ CEPTIfiiiC more ambitious. Most modern feature sections offer a mix of: ♦ Lifestyle coverage: Consumer tips, how-to s, trends m health, fitness, fashion — a compendium of personal and social issues affecting readers' lives. ♦ Entertainment news: Reviews and previews of music, movies, theater, books and art (including comprehensive calendars and TV listings). Juicy celebrity gossip is always popular, too. ♦ Food: Recipes, nutrition advice, new products for home and kitchen — all surrounded by coupon-laden advertising that shoppers clip and save. ♦ Comics, columnists and crosswords: From Dear Abby to Dilbert, from Hagar to the horoscope, these local and syndicated features have faithful followings. Feature sections often boast the most lively, stylish page designs in the paper. It's here that designers haul out the loud type, play with color, experiment with unusual artwork and photo treatments. Many feature editors dress up their front pages by giving one key story a huge "poster page" display. Editors at other papers prefer pages with more traffic, providing an assortment of stories, briefs, calendars and lists. And while most papers devote a few inside pages to features, some bigger publications — those with plenty of writers and designers — produce daily fhemed magazines: Money on Mondays, Health & Fitness on Tuesdays, Food on Wednesdays and so on. CURRENT TRENDS Sports . j On the court, on the held — Gators No. 1 * THE cnßc World Serious! Ordonez's walkoff HR gives Tigers pennant, sweep |f--,» You don tpkf agatfistopponerts, i»j play againg the game orbasfcetbaif.' hums «.jßs* ^s. 925 892 879 87S ! Ripken grabs 3rtHigltest percentage of Hat rate Sports layouts should be lively and playful — and this page from the Billings (Mont.) Gazette demonstrates how bold presentation brings an ordinary sports page to life. The bold headline and big cutout image of the football player provide impact while the rest of the page presents information in a neatly organized way. KT"-: ........^-.^_______________________ir^i^ iflllllilli Whenever big sporting events occur — the Super Bowl, the Olympics, a state championship — its a golden opportunity to create special sections, design special logos, run jumbo photos — and empty the page of all competing storks. Note the combination of big story/small roundups on this baseball playoff page from the Detroit Free Press. Not all sports design occurs on section fronts. Publications also produce special inside pages, too. Some are themed pages that run regularly (NFL Roundup, Inside the NBA), while others profile athletes or commemorate milestones. This page was written and designed by Joshua Trudell at the San Antonio Express-News. & SECT PACES IS Television seems to be the perfect medium for sports coverage. It's immediate. Visual. Colorful. Yet in many cities, more readers turn to newspapers for sporting news than for any other reason. Why? A good sports section combines dramatic photos, lively writing, snappy headlines and shrewd analysis into a package with a personality all its own. And while sports coverage usually centers around meat-and-potatoes reporting on games, matches and meets, a strong sports section incorporates a variety of features that include: ♦ Statistics: Scores, standings, players' records, team histories — true sports junkies can't get enough of this minutiae. It's often packaged on a special scoreboard page or run in tiny type called agate. ♦ Calendars and listings: Whether in small schools or big cities, fans depend on newspapers for the times and locations of sporting events, as well as team schedules, ski reports, and TV and radio listings. ♦ Columnists: Opinionated writers whom sports fans can love or loathe — the more outspoken, the better. ♦ Inside poop and gossip: Scores, injury reports, polls, predictions, profdes and analyses that aren't easily available anywhere else. Sports pages (like features) offer opportunities for designers to run photos more boldly, to write headlines more aggressively — and to create dynamic graphics packages that capture the thrill of victory in a visual way. CURRENT TRENDS Consider uiimtsfe gift organ (Jraiatwn Tliis page from the Asbury Park Press is a classic example of a modern editorial page. On it, you'll find the masthead (listing the papers top editors), an editorial cartoon, a wordy editorial column, some letters from readers, a "Today in History" feature and today's Doonesbury comic strip. Tims YESSS LATER Larger papers, especially dailies, run longer opinion columns on the page opposite the editorial page (called the op-ed page). At the biggest papers, the opinion/editorial staff gets a separate section on Sundays, which provides a home for in-depth analyses like this one in the San Jose Mercury News. j Opinion mt Graduation rates for 10 blackgraduates are rising, tttfttl from S3 J percent in 1S98 to 52.2 percent in 2003. But they're far behind other students. MMMMttJ SOKiATm Wt AIL DO ID RETAIN MORE BLACK STUDENTS? - A look inside Ehe enierna of' i Ws successes and lailures ^ MifMHMMMi Here's another example of a special opinion page design from a college newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student. Like the example at left, it's a single-topic page. It uses dramatic black-and-red illustrations to depict, in a graphic way, the demographic problem that's discussed in the story's text. §f Mi! PAGES Juxtaposing news and commentary is a dangerous thing. How are readers to 1, I'llllHjlJ g know where cold facts end and heated opinions begin? That's why nearly every s ■- •' newspaper sets aside a special page or two for backbiting, mudslinging, pussyfooting and pontificating. It's called the editorial page, and it's one of America's noblest journalistic traditions. The basic ingredients for editorial pages are nearly universal, consisting of: ♦ Editorials, unsigned opinion pieces representing the newspaper's stance on topical issues; ♦ Opinion columns written by the paper's editors, by local writers or by nationally syndicated columnists; ♦ An editorial cartoon, a sarcastic illustration that lampoons public figures or political policy; ♦ Letters from readers, and ♦ The masthead, which lists the paper's top brass (editors, publishers, etc.) along with the office address and phone number. In addition — because editorial pages are often rigidly formatted — many papers run a separate opinion page (see examples above). These pages provide commentary and opinion, too, as they examine current issues in depth. And like sports and feature sections, they set themselves apart from ordinary news pages by using stylized headlines, interpretive illustrations and more elaborate design techniques. 10 ÍRTfiOOUCTHHi CURRENT TRENDS Coming up with a clever name for a themed page is always a challenge. And here's a catchy name for a weekly fishing page: Hook, Line & Sinker. The Asbury Park Press produces this section each week, and you can see the variety of fun stories and useful data it provides. Note, too, the boat ad running along the bottom. Your Money t Cos tor giowd coffee {!. UAMIMi STOU5 AUK ACittOU! Li ■ ^ Many newspapers run a daily business page full of industry news and stock reports. But this weekly page from the Orlando Sentinel focuses exclusively on YOUR pocketbook, YOUR investments and where YOUR money goes. Like the fishing page at left, the design combines short briefs and longer stories. snow can you entice, mias to react the newspaper'. Many papers produce special sections like this one - "X-Press" from The St. Petersburg Times - in hopes of attracting young readers. Along with bright colors, zoomy images and wacky layouts, these pages usually offer cartoons, puzzles, hobby tips and stories written by the kids themselves. Iffil Piei \mm In the old days — say, 20 years ago — many newspapers simply shoveled all their stories into four big blocks: news, sports, features and business. (Many dull newspapers still do.) But smart editors realize that if you cram everything into those news-sports-features-business blocks, lots of good stories will fall through the cracks. They've learned that readers have a broad range of interests, and that special-interest pages provide a way to satisfy those readers while attracting advertisers, too. Take a tour of modern American news publications and you'll find smartly formatted weekly themed pages on such topics as: Automobiles Auto racing Boating Books Bowling Celebrities and gossip Children and families Classical music Computers Computer games Crime and safety Dance Dieting Death and dying Environment Ethics Families Gambling Gardening Golf Health and fitness Hiking and biking Hobbies Home decorating Hunting and fishing Local history Military affairs Movies Music Nightlife Outdoors Pets Pro wrestling Recreational vehicles Relationships Religion Rock music Technology Schools Science Seniors Shopping and malls Skiing Television Traffic and commuting Travel Videos and DVDs Visual arts Volunteering Weather Web sites Weddings Every community is unique. What are your readers most interested in? [sml/üüsinüH ■ CURRENT TRENDS When fire tore through downtown Memphis, The Commercial Appeal responded the next day with this special report on the blaze. Like the Saddam Hussein layout on page 7, this design uses a big, dramatic image to grab readers' attention and establish the section's theme. An index runs along the bottom. Here's the cover of a special 2006 Winter Olympics preview section from The Detroit News. Great headline, great deck ("Olympics take Extreme turn, so hang on for a wild ride, dude") — and you need to give the page an extreme turn, too, to read everything sideways. It's a gimmick that says "I'm special. Read me!" The Arjzwva Hefubu i In the desert Southwest, water is a life-and-death issue. And this special 12-page report in The Arizona Republic focuses on the Colorado River, where years of drought have created hardships for farmers, concerns for residents and raging debates over how to protect the river and the environment. SPECIAL TOPICS As we mentioned previously, newspapers often settle into dull, predictable e, t{|Jf!T!s||i; routines from issue to issue, repeating the same standard formats day after day. (Fortunately, a little predictability is good: It keeps readers happy and editors sane.) But opportunities often arise for producing special sections with unique design formats. These include: ♦ Previews of big events published in advance (Baseball 2008 or Family Fun at the County Fair!). These recycle photos and statistics from years past and offer readers calendars, maps and other helpful guides. ♦ Special reports that wrap up news events that just occurred (The Tragedy of Flight 1131 or That Championship Season: The Pittsburgh Penguins). For major sports events, these special sections are often printed and distributed to stadium spectators just moments after the Big Game concludes. ♦ Special enterprise packages on serious topics or trends (AIDS, The Homeless, How You Can Save Our Planet). These are often investigative stories that take a team of reporters, photographers and designers weeks — or months — to assemble. They frequently run as a series in the daily paper, after which they're repackaged and reprinted in a special section. Special projects like these are an enormously rewarding form of journalism. Better yet, they give you an opportunity to experiment with new forms of storytelling, type treatments, page layouts and photography. INTSOOUCTil CURRENT TRENDS DOWNSIZ! liTEB Newspapers, once so powerful and profitable, now face an uncertain future. As readers and advertisers steadily drift from newsprint to the Web, publishers feel enormous pressure to trim costs and boost circulation. But how? One solution: downsizing. In many cities, newspaper staffs have gotten smaller over the past few years, and newspapers themselves have shrunk, too. To offset the rising cost of newsprint, most American newspapers are now an inch or two narrower than they were a decade ago. Some publishers want to go even further. Many broadsheet papers are considering downsizing to tabloid size, both to save money and please readers, who often prefer the smaller-sized format. In Europe, tabloids are enormously popular. Many respected broadsheets have recently redesigned into tabloids. Some, like The Guardian in London, have switched to a size halfway between tabloids and broadsheets, called a berliner. "The tabloidization of newspapers is a global phenomenon," says noted design consultant Mario Garcia. "It is, I believe, unstoppable." Why? Readers prefer simpler storytelling and quicker messages in a smaller package, Garcia says. "One by one, the largest and best known newspaper titles around the world will make the transition to smaller formats." Not everyone agrees with that prediction, however. "The 'unstoppable' phenomenon Garcia describes has not happened in the U.S. because publishers knew it was bad for readers and bad for business," argues design expert Alan Jacobson. "Americans prefer to separate their paper into sections, which is not possible with a tab. Ad revenues would drop with smaller ads on smaller pages." Whatever the outcome, it remains a time of dramatic change for newspapers big and small. News design will continue evolving in the years ahead — even if it's just an inch at a time. Kit í THE "10'JMIIEY,CMDIN DECLARE VICTORY g^Jgffl COURIER Liirlii;h reruses to amende, ales absentees: ď ■ ' Elufich refuses to concede, ales absentees: Democrats seize control of the US. House DEMOCRATS SURGE GOP loses US. House, bltilehuuse Most local incumbents withstand challenges Z, us Hcbs ■ Page formats: How broadsheets and tabloids use different layout grids............76 • * Cardin ff.Malk-v tools to future, mps EhriirJi eyes rotes still out sMem BMfbnToda luurrro* tax yum mttmn MHSSTEB Mm ÍSfOOTflU CQMH ES 2C.64S/FÍÍJ a,?S2 uKumnuM ■^V^Z-V. iZVV V&li £ 3* -. YES 6Q PERCENT SiVS&WKW? ^tmm-: YES 88 F On the national scene. Democrats take cverttie House tif Representatives. Meanwhile, Iocs! voters address traffic and development issues. Mm OK -sales tax, < land buys { Broadsheet / Baltimore bun \ v tl XKk. election, the \heet format to run big headlines, big photos and three stories, along with a full column of voting statistics. Berliner: This format, used by the daily paper Tabloid: As the available space gets smaller, in Lafayette, Ind., is slightly smaller than the Sun less material fits — so tabloids run even at left. It's a handier size, but it doesn't provide fewer stories and photos per page. Many as much room for news as the broadsheet format. readers prefer this size and shape, however. 13 MÜGÜGN ONLINE NEWS DESIGN Years from now, we'll look back on today's online news design and say, "Ugh — how primitive." (Much like your reaction to those old newspapers back on page 5.) Yes, the World Wide Web is still in its infancy. Only a decade ago, most editors and publishers had no idea how to translate news pages onto a digital platform. They had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the new millennium. Like fish learning to walk on land, newspapers are slowly evolving and adjusting to this new terrain. Too many news sites are still disorganized, unappealing and unprofitable, but online design is steadily improving. The next generation of journalists — that's you — will raise the standards even higher. What advantages does online journalism offer? ♦ Immediacy. Stories, photos and videos can be posted as news breaks, then updated around the clock. Reporters and designers no longer gear their efforts toward daily or weekly deadlines, watching helplessly as stories grow stale. ♦ Flexibility. Stories can change and grow, appear and disappear, from minute to minute. Which means that all aspects of journalism — text, photos, graphics, maps — can maintain a higher degree of accuracy than ever before. ♦ Unlimited space. On the Internet, stories can run as long as necessary (which can be painfully boring, we realize). But reporters can enhance their coverage by linking to archived stories, supplemental data and outside commentary. ♦ Interactivity. Readers can comment on stories, debate issues, post videos and blogs of their own. The Web has made "citizen journalism" a reality. ♦ Multimedia. Audio, video, animated graphics — these modern storytelling devices vastly expand the news designer's toolbox. Online design: An entire chapter on designing news for the Web................243 ■ Multimedia: Adding audio, video and interactive elements to online stories ....250 ► At right, the Indianapolis Star's expanded online coverage of the city's top sports event of the year, the Indy 500. Web extras include slideshows, interactive graphics, even video shot from inside a race car. T Below, the home page for the online version of the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Note the use of multimedia and interactivity in the top story. And, of course, that attention-getting red background is hard to miss. Ruhl &Ruhl Newi vIb ass iSR." Local. Ptowsv" ■■.'■SCJick f or coverage: -.<■- ■ • • .. ". ".^■'.■■ii-ilckliters ttg debut -Fan video. ■■-.í:;. ,-:=;^ ■ -■■•He's ffle ariti-AlfOfd «Coach videa . •. - • • • /*• fWiII Smith stav? -Search recaj ■■■■ ••"•!%--. -ResriHtirig update -Asst. coaehe ;>^yíí^-..* West tits LfcWiters 'Fan reaction .•• -'liciv pfioio gallery ■ ■ Player re^ct; .:■■ TU*: Hawk Forum -And more! Search recap l:can Asst. coaches'? ■ • Fan reaction - B ■.■. —. ■ Player reaction ■. ^ E|M| And more! H PC™1: - beh inn rue scsneí at rivtewide theatre - waloen pia t í hwts SIHtWUtS wr eVf-RYWr • £sit Side fUtyrina Center to- retdirnve EartW O.iy •/f íi/íivad Tucson wine", fcc MwJ í icm us. L'BdďtmJ äl 9.55 ifr. Gnunty going in föjirr to eollti There is jiwk (Iran Jl miüiaii In i ut-rvxn-hvr if SU33, IRIflODUCTIM. ONLINE NEWS DESIGN Smn-SentínelťSCOm MP This interactive feature from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's site provides a crash course in alligators. Tim opening page, above, introduces the topic. Click the ENTER button to take a self-guided tour of topics. You can view a map of the reptile's habitat, explore alligator biology with a series of clickable closeups, study photos from the critter's life cycle, compare gators to crocs, and exit with a list of safety tips. SPECIAL PROJECTS ÍSLÍIEIM If you're a regular reader of online news, you know that Web sites generally look the same from day to day. In fact, you can lump nearly all pages on news sites into two categories: home pages, those complex mega-menus like the examples at left, and story pages, where the text of each news story can be found. But you'll also find special projects where online journalists take more creative risks. The latest Web technology makes it easy for readers to explore complex topics in detail using a combination of photos, graphics, audio, video and text: multimedia, in other words. This is truly the cutting edge of journalism. Never before have so many different storytelling techniques been available to reporters, editors and designers. That may seem overwhelming, but remember: Whether you're printing photos on paper or posting graphics on a computer screen, the same fundamental design principles apply. Information can be ugly and confusing, or it can be attractive and well-organized. As you'll learn, good design is good design — whatever medium you're in. 15- HMU« THE NEWS MEDIA OF THE FUTURE The "Digital Daily" doesn't exist yet, but it wont he long before we all carry a similar portable device that can play musk and movies, surf the Web and, yes, download instant news reports. As you can see, this electronic newspaper is customized: } t searches for news topics of interest to the user, then flashes the headlines below. Simply touch the photo and it plays a video clip, complete with sound. Press the arrow button and the news story fills the screen, complete with text, graphics, videos and library links — true interactive journalism. 1 lZED FO» KAR HEADLINES Tiger Woods wins his fifth straight U.S. Open by a record 28 strokes President Gore calls Senate tax-cut proposal "ridiculous" A delivery-truck driver has hit your neighbor Bob's dog Or. Benson's office says your test results are now in WEATHER SPORTS GAMES/COMICS MOVIES MUSIC LIBRARY TODAY'S CALENOJW .-Jn-M. PortTanditrlyeoundl■:■ IB AM. Budget leport due.": Mooh Litnťh Vuitb rtobm ' ' 'at Formosa Harboi.. with rr«S syrflif.ile. n.u. interview with AÍ Buri ■ ■ I ŕM, David Sun-evaluation MY MONEY 111 1 111 VIl-bY V I......... .0. . . ![■ ■ ■* ar?i»nii i jj i i .......■{ Since this is your personalized newspaper, it keeps track of your personal life, too. Here's your calendar for the day, programmed to alert you as your next appointment approaches. And since most of your finances are processed electronically, your newspaper tracks your current bank balances — in addition to monitoring the performance of your stocks. This is the 3 p.m. edition of your newspaper. But since the news is constantly revised and updated, you can access the information anytime you like. Down the right side of the screen is the index. Press these ' buttons to read the latest news, watch video clips of sports and movie highlights, enjoy the animated comics, do a little mail-order shopping, answer e-mail. .. . Get the picture? Best of all, anytime you want to explore a subject in greater depth, you can search the database in the library, which holds everything from encyclopedias to your personal video collection. What does the future hold for journalism? Gaze into our crystal ball and you may see something like the Digital Daily: a wireless tablet with crisp text, high-definition graphics and a touch-sensitive screen that lets you enter commands, type text, even dial phone numbers. (Or perhaps voice-recognition software will let you just utter commands, instead.) Unlike todays newspapers, future media will cater to your unique interests. Want only the latest news on tornadoes, Tasmania and your tennis club? Program this gizmo to prioritize your preferences and it'll edit the news especially for you. But can we call this a newspaper anymore? Can we even call it news anymore, when technology mashes videos and phone calls and weather bulletins and hip-hop downloads and fashion alerts that tell you those fabulous new Chooka boots you've been drooling over are now half-off at the Shoe Shack? Yes, the future may dramatically transform our technology, our tastes and our attention spans. But don't let some imaginary News-O-Tron 3000® rock your world just yet. Just because we dream it and want it doesn't make it real. It will take years to perfect the hardware that makes newspapers obsolete. And in the meantime, in thousands of newsrooms, they still need help producing tomorrow's edition of the paper. Remember, too, that millions of readers love the familiar feel of newsprint. They like the simplicity of newspapers and magazines, the casual disposability of dead-tree journalism. Video may be cool and blogs may be trendy, but sometimes a simple column of ink on paper packs more punch than any sleek 'n' shiny multimedia news gizmo whose battery just died. And besides, how will you wrap fish in it? 16 4 | 1 J As we observed in the Preface — you did read the Preface, didn't you? After all the work we put into it? Listen, it's not nearly as dull as it looks — you're probably eager to unravel the Mysteries of Page Design. But before you begin banging out prize-winning pages, you need to understand a few basics. You'll need to learn some vocabulary. You'll need to become familiar with the tools of the trade. But most of all, you'll need to grasp the fundamental components of page design: headlines, text, photos and cudines. This book is designed so you can skip this chapter if you're in a hurry. Or you can just skim it and catch the highlights. So don't feel compelled to memorize everything immediately. But the better you understand these basics now, the more easily you'll be able to manipulate them later on. To make this book handier to use, we've repeated the chapter contents in detail along the bottom of each chapter's introductory page. And each section within this book is cross-referenced, too, with those handy MORE ON guides in the upper-right corner of the page. As you study each topic, you can jump around through the book to expand upon what you're learning. ■> What it's called: A look at newspaper design components on two typicalpages............18 <■ Tools of the trade: A quick tour of the old (pica poles) and the new (computers)..................20 Basic typography: An introduction to fonts, point sizes and type characteristics................22 The four basic elements: The essenrial components (headlines, text, photos, mm mwm cutlines) used to build most pages.....................26 -;: Headlines: Types of headlines; weights and fonts; determining number of lines..............27 ❖ Text: Different types of type (roman, italic, boldface), and how they're shaped into text.............30 # Photos: The three basic photo shapes (vertical, horizontal and square)...................32 - Outlines: Common type treatments, and bask options for placing cutlines on the page........................34 > Drawing a dummy: How to create a dummy; elements needed for effective dummies.........36 ■ Sample dummies: Two page dummies to use for design practice..........40 f Troubleshooting...........42 * Exercises.....................44 THHÜNBSMEH1LS ... WHAT IT'S GALLED Teasers These promote the best stories inside the paper (also called promos or skyboxes) Flag. The newspaper's name (also called the nameplate) Infographic A diagram, chart, map or list that conveys data pictorially Deck A smaller headline added below the main headline (shown here is a . summary deck, which summarizes news stories) Display head Ajazzed-up headline that adds drama or flair to special stories Jump line A line telling the reader what page this story continues on • Logo A small, boxed title (with art) used for labeling special stories Outline Information about a photo or illustration (also called a caption) To succeed in the design world, you need to speak the lingo. In a typical newsroom, for instance, you'll find bugs, bastards, dummies, reefers, maybe even a widow in the gutter. (If our mothers knew we talked like this, they'd never let us become journalists.) Not all newsrooms use the same jargon, but there's plenty of agreement on most terms. Here are some common elements found on Page One: ECSTA5TUSE SURGES AMONGYSWNG PEOPLE: Teen drug use rising dramatically, Bush warns • Man freed i after serving 29} cars on Oeiith Row WJien iasi it tornado ripped t). Muttflap-AdaPhi,,. dnvmv home from pi Hospital defends maternitv ward staffing pohev CHIIDCME hi BS is í, t* Reverse type White words set against a dark background Headline The story's title or summary, in large type above or beside the text Refer A brief reference to a related story elsewhere in the paper Mug shot A small photograph (usually just the face) of someone in the story Byline The writer's name, often followed by key credentials Initial cap A large capital _ letter set into the opening paragraph of a special feature (also called a drop cap) Standing head A label used for packaging _ special items (graphics, teasers, briefs, columns, etc.) Index A directory of contents 18 MFMMMLS. WHAT IT'S GALLED As you can see, Page One is often loaded with devices designed to entice and entrap prospective readers. Inside the paper, however, graphic elements become more subtle, less decorative. They're there to inform and guide readers, not sell papers. Here are some typical design elements used on inside pages: MORE ON* > Terms: A glossary of newspaper design terms and jargon... 284 Folio ■ A line showing thepage number, date, paper's name, etc. Jump line • Thepage number this story continues from Liftout quote • A quotation from the story given graphic emphasis (also called a pull quote or breakout) Subhead A boldface line of type used to " organize the story and break up gray text Gutter. The white space running vertically between elements on a page Bastard measure Type set in a different width ' than the standard column measure __THE_S^NDAY_aHEGQNIAJ., j LINE 13, 1' a big ten for baseball Japan: Clubs hope when money talks, U.S. players listen-. Not everyone likes Japan's best-loved team -| *as a C Tie Yaiaiuri Clknti. .ripasi. The? iiwau; Is expansion in tie works? Cwilnn^jiünrvrfirnlä I Drysdale's streak was highlight I of 1968 — season of the pitcher, ' A special label set FOR THE RECORD into stories giving Li»' 7,n, T^j'.ir ■ . . " typographic , * • pjfc-rf ItaErat sOeak in ri.inMiii.'L the EiäfB, Drvsdal* nine Vin SenlS, ihm- wivo r,£> traiaiiutf Dajern ruBBs emphasis to '' «tiw!he»iii'lv asww.au sad me art. the topic, title, writer's name, Hi*lHMdcafl iXHjinuiranr ijiv etc. (also called slag*i toriaa- San Francis«. ruJnv W rum a bug or logo) ähKikJ !iavu Hiiara ai inur lis it jfer^ül,^ji*Ha(f™Mll^ Standing head A tote/ used for packaging special stories or features Jump headline A headline treatment reserved for stories jumping from another page (styles vary from paper to paper) Photo credit A line giving the photographer's name (often adding the paper or wire service he or she works for) Text Type for stories set in a standard size and typeface, stacked in columns 'or legs) Sidebar A related story, often boxed, that accompanies the main story Cutoff rule A line used to separate elements on a page Cutout A photo in which the background has been cut away (also called a silhouette) .;. THEFÜiiflffiN' TOOLS OF THE TRADE Page designers used to spend lots of time drawing boxes (to show where photos MORE IS went). And drawing lines (to show where text went). And drawing more boxes it u- -a u a\ \ * The proportion (for graphics, sidebars and logos). wheel: A guide Nowadays, most designers do their drawing on computers. But for sketching to how it works.....283 ideas and working out rough layouts, these old tools of the trade are still handy: Terms: a complete pencils (for drawing lines), rulers (for measuring lines), calculators (for estimat- ?^ °fdesW ^ ing the sizes of those lines and boxes), and that old classic, the proportion wheel ,ars°n (to calculate the dimensions of boxes as they grow larger or smaller). Even if you're a total computer geek, you should know these tools and terms: Pencil: Yes, your basicpencil (with eraser) is usedfor drawing dummies. Designers who draw page dummies with pens are just showing off. VNIH3 )Oiag 0* WW Grease pencil: These are used for making crop marks on photos. Afterward, these markings can easily be rubbed off with cloth. Knife: In some art departments and composing rooms, X-ACTO knives [a brand name! are used for trimming photos, cutting stones and moving items around when pages are assembled — or "pasted up" — before printing. Calculator: Designers often use calculators for sizing photos and computing line lengths in a hurry {unless you're a whiz with fractions). Test yourself: If you have an 18-inch story, and it's divided into 5 columns (or legs) with a map in the second leg that's 3 inches deep - how deep would each leg be? It you're Irving to measure something very short or ■thin, inches are clumsy and imprecise. So printers use picas and points- for precise calibrations. There are 12 points in one pica, 6 picas in one inch--^- or, in all, 72: points in one inch. _ Tins is a 1 -point rule; 72 of these would be one inch thick. Thisfsa I %-/.•('/.'!.' ru'.t. It's 1 pica thick-- (•oftiiese ' would be I imh thick Points* picas and inches are used in different places; Here's what's usually measured with what: Points ♦ Thickness of rules . ♦ Type sizes (cuthnes, headlines, text, etc.) -■ ■♦Allmeasurements -. smaller thanapica Picas ^.Lengths, of fides ♦ Widths of text, photos, cuthnes^:: gutters, eh. Inches ♦ Stoty lengths ♦ Depths of photos and ads (though .some papers use picas foi all photos) 20- 6&12PT. INCHES 'iE-3 ;!-5 %v........ 7 '.S—9 •'—10 .l—ii S=—13 ii—14 ^__17 -19 5"-20 $^25 Izr26 'ii— 27 Í—28 f— 29 ;I—^1 %l—31 f-—35 "*1—fffl lP-37 I—38 !E~39 3_ 40 i—41 *.—43 5—' Pica pole: This is the ruler used in newsrooms. It has inches down one side and picas down the other. You can see, for instance, that 6 picas equal one inch. You can also see that it's 42 picas down to that line at the bottom of this page. .i- Proportion wheel: This handy gizmo is used to calculate proportions. For instance, if a photo is 5 inches wide and 7 inches deep, how deep will it be if you enlarge it to 8 inches wide? Using a proportion wheel can show you instantly. 4*- 0o* TffifOlMSilLS : TOOLS OF THE TRADE Back in the Stone Age (the '80s and '90s), newspapers became |ff}ff£ g| 'p- pioneers in desktop publishing technology, and computers slowly ...... transformed every corner of the newsroom. As new media contin- * import images into ue to evolve, it's essential for every journalist to possess a broad your computer range of computer skills. They're indispensable for: electronically.........122 ♦ Writing and editing stories. In most newsrooms, reporters and * JJJjJ^J^™' editors use networked computers to write, edit and file stories; to color to produce full-conduct interviews (via e-mail); to compose headlines; to search color pages...........222 Internet databases and library archives. * *eb design: An . . li.. ■ entire chapter on how ♦ Designing pages. Today, all print publications are paginated - t0 ^ign news for the that is, pages are created digitally with desktop publishing soft- w<*.....................243 ware. (This book, for instance, was produced using QuarkXPress.) Designing pages for online news sites requires expertise in HTML coding and/or Web design software. ♦ Producing photos and video. Digital cameras and photo-processing software let you control every aspect of an image so reliably that most newsrooms have dispensed with darkrooms entirely. Whether you're preparing photos for print or posting video online, you'll need skill in digital production techniques. ♦ Creating illustrations and graphics. Illustration software makes it easy to draw artwork in any style. And even if you're not an artist, you can buy clip art or subscribe to wire services that provide topnotch graphics you can rework, resize or file for later use. \f>- , , .......-—-- To produce a professional-looking publication, you do need a lot of high-tech toys. Here's the basic hardware that's essential in every newsroom. Storage media: Photos ana design files can quickly fill up a comput""'' '"*ernal memory. That's my newsrooms burn CL >'Ds to A archive images and pages once they've been published. But those disks aren't \ \ necessarily permanent; they can easily be lost or damaged. That's why backing up files to a hard drive — especially one networked to all newsroom computers — usually provides a more convenient and reliable storage option. Scanner: This device is used to reproduce photos or artwork digitally. It scans images like a photo-copying machine, after which you can ) adjust their size, shape and exposure on your computer screen, avoiding the darkroom altogether. For more on scanning, see page 122. Printer: Once you design a page on the computer, how do you view it on paper? Every newsroom uses laser printers like this one: high-resolution devices that output near-professional-qualtty type and graphics. Small papers may send these prints to the pressroom, but most papers use specialized typesetters for that. -21-■- THE FONBÜEüFSLS BASIC TYPOGRAPHY For hundreds of years — since Gutenberg began printing Bibles in the 15th century — type was set by hand. Printing shops had composing rooms where compositors (or typesetters) selected characters individually, then loaded them into galleys one row at a time: a slow and clumsy process. Upper-case boldface serif, 48 point Upper-case, boldface serif, reversed (white on black), 28 point Lower-case cursive, 60 point Before we start examining headlines and text, we need to focus on type itself. After all, consider how many hours you've spent reading books, magazines and newspapers over the years. And all that time you thought you were reading paragraphs and words, you were actually processing long strings of characters, one after another. You're doing it now. Yet like most readers, you surf across these waves of words, oblivious to typographic details. When you listen to music, you absorb it whole; you don't analyze every note (though some musicians do). When you read text, you don't scrutinize every character, either - but some designers do. They agonize over type sizes, spacing, character widths, line lengths. Because when you put it all together, it makes the difference between handsome type and type that lcokslike thi s. All music starts with the 12 notes in the scale. All newspaper design starts with the 26 letters in the alphabet. If you want to understand the difference between Mozart and Metallica, you've got to ask, "How'd they do that with those notes?" If you want to understand the difference between good design and garbage, you've got to ask, "How'd they do that with those letters?" Take the ransom note below. Observe how it bombards you with a variety of sizes, shapes and styles, each with its own unique characteristics: Over time, printers began using machines to set type. A century ago, Linotype keyboards created type slugs from hot metal. In the 1960s, phototypesetters began using film to print typographic characters. And today, computers make typesetting so cheap and easy, almost anyone can create professional-looking type. Lower-case sans serif, 29 point Lower-case serif outline, 46 point Upper-case serif, expanded, 18 point Upper-case sans serif, condensed, 60 point Lower-case serif italic, 51 point Lower-case serif with drop shadow, 36 point THE fllNMENHtS BASIG TYPOGRAPHY TYPE F & FA1 JITS There are thousands of typefaces out there, with names like Helvetica and iUES Hobo, Baskerville and Blippo. Years ago, before printing became computerized, type foundries would cast each typeface in a variety of sizes. And each individual size of type was called a font: ill 61 * Display headlines: Tips on designing creative feature headlines..............212 This is a font — a complete set of characters comprising one specific size, style and weight of typeface, including numbers and punctuation marks. As you can see, this Futura Condensed Bold font contains dozens of characters — and this font is just one member of the Futura family. ABCDEFGHIJKUKN OFQRSTUVWXYZ" ahcdefghijklmii.... \nmi%m...... Upper-case characters Lower-case characters .....Numbers ■ Special characters and punctuation marks All the individual Futura fonts are part of the large Futura family. And many type families (like Futura) include a variety of weights (lightface, regular, boldface) and styles (roman, italic, condensed). Most type families are classified into two main groups: sen/and sans serif. Serif type has tiny strokes, or serifs, at the tips of each letter. The typefaces at right are all members of the Times family — perhaps the most common serif typeface used today. Sans serif type ("sans" means "without" in French) has no serifs. The typefaces at right are all members of the Futura family, one of the most popular sans-serif typefaces used today. This is 18-point Times. This is 18-point Times Italic, 'This is 18-point Times BofcL This is 18-point Times Bold- Hulk, This is 18-poinf Futura. Jhis is 18 point fuhifü Condensed tight Qtiiqati :"..^■.''•'LAjV.v ":■--■.'■<■■■ •: ... ,.^v- ,;;:.:.;k • /••: • :.;X::':':'.-:. ihm is lS^p@lnf P«rä»pai Extra §@liL Serif type families often include a wide variety of weights and styles. Times, however, is crafted in just two weights (regular and bold) and two styles (roman and italic). The Futura family, on the other hand, is available in an extremely wide range of weights (from light to extra bold) and styles (including regular, oblique and condensed). Some typefaces are too eccentric to be classified as either serif or sans serif. Cursive type, for example, mimics hand-lettered script. Novelty type strives for a more quirky, decorative or dramatic personality. Cursive type looks like handwritten script. Ln some families the letters connect; in others they don't. This font is 18-point Diner Script. mm t?w Novelty type adds variety and flavor. It works well in small doses (like headlines, ads and comic strips) but can call a lot of attention to itself. 23 .....TraSAMLS BASIG TYPOGRAPHY IE, E SEE We measure type by point size — that is, the height of the font as calculated in points. (Points, you'll recall, are the smallest unit of printing measurement, with 72 points to the inch.) This sizing system originated in the 18th century, when type was cast in metal or wood. What's curious is this: Back in those olden days, a font's point size measured not the type characters but the printing block that held those characters: Point Size refers to ike height of a font— or more specifically, the height of the slug that held the letters back in the days of metal type. Because those fonts were manufactured only in standard point sizes — 9, 10, 12, 14,18, 24, 30, 36, 48, 60, 72 — those remain common type sizes today. To adjust the space between lines of type, printers added thin strips of lead below each row of wooden slugs. That's why, even today, the spacing between lines of type is called "leading!' I0RE 81 > • Raw-wrap headlines: Using them to keep headlines from butting....................82 ■ Mortises and insets: Guidelines for overlapping photos .....209 Sizing type is a slippery thing because point sizes don't always correspond to reality. A 120-point typeface, for example, is never exactly 120 points tall. And what's more, the actual height of 120-point typefaces often varies from font to font. And then there's x-height, the height of a typical lower-case letter. Fonts with tall x-heights look bigger than those with short x-heights — even when their point sizes are identical: This line of 14-point Bookman looks bigger than this line of 14-point Bernhard Modern. As you can see, some confusing variables come into play when you size a font. But by learning to identify the basic components of type — and how they affect readability — you'll be able to analyze type more intelligently: To estimate the size of a typeface, measure front the top of an ascender to the bottom of'-; a descender. Here, the total. height is 64 points — even though this is actually 72-point Times italic. Serif: The extra strokes.at tlie end of a letta. ' , sit '* Ascender: The part of a letter tliat extends ■ •" above the body of the type X-height: The height of a typical lower- .: case letter (theV). ''Descender: The partof a letterthat extends below the body of the type '• Baseline: The invisible grid line the chatacteis sit on. THEFUHUHENftLS .-. BASIG TYPOGRAPHY Using type right out of the computer is like wearing a suit right off the rack — it won't look its best until you tailor it a bit By tailoring type (adjusting shapes and spaces) you can increase its efficiency, enhance its readability and dramatically alter its personality. Most page-layout software lets you modify type vertically and horizontally. >•..- -<»> Point size: Changing the point size changes the height of a font. The bigger the size, the taller the type: This is 24-point type with 18 points of leading (tight) 30-point 60-point 90-point Leading (pronounced ledding): This is the vertical space between lines of type — more specifically, it's the distance from one baseline down to the next. As you can see, leading can be loosened, adding more space between lines. Or it can be tightened to where ascenders and descenders touch or overlap. Like type itself, leading is measured in points. This is 24-point type with 25 points of leading (normal) This is 24-point type with 42 points of leading (loose) SWS f- - Tracking (or kerning*): Just as you can tighten or loosen the vertical spacing between lines, you can adjust the horizontal space between letters — though even j the slightest changes in tracking can affect the type's readability: This is 24-point type with normal tracking (no extra spacing between characters) This is 24-point type with loose tracking (+40 units between characters) This is 24-point type with tight tracking (-15 units between characters) Set width (or scaling): Computers can stretch or squeeze typefaces as though they're made of rubber — which can look lovely or lousy, depending. Set width is usually expressed as a percentage of the font's original width: This 24-point type has a normal set width (100%) Sill! This 24-point type is condensed, with a narrow set width (50%) «Alfa This 24-point type is expanded, with a wide set width (200%) * Technically, tracking is the overall spacing between all characters in a block of text, while kerning is the reduction of spacing between a pair of letters. For instance, if you kerned these two letters: AW — they'd look like this: AW THErUnDMTäS. THE FOUR BASIC ELEMENTS Newspaper pages are like puzzles — puzzles that can fit together in a number |||; of different ways. Though page designs may seem complex at first, you'll find that just four basic elements — four kinds of puzzle pieces — are essential. And because these four elements get used over and over again, they occupy 90% of all editorial turf. Once you master these four basic building blocks, you've mastered page design. (Well, that's not entirely true.......but it makes the job sound easier, doesn't it?) ,,t>r np p, Utk Uil w The four elements are: ♦ Headlines: the oversized type that labels each story. ♦ Text: the story itself. ♦ Photos: the pictures that accompany stories. ♦ Outlines: the type that accompanies photographs. This is how the page actually printed... ... and this is how we'll represent that page — and the four basic design elements — in this booh Headlines: Sizes, types and writing tips..........................27 Text: Types of type and how they're shaped into legs......30 Photos: The three shapes (vertical, horizontal, square). 32 And a complete chapter on photos and photo spreads Begins on...............109 Outlines: Types and treatments..............34 In the pages ahead, we'll examine each of these elements in brief detail. If you're in a hurry to begin designing pages, you can browse through this material now and come back to it when you need it. 26- ~ni|in -TTf ""ft HEADLINES When you study a page like the one at right -which probably happens every time you stand in a supermarket checkout line — there's one thing that leaps out, that grabs you, that sucks you in and suckers you into digging down / into your pocket, yanking out some chan and buying the thing: The headlines. Headlines can be mighty powerful, In fact, they're often the strongest weapon in your design arsenal. Stories can be beautifully written, photos can be vivid and colorful — but neither is noticeable from 10 feet away the way headlines are. You may never write head' lines as strange and tacky as these tabloid headlines are (although to give credit where it's due, notice how cleverly crafted they are). If you stick strictly to design, you *"*":**s:j„„ may never even write heads at all (since *^ most headlines are written by copy editors). But you still need to know what headlines are, where they go, and what styles and sizes are available. Though J J this page * has little to do with «■ serious if journalists like • * us, you've got ' to admit those Futura headlines are compelling. WRITING Because this is a book on design, not copy editing, we won't rehash all the rules 1111 °' S°°d headline writing. But we'll hit the highlights, which are: HEADLINES * Keep them conversational. Write the way people speak. Avoid pretentious jargon, odd verbs, omitted words (Solons hint bid mulled). As the stylebook for The St. Petersburg Times warned, "Headlines should not read like a telegram." ♦ Write in present tense, active voice. Like this: President vetoes tax bill. Not President vetoed tax bill or Tax bill vetoed by president. ♦ Avoid bad splits. Old-time copy-deskers were fanatical about this. And though things are looser these days, you should still try to avoid dangling verbs, adjectives or prepositions at the end of a line. Instead of this: Try this: Sox catch Sox catch up with Yankees Yankees in playoffs Above all, headlines should be accurate and instantly understandable. If you can improve a headline by leaving it a little short or by changing the size a bit, do it. Headline effectiveness always comes first. Remember, headlines serve four functions on a newspaper page: □ They summarize story contents. B They entice readers into the text. S They prioritize stories, since bigger □ They anchor story designs to help stories get bigger headlines. organize the page. MÍUNME8TÍ.LS...... HEADLINES FYPE8 OF ElkiES This headline is from The New York Sun of April 13,1861. Papers often wrote a dozen decks like this before finally starting the story. Why no wide horizontal headlines in those days? Because those old type-revolving presses locked metal type into blocks to print each page. Type set too wide would come loose and fly off the cylinder as the presses spun around. THE LATEST HEWS. »r 7BLWA1PM TO IBX J. r. JW. Civil War Begun! THE MADNESS OF TREASON. FORTSUMTER ATTACKED! FURIOUS BOHBARDMBJIT. GALLANT MFENCE OF THE FORT. " Oar ria» fs SUU That ' —*—. Arrival of the Relief Fleet! A century ago, most newspaper headlines: ♦ Mixed typefaces at random. ♦ Combined all caps and lower case. ♦ Were centered horizontally. ♦ Stacked layers of narrow decks atop one another, with rules between each deck. Todays headlines, by comparison: ♦ Are generally written downstyle (that is, using normal rules of capitalization). ♦ Run flush left. ♦ Are usually wide rather than narrow. ♦ Use decks optionally, as in this example: Hula hoops have Americans all a-twirl . That '60s craze : is back and it's ■ hotter than ever — That's called a banner headline, and it's the standard way to write a news headline. But it's not the only way. Below are some alternatives, headline styles that go in and out of fashion as time goes by. (These headlines all use Franklin Gothic.) Kickers Kickers lead into headlines by using a word or phrase to label topics or catch your eye. They're usually much smaller than the main head, set in a contrasting style or weight. A (XAZF MAKES A COMEBACK Hula hoops are on a roll Hoop-la Hula hoops are sweeping trie nation this summer Hammers Hammers use a big, bold phrase to catch your eye, then add a lengthier deck below. They're effective and appealing, but they're usually reserved for special stories or features. Slammers Who dreams up these nutty names? This two-part head uses a boldface word or phrase to lead into a contrasting main headline. Some papers limit these to special features or jump head- Hula hoops: A hot new hit HULA HOOPS: They were riot in the '60s, Tripods This head comes in three parts: a bold word or phrase (often all caps) and two lines of deck squaring off alongside. Like most gimmicky heads, it usually works better for features than for hard news. Raw wraps Most headlines covet-all the text below; this treatment lets text wrap alongside. It's a risky idea — but later on, we'll see instances where this headline style comes in handy. Hula hoops are circling the nation Hula hoops are circling the nation this summer Sidesaddle heads This style lets you park the head beside, rather than above, the story. It's best for squeezing a story — preferably, one that's boxed — into a shallow horizontal space. Can be flush left, flush right or centered. THE FUNOAMEHTfiLS HEADLINES TO SIZE HUES i A PA6E If we had to generalize about headline sizes, we could say that small headlines range from 12- to 24-point; midsize headlines range from 24- to 48-point; large headlines range upward from 48-poiht. Beyond that, it's difficult to generalize about headline sizes. Some papers like them big and bold, while others prefer them small and elegant. Headlines in tabloids are often smaller than headlines in broadsheets (though not always). Still, this much is true: Since bigger stories get bigger headlines, headlines will generally get smaller as you move down the page. Here are some examples: Uvuvuvuvu uy Vuvuvy Page One in a broadsheet M 30-36 point Psf 36-42 point fjjk 24-30point Q 30-36 point Uvuvuvu VU I1VUV UVHV1IV Uvuvuvuvu uy Vuvuvuvuy uvuv Uvuuiivii . uvuuuv UvuviMMj uy Vuvuvuvuuy i Page One in a tabloid jjj 36-60point Q.' 18-30 point |ij 24-36 point Q 18-24 pomt ||]| 24-36 point: > Butting headlines: When it's permissible and how it works.... 79 Standing heads: How they differ from headlines...............145 > Display headlines: Treatments that add variety and graphic pizazz to feature headlines...............212 «II si a i fir Uf [iff S ii HEADLINE Traditionally, newspapers have used a coding formula for headlines that lists: 1) the column width, 2) the point size and 3) the number of lines. Using that formula, a 3-30-1 headline would be a 3-column, 30-point headline that runs on one line, like this: Rock 'n' roll causes acne, doctor says (Not shown actual size) Headlines for news stories usually run on top of the text. That means a wide story needs a wide headline; a narrow story needs a narrow one. So in a narrow layout, that headline above could be rewritten as a 1-30-3 (1 column, 30-point, 3 lines deep): Since 5-10 words are optimum for most headlines, narrow stories may need 3-4 lines of headline to make sense; wide headlines can work in a line or two. The chart below will give you an idea of how many lines usually work best: Rock 'n' roll causes acne, doctor says If headline is this wide (in columns): Then make it this deep (in lines): ilk TP THE FUNDAMENTALS. Text is the most essential building block of newspaper design. It's the gray matter that communicates the bulk of your information. But text doesn't have to look gray and dull. You can manipulate a wide range of typographic components to give text versatility and personality. Take this music review, for instance: Typeface & size These record titles use 9-point Futura • Condensed (note the variety of styles: bold, italic, all-cap, etc.). The text uses 9-point Utopia — a common , size for newspaper text. Leading The text uses 10points of leading. Since it's 9-point type, that means • there's one point of space between descenders and ascenders. Tracking & set width We've tightened the tracking just a bit (-2), • so the characters nearly touch. And the set width is slightly condensed (95%). Paragraph indents . The first line of each new paragraph is indented 9 points. Hanging indents In a way, these are the opposite of paragraph indents. The first line is ■ flush left; all subsequent lines are indented to "hang" along the edge of those black bullets (or dingbats). Extra leading We've added 8 points of extra leading here ■ between the end of one review and the start of the next. There's also 3 points of extra leading-between the boldface title info and the text that follows. BITE WE LIKE A DOG * Toe Jam (Nosebleed Records)*** Looking Tor some tunes ■■■that'll make:yoiir-uaralrums bleed and suck: 50 points off your I.Q.? ■ ■ • • Grab yourself some Toe Jam. On "Bite Mo Like a Dog,-' these five, veteran Seattle death-metal-mongers unleash 14 testosterone-drenched blasts of molten sonic fury, from the opening salvo of;''tost My Lunch" to _ the gut-wrenching closer, "Can't Love ' You Xo More I'C.w/ fin Dead)." I«ad vocalist Axl Spandex has never sounded more saianie titan on die eerie "Sdrawkcab Ti Yalp." Of course,, (lie big queslioii for every Toe Jam fan will be: Does this record match their 200^ classic, v "Suckadelic Lunchhucket'? Sadly, no. But really, whai could? —Forrest Ranger THE VILLAGE IDIOTS UNPLUGGED The Village Idiots (Doohs Music Group) * ... VVhal awesome potential this hand : has! You-d have,to.be living in a eave on some, remote -planet: not to. remember.how the music biz was abuzz last year when these:rock legends Joined forces; refugees from such stellar supergroups as: ♦ Mirk O. Teen arid The Couch •-•Potatoes; ♦ MenWithBelts; -f Potbelly; and, of course, + Ben Dover and Your Silvery Moonbeams. What a letdown, then, to hear this dreck. One listening to. "Thevrllage Idiots Unplugged" and it's your .stereo you'll want unplugged,; ;: . —Ruby Slippers HOG KILUN' TIME Patsy Alabama (Big Hoir Records)**** ' ..Some still call her:"The Memphis. Madonna.1' But Patsy Alabama: now swears her days as "The Cuddle- : Bunny of Country Music"-.-"are- over. IN YOUR REVIEWS, PREVIEWS & MUSICAL MUSINGS And with her new record — and her new band, llie Koeky.'.Mountain Oysters - she proves it. Patsy's songwriting is .a wonder: sweet, sassy and so doggone power ■ ful. In the waltzy weeper "I Love When You 1 landle My Love 1 landles," she croons: • •. • Some nights are rainbows »■• ...•>•"•• Some are cartoons . And some call you softly to how! at the moon © 2007. Millie Moose Music, inc.'- *•—• ■..«•.- - • • Aw, shucks: That gal will dang near bust your heart. TSuv some hankies. Then buy this record. —Demon Fender. ROCKS IN rOUR SOCKS Ducks Deluxe (HSIl-Polygroph)** .....;................. If die idea of a 22-piece accordion orchestra appeals to you — playing, such pnlka-fied rock classics as "American Idiot", fronted by a vocalist named Dinah: Sore, whose fingers nails-on-thc^blaekboard scroixhings make Yoko Ono sound like Barbra Streisand — :hen frier.d. this is your • lucky day. I or the rest of you, avoid tliis sonic spewage like the plague. — C. Spotnm NEWS & NOTES: The April 14 benefit for Window-Peckers Anonymous has been canceled. . . . Rapper Aaron • Tyres will sign autographs at noon Sunday af Hie liaco Pit____The Grim Reapers are looking for a dnimnier. Interested? Call :i5,i-fi.in9. Col u music 7tews nugget? A trivia question? A cure.for the common cold?:. E-mail us at news@myourear.com. Sans serif type Papers often use sans-serif faces to distinguish graphics, logos and sidebars from the main text. This Futura font is centered, all caps, and reversed (white type on ' a dark background). Italic type is used w emphasize words — as in "powerful" here. It's " also used for editor's notes (below), foreign words or literary excerpts —for instance, • these song lyrics. Agate type Tine print set in 5- or ' 6-point. Also used for sports scores and stocks. Flush right type runs ' flush to the right edge of the column. • Flush left type runs flush to the left edge oj the column. Many papers also run cutlines and news briefs flush left (ragged right). Justified type The text has straight margins on both the right and left edges. Boldface type Boldface is often used to , highlight key words or names. It's irritating in large doses, however. Editor's note This uses Utopia — , but note how the extra leading, italics and ragged-right style set it apart from the text. 30 TEXT Newspapers measure stories in inches, A news brief might be just 2 inches long; a major investigative piece might be 200. But since one inch of type set in a wide leg is greater than one inch of type in a narrow leg, editors avoid confusion by assuming all text will be one standard width (that's usually around 12 picas). You can design an attractive newspaper without ever varying the width of your text. Sometimes, though, you may decide that a story needs wider or narrower legs. Those non-standard column widths are called bastard measures. Generally speaking, text becomes hard to follow if it's set in legs narrower than 10 picas. It's tough to read, too, if it's set wider than 20 picas. The ideal depth for text is between 2 and 10 inches per leg. Shorter than that, legs look shallow and flimsy; longer than that, they become thick gray stacks. (We'll fine-tune these guidelines in the pages ahead.) # Story designs using only text........48 * Text shapes: How to choose the best configurations when dummying stories... 53 <& Page designs using only text..................78 SHAPING TEXT INTO COLUM* Text is flexible. When you design a story, you can bend and pour the text into different vertical and horizontal configurations, as these examples show: Suppose you have a 12-inch story. It can be designed as one leg 12 inches deep.. OR It can also be doubled up into two equal legs, each 6 inches OR Note how the text seems shorter (and more readable) as it widens. It can become three legs, each 4 inches deep. .. OR It can be four legs, 3 inches deep... OR It can even be spread into six legs, each 2 inches deep. It can be five legs, each 2.4 inches deep... Yes, math is often involved in page design, especially when you calculate story lengths and shapes. You'll find you need a sense of geometry and proportion — an understanding of how changing one element in a story's design affects every other element. Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Viivuvuvu uvuvu Here's that same 12-inch story — but now it wraps around a photograph. Can you see how, if the photo became, deeper, each column of text would need to get deeper, tool MFüMEäTäLS PHOTOS There's nothing like a photograph to give a newspaper motion and emotion. As you can see in these classic images from pages of the past, photojournalism lies at the very heart of newspaper design: Vůí FUNBAffiMS. PHOTOS Every picture tells a story, and every story deserves a picture. Today's readers |f Qfjf j}| ► are so spoiled by TV and magazines that they now expect photos — color photos, ""'„ f i i , r * Horizontals: yet — to accompany nearly every story they read. rips on sizing and Now, you may not have the space for that many photos. You may not have designing....''............54 enough photographers to shoot that many photos. And printing full color may be # Verticals: financially impossible. dti rin^^ 57 But try your best. Add photos everv chance vou get. Without them, you simply v j i- i_v ' # Plus: A complete cant produce an appealing publication. chapter on photos, m THE T! PHOTO SHAPES HI Vertical Vertical shapes are often considered more dynamic than either squares or horizontals. But verticals can be trickier to design than squares or horizontals. Because they're so deep, they often seem related to any stories parked alongside — even if they're not. It sounds obvious, but news photos come in three basic shapes. Each of those shapes has its strengths and weaknesses. And each is best suited to certain design configurations. The three shapes are rectangular: horizontal, vertical and square. Square Squares are sometimes considered the dullest of the three shapes. In fact, some page designers and photographers avoid squares whenever they can. Remember, though, that the content of a photo is more important than its shape. Accept each photo on its own terms and design it onto the page so it's as strong as possible —■ whatever its shape. 33 Horizontal This is the most common shape for news photos. We view the world horizontally through our own eyes, and when you pick up a camera, this is the shape you instantly see — though some subjects (like basketball players and space shuttle launches) may demand a vertical composition. MHNMNBITALS OUTLINES It's a typical morning. You're browsing through the newspaper. Suddenly, you come face to face with a photo that looks like this: You look at the pig. You look at the men. You look at the bulldozer. You look back at the pig. You wonder: What's going on here? Is it funny? Cruel? Bizarre? Is that pig doomed? Fortunately, there's a cutiine below the photo. It says this: Highway workers use a loader to lift Mama, a 600-pound sow, onto a truck Monday on Interstate 84 near Lloyd Center. The pig fell from the back of the truck on its way to the slaughterhouse. It took the men two hours to oust the ornery oinker. Ahhhh. Now it makes sense. Sure, every picture tells a story. But it's the cutiine's job to tell the story behind every picture: who's involved, what's happening, when and where the event took place. A well-written cutiine makes the photo instantly understandable and tells readers why the photo — and the story— are important. OUTLINE Outlines are quite different from text. And to make that difference clear to IPE STYLES readers,most newspapers run cutlines in a different typeface than text. Some use boldface, so cutlines will "pop" as readers scan the page. Some use italic, for a more elegant look. Some use sans serifs, to contrast with serif text. (This book uses a serif italic font — Minion — tor its cutlines.) President George W. Bush welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to the White House Thursday as the two leaders begin three days of talks. President George W. Bush welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to the White House Thursday as the two leaders begin three days of talks. Willi SUMMIT BEGINS — President George W. Bush welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to the White House Thursday as the two leaders begin three days of talks. 34 THE FMENIILS. . OUTLINES How long should outlines be? Long enough to describe, briefly, all significant details in the photo. Some photos are fairly obvious and don't require much explanation. Others (old historical photos, works of art, photos that run without stories) may need lengthy descriptions. And what about photos of clubs or teams? Should every face — all 19 of them — be identified? Most newspapers set guidelines for such occasions, so it's hard to generalize. But remember that readers expect cutlines to offer quick hits of information. So don't overdo it. Where do you dummy cutlines? On news pages, they generally run below each photo. But for variety, especially on feature pages, cutlines can also run beside and between photos, as shown below: The Bugle-Beacon/PAT MINNIEAR Cu dines below photos usually align along both edges of the photo. They should never extend beyond either edge. Some papers set extra-wide outlines in two legs, since they can be difficult to read. (For more on this, see page 43.) Another rule of thumb: In wide cutlines, be sure the last line extends at least halfway across the column. This line barely makes it. mwm±................ Mug Shots: They've got their own style of cutlines...............50 v Photo spreads: Outline treatments and placement......127 BESI0F. This cutline h set flush right along the edge of the photo. (Notice how ragged left type is somewhat annoying to read.) Try to dummy sidesaddle cutlines along the outside of the page. That way, the cutlines won't butt against any text type, which could confuse your readers and uglify your page. This ragged right cutline is flush left against the photo and flush to the bottom. And it's too thin. Cutlines usually need to be at least 6 picas wide. If they're narrow, they shouldn't be very deep. EIIEE8 Ideally, every photo should have its own cutlme. But photos can also share one common cutline, as these two do. Just be sure you make it clear which photo (at left or at right) you're discussing. And make sure the cutline squares off at either the top or bottom. Don't just let it float. (Notice how this cutline is justified on both sides.) TiffOIDMimiS DRAWING A DUMMY How can you show your colleagues, in advance, where stories will go on a page? Or what size headlines should be? Or where the photos go? Mental telepathy? No. You draw a dummy. In years past, dummies were an essential step in the news production process. Editors would draw dummies, print out all the pieces — the photos, cutlines, headlines and text — then paste everything together in a composing room using the dummy as a guide. Even today, some publication designers still mark up page dummies, then give them to paginators who assemble the elements electronically. Depending upon your newsroom, then, page dummies may range from quick thumbnail sketches to highly detailed diagrams. Either way, most dummies are drawn in pencil on paper that's smaller than the printed page, but accurately proportioned — so that, if your design calls for a thin vertical photo, it'll maintain the proper shape on the dummy. Here's an example that shows how a typical dummy becomes a finished page. MORE OS • Modular design: Want to see how this page would look if the story elements were rearranged? Turn to page...........81 This is where pages begin. An editor or designer draws a series of lines and boxes to indicate where photos, cutlines, headlines and text will go. This page is pretty simple: not too many stories or extras. Sports America's Cup is on for September Safety's wish is granted Hams cwva umiusB Mitchell's homer sinks Dodgers »*lr~-*r'?S McCaskdl, Angels '„ * « tfjp: come out on top, 2-1 And here's how that dummy translated into print. Note how every story jumps (continues on another page). That makes the page easier to build, since text can be cut according to the diagram on the dummy. THE FyHBSBEHULS DRAWING A DUMMY WHAT EVERY MOD DUMMY SHOULD SHOW Every newspaper has its own system for drawing dummies. Some, for instance, size photos in picas. Others use inches, or a combination of picas and inches. Some papers use different colored pens for each different design element (boxes, photos, text). Some use wavy lines to indicate text, while others use arrows — or nothing at all. Whatever the system, make your dummies as complete and legible as you can. Be sure that every dummy contains: '. or section headers, if any' Column logos, sigs or bugs, • clearly labeled Any rules, boxes or borders, • clearly marked Sizes and slugs for all art (photos, maps, charts, etc.), with cropping'' instructions, if necessary Cutlines and credit lines for allphotos Story name (or slug) and column width, . if it's in a bastard measure; slug can be circled for emphasis Arrows or lines to show position and • movement of text Any special instructions to others who may • need advice on photos, story deadlines, text lengths, etc. CftY 5UNPAY SECTION METRO EDITION .4_PAGE METKQ^IjWhgai v 4-4Ö-1 bold \ I .,., SOULE 1-30-3 m 24 pt. flv V 30-3 rm. -16-5 deck W ^ V, , it \ - Page number, date and edition {if applicable) Liftout quotes or other secondary graphic elements (if ■ generated separately from the main story, include their name or slug) fump lines, including • page number where text will continue Headlines, clearly coded (with deck codes, if necessary) Anti-crime plan packs double load 440CM:''. : --j ■5000-Vo f An Oregon ranch dream diu -TiAsr-T I be / «.t\on. air tern. r.v so-■ 3' Prayer marchers seek Gods help DRAWING A DUMMY Drawing a dummy isn't an exact science. Stories don't always fit the way you |1[}f|£ §jf p> want. And even when you're dead certain you've planned everything perfectly, ""M"'t'.V'.' you'll inevitably find yourself fudging here .and there once you start finessing the options to try when final ingredients. stories turn out too So relax. When it's time to fine-tune a page, you can always trim a photo. Plug short or t0° lmS......96 in a liftout quote. Write a bisser headline. Change a deck. Shuffle ads around. Cut * One. a case • , r i ^ r, ,\ study: A step-by-step an inch or two from the story. Or (horrors!) start over. ;00j- at the front-page But remember: It's tempting to bypass dummy-drawing and, instead, noodle design process..........90 aimlessly on the computer for hours until you discover the solution. Wrong. Big waste of time. You'll usually work more efficiently if you first draw up a dummy — or at least a detailed sketch — before you start assembling the real thing. AN EXAMPLE OF HOW DUMMYING I et's take u finished layout and build a dummy from it — a reverse of .......... the usual procedure. That way, yon can see how the different parts of a dummy work together . lo create« finished page. iff*?* WW v* ^ Sfc. Vaga^.^ The Oregonian / KRAIG SCATTARELLA Highway workers use a loader to lift Mama, a 600-pound sow, onto a truck Monday on Interstate 84 near Lloyd Center. The pig fell from the truck on the way to slaughter. Freeway closed for two hours as ornery oinker hogs traffic Westbound traffic on Interstate 84 near the Lloyd Center exit was backed up for nearly two miles early Monday when a 600-pound hog on the way to slaughter fell from the back of a truck. For nearly two hours, the sow refused to budge. Fred Mickelson told police that he was taking six sows and a boar from his farm in Lyle, Wash., to a slaughterhouse in Carlton when Mama escaped. "I heard the tailgate fall off, and I looked back and saw her standing in the road," Mickelson said with a sigh. "I thought: 'Oh, no. We've got some real trouble now.'" Mickelson said Mama was "pretty lively" when she hit the ground, lumbering between cars and causing havoc on a foggy day. There were no automobile accidents, however. After about an hour of chasing the pig with the help of police, Mickelson began mulling over his options, which included having a veterinarian tranquil-ize the hog. About 10 a.m., a crew of highway workers arrived and decided to use a front-end loader to pick up the sow and load her back into the truck. -38---- nJEFUiftMMS . DRAWING A DUMMY STEP BY STEP; WTO DRAW D: Measure all the elements in that story on the preceding page, and this is : what you'll find: ♦ Text: The text is in two legs. Each leg is 12 picas and 2 points wide — often written 12p2 (which is a common column width for newspaper text). Each leg Is 2 inches deep. The whole story, then, is 4 inches long. ♦ Headline: Measure from the top of an ascender to the bottom of a descender, and you'll find it's a 24-point headline. There are two lines, with a slight space between lines. So the whole headline is roughly 48 points (4 picas) deep. ♦ Photo: We usually measure photo widths in picas or columns. (This one is two columns wide — or 25p4.) And though some papers measure photo depths in inches, it's better to use picas. (This photo is 18 picas deep.) ♦ Outline: Note the spacing above and below this outline. From the bottom of the photo to the top of the headline is roughly half an inch: 3 picas. • Basic terms: Definitions of terms like picas and points....................20 • Headlines: How they're measured and how to code them ... 27 0Suppose we want to design this story into the top ! left corner of a page. Grab a blank dummy sheet. Find the two left-hand columns. Move up to the top, and we'll begin drawing in the elements. At the top of the page, draw a box to represent the photo. Make it two columns wide; count down 3 inches for the depth. Run a big "X" into the corners. (The "X" is a traditional way to indicate this is a photo, not an ad or a box for another story.) Always remember to write . the size of the photo. In ;......... ■ this case, it's 2 columns \ wide, IS picas deep —"] or 2 X18, for short.................... BNext comes the cutline. There are different ways to indicate cutlines on dummies, but here's how we'll do it: Calculate how many lines of cutline there'll be (in this case, two). Allowing a little air under the photo, draw a line where the bottom of the cutline will be. Here, it's about a half-inch below the photo. When a photo needs \ aphoto credit (the . photographer's name ..... in small print), indicate it with a line here. 0: Now dummy a 2-24-2 headline. Most designers ; just draw a horizontal line and jot down the headline code — and that's quick and easy. But you might want to imitate the feel of the headline by drawing either a row of X's or a squiggly horizontal wave to represent each line of headline. Then write the headline code at the beginning of the line. Allow a few picas of space between the cutline and the headline. Like this: .. This effect is easy to do: . ' just waggle your pencil up ' and down, back and forth ■ along the edge of a ruler. Finally, indicate where the text goes. There are many ways to do this: straight lines, wavy lines, arrows. Some papers just leave blank space. For now, let's use a directional line. Write the name (or slug) of the story where the text begins; under it, draw a line down the center of the leg. When you reach the bottom of the leg, jog the line up (the way your eye moves) to the top of the next leg. This will trace the path of the text, like so: : 2 : 3 : 6 j...........| y 1 Some papers draw a tittle slash at the bottom of this line to show you've hit the end of the story. ........ MFWHMS. A SAMPLE DUMMY: BROADSHEET This is a typical page dummy for a 6-column broadsheet newspaper. Most tabloids, on the other hand, are roughly half this size. Many use a 5-column format (see facing J How dummies work: ♦ The numbers along the left margin show inches measured down from the top of the page. The entire page, as you can see, is 21% inches ♦ The numbers along the right margin show inches measured up from the bottom of the page. These are useful for dummying ads. ♦ The vertical lines represent columns. A 6-column photo, for instance, would be as wide as the entire page. ♦ Each horizontal line represents an inch of depth. A leg of text that's 1 inch deep would take up just one of those segments. Need a dummy? You'll need lots of blank page dummies like this to do the exercises at the end of each chapter. Feel free to duplicate this dummy as often as you like if no others are available for you to practice on. But better yet: Create a page dummy like this that's customized for your newspaper. 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 -21 -20 -19 ■18 -17 ■ 16 ■15 ■ 14 ■13 -12 ■ 11 ■10 -4 -2 40 THE FtUMKEKULS A SAMPLE DUMMY: TABLOID 4-- 0- 1- 2- 3- 4- M0Í1E 01 ► 13 12 11 10 <& Grids: What they are - and the differences between broadsheets and tabloids,...........76 Dummies such as these show the basic grid pages use. And as we'll see later, the grid is the underlying pattern that organizes each page into columns. You'd use this dummy, for example, to design tabloid pages on a 5-column grid - but that's not the only grid that tabloids use. Some use 4,6, 7, 8, even 9 columns. But a 5-column grid is probably the most common tab format. MFMMEtfflta . TROUBLESHOOTING Quick answers to questions frequently asked by designers perplexed about the design fundamentals: I've been J^f ' true? If I i been told that newspapers should only use three typefaces. Is that ' not, how many typefaces does a newspaper need? There's no magic number when it comes to typefaces. In fact, there's no simple formula for type selection at all. With so many fonts so readily available these days, it's easy to mix and match typefaces until you find the combination that suits your paper's personality. For instance, look at these two contrasting options: H Sports Who lei the flogs out? IP SPORTS KHOltlfflEDOGS OUT? F3,sm,>ir (ti'buiiLin !W-.: h,t>. It doesn't matter if you win or lose, Eagles trounce Mudhogs, 54-3 ♦ wanton scores tliree touchdowns as Unattrt wins its ihm! blmvcrut tilts season "We deceived to win. W'e o^ncj a fti£ ton (,/ whtiap-ass ■ Since readers' eyes (and bodies) deteriorate as they age, consider how aged your audience is. Student publications often run 8-point text. But if you've got readers over the age of 50, take pity on them. Run tests (on actual newsprint) to find a font and size that seems attractive — and that all your readers can actually read. For more on testing text type, see page 241. 42 : TH[F01»NIBLS: TROUBLESHOOTING j At our newspaper, we run cutlines in two or three legs under wide horizontal photos. Is that a good ideaP Though that sounds like a good idea in theory — keeping outlines readable by running them in narrow legs — in reality, it can cause readers to stumble as they hop from leg to leg. Since most cutlines are only a sentence or two, it's easier to follow them if they use just a few lines of wide type. See for yourself: At some papers, this is into columns to keep out like this, and the Instead, we recommend running the cutline the full width of the photo. Yes, it's the style for wide cutlines from running too wide, words collide from leg to wider than you might ordinarily choose to run text type — but readers can easily — justified type arranged But the type often spaces leg. It gets too confusing. track a cutline like this if it's not too deep. And it looks a lot less confusing. 0 I We're a small newspaper an a tight budget. 1 What software do we need to put out a well-designed newspaper? You need fonts, of course. And virus protection. And assorted utilities to keep your system running smoothly. But to produce a complete publication, you need: ♦ A page-layout program like InDesign or QuarkXPress. Basic word-processing programs create simple layouts but don't provide the design control you need. ♦ A drawing program like Freehand or Illustrator, which is useful for creating charts, maps and artwork. (Even if you use clip art because you don't have an artist on staff, you'll need these programs to manipulate those images.) ♦ A photo-processing program like Photoshop for editing digital images. That's all you really need. If there's money left over in the budget, spend it on software training, so you can maximize the potential of those programs. At our paper, copy editors often condense headlines electronically to make to make them fit better. Is that a bad idea? You mean, taking a headline like this — — and squeezing it like this? Coach admits: Yes, I'm an idiot Coach admits: Yes, I'm as idiot Some papers do that. They do it with text type, too, to make stories fit. But it looks seriously unprofessional. Don't do it. Please. Code your headlines and text so they're typographically excellent — the tracking, leading, scaling — and don't mess with them. If a headline won't fit, rewrite it so it does. Leave the type alone. 0 What hardware, software and typefaces did you use to produce this book? ♦ Hardware: A Macintosh G5 with a 23-inch monitor; the scanning was done on an industrial-strength Heidelberg Nexscan flatbed and a Celsis drum scanner. ♦ Software: QuarkXPress for layout; Photoshop for imaging; TypeStyler for crafting special type effects (like that"Q" above). ♦ Fonts: Minion for text and cutlines; Bureau Grotesque for headlines, page headers and subheads; Frutiger Condensed for graphics and sidebars. . THEFUHBMIMS ........■ :. EXERCISES Q Approximately what size ANSWERS** zee is the big type below?. ■.SÖÜÄRT; Domt size on □ Fill in the blanks below L3; with the correct typographic terms: The extra strokes at the end of a letter. The part of a letter that extends above the body of the type. The height of a typical lowercase letter. The part of a letter that extends below the body of the type. Examine the headline below. What is the: Weight_ Point size (within 3 points). The invisible grid line the characters sit on. Whasssuppp? BUsing the correct typographic terminology, what three things have we now done to that line above? 74 . TifilMfffiS EXERCISES 0Examine the type at right. Identify k five significant type characteristics. W Here is another typographic brain-teaser l._ 2.. 3. 4.. 5. What four things have we done to 8 that boxed type in question 5? 1.. 2. BWhat are the pica dimensions of that box in question 5?_ How thick is the border ' * of that box in question 5?. What are the four differences between the column on the left and the column on the right? Best picture: "The Departed" Best actor: Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland" Best actress: Helen Mirren in "The Queen" • Best picture: "The Departed" • Best actor: Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland" • Best actress: Helen Mirren in "The Queen" 1.. 2. THE FilBMOTlS EXERCISES Below is a three-column news story. Using the dummy sheet below, draw a dummy for this layout. (Be sure to include headline coding.) Crazed pig closes freeway again '" '1t%*' IMWW|t,";T"iiir----- Tha Orsgonian/KRAIQ SCATTARELLA Highway workers use a loader to lift Mama, a 600-pound sow, onto a truck Monday on Interstate 84 near Lloyd Center. The pig fell off the truck on the way to slaughter. For the second time, an ornery oinker causes chaos on the highway Mama is one freedom-loving hog. Twice in the same day, Mama broke free from her captors and bolted for daylight. Twice in the same day, she created massive traffic jams. And twice she was dragged, kicking and squealing,back into captivity. Westbound traffic on Interstate 84 near Lloyd Center was backed up for two miles Monday when Mama, a 600-pound hog on the way to slaughter, fell from the back of a truck. For nearly two hours, the sow refused to budge. Fred Mickelson told police that he was taking six sows and a boar from his farm in Lyle, Wash., to a slaughterhouse in Carlton when Mama escaped. "I heard the tailgate fall off, and I looked back and saw her standing in the road," Mickelson said with a sigh. "1 thought: 'Oh, no. We've got some real trouble now.'" Mickelson said Mama was "pretty lively" when she hit the ground, lumbering between cars and causing havoc on a foggy day. There were no automobile accidents, however. After about an hour of chasing the pig with the help of police, Mickelson began mulling over his options, which included having a veterinarian tranquilize the hog. About 10 a.m., a crew of highway workers arrived and decided to use a front-end loader to pick up the sow and load her back into the truck. "-ft ■I Uvuvuuuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuwuvvii wmm Headlines, text, photos, cutlines. Those are the basic pieces in the great Newspaper Design Puzzle. Over the years, page designers have tried assembling their puzzles in every conceivable way. Some solutions worked. Others didn't. In the pages ahead, we'll show you what works, what doesn't and what comes close. You may think there are thousands of design combinations for every story and every page, but there are really just a few basic formats you can count on. And those formats are well worth knowing. In this chapter, we'll show you the different shapes a story can take, whether it's: ♦ a story without art; ♦ a story with a mug shot; ♦ a story with a large photograph; ♦ a story with two photographs. Later on, we'll show you how to combine stories to make a page. But first things first. There's a lot of information in the pages ahead. Don't try to absorb it all at once. Many of these examples were designed to be "swipeable," so the next time you're laying out pages, look through the section that applies, explore your options and choose a format that fits the bill. You'll soon begin to understand why some layouts succeed and others fail. 4- Stories without art: Design options for stories that consist only of headlines and text........48 * Mug shots: Design options for stories that add a mug shot to the text.......................50 i- Text shapes: A look at the different configurations text blocks should take..........53 <> One horizontal photo: Options for stories using horizontal art...............54 S1PTEI WESTS * One vertical photo: Options for stories using vertical art............57 * The dominant photo: How to select lead art when stories use two or more photos..............60 * Big vertical, small horizontal: Design options for two-photo stories...........62 * Big horizontal, small vertical: More design options for two-photo stories...........64 Two verticals: Still more design options for two-photo stories............................66 « Two horizontals: Yet even more design options for two-photo stories............................68 * Adding mug shots: Tips for adding mugs to stories with a dominant photo..............................70 Troubleshooting...........71 * Exercises......................73 11111111 1111 WiM STORY DESIGN STORIES WITHOUT ART Here's a typical section front from the Portland Press Herald in Maine. There's a huge fire photo in the center of the page (but the text of that story is on the next page). One other story uses one photo — and the other three stories, along with the news briefs, use only headlines and text. When you turn the page... In a typical newspaper — whether it's The New York Times or a rural weekly — about 70% of the stories run without any art, 25% use just one piece of art (a photo, chart or map), and only 5% use two-or more pieces of art. Something like this: MORE Win (rev shows willpower at eaterv ^"^part jTesmn Iqbbiej for James O. Slame stamp tori ccuiuy; Sue found to house families of sick kids So relax. Most of the stories you'll design will consist of just headlines and text. And since there are only a few ways to design stories without art, it's hard to goof them up. Basically, when you combine headlines and text, they tend to move along the page either vertically or horizontally: ■' Designing pages without art: Tips and techniques for creating attractive pages when photos aren't available.......78 ... on the second page of that section there's another fire photo (this time with text). That top story adds a map and a sidebar. All the other elements on the page use only text: the news story in the top left corner; the four jump stories (continued from the previous page); the calendar along the bottom. Stories run vertically when the headline is on top, the text drops straight down below it— and that's that until the text ends. Uvuvuv vuvuv uvuvuy Uvuvuvuviiy uvuv uy Vuvuvuvuvuvuy. Stories run horizontally when, instead of using just one leg of text, they stack several columns side by side. You can keep adding new legs — and extending the headline — until you run out of room at the right edge of the page. Uvuvuvu vuvuvu uvuvuyy SHAPING STORIES INTO mrmm One of the basic design guidelines is this: Whether square, horizontal or vertical, stories should be shaped into rectangles. Uvuvuvuviiy uvuvu Uvuvuvuvuy uvuv uy Vuvuvuvuvuvuy uvuvuvuv ■48- STORIES WITHOUT ART teak RTICAL DESIGN prions A hundred years ago, stories were all dummied vertically. Printers would simply run text in a strip below the headline, and when it reached the bottom of the page, they'd either end the story or jump the text up into the next column. Nowadays, that's considered dumb dummying. In fact, you should generally avoid dummying legs more than 12 inches deep, since long legs look dull, gray and intimidating. In short: the longer the story, the more it. needs to go horizontal. In most news stories (right), the headlines sit atop the text. (In features, you'll soon see, that rule is often broken.) Vertical stories are clean and attractive. They're the easiest shape to follow — just start at the headline and read straight down. Vertical design does have drawbacks, however: ♦ Long vertical legs like these can get tiring to read. ♦ Headlines are harder to write when they're this narrow. ♦ Pages full of these long, skinny legs look awfully dull. HORIZONTAL TORY DESIGN OPTIONS Horizontal shapes are pleasing to the eye. And they often create the illusion that stories are shorter than they really are. Again, avoid dummying legs deeper than 12 inches. But avoid short, squat legs, too. For most stories, legs should generally be at least 2 inches deep — never shorter than 1 inch. Horizontal layouts flow left to right, the way readers naturally read. You'll create the most attractive designs by keeping legs between 2 and 10 inches deep. Note how the headline covers the text and sits directly above the start of the story. vtfvuvuvuy uvuv uy Vuvuvuvuvuvuy uvuvuvuv uvuvuv OPTIO IS TO Probably 99% of all stories look like those above: basically vertical or horizontal, with the headline running above the text, covering the entire story like an umbrella. Life is full of exceptions, however, and here are two more: the raw wrap and the sidesaddle headline (below). They both break the rule about headlines running above all the text. And they're both potentially awkward. (See how those right-hand legs of text could collide into any text above them?) But in the right situations, they're handy. For now, view them with suspicion — but stay tuned. >^$VWU VIMNUVU l^xhfiwuvuvuv vuuuy Uvuvuvu vuvuvu uvuvuvy uvuvuvu Raw Wrap: The headline is indented into the left-hand legs while the text wraps up alongside and aligns with the top of the headline. Sidesaddle headline: The headline runs in the left-hand column —flush left, flush right or centered. The text runs alongside. MUG SHOTS Yes, you can design stories without art. But your pages will look lifeless and gray. After all, most stories are about people: • people winning, losing, getting arrested, getting elected. (They often get elected first, then arrested.) Readers want to know what those people look like. So show them. Remember, mug shots attract readers. And attracting readers is your job. ♦ Size: Mugs usually run the full width of a column, 3-4 inches deep (though you can indent half-column mugs into the text). ♦ Cropping: Mug shots should fill the frame tightly — but not too tightly. Leave air above the hair, if you can. Avoid slicing into ears, foreheads or chins. ♦ Outline: Every mug needs a cutline. Mug cutlines often use a two-line format: The first is the persons name; the second is a description, title, etc. OPRAH WINFREY Awarded the National Book Foundations 50th anniversary medal for her book club. leiii STORY DES16 urilyiM In vertical designs, mug shots go at the very top of the story. In descending order, then, arrange story elements like this: photo, cutline, headline, text. Any other sequence may cause confusion. Photo Cutline............. Uvuvuvuvu Headline.............^-vuv uvuvuy uvuvuvuvu Text • •................ This is the This layout typical vertical violates a bask alignment of rule of story story elements. design: Avoid It conforms to interrupting any the way readers ..... leg of text with scan stories: an art element. First they look Readers may at the photo, think the story then they read has ended and the headline, that a new one then they tackle begins below the text. the photo. uvuvuy uvuvuvuvu Designers sometimes park a mug at the bottom of a column to keep it from butting against another photo higher up on the page. A good idea, but it doesn't always work. If you put art at the bottom of a story, readers may think either that it's an ad or that the photo belongs to another story. n/uv uvuvuy uvuvuvuvu STORY DESIGN MUG SHOTS I0RIZ0 JRY BE ML 161 118 Because mug shots are usually one column wide, it's easy to attach them to a horizontal story. Simply square them off beside the headline and text. And this is where a little math comes in. Assume the mug is 3 inches deep. Assume the outline is roughly a half-inch deep. That adds up to a total depth of 3V2 inches. For short stories like this, headlines are small: roughly a half-inch to an inch deep. That makes every leg of text in this design approximately 3 inches deep. Here's a typical layout for a 6-inch story: Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvu in/ in/iivtiy vuvuvuviiy uvuv To keep the story rectangular, the headline aligns with the top of the photo; the bottom of each leg squares off with the bottom of the cutline. To make sense, the headline needs 5-10 words: two lines' worth. If each leg of text in this design is roughly 3 inches deep, that means you can keep adding on legs to accommodate a 9-, 12- or even a 15-inch story. Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Viivuvuvuy viMivuvuy Notice how, as the headline gets wider, it goes from two lines (above) to one (left). But since bigger stories use bigger headlines, the depths of the legs will stay roughly the same. You can position that mug shot at either edge of the story, too. Since most mugees generally stare straight ahead, one side's just as good as the other. tfuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvuy vuvuvuvuy Note how the headline covers only the text — not the photo. Sometimes, though, extending the headline above the mug may help all the elements fit better. Longer stories need more depth, so they'll wrap beneath the mug. Note: Since the text has just grown one column wider, notice how the headline now needs to extend one more column, too. uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvuy vuvuvuvuy uvuvuvuvu The mug can now go in any leg except the first — and many designers would choose one of the middle legs. Try to maintain at least 1 pica of space between the cutline and the text. And always dummy at least 1 inch of text under any photo. In longer stories, a mug can ran in any leg (except the first leg — nothing should come between the headline and the start of the text). Or you can park several mugs side by side: ' uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvuy vuvuvuvuy uvuvuvuvu Notice how these three mugs are evenly aligned. Two reasons for that: 1) It's ordered, balanced and pleasing to the eye. 2) It gives each mug equal weight instead of emphasizing one person disproportionately. STÖRY BESißN MUG SHOTS SOME sum EXTRA D°n't st«irt thinking that layouts must be purely vertical or horizontal. We've IjfgUJI simply made those distinctions to help you develop a feel for story shapes. You'll IMS S°°n Se£ t^at' aS stor'es 8et m01'e complex, they expand both vertically and horizontally — and that's where you can improvise and bend the rules. For example: Jraffiuvu vuvuvuvu uvuvu ra/uvuvuvuv vuvuy uvuvu Here's a layout that isn't purely vertical, since it uses not one but two legs side by side. And it's not purely horizontal, since it's more deep than wide. But it's a good design solution when you need to fit a short story into a square-shaped hole. And it could easily be deepened to accommodate a longer story. Note the rules we've observed in dummying this story: ♦ The headline covers all the text. ♦ All elements align neatly with each other. ♦ There's at least an inch of text below the photo. ♦ The entire story is shaped like a rectangle. We've now examined the most basic configurations for stories with mugs. The preceding examples also work well for nearly any story where you add a small graphic (a one-column map, chart, list, etc.) instead of a mug shot. Now examine these new variations below. Notice the top two designs, which demonstrate what happens when the headline fails to cover all the text. Remember the raw wrap? Here it is again, this time with a mug atop the second leg. This design works well in a 2-column layout like this. It would keep headlines from butting if another story started to the right of this one. ravuvuvy PuVuvuvuvu uvuvuvuvuy Vijvuvuvuvy uvuvuv uvu uvuvuvuvuy This ts a variation of the raw wrap, but few papers use it. It's basically a vertical design cut in half, with the bottom liatf parked alongside the top. One bigproblem: What happens if there's a story above this one? Half-column mugs let you add a photo without wasting too much space. These wraparounds work best in wide legs; text should be at least an inch wide where it wraps around a mug or it'll be too thin to read comfortably. VSaim vuvuvuvu uvu ravuvuvuvuv vuvuy uvuv avuvu vuvuvuvu uvuvu uvuvuvuvuvuy IMJ UlflllMMMIltf Mmii IMMNI# [Ml IUMMMIV [MMMMty IMI IHMMMI This popular format combines a mug with a liftout quote. It's more attractive and more informative than just a mug shot by itself. v Adding mugs to story designs that already use a larger photo'.......................70 & Raw wraps: How they help keep headlines from butting... 82 * Liftout quotes: Formats and guidelines..............148 # Wraparounds & Skews: Tips on special text treatments....................206 STOHV DESIGN TEXT SHAPES To repeat: Always shape your stories into rectangles. That means all four edges of the story should align — or "grid off" — with each other, as they do in this example: This story is designed into a square-shaped rectangle. The legs are all even lengths, and all outside edges of the story align with each other. It's a clean, well-ordered-story design. Uvuvuvu vuvuvuvu uvuv uvuvu uvuvuvuvuv uvuy This example, by the way, shows you another solution for adding two mugs to a story: putting one atop the other. It's a well-balanced treatment that gives both mugs equal weight. Beginning designers often find themselves wrenching text into awkward shapes as they try to make stories fit. Or they'll choose risky, distracting designs when simpler layouts would be more effective. If you have that problem, try looking at your stories a different way: Focus on the shapes of your text blocks. '"'THE GOOD, m.m& Ranked from besttoworstj these tire the most typical shapes for text blocks. Arrows follow the. flow of the reader's eye through the text: OR This is the safest shape of all: i a rectangle. Whether in one leg or many, it's clean and clear: no odd jogs, leaps or bends. OR i L-shaped text results Jl when text wraps under a photo. It's still a neat and readable shape. BU-shapes break up ______ boring stacks of text, but beware of giant leaps to the top of that tight leg. „{ g These shapes (called doglegs) are often inevitable when you design around ads. Try to avoid them otherwise, since art placed below text is often mistaken for an ad. j A backward T is risky in some lay-£Jt outs. Readers may think the text starts in that second leg — and that leg will butt into any leg above it. Be careful. S> Avoid forcing readers to jump blindly ; across art that's sandwiched between two legs. It can work if you're careful, but you run a high risk of creating confusion. I I ■ Ugly shapes. When your text snakes around like this, it means your art is catteted. Back up and redesign "ore you confuse your poor readers. STORY DESK ONE HORIZONTAL PHOTO After a while, story designs start faffing into predictable patterns. In fact, it's possible to dummy photos onto pages without ever actually seeing, the photos. Just stack all the pieces in a neat, attractive way, and there you are. That's possible. But it's not recommended. Every photo is unique, and every image deserves special consideration before you shove it into a convenient slot. Here, for instance, is a typical photo, along with typical considerations you should make before doing any designing: * Photos: A complete chapter on cropping, photo spreads and more..............109 I FEW FACTS ABOUT THIS PHOTO j In 19S5,photo-! grapher Lois Bernstein of The Virginian-Pih tcame upon three bloodied youngsters huddled by the side of the road The girl, 16, and her twin 12-year-old brothers had just left the wreckage of their car after smashing into a tree. The photo caused a stir when it rati in the paper the next day. "Three of my children were still in hospital beds," said the father of the children. "1 was hurt. I was upset." The family's friends accused the paper of using a tragedy to sell papers. Yet the photo is honest and powerful. It later won numerous awards. Would you have run this photo if you had been in the newsroom that day? | How big should this \ photo be played? An image this dramatic has maximum impact if it runs 3 or 4 columns wide — that's quite a bit bigger than the size above. Run larger than that, the photo's grisly content would offend some readers; run smaller, the photo's drama and emotion would be lost ktm For some stories, you El need several photos to show readers what happened. Here, for instance, the photographer may also have shot the wrecked car, the tree it collided with, the police at work, and so on. But would additional photos have robbed this shot of its impact? Would they have been necessary — or just padding? ■Tf Notice the cropping on (mH this photo. Along the right edge, you can see a hint of a car's bumper; along the bottom, the shoulder of the road. When this photo first ran in the paper, Bernstein cropped it as you see it here. But she later decided to crop more tightly on the arms and faces of the children. Which would you prefer? Unlike mug shots — which come in one standard shape and size and are generally interchangeable — full-sized photos require thoughtful analysis. So before you begin designing a story, you must consider each photo's: ♦ Size. How big should the photo run? (If it's too small, faces and places become indecipherable. If it's too big, it hogs precious space.) Does the photo gain impact if it's larger? Is there room on the page for jumbo art? ♦ Content. Is one photo enough to tell the story? Is the package more informative with two or more? Or is the photo meaningless, routine, expendable — something that could make room for another story? ♦ Direction. Does the action in the photo flow strongly in one direction: someone running, pointing, throwing a ball, shooting a gun? If so, dummy the photo so that the action in the image points toward the text of its own story— and not into the layout for some unrelated story, which might confuse readers. SWhen photos are directional— that is, the photo's action moves strongly left or right—you should design the story so the photo faces the text. Here, the children are facing slightly right. But that's not directional enough to matter; text could be dummied on either side of the photo. Some design gurus try to crop their photos into a rectangular shape known as the "golden mean" This shape — basically 3X5, roughly the shape of the photo shown here — was discovered by the ancient Greeks and is often thought to he. the most harmonious proportion known to man. That's pretty cosmic. Unfortunately, not too many ancient Greeks design news stories these days, so don't worry about golden rectangles. Just use the shape that best suits the image. -54- STORY DESIGN ONE HORIZONTAL PHOTO VERTICAL UY DESIGN OPTIONS As we've previously seen witli stories using mug shots, this vertical layout conforms to the way most readers scan stories. They're attracted by the photo; they read down, through the cutline, into the headline; then, if they're still interested, they read the text. Your design goals, then, are: 1) keeping all elements in the proper order; 2) avoiding long, gray legs of text; and 3) avoiding confusion with any other story parked beside the photo (a topic we'll explore in the next chapter). UvuvuvuvuyuvuvuyVuvuvuy •-- Remember the correct order: • Photo • Cutline •Headline Text Uvuvuvuvuy uvuv uy Vuvuvuy This reliable design will work with nearly any horizontal photo, no matter how deep, wide or directional it is — as long as all four elements are stacked in the correct order. When you mishandle the sequence of elements— in this case, putting the headline above the photo — you risk confusion. In news stories, the headline should touch the start of the story. HORIZONTAL 5T0RY DESIGN OPTIONS As we saw on page 53, text blocks work best as rectangles (as opposed to reshapes, U-shapes, doglegs, etc.). That makes the examples on this page — both vertical and horizontal — safe, effective solutions. Whenever you try to square off text beside a photo, you'll probably need to. wrestle with photo shapes and story lengths to make the math work out. But remember: Every story is (be careful, but it's true) cuttable. If the photo faces right: This is the better solution, since the action of the photo will flow into the text. To anchor this design, both the photo and the text block need ample width; thephoto should be at least 2 columns wide. If the photo faces left: Re-arrange the elements so the text is parked on the left. Remember that all elements must square off at both the top and the bottom; this design wont work if the text comes up short. Uvuvuvu vuvuvuvu uvuvuvuvuv uvuvuvuvuv uvuvuvuvuy uvuvu a^fVUVU Sinjvu vuvuvuvu uvuvuvuvuv ^uvuvuvuvuv uvuvuvuvuy uvuvu A word about armpits: In these examples, note how the headline runs beside the photo, covering only the text. That's the cleanest way to dummy a headline in this format. But you can also run the headline all the way across both the text and photo (that's called an "armpit"): Uuuvwuwuy uvuv uy VuwmiwjvuuU!j uvuv The advantages: ♦ If connects the photo more tightly to the text. On busy pages, that helps organize stories. ♦ One long, loud banner headline am give the story more punch. STÖRV DESIGN ONE HORIZONTAL PHOTO son sTORYOl EXTRA ESI! fJIBIS Here, an L-shaped text block wraps below the photo. If you wanted to play the photo bigger, you could run it 3 columns wide. For longer stories, you could deepen each leg of type — or wrap another leg of type along the right side of the photo and extend the headline farther. To a designer's eye, the previous examples are appealing because they're so iOf|[ SI ► neatly aliened, so cleanly balanced. Yet these two designs directly below are more ' '„, ' '' ; 6 '. J . b ! ■ # Raw-wrap head-common, and just as effective. Iines: Using them t0 The reason? Notice how the headline and text surround the photo to create a keep headlines from self-contained package. There's no way a reader can mistake which story the hutting....................82 photo belongs to. * iBsi&ns: , r ° A chapter on special ......_....... _ _______ ___________________________________ headlines and photo &r .. ! „ ^ treatments............199 avuvuvuy uvuv uy Vuvuvuy uvuvuvu j&imMim/ uvuv uy Vuvuvuy uvuvuvu : Here, the text wraps around three sides of the photo. Some editors prefer this layout to the one at left because: 1) it's symmetrical; and 2) it breaks up that gray mass of text in an attractive way. Other design options are risky or downright clumsy. Here are a few more examples to consider — or, in some cases, to avoid altogether: This, you'll recall, is a raw wrap — where instead of covering the entire story, the headline is parked in a left-hand leg or two. It's not a bad solution, but it's best reserved for times when you dummy two stories side by side and you need to keep headlines from butting. With a raw wrap, the photo lets you getaway with that. ffilVIIVUVUVUVUVUV "ilVUVU Ul/UVUVUVUV «vuvuvuy uvuv uvuvuy Vuvuvuvuy Uvuvuvuvuy uvuv vuvuy Vuvuvuvuvuvuy Avoid running photos below text. There's too great a danger readers will think the photo's an ad, or that it belongs to a story below. Wrap text below or beside art — not above it. Wrap text around art, did we say? Dropping art into the middle of a story disrupts the logical flow of the text, readers will fumble to figure out which leg goes where. Avoid interrupting legs of text with a photo. 51PEME FEATURE FORMATS These designs are intended for special feature stories. Some of litem willneed fancy headlines,: long daks or text wraps to work effectively. UVUVUVU vuvuvuvuv Very symmetrical. A graceful U-shape centers the headline and deck. uvuvu uvuvuv More symmetry. Here, the text encircles the headline (which could also be boxed). ■UVUVU ; ! uwi vuv j !UVUVU i i UWUWUUV '■ . ■ ..... . ? j MUJUHJLHL^UUJ ... ...... | ; uuiyMujuuiuv ? ;.................... ? This sidesaddle headline uses a long deck. The text squares off alongside. Another sidesaddle head in a narrow stack. This one squares off beside thephoto. 56 STORY DESIGN ,;■ ONE VERTICAL PHOTO If you understand the design options for horizontal photos, you'll have no IflftJE §| fa problem with verticals. If anything, verticals offer less design flexibility than hor- izontals. They're a more dramatic shape, but flowing a story's text around or * Photos: a chapter on , ■ ' cropping, sizing, photo beside a big vertical photo can be tricky. pages etc 109 A FEW FACTS ABOUT THIS PHOTO This photo of pop I. singing sensation Britney Spears was shot by Joel Davis during a concert at a county fair near Portland, Ore. Getting high-quality action photos of pop superstars is usually a difficult, demanding task. The lighting is poor. Photographers are often forced to stand far away, using telephoto lenses and grainy high -speed film. And photos are usually allowed only during the first few songs. It's not surprising that concert photos often fall flat. i Designers should '. generally avoid telling photographers what to shoot. But here, you know before the concert even starts that you'll want a shot of Britney (not the band). Since she's a singer, you llprobably want a dramatic close-up of her while she's singing. And since she doesn't play piano or guitar, you can assume the photo will probably be vertical. This shot, then, is exactly what the designer — and the readers — might expect. Wouldyou run fft this photo in your newspaper? There's something decadent, almost obscene about Britney's pose, her skintight top, the grasping hands of the dancers in the background — but you could argue that it's a classic pop-junk moment that perfectly captures the spirit of her music. (You could also argue that we see more lewd behavior on MTV all day long.) Ol One dramatic ......I photo like this can single-handedly carry a story by itself. For some performers, however, you might want additional photos to supplement the story by showing other musicians, wild sets, crazily attired crowd members or onstage action (dancing, guitar-bashing, etc.). Bigger stars deserve bigger spreads. V3 It never fails — KM. the photographer captured this appealing, eye-popping image (an image so popular, it's repeatedly stolen from The Oregonian's photo library), but because of space limitations, the photo never ran in the paper. If it HAD run, how big should it have been? ♦ A word about square photos: On previous pages, we explored design options using horizontal photos. In the pages ahead, we'll explore options for vertical photos. So what about squares? Square photos, you'll recall, have a reputation for being dull. Butbecause they can adapt to all the design options we're showing you, there's no need to give them special treatment. Just modify the principles you've learned and you can dummy squares easily and painlessly. 57 STORY DESIGN ONE VERTICAL PHOTO Remember the correct order: Photo Outline ■ Headline Text Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy ' Viniuvuvuy uvuvuvuvu Since dominant vertical photos usually run either 2 or 3 columns wide, that makes them pretty big — anywhere from 5 to 15 inches deep. Stick a headline and a story below that and you've got a sleek, dynamic design (if you have enough room for a layout that deep). The only drawback is that it's so far from the top of the photo to the bottom of the text: Will the story hold together on a page full of other distractions? J&miu uyuvuv ^UVUVU Vuvuvuvu J^wnu uyuvuv i uyuvuv i Vuvuvuvu This layout shows you the most reliable way to stack these elements vertically. It's a design that will work best in a deep 2- or3-column space. The photo and text can usually be trimmed to fill the available space — but beware of legs running more than 12 inches deep. They look boring. When elements are stacked incorrectly, problems result. Here, we see three basic guidelines ignored. From left to right: 1) The headline should always touch the start of the story; 2) Avoid interrupting any leg of text with an art element; 3) Avoid running art below text. HORIZONTAL Stacking photos and stories side by side requires careful sizing but creates a STORY DESIGN Sracenjl design. Note how, in the examples below, the headline covers only the OPTION** Texf- (Running a wide headline atop both the photo and the text is a secondary option — see page 55.) Note, too, how both examples use 2-column photos. A 3-column vertical photo would be extremely deep (8-15 inches), and that could make those legs of text excessively deep and gray. Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvuy uvuv Wwuvuvuy uvuvuv Vuvuvuvuy uvuv For directional photos: Position the photo on the proper side — whichever side forces the action in the photo to move toward the text... 58 ... but remember that non-directional photos work well on either side. Your decision should be based on how the overall page fits together. STORY DESIGN . ONE VERTICAL PHOTO OTHER STORY DESIGN OPTIONS uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuyy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuvy In this L-shaped wrap, all the elements work well together. But consider how deep those left-hand legs could become, especially with a 3-column photo. To break up the gray, designers often dummy a liftout quote into that second leg of text. This U-shaped wrap keeps those two long legs of text from merging into one gray slab. But beware: 1) Those two legs under the photo will look flimsy if they're not deep enough; and 2) It's a long trip from the bottom of the third leg to the top of the fourth. fuvuvuvuy uvu "vuvuy Vuvuvuvuy uvuvuvuv uvuvuv Raw wraps (like this one) keep headlines from butting when stories are dummied side by side. But many think this layout is less graceful than those above. And if the headline is too small, it can be overpowered by the photo and text. Still, it's acceptable. There are times, especially on Page One, when you need a big photo/big headline combo. Running a 1-column headline over that one leg of text might give you a cleaner design, but the headline will have a lot more oomph if you run it wider, like this. SWIPEME , These designs arc intended for special feature stories. To work 'effectively; some require long decks, funcy headlines or boxes around the eMirc foyoui. uvuvuvuvu lUuvmyunjiiinuilj' A symmetrical, centered U-shape. Box this design if other stories run above. Here, the headline runs above the photo. Again, this lavout must be boxed. An airy design, one that can look awkward if all the proportions aren't right. A risky place to put a headline, but the elements work if everything's boxed. 59 STÖRY BESiGB ■ THE DOMINANT PHOTO Editors and page designers try hard to be fair. And that's noble. But as you may already know, some news is more important than others. Some stories are more interesting than others. And some photographs, for one reason or another, are simply better than others. Readers expect newspapers to make decisions for them: to decide which stories are the biggest, which photos are the best. Readers want editors to edit, not just shovel everything onto the page in equal-sized chunks. Equality gets a bit boring. Take a look: Here's what happens when all elements have nearly equal weight. For one thing, the photos lose any sense of hierarchy. Which critter is most interesting? Most appealing? Most dramatic? But see how the design suffers, too? This page is static, boxy — like a page from a scrapbook. There's no sense of movement because the design isn't guiding your eyes. This problem results whenever you park two or more similarly sized photos near each other. Here's a page that prioritizes the best images, mixing shapes and sizes. Feel the difference? This page has motion. Variety. Impact. We see that some photos (and some animals) clearly have more drama and appeal than others. This principle applies whether there are two or 10 photos on the page: Always make one photo DOMINANT — that is, substantially bigger than any competing photo. STOaV DESIGK THE DOMINANT PHOTO 3HÖÖS1 DOM; IANT I0TC A strong photograph will anchor a story— or an entire page. Two evenly sized photos side by side, however, will work against each other. Some will clash and compete. Others will just sit there in two boring, boxy lumps. Now, there may be times when photos work better if they're equally sized (a before-and-after comparison, a row of mug shots, a series of time-elapsed frames that capture action). But usually, you must make one photo dominant. When you evaluate photos to decide which deserves bigger play, ask yourself: ♦ Do we really need two photos? Are they that different from each other? Does the story require this extra visual information? If so, keep asking: ♦ Does one have stronger contentP Does it capture a key moment of drama? Does it show motion and/or emotion? Does it enhance and explain the story? ♦ Does one have higher readability? Does it need to be BIG to show faces, details or events? Or will it pack some punch in a smaller space? ♦ Does one have superior quality? Better focus? Exposure? Composition? ♦ Does one have a preferable shape? Would I prefer a vertical? A horizontal? A square? Will one shape create a stronger overall design for the story? Below are four photos from a news feature we'll call Hog Farm Holiday. In the pages ahead, we'll pair the photos in different ways to create different story designs. But first, ask yourself: Which should be the lead (dominant) photo? ? Dominant photos: Using art to anchor a page design..........85 f PhOtOS: A complete chapter on cropping, photo spreads, etc. 109 Left: It's not every day you see a girl riding a ~~ ' 'ile image, one that's bound if .in :t.'i'::n ■ ■I ."ill,/;---:. .': -■ pr, v.'l -\y Above: This image man nuzzling a p an attention-getter immediate impact certainly stronger i the other horizc (far right, both though it shows w. of tire barnyard i the other shot. Right: This photo of the farmer is his only appearance in these four shots. And though this photo isn't as engaging as the other vertical, it would be a I choice for a secondary photo if the farmer plays apart in the storv. 61 . ; ..... STORY DESIGN BIG VERTICAL, SMALL HORIZONTAL Suppose you choose to use these two photos to accompany your story. The girl riding the pig will be the dominant (or lead) photo; the guy nuzzling the pig is secondary. Since neither image is strongly directional, you have some flexibility in placement. In the examples below, we'll show you the most common story design solutions for news pages, along with some swipeable feature layouts. We can't predict every possible option, so feel free to explore other alternatives. Here's what you get when you stack the photos vertically: uyuv Vuvuuy Putting the lead photo atop the secondary photo {left) is a good, clean solution — if the text is deep enough. Putting the smaller photo on top (right) works well when it's a before-and-after sequence: the setup, then the big payoff. But it's usually best to lead with your strongest image. iuvu uyuv Vuvuuy Here, the photos share a cutline, and the shapes become less blocky, less tightly packed than the example above. Note that the cutline goes to the outside of the layout. For longer stories, the text wraps below the photos, and the headline extends. . . .. .across the two new right-hand legs of text. The danger here is that those two left-hand legs of text are looking awfully deep. A liftout quote in the second leg would help.. . ... but better yet, moving the photos into the middle two legs creates a U-shaped text block that's not as gray-looking. One question: Is it too high a jump to that final leg? 62 BIG VERTICAL, SMALL HORIZONTAL STORY DESIGN OPTIONS Here's what you get when you stack the photos horizontally: The biggest problem with those preceding examples is space — having enough depth on the page to stack the photos on top of each other, and having enough text to square off alongside them. The layout examples below extend horizontally and are a bit more flexible: Uvuvuvu uyuvuvu UVINU Vuvuvuvu - Feature page design: A chapter on special headlines and photo treatments............199 This layout works only with text short enough to square off along the bottom edge of the dominant photo. Another option: If you make that horizontal photo smaller, you can dummy a joint cuiline between the two photos. Stack the photos side by side this way and what do you get? A raw wrap. Not bad— the package holds together pretty well and allows flexibility in the depth of the text. This is probably the most common design for a big vertical, small horizontal (as long as the lead photo isn't directional to the right). The text is L-shaped; everything is dummied to the left of the lead photo. . . ...or,for longer stories (or if the lead photo is strongly directional to the right), the whole design can be flopped. The text is still L-shaped. If needed, you can add an additional leg of text and extend the headline one more column, as well- Remember: You must keep the sizes of the photos properly proportioned. Here, the secondary photo is played too big and competes with the lead photo. Note, too, that this sort of L-shaped text isn't quite as graceful as text blocks that are rectangular. StylFEAfiLE FEATURE FQBMATS These designs •tic intended for special feature stories. Some of them will need fancy headlines; long decks or text wraps to work effectively. Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv vuyuv A 1-column photo is OK if the leg is set wide like this. If the story's boxed or at the bottom of the page, the photo can go below the text. Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv vuyuv i ; _ We've warned you not to let art separate legs of text. But if the story is boxed and the design is symmetrical, could this work? --63-- UVUVUVU uvuvuvuvu Centering the smallphoto above the lead creates room on the left side for a joint cutline, room on the right for a headline/deck combo. uvu UVUVUV This wraparound text treatment lets you indent the smaller photo. Don't let those legs of text get unreadably thin, however. STORY DESIGN BIG HORIZONTAL, SMALL VERTICAL With a different dominant photo — the pig-smooching close-up as lead art and the pig-riding shot as secondary art — you create a package that focuses more on the people than the barnyard. And since neither image is strongly directional, you'll have plenty of freedom in positioning the photos. As on previous pages, the designs below represent common solutions for pairing these two photos. Studying them will give you a sense of how some design principles work — and why others don't. )RY DESIGN OPTIONS If you have enough width, you can stack the photos side by side. Note that the photos are exactly 3 and 2 columns wide, squaring off with the columns of text below. This looks OK, but it's a bit blocky, and the outlines butt. uvuvuvuvuy uvuv uy Vuvuv Or try this option :j instead: Keep the QP ;. photos the same height, but crop them so they share one thin cutline between them (cutlines should be at least 6picas wide). Or here, the depths of the photos vary, and the cutline runs below the shallower photo. Ideally, the bottom of the cutline squares off with the bottom of the lead photo. Uvuvuvuvuy uvuv uvuvuvu uvuvuvuy Uvuvuvuvuy uvuv uy Vuvuvu uvuvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu A clean, common layout. All the elements square off neatly. And note that the smaller photo could go on either side of the page. For longer stories, text can wrap below the smaller photo, with a wider headline. That photo could move to the middle, if you prefer. Look at the shape of the text: a stairstep with a mile-high first leg. For long stories, this would work in the 5-column format here... 64 —-- ... and in a 6-column format, you could try this version, which is symmetrical, almost elegant. But the outside legs are steep, and text stair-steps sharply. STÜRMST BIG HORIZONTAL, SMALL VERTICAL INOTHER OPTI M ÄDLI RAP II Uvuvuvuvu uvu uvuvuy Compare these two designs with the two middle patterns at the bottom of page 64. Which do you prefer? The only difference is that these use raw-wrap headlines. If you want to use a display headline — or if you need to avoid a long horizontal head— then these are preferable. Otherwise, beware the awkward text wrap. MOREON ►............. #> Raw-wrap headlines: Using them to keep headlines from butting....................82 * Mortises & insets: Guidelines for overlapping photos......209 ONE-COLUMN PHÖT08: 81G ENOUGH? As a rule, mug shots are the only photos that consistently succeed in a one-column size. And horizontals almost never "read" (i.e., show details clearly) when they're that small. But on occasion — when space is tight, or you just want to squeeze in a bit more art — you can run a vertical photo one column wide instead of two. Just make sure the photo reads: In this layout, the lead photo runs 4 columns wide. A small detail shot, extremely vertical, runs in 1 column. That's pretty small, but in a tight space it lets you squeeze in an extra photo — as long as that image remains readable at such a small size. A rule of thumb worth remembering: Every important face in every photo should be at least the size of a dime. una! LftDLl FEATURE FORMATS Tliese designs are intended for special feature .stories. Some of them will treed -fancy headlines, long decks or text wraps to work effectively. IMJV VUVUV A vertical, symmetrical design. A narrow head and deck are centered in 3 wide bastard legs. This layout... uvuv vuvuvu . .gets flashier (and riskier) if you wrap text around the top photo and jump over the center leg. UVUV VUVUV uvuv A sidesaddle headline (with deck) creates a neat, logical design. But box this layout or keep other stories away. UVUV VUVUV UVU A new twist: mortising the small photo onto the dominant photo. The head then fills in alongside. 65 STOfiV DESIGN TWO VERTICALS Always try to vary the sizes and shapes of the photos you use. Though there's nothing wrong with dummying two verticals together, you'll see in the layouts below that your options are more limited — and occasionally awkward. STORY DESIGN b OPTIONS uy uvuvuuv Stacking vertical photos vertically is a problem. Whether the dominant photo's on top or not, you end up with an extremely deep design that hogs space, makes the text legs too deep and creates too much dead space below the cutline. As we've seen previously, i-column vertical photos are tricky to deal with. Uvuvuvuvu vuyiivuvuv uy uvuviiuv Stacking thephotos side by side is an appealing solution: clean, tight, attractive. Two slight problems: 1) It's tough to size thephotos and the headline so that they square off cleanly; 2) Note that the headline is a usefid new variation. Though not exactly a raw wrap, it doesn't extend across the full text width. Uvuvuvuvuvuy uvu ; uvuvuv uvuvuvuvy ' Uvuvuvuvuvuy uvu uvuvuv uvuvuvuvy A solid solution, assuming the text fits in this space. You could also flop this layout and dummy the leadphoto to the right of the secondary photo. Or... ... that smaller photo could be reduced to I-column size — but only if it reads well this small. At this she, you can park it in either of the two right-hand legs... .. .or the two photos could trade places. Note that here we've run the leadphoto 2 columns wide instead of 3. With a 1-column secondary photo, you can stack both photos vertically — though the text legs are. getting long. STORY DESÍM TWO VERTICALS WHAT HAPPENS «1 STORIES COLLIDE Designing stories into rectangular shapes (also called modular design, since pages consist of independent story blocks or modules) is the surest way to create well-ordered pages — as long as you follow the rules. But even when you follow the rules, confusion occasionally results from a bad juxtaposition of elements, especially when you dummy two stories alongside a large vertical photograph. See for yourself: Uvuvuvuv vuv uvuvy uvuvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuvuy UVU UVUVUVUV v Boxed stories: How they work and when to best use them..........80 Bad juxtapositions: Why they occur and how to avoid them 102 Mortises and insets: Guidelines for overlapping photos......209 Bi Here's a simple and common story ,' design: a big vertical photo with the text running vertically down the left side. So far, there's no problem, no confusion. ; Here's another common design: This ', time, it's a story with text dummied to the right of a big vertical photo. Again, it's a clean, correct layout. No problems yet. UviMivuviivuy UVU uvuvuvuvu But if you saw this page in a news-■ paper, how would you decide which story goes with the big vertical photo? The layout works either way. You'd have to scan both stories, then try to decide. Uvuvuvuvuvuy uvu uvuvuvuv BThe solution? Box one of the stories, ^___preferably the one that deserves s, emphasis. That way, all elements in the package are bound together as a unit, and readers are less likely to be misdirected. Later, we'll look more closely at guidelines for boxing stories. But for now, be aware that your story designs may seem quite simple and obvious to you — but ambiguous and confusing to your readers. SWIPEABI . '(ftllTS : These.designs:'. are intended lor special feature stories: Some of ihemwilfneeA, fancy headlines,' long decks Or text-.:. wraps io work effectively;:;. A wide headline, a photo at the bottom, a little text: It's risky, but will work if it's boxed or if it runs at the bottom ofthepage. uvuv uvu uvuv IJunjuiyuij Ui'LLLyLKLli This odd design puts three vertical stacks side by side: 1) lead art and outlines; 2) sidesaddle head, deck and small photo; 3) text. UvlMMJ Another 1-column secondary photo. But here, the photo is centered between the two columns, and the text wraps around it. Uvuvuvuvu uvuvy I Iriruniynr imjuurilli. This design insets the small photo over the corner of the lead photo and fills in the other elements from there. Beware — this one's risky. 67 STORY DESIGN TWO HORIZONTALS Pairing two horizontal photos is more common :— and a bit less limiting — than pairing two verticals. Remember, however, that if s important to vary the shapes of the photos you use. So think twice about running two horizontals together if a better combination is available. Which of these photos should be dominant? Most designers would choose the guy nuzzling the piglet because it's cute (but unsanitary... for the pig). Keep in mind, too, that the second photo — that row of piglets — won't "read" if it runs too small. As you see it printed here, it's about a column-and-a-half wide — which means it must run at least two columns wide. STORY DESIGN OPTIONS Uvuvutfuvuy vuv uvuuvy in/ uvuvuvuv uvuvuvuvuy uvuv try Vuvuvuvuvu uvuv uy Vuvuvimmtvuvuvu Stacking the photos vertically works well. Note the shared cutline; there's a danger of excess white space in the bottom corner if the bottom photo is too narrow or the cutline is too short. Stacking the photos horizontally also works well. A shared cutline like this will generally butt tightly against both photos. It's OK if it's shallow, but fill that cutline space as much as possible. Stacking the photos horizontally works well in this configuration, too — though you need the full width of a 6-column page for this layout. Note how we've indented the cutline a half-column to add a little white space. Uvuvuvuvuy uvuv uyuvuvu Uvuvuvuvuy uvuv uy Vuvu uvuv uy Vuvuvuvuvuyuvuvu Uvuvuvuvuy vuy uvuuvuv A common solution. The smaller photo is dummied into the upper-right corner of an L-shaped text block... ...or here, the smaller photo is centered. Note the cutline treatment for the lead photo, an option offering more flexibility. Again, note the added flexibility of sharing a cutline. In this case, the smaller photo can be 2-3 columns wide. You also have the option of adding another leg of text along the right edge. This raw-wrap headline treatment is acceptable, but not preferable. Use it to avoid a wide banner headline. -4$ 1H STORY DESIGN TWO HORIZONTALS SOME 0D0 OPTIONS -D WHY THEY MNT WORK Throughout this chapter, we've offered common solutions to typical design situations. If we wanted to, we could easily fill several pages with rejects — designs that, for one reason or another, are just too ugly to print. Instead, let's take a moment to analyze a few close calls. These layouts are well-intentioned but still wrong enough to be avoided. Uvuvuvuvu uvuvy uvuvuv iry uvuvuv : uvuvuv : vuvuv imjvuy Uvuvuvuviry uvuvu uvuvu This layout demonstrates the basic problem with text shaped like a backward "L": Too many readers may mistake where the story starts. Even if the headline ran horizontally between the two photos, your eye would ignore those short legs on the left and assume the story starts in that fourth column. There are two big problems here: 1) The headline is too small, narrow and insignificant (due to the poor photo placement); 2) Too many readers will think the story starts to the right of that second photo. Remember: Readers often assume that the tallest leg is the one that starts the story. With the right photos, this design might work effectively. But as a rule, try to avoid running photos below text or dummyingyour dominant photo under the secondary photo. It might work on some features — especially if they're boxed — but be careful with hard news. uvuv uy Vuvuvuv : Uvuvuvuvy uvuvuvuvuv Uvuvuvuyy uvuvuvuvuv uvuvu You might see this layout in a magazine. But in newspapers, you're smart to avoid wrapping the text this way. Where does the reader go at the end of that first leg: under the big photo or all the way back up to the top? This is the risk you take whenever art interrupts the flow of the text. Here's a design with a subtle flaw — it gives us a package in two totally independent chunks: a photo chunk at the top and a story chunk below. Since it's so far down to the story, the elements don't connect well. In fact, those photos could mistakenly be paired with any story running in an adjacent column. Here's another layout you'd see in a magazine. It might even work, boxed, on a feature page. But for news stories, avoid placing photos at the bottom of a layout. Readers assume that's an ad position, or that the bottom photo belongs to a story below it. Why risk confusing readers if you don't have to? 8W1PEABLE EAT11RE 18 UTS: ill These designs are intended for special: feature stories. i uvuvuvuv LUuuviuyuiiu'!}Utu u uvuvuvu uvuvuv uvuvuvu .....n,iimi,.i. Here are three variations of the same idea: Put the small photo below the lead, then square off the headline beside one of the photos. All three will work, depending on the headline wording and photo cropping. 69 STORY BISIGIi ADDING MUG SHOTS Most of the photos you'll dummy with news stories will be live (meaning jfSQRE 01 ¥ they're timely and unstaged). Mug shots, on the other hand, are canned (that is, Mug shots. Tips'pr shot at some nondescript time and place, then put in the can — stored — until dummying them with you need them). .....................50 And though it's a good idea to add mug shots to stories whenever possible, try * Liftout quotes: How not to confuse the reader by mixing live and canned photos. Add mugs, but llemJffeaMy^ii dummy them slightly apart from news photos, as a subtle signal to readers. Whenever possible, add liftout quotes to mugs, too. Combining people's faces with their words connects them to the story, provides extra commentary and creates a visual hook that will attract more readers. Legs of text usually run alongside dominant vertical photos. And mugshots can be added atop any leg except the first. Here, a liftout quote was included with the mug (assuming the quote is either by or about the person pictured). Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuuuy uvuvuv Vuvuvuvuy uvuvuvu OR Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuvuy uvuvuv Vuvuvuvuy uvuvuvu Here, the quote runs below, rather than beside, the mug shot. Either way is acceptable. You could even park a second mug shot— with its own quote — alongside this one. The text will usually run underneath a dominant horizontal photo, which means the most logical spot for a mug shot (with or without an added lift quote) is in one of the middle legs, to break up the repetitive grayness of the text. Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuvuy uvuv Vuvuvuvuy OR, Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuvuy uvuv Vuvuvuvuy If appropriate, two or three mugs can run alongside each other at the top of those middle legs of text. Those mugs, all evenly sized, work together as a unit. And the headline helps to distance them from the live photo at the top of the story. With a dominant vertical and a secondary horizontal, a mug can he dummied into the far corner of the text. Note how this layout helps distance the mug from the two live photos. And even with this increasing number of elements, the whole story holds together as a unit. uVuvuvuvuy uvuy vuv uvuvuyuvuvu uvuvuv Vuvuvuvuy Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuvuy uvuvuv Vuvuvuvuy uvuvuvu With a dominant horizontal and a secondary vertical, you can always add a mug tn the middle leg. Again, in this design the two live photos are dummied tightly together, while the mug is kept separate by both the headline and the text. STORY DESIGN TROUBLESHOOTING Quick answers to questions frequently asked by designers perplexed about story design: Q : A Riling Mcmennl far slaa 6^ This magazine layout forces readers to jump around liftout quotes — but because there are no other stories or ads to add confusion, the design succeeds. Some newspapers deliberately run stories in non-modular doglegs. Is that wrong? Or a new trend? Yes, just when you think a design guideline is etched in Stone — ALL STORIES MUST BE SHAPED LIKE RECTANGLES — along comes a newspaper with a contrary philosophy, like the one at right. In the past few years, a handful of papers — most notably, the Baltimore Sun and the Virginian-Pilot — have encouraged this "traditional" (as opposed to modular) style of layout. Their reasons: ♦ It allows bigger, wider headlines to accompany thinner, vertical legs of text — a good way to attract attention, especially on Page One. ♦ It sets your paper apart from the competition — a valuable edge in a crowded big-city newspaper market. ♦ It has a "retro" feel that some readers may actually prefer {after all, The New York Times' front page has been designed that way nearly forever). Done well, "traditional" design has a distinctive style and energy. Done sloppily, it's a mess. Are doglegs making a comeback? Not yet____but stay tuned. How big do photos have to be? My photo editor is always complaining that we run our photos too small. Remember that newsroom photo-editing adage: Every face should be at least the size of a dime. And though there are exceptions to every rule, that's a good place to start. Both photos shown here, for instance, are just 5 picas wide (that's not quite an inch). And while the woman at left is still "readable," those jocks at right aren't. In general, small photos should be the exception, not the rule. Tiny images work best: ♦ As mug shots, either indented into the text or combined with liftout quotes; ♦ As promos, which send us elsewhere in the paper to view that small image full-sized; ♦ As columnist logos. fj, > When you look at the text in magazines, it hops over photos, illustrations and J quotes all the time. Why doesn't newspaper design enjoy that much freedom? Magazine design, like yearbook design, is fun in ways that newspaper design isn't. You can run huge photos that fill entire pages. You can "bleed" images (i.e., print photos that run right off the edge of the paper). And yes, you can position story elements in riskier ways. Why? Look at the magazine page at left. The text leaps over quotes — but when there's only one story on the page, readers probably won't get lost. On newspaper pages (right), there's more traffic — so avoiding confusion becomes more essential. TSSa ^lahogan^ tide casting otm»tiicr-.Mi ,a taint on Chesapeake llIB Uvuvuvuy uvu uvuvuvuv Uvuvuvuy uvu uvuvuvuv Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvu "Traditional" story layout on a Baltimore Sun news page. Note how every story is deliberately designed to dogleg. On a busy newspaper page, there are more stories, so designers need to avoid confusing readers with unnecessary leaps and angles. TROUBLESHOOTING |§ In vertical layouts, you're supposed to put the photo on top, then the cutline, i then the headline. But is it ever OK to run a big headline on top? The most common exception to that photo-cutline-head-line-text guideline is the example at right: a major, end-of-the-world news story that warrants a major, end-of-the-world headline. As you look at this page, notice two things: ♦ The headline, "A Night of Fury," isn't the headline for one specific story — it's the headline for the page. And though you may not have studied page design yet, you can see that each of the two stories below that dominant photo has its own separate headline. So in a way, "A Night of Fury" functions more as a title than as a standard headline. ♦ Remember that most newspapers are folded in half after they're printed — and when readers first see the front page, they see only what's above the fold. Thus, most editors insist that, no matter how big the story or how huge the photo, the headline has to appear above the fold; otherwise, readers may stroll past the news racks and squint cluelessly at the page. Imagine how this page would have looked with just the flag and the photo showing above the fold. (Remember, too, that fire/bomb/earthquake photos require more explanation than tornado photos do.) _ — —.-1~ Do mug shots always have to run small? Or is it permissible to run them as dominant art sometimes? That depends on the story, the quality of the mug shot — and how desperate you are. But yes, a mug shot can function as lead art, especially if it's a portrait with personality, like the one at left below. (An ordinary mug shot — some dazed-looking guy leaning against a blank wall — might be deadly dull and would only get worse as you enlarge it.) Make sure the mugee is a newsmaker worthy of big play. Crop dramatically, turning it into an extremely tight vertical (left) or horizontal. Add a liftout quote with typographic pizazz. Or place two mugs on either side of the layout, like bookends, to provide a point-counterpoint faceoff between two combatants. How directional does a photo need to be before you've GOT to run it on one side of the layout, facing the text? That's a matter of debate. Take the photo at left, for instance. His head is turned away from us, but his eyes look straight ahead. So is that a directional photo? Some designers would say yes, and they'd insist on running it on the right side of i1 ', page. Others would say no — that unless a photo has direct n ial action, it doesn't matter which side it's dummied on. Now look at this baseball photo. The catcher is about to hurl the ball onto page 73. See the problem? What if an unrelated slorv > .1 n .' nig ^ the right side of that photo? The catcher needs to face this story. (And no, you can't flop the photo. See page 138 for more on that.) . STORY DESIGN EXERCISES Designing a story is like performing brain surgery: You cant master the techniques by reading a book. You've got to practice. And doing these exercises lets you practice what you've learned so far. If you want to use a dummy sheet, trace or copy the sample dummy on page 40 or 41. DWhat are your two best options for dummying a 5-inch story without any art? How would you code the headline for each option if it were dummied at the top of Page One? At the bottom of an inside page? BYou've got a 9-inch story with one mug shot. (Assume your newspaper runs its mug shots 3 inches deep.) What are your three best options for dummying this story? Will this story work in a 3-column format? Here's a layout that uses two mug shots. There are several things wrong with it. How many problems can you identify? 268 Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uyvuvuvu uvuvuvuvu vuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uyvuvuvuvu Ft Today is a busy news day: lots of news. The big story is a 12-inch piece about a local drug bust. This photo accompanies that story: ■ ■■■fixrfSSSl There are a number of ways you could dummy this story for a 6-column broadsheet newspaper. But what design solution would you recommend? Hint: As printed here, this photo is 29 picas wide and 20 picas deep. Assumingyou work at a paper where columns are roughly 12 picas wide, here's how deep this photo would be if it were sized for: ♦ 1 column: 8 picas ♦ 2 columns: 17 picas ♦ 3 columns: 26 picas ♦ 4 columns: 35 picas ♦ 5 columns: 44 picas ♦ 6 columns: 53 picas For more on sizing photos by using a proportion wheel, see page 283. STORY BESieK EXERCISES [9 Here are the two best photos from last night's Rolling Stones concert. Your SkJI editor wants to run them both. Which should be the dominant photo? This Stones review will be the lead story for the Arts page. The story design must be 5 columns wide; it can be as deep as you like, however. The. review that accompanies these photos is 12 inches long. What's your best solution? To make this exercise easier, don't worry about sizing these photos exactly. Instead, dummy them using their rough shapes and assume you can crop them slightly to fit the layout that works best. 0What's wrong with each of these news story designs? Uvuvuvuvuy vuvuv uyvuvuvu uvuvuvu Uvuvuvuvuy uyvuvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy vuvuv uyvuv uvuvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy vuvuv uyvuv uvu uvuvu Uvuvuvuvuy vimrv uyvuvuvu uvuvuvu Uvuvuvuvuy vuvuv uyvuvuvu Uvuvuvuvuy vuvuv uyvuv uvuvu uvuvu ! AHSWERS> zee IBlfii 11111 ■111 ■ -Ti Bílil šmmSm MĚĚL MĚr mm 1111 4 Design trends come and go. What's cool today may look hopelessly lame in a decade or two (if newspapers still exist in a decade or two). Tastes change. Journalistic philosophies change, too. The same goes for theories of page design. Some design experts insist that the upper-left corner is a page's prime position; thus, you should put your top story there. Others claim that the upper-right corner is the best-read spot on the page, and that you should put your top story there. Still others advise putting strong elements in weak positions (like the bottom corners) to ensure that readers will stay interested wherever their eyes wander. Confusing, eh? Then forget what the experts say and remember this: Readers will look where you want them to. If you know what you're doing, you can create a page that's logical, legible and fun to read — and you can guide the readers' eyes anywhere you choose. This chapter explores current principles of page design. Now that we've studied stories as independent units — modides — we'll begin examining ways you can stack those modules together to create attractive, well-balanced pages. (Some designers disparage modular makeup, but that issue is too complex to get into now.) Once you understand how these principles work, you can adapt them to any pages you design, whatever the style or topic. Uvuvuvu vuvuvu vuv uvuvuv uvuvu uvhuuvii vuy uwv vuvuvwuv GHftPTER MM ■ Grids: Page architecture for broadsheets and tabloids..........................76 ■ Pages without art: Tips on butting headlines, boxing stories, bastard measures and alternative headline treatments.......78 - Pages with art: Designing pages using photos. Tips on dominant photos, balancing art and butting headlines..........84 - Modular page design: A look at one successful page — and what happens when you rearrange the story modules.........86 « Front page design: Some examples of well-designed front pages ......88 4* Section front flow chart: A step-by-step guide to designing fron t pages and section fronts...........89 * Designing Page One — a case study: Step by step, we watch a top professional create the front page......................90 i- Making stories fit: What to do when text is too longer short............96 #- Inside pages: Working with ads to improve pages................98 * Double trucks: Special layouts for facingpages................100 * Bad juxtapositions: How to keep story modules from colliding..............102 * Rules of thumb: A recap of basic design guidelines.....................103 « Troubleshooting..........104 * Exercises.....................106 IBB wttĚÉĚlm mm WSSmS iliiiillliiii WMwmĚĚ&. WĚĚSĚ WĚĚSm mm isms 1 PAGE BESI6H GRIDS Before you design a page, you've got to know: What grid does this page use? What's the underlying pattern that divides this page into columns? A page grid provides the structure — the architecture —that keeps elements evenly aligned: Uvuvuvu uvuv inuvuvumivuv Uvuvuvu uvuv uvuvuwmivuv Uwvuv IM«J VUWJ UVIMJ ■ YUMMMI IMnu UVtMMIV 3-colutnn grid: open used by newsletters. Note how limited the options are for photo and text widths. uvuvuvu uvuv 1mmjmiwvuv 4 columns: ,4 common grid for tabloids. More flexible than a 3-column grid, and the text is comfortably wide. Uvuvuvu uvuv uvuvuvuvuvuv 5 columns: Probably the most popular tabloid grid. It's also commonly used on broadsheet section fronts. 6 columns: I he standard grid for broadsheets, since most ads are sold in these standard column widths. 7 columns: An mlngwng tabloid grid. Note how that thin column is suited for sidebars, outlines, etc. 1S1FET Newspapers typically come in two sizes: broadsheet and tabloid. And the larger §!FfS broadsheet page provides room for bigger photos and more elaborate designs. Most broadsheets use a 6-column grid — especially on inside pages, where ads are sold in standard widths that require columns about 11 or 12 picas wide. On open pages and section fronts, however, broadsheets may use a variety of grids: Sunnis change tactics on Sports * £2Z Beating Bears nothing new for Holmgren ; 49ers lake a pounding buJ deliver the last shot For O'Neal, its a ;.£fi season of promise ; fhi Fhird time the charm for Dunlcavy? riEiHHETuaimvuis WMB evidence wasn't valid 6 columns: At The Republican American in Waterbury, Conn., all elements align along a 6-column grid. Most broadsheet papers use this grid, particularly on their inside pages. 10 columns Untihutntl) Tilt Oitgoman used a 10-column grid on most section fronts, which helped standardize the sizes of those narrow liftout quotes, mug shots and graphic extras. 12 columns.' The Beaver County Times in Pennsylvania uses a 12-column grid to keep complex page designs organized. From left to right, the column widths are 1-3-2-2-2-2. 76 GRIDS A typical tabloid page is roughly half the size of a broadsheet page. Exact measurements vary from printer to printer, but these are common current dimensions for tabloid and broadsheet paper sizes. Though large-circulation dailies are usually broadsheets, many other papers — including weeklies, student newspapers and special-interest journals — prefer the advantages of the tabloid format. Why? ♦ Their smaller size makes tabs easier to produce and cheaper to print. ♦ Editors and advertisers find that their stories and ads can dominate a page more effectively than in a broadsheet. ♦ They're popular with readers: handier, less bulky, faster to scan and browse. Tabloids are roughly half the size of broad-i.v.'.';r' ■ '':: . sheets. If vou turn a broadsheet page sideways DUE BMURNEET PAGE and ^1 y°U ^ ^ ublokl ^ HORE OH > Berliners: A new size, halfway between tabs and broadsheets, that's part of the industry's current downsizing trend........................13 - Special grids: How some grids help you display graphic extras....................198 22-24" - -- ONE TABLGI0 PAGE ONE THBL0I9 PAGE 12-17" As the cost of newsprint has continued to rise, many publishers have incrementally reduced the size of their newspapers. That's why it's difficult to establish one universal, standard size for broadsheets and tabloid pages. ■12-14"- 11-12"- 11-12"- Though a 5-column format is most common in tabloids, some papers have successfully used 7-, 8-, even 9-column grids. That's a 9-column grid in the Lan-gara College student paper (below left). And what looks like a 4-column format in the Oregon Daily Emerald (below right) is actually an 8-column grid. PAGE DESIST PAGES WITHOUT ART in i Some of you work with tabloids. Some of you work with broadsheets. As a compromise, the examples in this chapter — like the one below— will use 5 columns (as most tabloids do) but will assume the shape and depth of broadsheet pages. Until now, we've looked at different ways of designing stories. Now, we're ready to design pages. And a well-designed page is really nothing more than a neatly organized stack of stories. Sounds simple, right? So we'll start simply. With just text — no photos. That way, you'll see that, with or without art, you build a page by fitting rectangles together as logically as you can. In the old days, editors designed pages by stacking stories side by side in deep vertical rows. Today, the trend is more horizontal, and it's possible to build pages in wide horizontal rows like the example below. Though its design is simple, this page does get the job done: uvuv uy vuvuvuy uvu ■ Headlines and headline sizes: A quick guide far both broadsheet and tabloid....................29 » Designing pages With art: Guidelines for adding photos to gray pages like this one...........................84 •* Inside pages: Creating modular designs, working with ads..................93 This page design is simple — a bit dull, actually — but it still observes some basic design principles: Story placement: The strongest story goes at the top of the page. By "strong" we're referring to news value, impact or appeal. As you move down the page, stories become less significant. Headline sizing: Page position dictates headline size. The lead story will have the biggest headline; headlines then get smaller as you move down the page. Uvinnivuvuy Vuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuvuvuvy Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvuy uvuvuvuvuvuv Uuiiviiuimjv Vuvuvuvuy uvu uvimjvu vuvuvuvuvuuuvinn] Story shapes: As we've learned, stories should be shaped like rectangles. And here, you can see how keeping stories rectangular keeps pages neat and well-organized. Whether stories are stacked vertically or horizontally, whether they use art or not, that principle always applies on open, ad-free pages like this. (Later, when we look at pages with ads, you'll see it's not always this easy to keep stories rectangular.) The design of this page is clean, but its impact on readers is probably weak. Why? It's too gray. Too monotonous. There's nothing to catch our eye. The only contrast comes from the headlines. On a perfect page, every story would have some kind of art: a photo, a chart, a map or — at the very least — a liftout quote. In reality, however, actually producing all those extras would take a colossal amount of time and might look pretty chaotic. A better rule of thumb is this: Make every page at least one-third art. In other words, when you add up all the photos, graphics and display type on a page, they should occupy at least a third of the total real estate. Some pages should use even more art than that (sports and feature section fronts, for instance). There are times, however, when photos just don't materialize. When there are no quotes to lift. When there's no time — or no artist — to add a chart or graph. Your page may be gray, but it doesn't have to be dull. Instead of simply stacking stories in rows (as in the example above), you can add variety by: ♦ Butting headlines. ♦ Boxing stories. ♦ Using bastard measures. ♦ Using raw wraps and alternative headline treatments. In the pages ahead, we'll see how these techniques work on pages without art. 78 M6E DESIGN . PAGES WITHOUT ART ITTif ADUH1 TOM MIX DIES IN CRASH Troy Tops Mini 13-7; Texans Beat Bruins 7-0 115,000 to Join Pontifical Mass fctf Peace Today a«fc iWm Western Film Aiding ťapal „ „.„ , En noy in atlt) MlKO J Coliseum in Arizona I „„.,,„„„Mum Hitler Warned By Greece; Dfl If CMS 10 ]«a»;e Rii^kAi-^t flňLÍSWIOlISZUPffi! Nazis S»eize Bucharest lU-Boats Stage in Swy**ibií«. Swn tum (*: V«jw Wienand Sayt Bít. yannfat Tíiiíj iff r. ct r. i.. in a.? . mJAMi'Aiajv.iij.iM. Battk With British Navy Europe Conflict Moving to Egypt ^ ls_ Axis Plans Check of Troops March in Triumph to, Balkan Qjpitat «MENS, ťirem. Ort. It —iř"j—Wsb Šmok b.chui. Nobody likes ugly heads. But it took newspapers years to figure out how to slap headlines onto every story without jamming them into a chaotic jumble. Until the 1960s, most newspapers ran vertical rules in the gutters between stories. When their headlines stacked alongside each other, they looked like tombstones (hence the term tombstoning, another name for butting heads). For years, the First Commandment of Page Design has been: Don't butt heads. That's good advice. Butt-headed design can cause confusion like this: President Bush meets Frisbee title-holder Castro in Miami Beach to challenge record MOKE ÍN * Headlines: Fonts, sizes and number of lines....................29 Butting heads: How to avoid them by using photos and raw wraps........85 Occasionally, though, you'll need to park two stories alongside each other, and when you do, their heads may butt. To minimize the problem: ♦ Mix styles, fonts or sizes. The idea here is: If headlines must butt, make them dissimilar. If one's boldface, make the other light or italic. If one's a large, 1-line horizontal, make the other a small, 3-line vertical. ♦ Write short. Let a little air separate the two headlines. That usually means writing the headline on the left a few counts short, just to be safe. uvuvuv uy Viivuv uvuvu vuvuy uvuvuv uvuvu luuviQr uvuvuv uy vuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy livuvuv uvuy Vuvuwivuy Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuvuvv Uvuvuvuvuy Vuvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uyu Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuv Uvuvu Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuvuv vuvuy uvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvuy uvuyu ; i Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuv uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuv With stories stacked like this — in wide horizontal layers —you're not forced to butt any headlines. But should we add a vertical shape to break up the monotony? Now the top two headlines butt a bit. But the one on the left is bigger (by at least 12 points) and it's written short. The page now has a vertical element to relieve the tedium. Here, two different pairs of headlines butt. But some would say the page now has more motion, more interesting shapes. By bending the rules, we've added variety. DESIGN PAGES WITHOUT ART WHS Another way to break up monotonous gray page patterns is by boxing stories. JRSE3 ^s we saw 011 Pa8e Putting a box around a story (with a photo) is one way to avoid confusing readers with ambiguous designs: Which story does this photo belong to? Hard to tell You'd have to scan the text and the outline to. figure it out. If you draw a box around the story and its photo, you join them into one package — and avoid confusing readers. Boxing a story also gives it visual emphasis. It's a way of saying to the reader, "This story is different from the others. It's special" Don't box a story just because you're bored with a page and want to snazz it up. Instead, save boxes for stories that deserve special treatment: ♦ A light feature on a page full of hard news. ♦ Small sidebars attached to bigger stories. ♦ Standing columns (news briefs, opinion, etc.) that appear regularly. ♦ Stories with risky or complicated designs whose elements might otherwise collide with other stories and confuse readers. • Bad juxtapositions: How they happen, and how to avoid them.....................102 <■ Rules and boxes: Where (and where not) to use them...........165 r ut/uvuv uvuy vuvuy 1ivuvuv Uvuvuv uvuvuviiviivuy uvimw Uvuvuvuvtty uvuvuv uvuy Vuvuv Ifuuvuvuvtiv uvuvuv uvuy Vuvuvuvuuwuvuvuv v" Vuvuvuvuviiy huuviiv vuyu Uvuvuv uvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy vuvu vuvu my Vuvuv Uvuvuuuvinuvuv uvuy uvuvuvuviiy i Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uuuyVuvUVVUUVUVIIVIMiy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvu Uvuvuvuviiy Vuvtfvuvuviy uvuvuv uyuvu Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv vuvuvuy Vuvuvuvuy Uvuvuvuviiy pvimw uvuy Vuwivuvu uuivuv Boxing this deep vertical story breaks up the monotony of the page and says to the reader, "This story is different." Give this treatment, then, only to special stories or columns. Here, we've created the effect of two lead stories on one page: one across the top and one that's boxed. See how these story shapes move your eye around the page? At the top, we've boxed the lead story's sidebar — and it's obvious that the two stories work together as a unit. At the bottom, we've given a graphic nudge to a small feature. MEASUR1N8 COLUMN O Measure the width of the box (in picas). WIDTH** INSIDE BOIES ^ Decide how many legs of text llierc will be. "* 0 Subtract 1 pica for each guller inside the box 'lb figure on! how wide ,■ ■ . ., .1 . 5 , legs of text will be (including I he two gutters on the outer edges). when you put a and finally, story in a box: □ Divide by the number of legs. řlGEIESÍGB PAGES WITHOUT ART BAST! GOLil KASU! OK, stop snickering. Bastard measures are serious design options. And they're |§fj[ (J| ~p HI handy, too — especially when you need extra flexibility in sizing photos. (More on this later.) As we've seen, most publications use a fixed number of columns on each page. But bastard measures let you deviate from the standard text width: ': Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuu Livuvuvitvuvuy uVuvuvuvuy Vuviwuvuvuy uvuvuv uyuvuvu At left is a broadsheet page using a basic 5-column grid, where each leg is roughly I4p5 wide. If you changed the number of legs in each story, you'd have these bastard widths: Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuy iivuvuvuvuvuy Uvuvuvuvuy VuvHviivuvuy uvuvuv uyuvuvu 3 tegs Of 25p4 4 legs of 18p9 6 legs of 12p2 Bastard measures: How they add extra flexibility in sizing photos.....................97 7 legs of 10p3 Bastard measures add graphic emphasis to a story by freeing it from the rigid page grid. (In the above left example, see how the columns and gutters align in a strict vertical pattern?) Changing column widths is a subtle but effective way to show that a story is special or different: r uvuvuv uvuvuvu Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuvu Uvuvuv vuvuy uvuvuv uvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuy uvuv Uvuvuvuvuy Vuvuvuvuvuy uouvuuu A good combination: a box with a bastard measure. This adds emphasis to the lead story and helps set it apart. The page is orderly and the relative news value of each story is clear. Uvuvuuuvuy uvuvuv uvy Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuuuy Uvuvuvuvuy Vuvuvuvuvuvu UVUVUVtlUU vuvuy uvuv uvuvuwuvy uvuvuvuvuv A wider measure can enhance a columnist (right column) or other special story (bottom). Note, too, how the column rule helps separate that right column from the other stories. uvuvuv uvuvuvuv uvuuiiuuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuy uvuv uvuvuv ..... ■ ■ ..... vuvuvuv " ' ' *......... ' - "" uvuvuy Uvuvuvuvttf vuvuvuvtwuy uvuvu Too many bastard measures can get confusing. Why create two competing lead stories? Why run that bottom story in wide legs? In short: Dont ignore your basic page grid. Bastard measures alter the grid patterns on a page — which can be either good (relieving monotony) or bad (creating chaos). Some papers don't allow any bastard measures; others allow them only when a story is boxed. So remember to use the proper amount of restraint. A warning about something that should be obvious by now: Don't change column widths within a story. Widths may change from story to story and from page to page, but once you start a story in a certain measure, each leg of that story on that page should stay the same width. No cheating. PAGE DESlGfi . PAGES WITHOUT ART USING Raw wraps let you park two stories side by side without butting their headlines. MORE 01 HAW |fj}||p{| But use raw wraps with caution. They work only at the top of a page, beneath a boxed story, or below some sort of cutoff rule. Otherwise, as you can see, they'll collide with other columns of text and confuse your readers: ^^Svuvi ivuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuvy ^Jvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvuvu > Types of headlines: A summary of nonstandard options.....28 Raw wraps: How to use than to keep headlines from butting.....................85 Here's that typical photo-less page again. You can see how that raw-wrapped headline adds variety to the story shapes. But see how the second leg of that raw-wrapped story collides with the text above it? That's the danger of raw-wrapping stories in the middle of the page. UVEMIVUV VUVUVliV : Uvuvuviry uvuvuv uy Vuvu Uvuvuvuv VlflflJVUV imivuvuy uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvu Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Viivuviivu uvavy uvuvuvuvuv Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuvy uvuvuvuvuv A better combination. Here, the lead story is boxed in a bastard measure. That gives it extra emphasis and staggers the column alignment, making it unlikely that readers will be misdirected. You could box the raw-wrapped story instead, but remember: Save boxes for stories whose content is special. Don't use boxes to salvage weak designs. optional headline treatments No one ever said that all headlines have to look the same. Adding variety to your headlines can add oomph to your page designs. But don't overdo it. Save special headline treatments for special stories. If you use too many offbeat headlines on a page, their styles may clash and create distraction. At the top of the page: a raw-wrap headline inside a boxed story (in bastard measure). Some papers raw-wrap headlines at the top of the page simply to avoid an excess of long, Tline banner heads. Below, a hammer head (with deck) gives extra impact to a special analysis or feature story. uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvu Uvuvuv uvvuy uvuvuv uvuvuy Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu vuvy u*™™» — ^ .. - - - uvuvuvuy UUIMMIV Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuv vuvy uvmmvuv ICVUWVU .......- uvuvuvuy ..... ■ * ... ...... I.vuvuvuv Vuvuvu uv uvuvu Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuvy At the top of the page: a sidesaddle headline. Like raw wraps, these must be used carefully to avoid collisions between tegs of different stories. Note, too, that if the story's legs are too deep, the headline will float in too much white space. At the bottom of the page, a liftout quote lures readers as it breaks up the gray text. PMÜESISK PAGES WITHOUT ART bULUIiUN: SMARTER PACKAGING Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuy Uvuvuvuy uvimw Vuvuvuvu uvuvuvuy lfuuvuv uy ViruuiniLti mwg If your pages consistently look like the one at left — a gray hodgepodge crowded with short stories — you need more photographers. But you also may need to start packaging short, related items into special formats. The advantages; ♦ Instead of scattering news briefs or calendar listings throughout the paper, you anchor them in one spot. That's a smarter, cleaner solution. ♦ You create more impact for your main stories by keeping those smaller ones out of their way. ♦ You appeal to reader habit, since most of us prefer finding material in the same spot every issue. "Roundup" packages of briefs usually run down the left-hand side of the page. By stacking briefs vertically, it's easier to add or cut material to fit precisely. Note how this column runs in a wider measure, separated from the rest of the page by a cutoff rule. A box would also work well to isolate these briefs. Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvu S uvuvuv uy Vuvuvu ! Uvuuiiuiiv Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuy i vuvuvuv I UVUVUVUY Uvtwuvuv T ., ., vuvuvuv Uvuvuvuy iivu uy Vuvu uvuvuvuy Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuvuuy Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuvuvy f*S?Vt uutt'u/Uu" oaarujuv "Hoi may iMui/tyiib- By flopping the page design at far left, we can see how the page looks when you run a special column down the right-hand side. Here, a "man-in-the-street" interview uses mugs and quotes to anchor and enliven an otherwise gray page. ^fty? • . ! * ll'.-i.irvy in/u.lll.Mi, ■■ .„ , 'h./jm-j m-.-.l: iniry uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu Uvuvuvuv vuvuvuv uvuvuviry Some papers run news roundups horizontally across the top of the page, though the text often wraps awkwardly from one leg to another. Note the raw wrap at the bottom of the page. This is how it looks when you box a raw-wrapped story (in bastard measure) below another story. Is that solution acceptable? Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuvuvuv ■* ... J vuvuvuv *.■ . ■ - ~ ~» uvuvuvuy uvuvuvuv Uvuvwniv uvuv vuv uy vinnivuv uuvu uvuvuvuy : uvuvuvuv vuvuvuvuv uvuvuvuvy vuuivtiv itv I Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuv uvuvuvuy I vuvu uvuvuvy iivuvuvuvuvu Here's how a roundup column looks when it's stripped across the bottom of the page. Again, the biggest drawback is the awkwardness of wrapping short paragraphs from one leg to the next. In this example, a black bar labels the column and separates it from the rest of the page. 83 PAGE DESJGN PAGES WITH ART Here's that gray page again. Sure, it's clean, well-ordered, packed with information. But it's dull. Lifeless. Nothing grabs your attention. The stories may be wonderful, but they may never get read. As a page designer, your job isn't just drawing lines, stacking stories and keeping everything from colliding. It's selling stories to readers. People won't eat food that looks unappetizing; they won't swallow news that looks unappetizing, either. And that's why you gotta have art. Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvuy uvu Uvimivuvuy Vuvuvuvuy uvuvuvu uvuvuvuvy Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvuy Uvuvuvuvuy vuvuvuvuy uvuvuvuvu uVuvuvuvqy uvuvuv uy Vuvuviivuy vuvuvhvuvuvu Uviivuviivuy Vuvuvuvijy uvu uvuvuvu uvuvuvuvuvuvu I Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvuy uvuvuvuviiviivu UviMjvuvuy Vuvuvuvuy uvuvuvu Art is essential. And informational art — art that's informative, not simply decorative — plays an integral part in news design. Adding art to your pages: ♦ Supplements textual information with visual information. ♦ Adds motion, emotion and personality that's missing in text alone. ♦ Attracts readers who might otherwise ignore gray type. ♦ Increases the design options for each page. Here's that same page, with art. There's less room for text now, so stories must either be shortened or else jump to another page. But it's worth it. Remember, most readers browse pages until something compels them to stop. By adding photos, maps or charts, you catch their interest — then deliver the information. IT ilDEUiFJ When you add art to a page, you enhance its appeal. You also increase the risk 'OR PISES °* cmtter an(-t confusion. So go slowly at first. Once you feel comfortable adding art to stories, keep adding it. It's (arguably) better to make a page too dynamic than too dull. As one veteran newspaper designer put it: "I like to take a page right to the edge of confusion, then back off a bit." A dizzying number of possibilities — and pitfalls — await when you design full pages, so it pays to remember these guidelines: ♦ Keep all story shapes rectangular. You've heard this a dozen times. But it's the key to successful modular design. ♦ Vary your Shapes and Sizes (of stories as well as art). Avoid falling into a rut where everything's square. Or vertical. Or horizontal. Or where all the stories are 10 inches long. Give readers a variety of text and photo shapes. ♦ Emphasize what's important, Play up your big stories, your big photos. Place them where they count. Let play and placemen t reflect each story's significance as you guide readers through the page. In the next section, we'll look more closely at three crucial guidelines: ♦ Give each page a dominant image. ♦ Balance and scatter your art. ♦ Beware of butting headlines. ,. mi mm PAGES WITH ART 61« E m IMAGE Most beginning page designers run art too small. As a result, pages look weak and meek. So be bold. Run your best art big. And when you use two or more photos on a page, remember that one of them should dominate. Even if there's only one photo on a page, it should run big enough to provide impact and interest — to visually anchor the page. F uvuvuv Vuvuvuv Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuvuvuy INuvuvuy uvuvu uy Vuvuwiwniuv Here's a page where no photo dominates. As a result, it looks text-heavy and unexciting. Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv uvuvuvu UVUVUVIV UVTMI uy Vuvuvuvuvuv . Here, that top photo is two columns wider ■— and now it dominates a dynamic page. m MICE & SCATTER YOUR ART Use photos to anchor your pages, but remember to balance and separate your art, too. When photos start stacking up and colliding, you get a page that's: ♦ confusing, as unrelated art distracts us and intrudes into stories where it doesn't belong. Or: ♦ lopsided, as photos clump together in one part of the page and text collects in another. Uvuvuviiy uvuvuvuvu Uvuvuvuy uvtnuv uvtt This layout seems to pair the lead photo and top mug, as well as the three mugs behw. It's confusing and top-heavy. Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv Vuvuvuvuvu Uvuvuvuy uvuvuv imi Smarter photo placement avoids collision or confusion. The page is better-balanced when the art's apart. BEWARE BUTT! HEADLIN OF ?! ES We've seen how you can bump heads (carefully) when you need to. But on most well-designed pages, head butts are unnecessary. Clumsy. And confusing to readers. Instead, think ahead. Rather than butting headlines, use art to separate stories. In many cases, that's where raw-wrapped headlines offer a smart alternative to a crowded page. rvuvuy uvuvuvuvuv Vyuyuvii uvuvuvu uvuvuvuy uvuvwi UVUVUVUy UVUVUV UVU Uvuvuvwuvwuiiy -, vuvtmmiuuv u/irvu With two sets of butting headlines, this page is clumsy and confusing. But if you use the photos to separate stories.. . uvuvimj uvuvirwi uvuwray uvuvuvu UVUVUHtf 1MMMJ ... it's a much cleaner layout. Notice how the raw wrap (bottom left) makes it easy to run two stories side by side. 85- MODULAR PAGE DESIGN We've mentioned the term modular design before. And as you begin designing full pages, the idea of treating stories as modules — as discrete rectangular units — gains new meaning. Take a moment to examine the sports page below. Notice how every story is a rectangular module. Then study how all those modules fit together to form a well-balanced, well-organized page. Sports America's Cup is on for September sei» «mrtsHK* .UtauUy 3d fiR*fl after the fice teeliis. If Etc -----,. ijj^j^n jf, stared iucgni |iy AEWlfA'S Oir. wild ha^ (aifait tfei: «im------ aid to." '■WttiKllgguo ■SilBUSepaJlElll^- ' _.._.,„. .......... jjjn, Mte! jj. rwHlim and CfltE iMIlfll (fj-l, _.. _______ rinmlB Gauicf, litetmr of üu fndljiljns tint hup« its San tSepi Y&c5« Outi Safety's wish is granted Mitchell's homer sinks Dodgers Giants break through B w * agaii^ Fsnwido, 3-3 ^*,fclR^,s'" J™ phj-vi Sawriay rati Sun-M rtjhiiwrijc on »c *TJtj>- Rorwi»5CS Jnan ltoWjisüii said he rcnjd sc* «gm toim jivaiB tt* 3iywr-MCraciiMÜ limnppcmr '"I ihbfc a tit oT. [to** IMr^H Itself ta-Siäasa: iwttoi^ii5ufihel>lgi:«'i.i£h predict 1 tot-poxl jfilcitf and TOHaitortwi ajji^siitil aitcr Jtnatd %% •! < >' starting in lamia)* i }.t±tfi >Jt\U^ That Hurricane Katrina page was produced in a hurry: a simple layout with no fancy frills. Here's a front page, by comparison, where artistic touches are added to nearly every story module. Note the use of color screens, the photo cutouts and crops, the treatment of that centerpiece headline. Rules and color boxes separate all the modules here, so the page stays cleanly organized. Is all this color appealing— or did the designer overdo it? Here's another big breaking news story. After terrorists bombed a London subway in 2005, Toronto's National Post played the story this way. The layout is purely symmetrical (even the headline is centered). The low-resolution photo, taken by a passenger's cell phone, adds a gritty realism to the page. And the black background puts you down in the darkened subway tunnel. A clever touch — or is it too distracting and difficult to read? NATIONAL-POST BLAIR:'WE WILL NOT BE TERRORIZED' This time it's deadly ind expire ! likearuleoD : j^ft^fr ^ttss™ information PS «l~ — lj Navy air base near Jacksonville, Fla. They were wrong. BEACH OFFICIALS SAY REPOflTfifltSTEBS IHEIR CASE ! «*■«""" ; WHAT H WEARS MMIMIfiä 1ft. 1918 FOR IMS OTHER SHIES Tfie photo editor shows me the two best shots for the football feature - a nice image of two fans who cant believe what they're seeing and an action photo of the hot-shot player. The story centers on the crowds, so it's obvious that the fan photo is the best of these options. The facial expressions are great, but the image needs some size for full impact. I'll also need to show the player who is creating all the stir, but that photo can run as secondary art. There is also a mug shot of the child killed by the dog, and though I plan to use it, it needn't run large. A wire photo shows the design of the new nickel, and it screams to be cut out. At this point, the Katrina story and its art are off my radar. 93 Mí DESIGN DESIGNING PAGE ONE: A CASE STUDY DESIGNING THE OTHER ELEMENTS With the lead story already designed, my attention turns to the bottom of the page. I want to give, the football feature adequate space, but that still leaves two stories and a bunch of promotional material. The nickel story offers some hope, in that it can be cut down to a short item and thus free up room for everything else. It's time to get going. íhcXlirgiuiaii-ídiot i Advocates pushttie to roipen Cecfi Field insisted i that no one lived in cFasn Kanes around ttie former Navy hit base near JacfcsanviUe, j"ia. They were wrong. 6HEHOraDllSSJff«tPait!BHSia5THSIHUSE : I begin with the football player feature. I use the photo of the fans large but add white space around the layout to let it breathe. The outline tells me that they drove from out of state to see the football star, and this enhances the image's storytelling value. I use the image of the player small, with an extended cutline that tells readers why he's such an attraction. I use apullout quote above the large photo to set the scene and type in "The big draw" as my first-draft headline. This is working for me. I've added a few other touches to the lead package: I've placed a mug shot of the Virginia Beach mayor in the story, though it still isn't written and I don't know if she will be quoted. And I've added a small cutout of a jet to the label because it gets to the heart of the story and because — well, it looks cool. %cDir9ittun-T)tíot 'eiuiFueaKstiiwiHi'u- nJ*#W ' Ml MTTitjift warn malted in trasl;iraKe5»njiEtiri(ti?tnrTjjn^y ati-rmse They were wrong. i I The I jig ill aw I revisit the football feature and swap the photos, putting the player on top. I like this relationship between the two images. I keep the quote next to the small photo, but I fear the typography is too repetitive of the lead story, with small type leading into big type. I'll have to think about this. I fill in the page with the rest of the stories. The dog attack piece goes on the left, and I use the boy's photo with it. On the right, I run a hold-to-the-front item about the new nickel, and I let the coin jut into the lead package. I like how it looks. Below the Jefferson story, I leave room for two refers to stories inside and two stories coming up later in the week. I then go to work on the above-the-flag promo. For some reason, I use pink type today. I've never done that before. ^eUíigitóan-ílilcft v. s»':ut«Hwi;>Ii5>i ííít^pi- • im e«"iil nn of r»« íjj Advocates nualiitifc'iürtxroenwciHMddjrsUrcd Uj mtm lived in urosh zenusaround the Íwdut gsSsjjggS Navv-sil Dass near ,J;Hcfcs iiwfgntsi]' I go back to my original football design, and this is the page I show at our 6:30p.m. meeting, where editors get their first chance to offer comments about the page. They like the lead presentation but have issues with the bottom of the page. With the feature, they want the football player's photo on top. I explain my rationale for where I've placed it, but they're not buying it. They also want the dog attack story on the right side of the page; they consider this a more newsy spot. I think readers will look where you lead them and, in this case, the nickel is more visually interesting than the photo of the boy, so I think it will attract more attention than the dog attack story regardless of where it is on the page. 94 PAGEDESI8B DESIGNING PAGE ONE: A CASE STUDY This package would have been stronger if I had turned this photo into a graphic of sorts, with callouts explaining what it shows and what it means. The entire story could have been told this way, and the presentation would have been more integrated. A missed opportunity. This looks like a refer to an inside story rather than a short story by itself. I should have used body type for the text and a headline treatment that made it look more like a story. And, in spite of those pesky editors, I still would like this column of short items moved to the right. The page would be better balanced. These promos look' crowded and a bit overwhelming. Will anyone read this much text? I should have dropped one of these items, which would have given me more space for the nickel story, and played up the first item more. I make the recommended adjustments but use a large headline at the top of the football story to avoid the problem of too many small lead-ins on the page. My initial lead headline holds up. Overall, I'm satisfied. But iff could do it all over again: OCTOBES 5.2B1S THE WtSTESN TftENÖ IS BACK. HOW TO GET THE PERFECT FIT. | THE DAILY BREAk IheTJirgittian^tkit I | BRAC RECOMMENDATIONS ' J^gifT^f - THE BATTLE OVER OCEANA i Advocates pushing to relocate jets from Oceana Naval Air Station m Virginia Beach to Cecil Field insisted that no one" " ' ^L. »-t„ JL * < i lived in crash zones around the Florida facility. They were wrong. VA. OFFICIALS SAY REPORT BOLSTERS THEIR CASE I ,.".6.""0"1.. Different look for Jefferson The big attr;i(lKMi WHAT IT MEANS Parents mourn hajy'' who died1* b^iriauling < 'fbddfer was I'earkss, full ofiifö, feÜJür says Fuel-efficient cars aüfflliMV Usm MiSJh ears w «*tfj ■cJsinl.piüni and tmiiShW Ofinnietit Ke^iKv-ine, was ranked K&-. 3 ui &njih ilampi™ Ki-ciiäs. Bot !q? it>f, ihi! ccj] af Hampton Krads, a I Ert™ Uwu'ncs tiiylor. Kmi!i) Qsm £rallii.UJ DuricF. I'la^tf* ßlltMSS IjiJ De-ingelo Hall in ist wijfli- lVil Jrores!, the f«iwr liarSifif MW bjtfcttbai; coacJl ilUOj Oil Sit aiMiries to gtf a glirüpB-ü cf Hat-i-in sn he einitd öutoriicra." * |H"' ''Irenirimrjvfff^lTJitMi uj> and hölfliE^sum.'' f-pji Marlin • ^(hink Ii?InEivT^'Änrä Jöftatliari -Mart in was attacked nod iKEulad to death b? df trjth of the fciiiil/i tit buJl-aiis tings. The t'hliä, (tesenbfcd ijy 6t, tather-Ssfesi' and full <3t Mi, Page grids: How a better grid might let you size photos with more flexibility.....104 JUMPING There will be times — so many, many times — when you'll need to fit a 30-inch ST8HFS stoI7 mt0 a 10-inch hole. When that happens, you can either: ♦ Cut 20 inches from the story (lots of luck), or ♦ Start the story on one page and finish it on another. When stories runneth over like that, they're called jumps. Jumps are controversial. Many editors hate them. Many readers hate them, too, or worse: they ignore them. But designers love them, because they give us the freedom to stretch and slice stories in odierwise unimaginable ways. (That age-old journalistic question — "Do readers actually follow stories that jump?" — has yet to be answered definitively. My own hunch? If a story's engrossing enough, readers will follow it anywhere. Otherwise, they'll use the jump as an excuse to bail out.) When you jump a story: ♦ Make it worth the reader's while. It's pointless — and annoying — to jump just a few short paragraphs at the end of a story. Jump at least 6 inches of text, unless the story is simply uncuttable and there's no other option. ♦ Start the story solidly, with at least 4 inches of text, before forcing it to jump. Otherwise, the story may look too insignificant to bother reading. ♦ Jump stories to the same place whenever possible. Readers will tolerate jumps more forgivingly once they're trained to always turn to the back page, the top of Page 2, the bottom of Page 3, etc. ♦ Jump Stories once — and once only. You'll lose or confuse too many readers if you jump a few inches to Page 2, then snake a little more text along Page 3 Please turn to JUMPS, Page 158 ► P1GE OESiGR INSIDE PAGES MATO MENACE News stories exist to inform readers. Ads exist to make money for publishers. Can you guess which is more important? Right. Ads. The big difference between a front page and an inside page is that, on inside pages, you coexist with a loud, pushy heap of boxes — ads — stacked upward from the bottom. Now, some stacks look better than others. But whatever format they use, ad stacks are dummied onto pages before the news is — and thus dictate the shape of the news hole you're left with. Today, these three formats are most often used for dummying ads: Stairstep !or I'-vicii in' Modular To designate ads on page dummies, designers often draw diagonal lines, like those shown here, from the top-left to the bottom-right corner of each ad. This traditional format lets every ad touch news copy, which is important to many advertisers. But for editors, it creates ugly-looking news holes. It also creates a pyramid effect on facing pages. As ads stack up on both sides of the page, a well forms in the middle — hence the name. Like stairstepped ads, wells can get ugly. Designers have been known to call them "Ad Stacks From Hell." Looks better, doesn't it? By stacking ads in modular blocks, pages look more orderly and attractive, and readership actually improves. This solution may become more common in the future. As you can imagine, those two old-fashioned ad configurations — stairstep and well — offer tough challenges for page designers. What's the best way to squeeze stories into those oddly shaped spaces? Here's some advice: Lf/BIII IDEL1NE8 Marty pages are doomed to ugliness before you even start designing. That's FS1 IB because the ad staff and the newsroom aren't communicating. As a result, ad lay-downs become unmanageable, forcing you to waste precious time trying to overcome unnecessary obstacles. To avoid headaches, work with the ad staff to: ♦ Use modular ad formats. Snaking stories around steeply stairstepped ads punishes both readers and advertisers. Square off ads whenever possible. ♦ Use house ads to smooth out any small, awkward holes. ♦ Establish guidelines for key pages. Negotiate dependable news holes where you need them most. Reach an agreement that Page 2 will always be open, for instance, or that Page 3's left-hand column is off-limits to ads. ♦ Establish limits. If ads are stacked too high — say, an inch from the top of the page — dummying even the simplest headline and story is impossible. Ideally, ads should either stack clear to the top or start at least 2 inches down. ♦ Get permission to move ads. Ad positions aren't etched in stone. Reserve the right to move ads if necessary. Just don't abuse the privilege. PAGE DESIGN INSIDE PAGES FOR SIDELINES SIGNING E PAGES Uuiivmiry uuii iiv;(y With a banner headline, that top story would have looked shallow and awkward. But with a sidesaddle head, the elements fit together better. Using bastard measures (or even boxing that top story) is optional. Two problems here: That top photo sits on an ad and could easily be mistaken for an ad itself. In the middle of the page, that boxed story is sandwiched between ads — and, like the photo, seems to look like another ad. [fVUVLTJUV VUVUV >*». 3JV.JVUVI I..VAIV * \ Uuuuuuuy uvuuvuvy uvuvuvuv uvuvuvuv . ♦ Work with the ad stacks. Yes, it's best to dummy stories into rectangles, but on pages crowded with ads, that may not work. Doglegging text is common on inside pages, and it's often your only option. Before you begin dummying, explore how best to subdivide each page. Work with the ads to block out clean, modular story segments. Start at the bottom, if necessary. Or try working backward from an awkward corner. Sometimes you can smooth things out by stretching one wide story atop an uneven stack of small ads. But wherever possible, square off stories ; • '\ \'-' ■". \\ ': along the edges of ads. * !"*"•.-'S ; ♦ Use alternative headline r treatments. On pages where ads crowd right to the top, you may barely have enough depth for a headline and an inch of text. That's where sidesaddle headlines come in handy (see the example at left). Another option: Use raw-wrap headlines to dummy two stories side by side at the top of a crowded page. « Give every page a dominant element. On crowded pages with tiny news holes, this may be impossible. And on other tight pages, even squeezing in a small photo may be difficult. But try to anchor each page ~"—~ with a strong image or a solid story. Don't just crowbar cluttered gray clumps of copy together. (See example at right.) ♦ Avoid dummying photos or boxed stories near ads. • \ .....r'= Ads are boxes. Photos are boxes. And readers can't < : ■-. I always tell one box from another. So unless you want \ \ • ' photos and sidebars mistaken for ads, always keep a j '■ \.. ;• ■ [ ; little text between the two (see example below). \ ■■ ■ Keep headlines away from ads, too. This is difficult \ \ "'■ . to do, but remember that a headline butting into the j; \ ...... . headline on an ad can look just as clumsy as one that j jij butts into another story's headline. —... ♦ Save good stories for pages with good news holes. Instead of constantly dummying your best stories and photos around nasty ad stacks, can you pour in flexible material like calendar listings? Briefs? Obituaries? Many papers successfully relegate text-heavy material to pages where ads are ugliest. Consider an ad laydown strategy that alternates open pages with tight ones - or provides reasonably loose news holes in key positions throughout the paper. That way, you don't have to wrestle with ads on every page; you can satisfy your advertisers' desires to locate near strong news material while still giving yourself room to design a few attractive pages. Uvuvuvuy uvuvuvuini Hi/uvufe?^^ ■= Uvuvuvuy imuvu i VHvnvHuu uvuvy UvUWWliy UVUVUWVUVUV UVU UVUVV HVIIVIIVllVilVllV :. ! Itar.iiy iiuinni ;' vuvuvuvii vi ivy As these ads stairstep down the page, stories square off alongside. You may need to cut some text to create these modular shapes, but the page will be more readable than one full of doglegs. The more crowded the page, the less necessary (and more difficult) it is to add photos. Note how this page plays up one dominant story — and how slight doglegs around ads are not a problem. 99 FiOE DESiGil DOUBLE TRUCKS Exploring Our Solar System Mercury ff*?*'' . Sülurii Venus inciter ........ ...... ..... . ■■ Uranus & Earth Mar* . Neptune PälttO The Sufi * - +0$ Called bv stars, hound by reality The Philadelphia Inquirer has created consistently brilliant examples of double-truck design. We'll look at three examples here and on the next page. To mark astronaut John Glenn's return to space in 1998, the Inquirer created a special section that looked at past and future missions, offeredguides to books and museums, and provided this double-truck guide to the planets. In 1995, a fire killed 23 primates at the Philadelphia Zoo. So when the zoo opened its new primate house in 1999, the Inquirer produced a ; special supplement full of monkey '■■ stories, Web-site guides, maps of the new exhibits, comparisons of humans and apes — and this double-truck centerpiece, a collection of primate profiles introducing 11 of the zoo's new } inhabitants to readers. PAGE DESiGN DOUBLE TRUCKS This double-truck spread from The Philadelphia Inquirer was part of a special report examining problems in the city's schools. Note how the design flows right across the central gutter. Note, too, how well balanced and proportioned, the artwork and text are. Most importantly, note how well planned this entire package is. Instead of three or four 20-inch stories, this spread uses charts, graphs and short lists to get its information across. I10S The dropout rate is high, lest jt&res low. Jus: surviving can be a chaVaigt in www srJtoob. How the high schools are failing - Double-truck design: How student papers avoid messy and predictable pages ..104 When two facing pages print across the gutter on one sheet of newsprint — say, the two pages in the center of a section — it's called a double truck. Double trucks are rare in broadsheets, but popular in tabloids. They'll work best if you: ♦ Clear off all ads. Make it one big, modular, editorial block. Any ads will either intrude, get buried or be mistaken for editorial matter. ♦ Treat both pages as one horizontal unit. Ignore the gutter between pages. Spread your elements from left to right in a balanced, orderly way. Keep the flow of text clean. Anchor the design with a bold headline and strong dominant photo. ♦ Save them for special occasions. Readers expect these packages to be special, so don't let them down. Save double tracks for news features, infographics, photo layouts or major events. Add color and graphic effects. Think big. Have fun. IStfil! 18 Fill! You can also apply special treatment to two facing pages anywhere in the paper. As with actual double trucks, it's important to treat facing pages as one wide unit. If you're careful, you can even run elements across the central gutter, but photos and illustrations align more successfully than headlines or text (see example, right). Readers are generally pretty tolerant, but don't push your luck. This photo spread from The Times (Beaverton, Ore.) ran on two facing pages — not a true double truck. We've, printed it here the way many readers saw it: with the pages slightly out of alignment and a gutter opening up through the lead photo and headline. That's a problem, but not a serious one if you position the columns of text carefully PAGE DESIGN BAD JUXTAPOSITIONS Ax-wielding lunatic escapes from asylum Vice president Cheney visits new grandchild Gorilla mom gives birth at city zoo As newspaper designer Phil Nesbitt once said: People and puppies must both be trained to use a newspaper. In olden days, readers were trained to read newspapers vertically — and since every story on every page ran vertically, readers were rarely confused about which photo went with which story. Today, however, stories run in vertical and horizontal modules that change from page to page. And on every page — with every story—we expect our readers to instantly deduce which photo connects to which text. We don't always make their choices easy. (In the example I \ " „ i at right, is Cheney the escaped j_- j lunatic? Is that gorilla photo a portrait of Cheney's new grandchild?) So it's especially important to analyze every page design as objectively as you can, to determine: ♦ if a photo sits at the intersection of two stories in a way that confuses or misdirects the reader. ♦ if two stories — or their headlines — seem inappropriate together on the same page. (Those two ape stories in the example above will seem related to many readers, thus creating a false connection.) ♦ if an advertisement seems to comment upon a neighboring news story. It's easy to embarrass yourself, your readers and the subjects of your stories (both apes and humans) by dubious dummying. When in doubt, either move it or box it—whatever it takes to make your design perfectly clear. Killer gorilla goes bananas, trashes tire store III! mm nouns To avoid blunders like that example above, beware of modules that seem to overlap, whether horizontally (on both sides of a photo) or both vertically and horizontally (beside and below a photo): Horizontally Two stories, one photo — and the reader must guess where the photo belongs. To fix: ♦ Box or screen one of the stories; ♦ Divide them with a column rule; or ♦ Run a large headline across the top of the photo and its text. 9 Horizontally and vertically Dummying photos into corner intersections can be dangerous. To avoid confusion: ♦ Box or screen one of the stories; ♦ Make sure any story below an unrelated photo is at least one column wider or narrower. 102 rM.MBiSN RULES OF THUMB On this page, we've collected the key design principles presented in this hook. Use this list as a quick reference; the numbers running along the right margin show pages where you can find more information. ♦ AH 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 ofalegof type. ♦ Text that wra:>.s below a photo should hi at least one inch deep. ♦ In vertical layouts, slack elements in this order: pholo, ciitline, licacJUne, text. ♦ Every page should have a dominant piece of art. ♦ A well-designed page is usually at least one-third art. ♦ Avoid dummying a photo directly on top ol" an ad. ♦ Avoid boxing stories just to keep headlines from bulling; it's bc.-.i to box stories only it they're special tv ditferent. [481 [50.149] [50] 151] E50] [60] [78] 199] [80] ♦ The optimum depth for legs of text is from 2 to 10 inches. [31] ♦ Avoid dummying legs of text more than 20 picas wide, or narrower than 10 picas. [311 ♦ Use italics, boldface, reverses or any other special effects in small doses. [211] ♦ Type smaller than 8 point is dilfrcuJl to read. Use small type sparingly, and avoid printing it behind a screen. [211] ♦ Every story must have a headline. ♦ Headlines get smaller as you move down the page. Smaller stories gel smaller headlines. £29] ♦ 5-10 words is optimum for most headlines. 129] ♦ Never allow an art clement to come between the headline and the start of a news story. 155] ♦ Don't butt headlines. Tf you must, run the left headline several counts short, then vary their sizes and the number of lines. [79] ♦ Writing headlines: Avoid stilted « ording, jargon, omitted verbs, bad splits; write in the presen t tense. [27] ♦ Shoot photos of real, people doing teal things. ♦ Directional photos should face the text they accompany, ♦ When in douhl, run one big pholo instead of iwo small ones. ♦ When using two or more 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 1 on a page. [110,117] [54,55] [61] [61.85] [84] ♦ lo avoid confusion, run one outline per photo; each culline should touch tlie.photo it describes. ♦ When outlines 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 pholo. I'hcy should not extend beyond either edge of the photo. ♦ Avoid widows in any culline more than one line deep. ♦ Run. at least 4 inches of a story before you jump it. ♦ Jump at least 6 inches of a story (to make it worth the reader's effort) ♦ lump stories once and once only. Whenever possible, jump to the same place. [35,1311 P5] [35] [35] [97] [97] [97] ... P*6E DESIGN ■ TROUBLESHOOTING Quick answers to questions frequently asked by designers perplexed about page design: Space shuttle begins mission to study global warming What are the best grids for newspapers to use? And once you choose a grid, do you have to use it everywhere — or can grids vary from page to page? For years, newspapers have been using the same dull grids: 6-column grids for broadsheets, 5-column grids for tabs. That's usually because the standard 1-col- ____________________________ umn ad is about 2 inches wide, and news columns are sized to accommodate ads. Which is fine for pages with ads. But what about when ads aren't a factor — on open pages, or inside pages above the ad stacks? Wouldn't it be nice to have more flexibility, more options for column widths? (See examples at left.) So . . . want to explore new grid options? Take a typical page from a recent issue of your paper and rebuild it on an upgraded grid. If you're a tab, try 7,8 or 9 columns. If you're a broadsheet, try 9, 10,11 or 12. Resize the art, reflow the text, rewrite the cuthnes and headlines, and see If you discover an advantage — visually, typographically, journalistically — to fitting your stories onto a different grid. Two warnings, however: * An oft-quoted typographic adage suggests that the optimum width for standard text is a column that's an alphabet and a half wide: Here's a typical story on a 6-column grid. But notice how gray it is, and how small that 1-column photo is. What if you want more flexibility, more design options? Space shuttle begins mission to study global warming If vou run the photo 2 columns wide, it takes up a lot more space and may not always fit into that shape. What if we could run that photo 1 ]h columns wide instead? abcdefghijklmnüjHirfituvwxyzabcdcfghijklm Space snuttie begins mission to study gloual warming You can certainly put narrower legs to use for cut-lines, liffout quotes, decks, etc. But legs skinnier than 5 picas wide are tough to pour type into. And remember, the narrower the leg, the more necessary smaller, condensed type becomes. ♦ If you're designing a tab, you may want to avoid a 6-column grid; if you're designing a broadsheet, beware the 7-column grid. Both force columns of text to be uncomfortably narrow, resulting in pages that look messy and stripey. And yes, you can mix grids within a newspaper. For example, you could design all your open pages on a 9-column grid — but on most inside pages, when that grid won't accommodate standard ad sizes, you could revert to a simpler grid using wider columns. No one but you will ever know (or care). On a 12-column grid — instead of 6 — we have twice as many options: for the photo size, the deck, the outline. (Note the liftout quote. Will it work positioned there?) The optimum column width for 9-point Nimrod, shown here, works out to be 15p6. At our school paper, we design a special double-truck i spread each issue. How can we make it look better? ♦ Upgrade your grid. If ever a design situation called for a special grid, it's a double truck. Remember: More columns mean more design options. And the biggest problem with most double trucks is the way they end up looking like the example at right: a big headline; four 15-inch stories, each shoved into a corner; random art scattered to fill the holes. ♦ Plan your package. Upgrade your reporting AND your design by collaborating in advance to produce a package with appealing sidebars. See page 188 for more on this. Ws tim ^GRADUATION Lasi je-ars «paduan^ ews-s öfters words of vflSOom for college-bound serums Departing seniors locA back on memories, ef In&tlds, faugfiwr and sad emotions ... PÄH£ DESIGN TROUBLESHOOTING ONE OF THESE FIVE C \M)!f)\JI'S WILL . BE-LINCOLN'S NEXT. MAYOR D ~- BEET THE TJftHDSTIftTES PDS IHAVHR 3F 1INC0UI is it possible to design a page -* without a big, dominant photo? Sure. That old every-page-must-have-a-H- -t. dominant-photo rule resulted from "Z, ~ H years of chaotic pages swimming in ~~1 ^ smallish photos. Nobody likes messy w ^ page designs — especially photogra- a . ~ phers, who love to see their best photos _ ~" anchoring big stories. (In fact, too - - often the downside of letting photographers design pages is that, as the photos get bigger, the story count dwindles, and the pace of the pages slows to a crawl.) BUT if you're careful and smart, you can avoid chaos and still design successful pages without big photos. You can group small photos into a central cluster. You can anchor the page with an infographics package (as in the example at left). You can run big headlines as dominant art (as in the terrific page at right — notice, by the way, how small all its images actually are). But that basic principle remains: Without something to anchor it, a busy page easily becomes chaotic. lags in war on tobacco Councjlraiui admits assault, gets probation In 1999. DstimlcrCluvsler li;u! §10 billion in Htlra uisli. Liistmontli.it had zero. Where did alJ the money 20? 1— rr "* am 5. ma^mmm V. '■" STOCES rtHU mbbh S. mmm 4'Saucers'Shown In Coast Guard Photo MOTHER DIES IN HOME FIRE i 3ĚSĚ Piolo Shows * 4 Sa-jcoci la ,« I V-Foimotloa ■•■ I Ike Con Crack i my» an. Long " We always run five stories on Page One. Is there some rule that dicates how many stories should run on a typical front page? It changes over time. Most broadsheet newspapers typically run four, five or six stories on Page One; a half a century ago, they ran dozens (see example at left). Newsy tabloids may run three or four cover stories; other tabs prefer single-topic covers, like magazines. So what's your paper's personality? Newsy, with lots of traffic? Stylish and artsy, with dramatic photos and big type? It's a question of style. Staffing. Budget. Newshole. Reader preference. The best answer: Stay flexible. Avoid falling into a rut where every issue looks the same. Page-design monotony will bore you and your readers. Consider mixing up the story count from issue to issue, page to page, letting the news — not newsroom habit — dictate the pace. IRS DIRECTOR PROFUSES LAW TO REDUCE IMFMiD I've noticed a lot of papers use rules between stories, is that a good idea? Or is it cheating? For centuries, newspapers used rules (horizontal and vertical lines) to separate stories. Back in the '60s and '70s, rule-less gutters became popular, but nowadays rules are back. And most of the best-designed papers use them. Advantages: Rules organize stories and pages into neat stacks. They even let you get away with butting headlines and colliding art elements, up to a point (see right). Disadvantages: When drawn down the middle of a narrow gutter, rules can crowd the text beside it. And if you " widen the gutter to alleviate the crowding, sliding stories slightly sideways, your page grid can look wonky and unaligned. Rules work best with wider gutters. Environmental policy 'too timid,' Gore says PovveJf orders Kosovo troops to return home CONGRESS DEADLOCKED ON MILITARY PENSION PLAN PAGEOESIGH ... Ml 271 Wt You need to dummy text in a box that's 40 picas wide. How wide will each Mm leg be if there are 4 legs? If there are 3 legs? If there are 2 legs? 0! You're laying out an inside page in a 5-column format. The ads stack up __| pretty high; your available space for news is 6 inches deep and the full page (5 columns) across. You need to dummy two stories in that space: one 15 inches long, the other 10 inches. Neither has art. You can trim one inch out of either story, if necessary — but no more. What are your best design options? There are several things wrong with each of these three page designs. Like what, for instance? 0 f% The four layouts below all use the same story elements. Which one of the four layouts is the best, and why? Uvuvuvuvuy uvuv uy Vuvuv Uvuvuvu vuv uvvuy uvuvu Uvuvuvu vuvuv vuy uvuvijvuviiy uvuvu Uvuvuvu vuvuravuy uvuvuvuvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy uvuv uy Vuvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy uvuv uy Vuvuvuv ; Uvuvuvu vuvuv vuy : uvuvuvuvuy uvuvu Uvuvuvuvuy uvu uvuv uy Vuvuvu Uunvtnniwry uvu uvuv uy Vuvuvej Uvuvuvuvuy uvuv uy Vuvuvuv uVirviMJVuy uvuv uy Vuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy uv S uvuv uy Vuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy uvu £ 71 Uvuvuvuvuy uvu uvuv in/ Viivuvu uvuv uy Vuvuvu 106 PAGE DESIGN EXERCISES Soviel women fee; tell out Reagan's aptiftjae questtorad Stot* irarf^if^es to 2.100.64 FBI ütEtitpitflEö tu employees GILBE«. I'ags M Hyundai picks Portland as principal port □ The Scutfi Koreaji auKHnarer will lr>9 funnelmq upto2S0.00Gcarsayear throuali its planned dock near Kelley Point Pari: Bj_giLLHatKran.it___ CAMPAIGN 'SS ■Kl THE TEA8J 3 hijackers, 1 hostage die in shootout after pope's visit □ Rebels ridding a church bti3 Ml Qt chiWren ana runs launch a gunbattle with üoulh African commandos 'Human mouse portends breakthroughs in medicine EJ scientistsaiVBmice i™™* hufnan immune systems wa^t,* thai make tliem promjsirig ^„'-..'.J stand-ins for drug research i*>is«in?]i 0When the layout above ran in the newspaper, some editors complained that .,,: the Campaign '88 promo box was positioned poorly. It appears as if it's part of the Hyundai story to its left. How would you redesign this part of the page to avoid that problem, using the sizes shown here? Tke Gaz;ette-Fishwrap BRIEFS 0; At left is Page One of a : typical tabloid. It uses a 5-column format, and that gray left-hand column is reserved for news briefs. Design this page to include the following three elements: ♦ A 10-inch lead story with a good horizontal photo; ♦ An 8-inch story with a horizontal photo; and ♦ A 4-inch bright (an upbeat, offbeat feature). PASE DESIGN EXERCISES HHere's an inside page for a tabloid. Down the right side, there's a column of news briefs. Draw a dummy that shows how you'd design this page with the following elements: ♦ A lead story — about 15 inches long, but cuttable* — that uses a strong, deep vertical photo; ♦ A secondary story ■— about 12 inches long, but cuttable — with a mug shot; ♦ A short, bright feature story — about 4 inches long. Note: There are two somewhat different, but acceptable, solutions for this page. Try your best to figure out both options. ' By "cuttable," we're talking a couple of inches, max. Nothing too drastic. ANSWl 271 On March 4, 1880, the New York Daily Graphic becar newspaper to print a photograph. And from that dav to lln n paper photographers have grumbled: "Will they ever give us any respect?" You can't blame photographers for feeling paranoid. Newsrooms, after all, are dominated by editors who were once reporters, who believe news means text, who think photos make nice decoration — but if space gets tight, and they need to cut either the story or the photo, you know how they'll vote. Trouble is, those editors are badly mistaken. Our culture has become overwhelmingly visual In today's media, images are strong; text, by comparison, is weak. If you want to convey information, photos can be as valuable as text. If you want to hook passing readers, photos are even more valuable than text. Until now, this book has treated photos as boxes parked on the page. But there's more to it than that. Photographs are essential for good design, and good design is essential for photos. In this chapter, we'll take a closer look at the art anc s i i i t pi i li hum nalism. « Some photo guidelines: Photographic principles you should know..........110 ,■ Good photos: A portfolio of images from five professionals...........111 * Bad photos: Avoiding problems and cliches ...116 From the camera to the page: How newsrooms produce their photos ....118 » Processing digital images: A guide to basic photo processing...........119 Sizing photos: Measuring reductions and enlargements...............120 CHAPTER SONTENTS Halftones & screens: Reproducing photos by using dot screens..........121 Scanning images: Advice on digitizing art and photos...................122 a Cropping photos: Getting maximum impact from your photos.........124 #- Stand-alone photos: Running single photos without stories.............126 * Photo spreads: Getting started designing photo pages..................127 i- Photo spread guidelines: Tips for designing effective photo pages..................130 « Studio Shots: Addingpizazz to feature layouts.............132 (> Photo illustrations: Tips for creating feature ideas in the studio.......133 Illustrations: The different ways papers use drawings................134 v A feature art checklist: What to do when stories area little vague..........136 # Risky business: Gimmicks to avoid......138 ■y Troubleshooting........139 •* Exercises....................141 ■Hi Bill IBsl SOME PHOTO GUIDELINES This action photo of airborne skateboarders is a compelling shot. But notice how the white clouds blend into the whiteness of the page. Without a border to frame this image, it's hard to know where the photo begins or ends. There's a lot to learn about shooting photographs, editing and cropping images, designing pictures into photo spreads, transforming photos into halftones ... but before we begin, let's summarize a few basic photojournalistic guidelines: ♦ Every photo should have a clean, clear center of interest. A good photo, like a well-written story, is easy to read. It presents information that's free of clutter and distractions. Every photo must be sharply focused and cleanly composed, so its most important elements are instantly visible. ♦ Every photo should look natural. In amateur snapshots, people smile stiffly at the camera; in professional news portraits, people look candid, natural, engaged in activity. Whenever possible, shoot real people doing real things, not gazing blankly into space or pretending to be busy. ♦ Every photo should have a outline. It's surprising how often editors think, "Well, everyone knows who that is: It's Millard Fillmore!" Never assume readers are as smart as you are — or that they even intend to read the story. Identify everything: all faces, places and activities. ♦ Every photo should be bordered. Don't allow the light tones of a photo to fade away into the whiteness of the page. Frame each image with a border: a plain, thin rule running along the edge of the photo (1-point or thinner is standard; in this book, we use .5 point). But don't overdo it. Thick, artsy borders around photos are distracting. They may isolate images from each other — and from the stories they accompany. ♦ Every photo should be relevant. Readers don't have time for trivia in text. They don't want to see it in photos, either. Show them images that have a direct connection to today's news (the movers and shakers, winners and losers — not squirrels playing in the park). Photos must provide information, not decoration. ♦ Every face should be at least the size of a dime. It's rare that photos are played too big in newspapers, but they often run too small — especially when the key characters shrink to the size of insects. If you want images with impact, shoot individuals, not crowds. Then size photos as large as you can. This photo has a clean, clear center of interest: an old war veteran caught in a nostalgic salute. It's a sharp, strong image, with no background clutter to distract us. And it seems to be an honest portrait — not posed or artificial. This photo of Bill Clinton on the 1992 campaign trail is interesting— but only if it runs BIGGER than this. At the size shown here, its impact is lost. The faces in the crowd blur together, and Clinton himself fades into the background. no PHOTOS A AIT GOOD PHOTOS What makes a photograph good? In the pages that follow, five photojournalists provide their own commentary on these dramatic, award-winning images. üudruian News & Meuid ug. zu05 Dan Chung, The Guardian (London): "As 1 walked into the makeshift hospital at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan, 1 was hit by the smell. It was absolutely terrible. A putrid smell. "There were no modem medical facilities to speak of. The 'hospital' was just an outbuilding of a sports field and there were three tables in front of me. As I walked in, J saw children lying on the tables. The little girl in this picture was semiconscious as doctors worked to save her using the most primitive instruments to close up a gaping wound in her head. "Muzaffarabad was the epicenter of the earthquake which devastated this country. Alongside the girl, other boys and girls were lying dazed on similar tables. Men and women were trying their best to tend to their injuries: an 8-inch cut over a little boy's eye, a smashed skull and fractured limbs. "There was no sterilization unit here and no sophisticated pain relief. The children just murmured under the strip lighting. Outside, a queue of mostly women and children, covered in blood and dust and moaning in pain, waited patiently to be treated. And these were the lucky ones, the survivors of a disaster which had taken the lives of more than 11,000 of their fellow townspeople. "I don't know the girl's name, nor her age. As I watched, as she lay on the table, they shaved her head and began stitching up the big wound. I hope that she survived, though I cant say whether she did." PltSIDS&JUtT GOOD PHOTOS Bruce Ely, The Oregonian: "Some of the best moments in high school sports don't involve the biggest schools or best athletes. How do we get these telling pictures in our paper? This is the idea I had when I went to the sports department to pitch a photo column called 'Sidelines'. Each week we'd take a look at a sport or team that doesn't get coverage in our newspaper. "This is the synchronized swimming team at a recreation center in Beaverton, Ore. They're preparing their routine for a national competition in Florida. The Oregonian has an underwater bag a plastic enclosure for your camera. I had my swimsuit on. I would dive in, hold my breath and swim down as hard as I could. As soon as I stopped swimming, I'd start floating up. So there's a small window of time when I can take pictures. At one point I was swimming back to take a break by the wall and catch my breath. Then I went under and saw this scene unfolding. So I shot six or seven pictures like this, and thought, 'Wow, this worked out really well' "I think this picture is successful because there's so much going on in different parts of the frame. You can spend time looking at the girl on the right. You look at the other girls in the background, and you're curious what they're doing. This girl on the left looks like she's asking a question. And right in the middle is this group of girls practicing their routine. There's a girl above the water, standing, and they're holding her up. "This is probably one of the most important things in these girls' lives; they spend hours of their life in this pool. That's their thing. My thing is photography. Their thing is synchronized swimming. To be able to show the most interesting aspect of what they do — that's photojournalism." . . PHOTOS & GOOD PHOTOS Brant Sanderlin, Atlanta Joumal-Gonstitution: "This is the 16th green at Augusta National on the final day of the 2005 Masters tournament. Tiger Woods had chipped up onto the green and the ball just rolled back — it kept going and going and going. He walked up on the green, looked at the ball, and it just seemed to hang therefor a split second before falling in. He just went nuts after that. "At the Masters, photographers aren't given any special access, so we really have to fight for position with the crowd. 1 had to work my way in until I found a little hole. So I was out of position for his initial shot, but it put me in a perfect spot when he came up onto the green. Nobody else was in as good a position as I was. "It's the people who make the shot. If you took away the people, or just had a clean background, it wouldn't be nearly as exciting. The thing I like about it is that every time you look at it, you see something different: you'll pick out one person in the crowd you never saw before. That's what makes the photo unique— it's the crowd." . ■ PHOTO!4HIT.. GOOD PHOTOS Kraig Scattarella: "This is the aftermath of a fatal fire where a relative has just come on the scene and realized that her grandson was killed. The emotion overwhelmed her, and all she wanted to do was run inside and see the body. The fireman stepped in to hold her back and comfort her. "The news editor was adamant about NOT using this picture* He felt that it was an invasion of these people's privacy — which it is. It's their moment of grief. My selling point for this picture was that these people didn't have any smoke detectors in their house. In the story it mentions that; they had just moved into the house a day or two before. And anybody that sees that picture is going to think of himself in that situation and think, 'I don't want this to happen to me.' "This is the picture you dream about, that all photojournalists strive for — when all the elements fall together to make a complete picture that can stand alone, without words. If you can capture a moment like this, then you've done your job 100%." * The photo did run, though. PHOTOS & art ■: : a- GOOD PHOTOS Todd Heisler, Rocky Mountain News: "This was a project about the Marine honor guard who cares for fallen Marines and their families. This is the moment when Jim Cathey, who was killed in Iraq, was being brought home to his family in Reno, Nevada. "There's a Marine escort on the plane who makes sure the casket is in place in the cargo hold. He rides with the rest of the passengers. When the plane lands, thepilot asks everyone to stay in their seats so the escort can get off, be with the family and help unload the casket. So the passengers have just been alerted that this is happening underneath them. At this moment, the family is gathering on the tarmac. "What stands out for me in this photo is the content. It tells the story; it's pretty clear what's happening. It has some complexity to it: there's the casket in the lower left, there's people across the top who have different expressions. There are a lot of basic elements of a good journalistic photo here. But on top of that, there's mood — the low light has a mood to it. Everybody asks, what are the people looking at? They cant see the casket yet; it's underneath them. So that's intriguing and it gives the photo an extra sense of mystery. "The response to this photo was overwhelming. I knew that this story would strike a nerve. I just didn't know how. But the reaction I got was very respectful. People from all sides of the political spectrum all saw something different in it. It touched so many people. It won numerous photography awards, including the Pulitzer Prize — the whole piece did, but this was the photo that really carried it." BAD PHOTOS Light pole sticking out of subject's head (poor mix of foreground and background). Harsh shadows on subject's face. Subject is out of focus. And photo is underexposed (too dark). r .-ft. i J Jöit» J J. C'jJi- 1;LTJ - life. "vl';-i ■•■ "' "'" ' ■ « Unflattering and unnatural pose. Scratches and assorted crudfrom mishandling. Image is flopped ...... (printed backward). Note the words on the sign. Distractions in ' the background. Subject is off-center, awkwardly cropped. Photo .-Z-tf&S&Z....... has no strong center of interest. Photos can be bad in a mind-boggling number of ways. They can be too dark, too light, too blurry, too tasteless, too meaningless or too late to run in tire paper. They can, like the photo above, show blurry blobs of useless information — depicting, with frightening clarity, a chubby guy with a streetlight growing out of his head. Be grateful, then, whenever a photographer hands you a sharp, dramatic, immaculately printed photograph. And avoid turning good photos into bad ones by cropping them clumsily. By playing them too small. Or by dummying them where they compete with another photo or intrude into the wrong story. Remember, photographers often use terms like "hack," "mangle," "kill" and "bury" to describe what editors do to their photos. So be careful. People who talk like that shouldn't be pushed too far. MAKING [IE BEBT OF MD PHOTOS What can you do to salvage a bungled photo assignment? ♦ Crop aggressively. Focus our attention on what works in the photo, not what doesn't. Zero in on the essential information and eliminate the rest. ♦ Edit carefully. Is there one successful image that shows more than the rest? ♦ Retouch mistakes. Use photo-editing software to tone down distracting backgrounds, improve poor exposure, fix the color balance — but remember, it's unethical to alter or manipulate the integrity of any data in the picture. ♦ Run a sequence. Sometimes two small photos aren't as bad as one big weak one. Consider pairing a couple of complementary images. ♦ Reshoot. Is there time? A willing photographer? An available subject? ♦ Try another photo source. Was there another photographer at the scene? Would older file photos be appropriate? ♦ Use alternative art. Is there another way to illustrate this story? With a chart? A map? A well-designed mug/liftout quote? A sidebar? ♦ Bury it. By playing a photo small, you can de-emphasize its faults. By moving it farther down the page, you can make it less noticeable. ♦ Mortise one photo over another. It's risky, but may help if there's an offensive element you need to eliminate or disguise. (See page 209.) ♦ Do without. Remind yourself that bad art is worse than no art at all. 116 PHOTOS BAD PHOTOS Photojournalistic cliches have plagued editors for decades. Some, like "The Mayor Wears a Funny Hat," may have some merit (either as entertainment or as a harmless form of revenge). Others, like the examples shown below, have almost no redeeming value — except to friends, relatives and employees of those in the photo. Shoot these space-wasters if you must, but look for alternatives (real people doing reaZ things) every chance you get. THE "GRIP & GRII" Usual victims: Club presidents, civic heroes, honors students, school administrators, retiring bureaucrats. Scene of the crime: City hails, banquets, school offices — anyplace civic-minded folks pass checks, cut ribbons or hand out diplomas. How to avoid it: Plan ahead. If someone does something worth a trophy, take a picture of him (or her) doing it, Otherwise, just run a mug shot. vWT.' If UM THE EXECUTION AT DAWN Usual victims: Any clump of victims lined up against a wall to be shot: dub members, sports teams, award winners, etc. Scene of the crime: Social wingdings, public meetings, fundraisers — usually on a stage or in a hallway. Also occurs, preseason, in the gym. How to avoid it: Same as the Grip & Grin — move out into the real world, where these people actually do what makes them interesting. THE GUY AT HIS DESK Usual victims: Administrators, bureaucrats, civic organizers — anybody who bosses other people around. Scene of the crime: In the office. Behind the desk. Variations: The Guy on the Phone. The Guy on the Computer. The Guy in the Doorway. The Guy Leaning on the Sign in Front of the Building. How to avoid it: Find him something to do. Or shoot a tighter portrait. THE BORED MEETIN6 Usual victims: Politicians, school officials, bureaucrats — anybody who holds any kind of meeting, actually. Scene of the crime: A long table in a nondescript room. How to avoid it: Run mug shots and liftout quotes from key participants. Better yet: Find out in advance what this meeting's about, then shoot a photo of that. Illustrate the topic — not a dull discussion about it. FROM THE CAMERA TO THE PAGE As a designer, you place photos on the page — but where do those photos come from? How do they get from the photographer's camera to your monitor? Two ways: Images can either be digitally scanned from film or paper (see page 122) or they can follow a digital path much like this one. THE PHOTOGRAPHER ARRIVES AT THE SCENE Using a digital camera, th shoots a variety of images, publications, he or she mv, gather facts for the story -or shoot video footag to be posted on the paper's Web site. THE PHOTOS ARE DOWNLOADED INTO A COMPUTER For most non-deadline assignments, photographers will wait and do this back in the newsroom. But for some breaking news stories, they'll download images to a laptop at the news scene and transmit them directly to the newsroom. THE STRONGEST IMAGES 1 ARE EDITED AND PROCESSED Back in the newsroom, the photographs (or photo editor) selects the best photos and uses image-processing software to fine-tune and crop them. PHOTOS ARE SELECTED AND APPROVED Rough prints are usually output for editors and designers to review and approve. In larger newsrooms, it's the photo editor's job to make the final selection, deciding which photos should lead and which are secondary. Illustration by STEVE COWDEN PHOTOS ARE POSTED ON THE PUBLICATION'S WEB SITE... The final digital photo files are stored in a network folda that contains all images ready for publication. Editors may also transmit exceptional photos to a wire service for distribution to other news outlets, stories, images will immediately be posted the publication's Web site... ... AND DESIGNED ONTO PAGES FOR PRINTING Page designers now import the images into a page-layout program. Minor adjustments in sizing and cropping are usually acceptable, but drastic treatments may require „~* 'ij,- approval from the ^%^^>-, photographer Hta. '> editor. PHOTOS & ART PROCESSING DIGITAL IMAGES At large publications, photographers and photo editors manage all the image processing. But at smaller publications, that's often the duty of page designers — and for some stories, you might even shoot, edit and process your own photos before you design the page they're on. Here's a few key concepts it'll help to know. BRIGHTNESS The brightness of an image can be controlled when the shot is taken, but image-editing software lets you fine-tune further. If the brightness is too high (top right), highlights turn white and colors look washed out. If you reduce the brightness too much (bottom right), shadow details are lost and colors turn dark and murky. COLOR BALANCE Different indoor lighting conditions can drastically affect the way color is rendered. If a photo suffers from a cyan cast (top right), you can fix it by adding more red; if it's too red (bottom right), you may need to increase its blue and yellow. Often, too, you may need to subtly shift color balances to compensate for your printing press. HIS! All journalists are dedicated to communicating accurate facts. Photojournalists communicate facts, too: visual facts. If you manipulate the facts in any photo, you distort the truth. That's unethical. And in most newsrooms, it's forbidden. Occasionally, it might be OK to add special software effects to fancy feature photos; most newsrooms adopt guidelines to specify what's allowed. But you're never allowed to alter the basic visual facts in any news photograph. ACTUAL PHOTO Here's the original image recorded by the photographer. Note the reddish background; note how the dog looks away from the girl. Color tones and body positions are FACTS in the photo — elements which must not be altered. SAM CONTRAST Contrast goes hand-in-hand with brightness, and both must be balanced together. As you reduce an image's contrast (top left), pixels lose their color and the image becomes too washed-out and gray. Increase the contrast too much (bottom left) and mid-tones vanish, replaced by blobs of stark blacks, whites and overrich colors. COLOR SATURATION "Saturation" refers to the level of color intensity in an image. A photo suffering from weak saturation (top left) looks drained of color — on its way to becoming "grayscale," or just black-and-white. But when an image is oversaturated (bottom left), its colors gain too much contrast, appearing unrealistically vibrant and intense. DOCTORED PHOTO Digital-editing software makes it easy to turn the dog's head around and tint the background a more attractive color. But by digitally altering those photographic facts, we make this photo LIE. In journalism (and in photojournalism), lying is never acceptable. 60 PMS ä ART .. SIZING PHOTOS ^ 100% - This is the original size of this digital photo, the largest size at which all details remain sharp. Any change in size will he measured as a percentage of this original size. ► 200% - This image is twice the size of the original. But as those jagged pixels become visible, thephoto looks fuzzy. ▼ 50% - This image is half the size of the original. And because it's smaller, details become more difficult to see. The image below runs at 30% of its original depth and 60% of its original width. Digitally squishing or stretching a photo is easy to do, but it destroys the integrity of the image. Cropping photos is one way to create new shapes. You can also resize (or scale) photos, enlarging them up or reducing them down. When you change the size of a photo, you measure its new size as a percentage of the original. Now, the "original" size of a digital photo usually means one of two things: either the actual size of the image captured by the camera, OR the size of the photo file once it's been edited and processed. Either way, a photo that's half the size of the original is called a 50% reduction; a photo twice the size of the original is a 200% enlargement. Those percentages will be calculated automatically when you import images into a page-layout program. Always keep a sharp eye on your image sizes. Anytime you enlarge a digital photograph, you run the risk of fuzziness if the image's jagged pixels become visible to the naked eye. It's also possible to alter an image, either deliberately or accidentally, by changing just one of its dimensions: for instance, enlarging it horizontally while reducing it vertically. But be careful. Whenever you distort a photo's true proportions, you damage its credibility. 120 PHOTOS S HALFTONES & SCREENS A photo like the one below goes through many changes on its way to the printed page. It's digitally processed to correct its contrast, color balance and clarity. It's cropped into a new shape. It's reduced or enlarged to a new size. But even after it's imported into the final layout, a photo must be reprocessed once more before it can be printed. Why? Because printing presses use black ink, not gray ink. They produce the illusion of gray by changing the photo into a pattern of dots called a halftone. Halftone dots are created either by re-shooting the photo through a special screen or by reprocessing the photo digitally. Dots usually run in diagonal rows or lines (left); the density of a halftone screen is measured by the number of lines per inch. • • • ■ • t ■ * • The halftone at right was made bypassing the original photo through a 133-line screen (133 lines per inch). In the enlarged area above, you can see how halftone dots create the gray tones in the subject's eye. The finer the dot screen, the smaller the dots. The smaller the dots, the less visible they are. The less visible they are, the sharper the photo seems to be. For crisp-looking photos, then, you should use the finest dot screen your paper can handle. Newspapers, unfortunately, often use rather coarse screens — one reason why their photos don't look as slick as those in books and magazines. ifiei ►................. 4 Screens & reverses: How dot screens are used with type......210 Color printing: How four-color screens produce the illusion of color..................222 This image uses a 133-line screen, which is common in books and magazines. Because the ink is printed on smoother paper from high-quality presses, the dots will hold — and the results show crisp detail. 65-line screen: This is a very coarse screen, with only 65 rows of dots per inch. The dots are quite apparent, but at least the ink won't smear too badly when printed on rough newsprint by a fast-moving printing press. Unless you're plagued by production problems, however, you should avoid screens this coarse. 85-line Screen: Because of the limitations of newsprint, this is the most common screen density newspapers use — though some papers using state-of-the-art presses have had success using 100- or 120-line screens. If the screen is too fine, the dots may smudge or disappear, resulting in blotchy, unevenly printed images. Horizontal line screen: Most halftones use ordered rows of dots. But you can also run photos through a variety of alternative screens to stylize images dramatically. A random pattern of dots produces a mezzotint, much like an old etching; using lines instead of dots (at 50 lines per inch) creates the effect above. 5 PHOTOS & ART : SCANNING IMAGES How do you get photos and artwork into your computer? It's easy. All you need is a scanner, a machine that captures images electronically - digitizes them - so you can adjust them, transmit them or store them for printing. To the casual observer, scanners look and perform much like photocopying machines. Here's how the scanning process works: OPreparing to scan: Take your original ni Scanning the image: The scanner lights up K8 Importing the image: Once it's scanned, image — a photo, a drawing, some type — Est like a photocopying machine as it copies EJ; the digital image can be processed, cropped and lay it facedown on the scanners glass the image electronically, converting it into micro- and resized using photo-processing software, surface. Scanning software will let you crop the scopic dots or pixels (picture elements). The more Afterward, it can he printed, posted to a Web site image, resize it— even adjust its appearance. dots the scan uses, the finer the resolution will be. or imported into a page-layout program. SCANNING Since scanning software is quite user-friendly, you won't need years of training TERMINOLOGY to ^et S00<^ resmts- But it will help to know some basic terms: Grayscale: A scan of a photograph or artwork that uses gray tones (up to 256 different shades of gray, to be precise). Line art: An image composed of solid black and white — no gray tones. Image Size: The physical dimensions of the final scanned image. This term is also used interchangeably with file size, which is the total number of electronic pixels needed to create a digital image, measured in kilobytes. The more pixels an image uses, the more detail it will contain. Dots per inch (dpi): The number of electronic dots per inch that a printer can print — or that a digital image contains. The higher the dpi, the more precise the image's resolution will be — up to a point, anyway. Lines per inch (Ipi): The number of lines of dots per inch in a halftone screen. The higher the Ipi, the more accurate the printed image will be. Resolution: The quality of detail in a digital image, depending upon its number of dots per inch (dpi). A high-res image is much sharper than a low-res image. TIFF: One of the most common formats for saving and printing digital images (an acronym for Tagged Image File Format, but nobody really cares about that). JPEG: A common format for compressing images for e-mailing or posting online (short for Joint Photographic Experts Group, which nobody cares about, either). Moire (mo-ray) pattern: A strange, annoying dot pattern formed when a previously screened photo is copied, then reprinted using a new halftone screen. A grayscale image uses shades of gray. A line art image uses only solid black. A low-resolution image uses fewer dots, which means it's less detailed. 122 piles mi SCANNING IMAGES SCANNING RULES OF ♦ Name and store your scans carefully. Think about it this way: When you import an image into a page-layout program, you might think you're looking at the actual scan when you see it on your screen - but you're not. You're looking at a low-resolution rendering of the original scan. (Which is a clever idea, actually. Otherwise, a page full of huge scans could require umpteen-million megs of memory, becoming overloaded and slow.) When you finally decide to print that page, however, your computer traces a path back to its original images and uses that information for printing. Which means two things: You need to store all scans until they're finally printed. And you need to store them in a consistent place, so that your computer will be able to grab them when it's time to print. ♦ Allow for dot gain. Images often print darker than they appear on your monitor. Ask your printer how your screen dots will behave when the ink hits the . paper - and learn to compensate consistently every time you scan. ♦ Crop and scale images as you scan. You can save memory by scanning only that part of the image you plan to print. Remember, too, that if you plan to enlarge an image when you import it, you should scan it at a higher resolution; if you plan to reduce it, scan at a lower resolution. ♦ Consider using low-resolution scans for big jobs. If your computer's a little slow, you might save time if you scan those complicated images twice: a low-resolution version that won't slow you down while you work on the page, and a high-resolution scan that you can import when you're ready to print. ♦ Keep your file sizes as small as possible. Unnecessarily large scans waste memory, slow down your software, take longer to print - and don't always mean higher quality output, anyway. As a rule of thumb, the dpi of a grayscale image (the resolution you scan it at) should be twice its lpi (the resolution you print it at). In other words, if you print at 100 lpi, you should scan at 200 dpi. Yes, image resolution can be confusing - all those dpi's and lpi's are tough to keep straight. If you're unsure how to measure "high" or "low" resolution when you're scanning or printing, consult this chart: Grayscale or Line art color images images (measwed in dpi) (measured in dpi) Screens for photos Printer quality (measwed in lpi) (measwed m dpi) HIGH RESOLUTION (magazines, books) FAIR RESOLUTION (newspapers) SO iT7, LOW RESOLUTION (Web images) 75 ?St>3 72 ISO S5- A- * — .5— A ,w Using this chart: If, for instance, you need to print an ordinary newspaper photo, you'll need to scan it as a 200-dpi grayscale, then print it using an 85- or 100-line screen on a printer that prints at least 600 dpi. If at any point in the process you used lower numbers, your quality would drop. Or another way to use this chart: If you're printing at 600 dpi, there's no need to scan grayscales any higher than 200 dpi - your printer can't reproduce the detail in a higher-resolution scan. 123 :: ■: . . PHOTOS & CROPPING PHOTOS Virtually all cameras produce images that are shaped like the one at left, below. But that doesn't mean that every photo must remain in that exact shape — or that you're required to print the entire imagethat every photographer shoots. Usually, you'll need to re-frame the composition, creating a stronger new shape that emphasizes what's important or deletes what's not. To get the most out of a photograph, you crop it. Three ways to crop the same photograph: Full frame (left) shows us the full photo image. And from this angle, guitarist Eddie Van Halen's leap looks truly dramatic — but does all that empty space lessen the photos impact? A A moderately tight crop (above) focuses on Eddie. By zeroing in this closely, we've eliminated all the excess background. V An extremely tight crop (below) turns the photo into a lively mug shot. We've tilted the image, too, to make it vertical. But does this crop damage the integrity of the original image? CROPPING PHOTOS Yes, a photo can be cropped to fit any space, regardless of its original shape. But designers who do that are insensitive louts. That's like taking a 20-inch story and cramming it into a 10-inch hole. Not a smart move. Try to edit and crop photos first, before you dummy any story. Once you've made the strongest possible crop, then design a layout that displays the photo effectively and attractively. To do all that, you must learn where to crop — and where to stop. This is the photograph as originally shot, full frame. Notice the excessive amount of empty space surrounding the central action. Here's the proper crop. Notice how it focuses tightly on the action without crowding— and without cropping into the hoop, ball or feet. This is a bad crop. It's too tight. We've chopped off the top of the ball, amputated feet and jammed the action against the edge of the frame. k GOOD CROP: ♦ Eliminates what's unnecessary: sky, floor, distractions in the background. ♦ Adds impact. Your goal is to find the focal point of a photo and enhance it, making the central image as powerful as possible. Remember that newsroom adage: Crop photos until they scream. ♦ Leaves air where it's needed. If a photo captures a mood (loneliness, fear, etc.), a loose crop can enhance that mood. If a photo is active and directional, a loose crop can keep action from jamming into the edge of the frame. I BAD CROP: ♦ Amputates body parts (especially at joints: wrists, ankles, fingers) or lops off appendages (baseball bats, golf clubs, musical instruments). ♦ Forces the image into an awkward shape to fit a predetermined hole. ♦ Changes the meaning of a photo by removing information. By cropping someone out of a news photo or eliminating an important object in the background, you can distort the meaning of what remains — whether deliberately or accidentally. Notlce how afairly ordinary image gains ♦ Violates works of art (paintings, drawings, fine photography) by re-cropping impact from a tight, them. Artwork should be printed in full; otherwise, label it a "detail." dramatic crop. . PHOTOS & ART STAND-ALONE PHOTOS In the example at left, you'd assume that's an actual photo of the Seattle girl being attacked by a rat, like the headline says. But no — it's actually a sweet, funny, stand-alone photo that's completely unrelated to the story. In the layout at right, the photo is boxed separately, to show readers it's a separate element. (You could successfully argue that it's in poor taste to dummy these two items alongside each other at all, but we're trying to make a point here.) The point is this: Photos often run independently. You don't need text or a newsworthy hook to justify printing a strong photo image. These photos, sometimes called "wild" art because they're free-form and unpredictable, can add life to pages where stories are dull and gray (sewer commission meetings, budget conferences, etc.). Stand-alone photos should be encouraged, but they must be packaged in a consistent style that instantly signals to readers that the image stands alone. This is the averline Some papers create a stand-alone photo style using an overline (a headline over the photo). Its text, below, is larger than a standard outline. THIS IS THE READ-IU: Some papers run a screen in the background of the box. And instead of using overlines, some start outlines with a boldface phrase or read-in. -126- This is two lines of bold headline Stand-alone boxes can be used with two or more photos. But as those boxes grow bigger, you'll need to follow the guidelines for photo spreads. " " -".7. "V'^.: ' PHOTOS & ART PHOTO SPREADS »aTmjT«Uj-,e:i.iiiniiH tem C1: WeaMedhuilsjnstsfotio soma dcver 3of\ii3. aixl hefe ere he restf+s Tfe photo page from The Citizen in Auburn, New York, telh a story of professional rodeo cowboys. Note the variety of shapes and sizes; note the balance and flow of the layout. As this paper's photo editor put it: "Compelling, high-impact images help readers not only understand the story, but feel it." Unlike the rest of the newspaper, where photos compete for space with text (and often lose), photo spreads are self-contained layouts that give special photos the big, bold play they deserve. They're usually used for: ♦ Covering a major event (a disaster, election night, the Big Game) from a wide variety of angles — often from several photographers. ♦ Exploring a topic or trend (the homeless, neo-Nazis, a skateboarding craze), taking readers on a tour of people and places they've never seen. ♦ Profiling a personality (an athlete, a disease victim, a politician), painting a portrait by capturing a person's moods, activities and surroundings. ♦ Telling a story with a definite beginning, middle and end (the birth of a baby, a Marine's ordeal in boot camp, an artist in the act of creation). ♦ Displaying objects/places (a tour of a new building, fall fashions, hot toys for Christmas), where photos catalog an inventory of items. Photo spreads are different from standard news layouts. They bend and break the rules: They let you play with headlines and use unconventional widths for cutlines and text. Text, in fact, often becomes a minor element on photo pages. Some pages run just a short text block, while others use long stories, but jump most of the text to another page to maximize the photo display. This Halloween page from The Oregonian displays an assortment of customized pumpkins and their creators. Since there's no storytelling here — no dramatic beginning, middle or end — the main design consideration is fitting all the photos onto the page in an orderly, attractive way. 127- PHOTOS & IT PHOTO SPREADS At many papers, photographers shoot special assignments, then design their own photo pages. Usually, however, the layout is done by an editor or designer who's handed some photos, given a headline and asked to leave space for a certain amount of text. Here's a typical example of how that might work. HSIGN EXERCISE PHOTO SPREAD Using these four photos, lefs design a photo page for a tabloid. Thepholos were slwt at a folk musk festival, so the headline can simply say "Folk Fest." There's no story, but let's assume someone will write a short text block (3-4 inches) to describe the event. This shot is the photographer's favorite. He wants it to be the dominant image on the page. And this is the way he'd like the photo cropped. You can make slight cropping changes to suit your layout, but you should always respect the composition suggested by the photographer. Another nice shot. This little girl was a real crowd-pleaser, so be sure to run this photo big enough that we can see her. This shot provides "color," showing the ordinary folks attending the folk festival. It's an appealing alternative to the performance shots. And besides, it's a vertical, and the layout needs at least one alternative to those other three horizontals. This is the scene-setter (sometimes called an "establishing shot") showing the stage platform. As these four photos demonstrate, a good photo layout combines close-up, mid-range and wide-angle shots to tell the whole story. 128 PHOTOS k äBT . PHOTO SPREADS Here are six layouts using those photos from the facing page: This layout alternates the sizes of photos — big, small, big, small — to achieve balance. Note how the page is bordered by two sets of outer margins: I.) a thin margin around the entire page, and 2) a wider indent beside the text and that vertical photo. Balancing two sets of indents gives you more flexibility in sizing photos and keeps pages from getting too dense. This layout is a mirror image (with minor changes) of the page at far left. The text runs in two legs instead of one, and there are now two pairs of shared outlines. Notice how, of all the layouts on this page, this one is the most tightly packed. The rest all allow more air in their outer margins. This layout treats the headline as an independent art element, placing it squarely in the center of the page, aligned with the two photos below it. The leg of text then runs beside it — an arrangement that might not work in a standard news story but fits neatly here. Note how all the open space runs along the left edge of the page. This page moves the text into a bottom corner. Since there's not enough text to fill the hole, it's indented (to match the photo indents on the right side of the page), and the photo credit pads the remaining space. Note how the text is indented more than the headline —a kind of hanging indent. A final note: Placing outlines in a top corner sometimes looks awkward, but here it balances the outline in the bottom corner of the page. This design is a variation on the layout directly above. Placing the headline and text in the center of the layout divides the photos into two separate groups. Is that a problem? Regardless, the page looks well-balanced and appealing. This approach is an old favorite: Park the scene-setter beside the headline at the top of the page, then smack readers with the loud lead photo. The text begins below the lead photo, directly beneath the headline. That breaks the usual rule about keeping headlines with text — but it works here. Note how the elements above and below the leadphoto align with each other; all are indented equally along the edges of the page. 129 PHOTOS A ABT PHOTO SPREAD GUIDELINES The following guidelines apply not just to photo pages but to feature sections and special news packages as well. You'll find that most of these principles apply whether you're using photos, illustrations, charts or maps. Note: You don't have to design picture pages with gray backgrounds; we just added screens to these examples to make the photo shapes easier to see. PHOTO * Ta|,k to the photographer (and the reporter). Learn about the story so you can GUIDELINES Prioru"ize the photos. Find out what's dominant, what's secondary, what's expendable. Make sure the page displays material fairly and accurately. ♦ Mix it up. Use different shapes. Different sizes. Different perspectives. Tell the story with a variety of visuals: horizontals and verticals, tight close-ups and wide-angle scene-setters. Keep things moving. Surprise our eyes. uvuvuvuv The layout at left looks static and dull because the photos are all similar in shape and size. Nothing grabs your eye. The page at right mixes shapes and sizes, and, as a result, looks interesting "". •" 7*" _ and inviting. ♦ Design for quality, not quantity. Yes, you want variety — but one good picture played well is worth two small ones played weakly. Mix it up, but be a tough judge. If you overcrowd the page, all the photos lose impact. ♦ Position photos carefully. Are photos strongly directional? (Don't let them collide or face off the page.) Are they sequential or chronological? (Give the page order: a beginning and an end, a setup and a punchline.) ♦ Make one photo dominant. Play it big. Give it clout. Anchor it solidly, then play the other photos off of it. And remember, dominant photos usually work best in the top half of the layout: uvuvuvuv x The layout at left seems bottom-heavy and poorly balanced. Compare that to the effect of the page at right. It uses the same elements, but here the lead photo has been dummied on top. UVUVUVUV HEADLINE * Write your headline first. Pages look better and come together more easily if GUIDELINES y°u nave a headline before you start designing. If you leave a hole for someone to fill later, you may get a bland headline that doesn't quite fit. ♦ Use a display headline (with a deck) if appropriate. Don't limit yourself to standard banner headlines. Try something with personality: a clever, punchy phrase with a descriptive deck below it. Create something bold. Don't be timid. PHOTOS & Afll • PHOTO SPREAD GUIDELINES TEXT ♦ Don't run too much text — or too little. Most photo pages need text to explain |(Jff [ 01 ► IDELINES w^ they're there, but anything under 3 inches may get buried. Huge text blocks, "" C(lt|jnes, "B on the other hand, turn the page gray and crowd out photos. guidelines on sizing ♦ Keep text blocks modular. Never snake text over, around and through a maze and placement.......34 of photos. Keep text rectangular. Park it neatly in a logical place. Dominant photos: ♦ Ask for leeway on story sizes. Sure, you dummy as closely as you can, but why you need them, , ■ , • • i i , , i r■ 11 1 and how to choose those 37-mch stories sometimes have to be cut — or padded — to nt. Make sure Jnem.......................go writers and editors give you flexibility on story lengths. ^ pnot0 credits: _____ Style and placement options..................153 OUTLINE ♦ Give every photo a outline. Several photos may share a cutline, but not if it gets * Screens: what they IDELINES confusing. Always make sure it's instantly clear where each photo's caption is. are and where to ♦ Add flexibility by running outlines beside or between photos. But don't float «^them . 210 them loosely — plant them flush against the photo they describe. If cutlines use * °lsplay headlmes: 11 c 1 1 lips on now to ragged type, run ragged edges away from the photo. design them..........212 ♦ Push outlines to the outside. In weak designs, cutlines butt against headlines or text. In strong designs, cutlines move to the outside of the page, where they won't collide with other type elements: immivuv In the layout at left, one set of cutlines butts against the headline; another bumps into the bottom of a leg of text. Both problems have been fixed in the layout at right, where the outlines have been moved to the outside. utÄvtMiv ♦ Credit photos properly. You can do this by dummying a credit line along the outer edge of the design, or by attaching credit lines to each photo (or just to the lead photo, if they're all shot by the same photographer). OTHER * Add a little white space. Don't cram text and photos into every square pica. lESifi! ^et l'le Paoe breathe with what's called "white space" or "air." But don't trap dead 1 Wire sPace between elements. Push it to the outside of the page: fflMNU Note how pockets of dead space seem scattered through the page at left. At right, all the extra space lias been pushed to the outer edges of the layout. As a result, the elements fit more neatly. ♦ Use an underlying grid. Don't just scatter shapes arbitrarily. A good grid aligns elements evenly and maintains consistent margins throughout the page. ♦ Use screens sparingly. A tinted background screen can help organize and enhance layouts. Just don't let tints overwhelm or distract from the photos. PHOTOS £M STUDIO SHOTS Different cultures have different attitudes about showing skin. In Europe, jor instance, newspapers feature frequent nudity; British and Canadian tabloids use scantily-clad Page 3 girls to boost sales. It the U.S., you'll see sexier models than this in most newspapers' department-store underwear ad. So is this bikini photo too sexist and exploitative to run in your newspaper? I i I ijournalism is an honest craft. It records real ij)jt[ 01 peopk But s A can photc §§§ iiiiii \ in real situations, without poses or props. >pose you need a photo of a hot new bikini, f beans. An award-winning poodle. Will that >e real, honest photojournalism? it'll be a studio shot. And unlike news pho-s, where photographers document events passively, studio shots let photographers , manipulate objects, pose models, create props and control lighting. Studio shots — or any other setup photos, whether they're shot in a studio or not — are used j|lj§|k primarily for features, and primarily for; ♦ Fashion. Clothes by themselves are dull; clothes worn by a model who smiles or flirts Ijjpr will yank readers into the page. ♦ Food. Making food look delicious in a 2-column black-and-white photo is a lot tougher than you think, but it's absolutely essential for accompanying food stories. ♦ Portraits. Special faces deserve special treatment. Studio shots with dramatic lighting or dark backgrounds (into which you can reverse the type) let you glamorize the subjects of those in-depth personality profiles. ♦ Cultural objects. Remember, it's important to show readers the actual CD covers, book jackets and new products mentioned in features and reviews. Show — don't just tell. > Photo CUtOUtS: How to turn studio shots (like the fashion model at left) into silhouettes.............208 Studio shots provide the ideal solution for fashion and food illustrations, as these bikini and burger photos show. But they can also convey ideas (at left, a revenge fantasy for computer users). And they can dramatically capture the mood of any personality you're profiling. PHOTOS & SRI PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS Note how beautifully the headline and text integrate with this cartoon-like photo illustration from the San Jose Mercury News. It's comical and sweet, conveying the story's topic with drama and humor. Sometimes the best way to illustrate a story is to create a photograph where actors or props are posed to make a point — like drawings do. The result is called a photo illustration. Photo illustrations are usually studio shots. But unlike fashion photos or portraits, photo illustrations don't simply present an image; they express an idea, capture a mood, symbolize a concept, tell a visual joke. Photo illustrations are often excellent solutions for feature stories where the themes are abstract (love in the office, teen suicide, junk-food junkies) — stories where real photos of real people would be too difficult to find or too dull to print. But keep in mind, a good photo illustration: ♦ Instantly conveys what the story's about. A photo illustration shouldn't confuse or distract readers. It should present one clean, clear idea that requires no guesswork and avoids misleading meanings. And it must match the tone and content of the text. ♦ Should never be mistaken for reality. Newspaper photos are honest: They show real people doing real things. Readers expect that. So if you're going to change the rules and create some fantasy, make it obvious. Distort angles, exaggerate sizes, use odd-looking models (at right) — do something to cue the reader that this photo isn't authentic. It's dishonest to pass off a fake photo (someone pretending to be a drug addict) as the real thing. Even warning readers in a cutline isn't enough; readers don't always study the fine print. ♦ Works with the headline. The photo and the headline must form a unit, working together to convey the main idea of the story. ♦ Performs with flair. A good photo illustration displays the photographer's skill and cleverness with camera angles, lighting, special effects, poses and props. In a world where newspaper graphics compete against slick TV and magazine ads, you either excel or you lose. If your photo illustration looks vague and uninspired, you lose. This award-winning photo by T. J. Hamilton of The Grand Rapids Press illustrated a feature story on the pressures that new parents face. It's cute and compelling — and it's a perfect complement to the story's headline: "Handle With Care?' 133 PHOTOS & ART ILLUSTRATIONS Publications are packed with illustrations. Some aim to amuse: comics, for instance. Some appear in ads, selling tires and TVs. Some promote stories in teasers. Some jazz up graphics and logos. And then there are more ambitious illustrations, ones that (like photos) require more space, more collaboration between writers, editors and designers — and bigger budgets. Here's a look at the most common types of newspaper illustrations: ©Tribune Media Services, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. COMMENTARY & CARICATURE .„ffm 9mi HOUR? OF IMPING THPOUjH HekSHKNet? AIRPORT ^eC(/r?ITY, FACQP 0N6 RNAL GWlWNOe.. A goofy caricature of goofy comedian David Letterman. Artist Ron Coddington has exaggerated Dave's gap-toothed grin to an absurd extreme (and note bandleader Paul Shaffer tucked beneath Dave's arm). The first illustration ever printed in an American newspaper was an editorial cartoon in Ben Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette. It showed a dismembered snake, with each section representing one of the 13 colonies. It carried the caption "JOIN or DIE." Editorial cartoons have gotten a lot funnier since then. Today, they're expected to be humorous, yet thoughtful; provocative, yet tasteful; farfetched, yet truthful. That's why editorial cartooning is one of the toughest jobs in jour nalism — and why successful editorial cartoonists are rare. A similar type of illustration, the commentary drawing, also interprets current events. Like editorial cartoons, commentary drawings usually run on a separate opinion page. Unlike editorial cartoons, commentary drawings accompany a story or analysis, rather than standing alone. They don't try as hard to be funny but still employ symbols and caricatures to comment on personalities and issues. Caricatures, however, aren't limited to opinion pages. They're often used on sports or entertainment pages to accompany profiles of well-known celebrities. A good caricature exaggerates its subject's most distinctive features for comic effect. Like editorial cartooning, it's a skill that's difficult to master, and should probably be avoided if: ♦ The subject's face isn't very well-known. ♦ The story is too sensitive or downbeat for a brash style of art. ♦ The artist's ability to pull it off skillfully is doubtful. This editorial cartoon, by Walt Handelsman ofNewsday, relies on a hip drawing style, crisp hand lettering and a wicked sense of satire. PHOTOS & ART ILLUSTRATIONS Three illustrations, three different styles, one artist: Steve Cowden of The Oregonian created these pages entirely on the Macintosh with Freehand software, FLAVOR feature pages often focus on abstract concepts: drugs, diets, depression, DRAWINGS breams and so on. Many of those concepts are too vague or elusive to document in a photograph. That's where illustrations can save the day. Flavor drawings — drawings that interpret the tone of a topic — add impact to the text while adding personality to the page. Finding the right approach to use in an illustration takes talent and practice. (It can create thorny staff-management problems for editors, too. An awful lot of amateur illustrations look — well, awfully amateurish. And it's surprisingly hard to tell a colleague, "Your drawing stinks.") Flavor drawings can be silly or serious, colorful or black-and-white. They can dominate the page or simply drop into a column of text to provide diversion. Be careful, however, not to overload your pages with frivolity. Readers want information, not decoration. They can sense when you're just amusing yourself. Illustrations are terrific — ifyou have the budget to hire artists or pay for freelance artwork. But what if you don't? Advertisers have had that problem for years. And when they need images of generic-looking people and products to spruce up their ads, they often use clip art: copyright-free cartoons and drawings. Clip art is plentiful and cheap. You can buy catalogs, CD-ROMs and Web site subscriptions that offer thousands of, say, holiday images (Santas, turkeys, pumpkins and valentines) at ridiculously low prices. For a classier look, you can scan historic old engravings, like the one at right, from copyright-free pictorial archives. But be selective. Clip art often looks lowbrow. At its worst, it's extremely cheesy. So don't junk up your news stories just because you're desperate for art. Make the news look like news, not like the ads down below. PHOTOS & M A CHECKLIST: FINDING FEATURE ART Feature pages require good art. To produce good art, you need good ideas. And you need those good ideas before stories are written, before photos are shot, before you start to design the page. Begin searching for ideas before deadline pressures force you to take shortcuts. Stumped on how to illustrate a page? The following checklist can help guide you to the graphic heart of a feature story: CAN WE SHOOT PHOTOS? Can we illustrate this story photojournalistically — showing real people in real situations? took for: Action What events or actions are connected with this story? What do the main characters do that's interesting? (A reminder: Talking, thinking and sitting at a desk are not interesting.) What actions can readers take after they've finished the story? People Who is the key player? Or are there several? What kind of portrait shows us the most about them? What emotions do they experience in this story? Can one mood-oriented portrait convey the idea? Is there a situation where emotions and actions intersect? Places Can location/setting help tell the story, either: ♦ With a main character posed in a dramatic location? ♦ With several main characters working or interacting? ♦ Without people — focusing instead on buildings or scenery? Objects What items are integral to the story? Examples: ♦ Machines ♦ Tools & equipment ♦ Works of art ♦ Vehicles ♦ Clothing Can they be used as lead art? Expanded into a diagram? Explained in detail in a sidebar? CAN WE OBTAIN PHOTOS (FROM AN OUTSIDE SOURCE)? ♦ A wire service? ♦ Media Web sites (TV networks, movie studios, professional or student newspapers)? ♦ Organizations (government offices, museums, clubs, stores, companies mentioned in the story)? ♦ The newsroom library? A local library? ♦ The personal archives of people in the story? ♦ Books or magazines (with approval from the publisher or copyright holder)? ♦ Stock photo services? If photos won't tell the story, then maybe you should consider: DOES THE STORY FOCUS ON AN ABSTRACT TOPIC? Can one strong image capture that topic and anchor the page? Or are several smaller images needed? SHOULD WE CREATE A: ♦ Drawing? (Is an artist available? Or do we prefer the realism of a photo?) ♦ Photo illustration? (Is a photographer available? Or do we want a freer, more fanciful solution?) To pull strong images out of the story, ask yourself: CAN WE WRITE THE HEADLINE? A clever headline will often inspire a graphic hook. Wander through the story and look for key words and phrases. Loosen up and noodle around with: 9ms. Give Peas a Chance. The Noel Prizes. Art and Sole. Alliteration and rhyme. FAX Facts. High-Tech Home Ec. Tool Time. TV, movie or song titles. Born to Run. The Right Stuff. All in the Family. Rebel Without a Clue. Running on Empty. Home Alone. Popular quotes, proverbs or slang expressions. A quote or phrase lifted from the text of the story. A key word from the story: A name (Skipper). A place (Gilligan's Island). An emotion (The Crying Game). A sound or feeling (Yum!). PHOTOS & AST A CHECKLIST: FINDING FEATURE ART No headline yet? Or is the concept still vague? BRAINSTORM IMAGES. Wander through your topic again, but this time compile a list of concepts, symbols, visual cliches. Analyze the story in terms of: Who. What per- What. What When. When Where. Where Why. What sonality types objects, feelings does the action does this topic does this story (or stereotypes) or actions are occur? Are there occur? Where mean? What's are involved? involved? What moments when does it start? the end result, How can you cliches or sym- the topic is most Finish? If you the ultimate exaggerate their bols come to dramatic or were filming a effect? What's personalities? mind? Isolate humorous? At movie, what the reason peo- Are there vic- them. Mix and what times does dramatic angles ple do it, dread tims? Villains? match them. the topic begin or close-ups it, love it? And Can you use What happens if or end? What would you use? why should we props or sym- you exaggerate was the history care? bols to repre- or distort them? of this topic? sent people in See anything the story? humorous? Dramatic? Once you've compiled a list of images, try to combine them in different ways. View them from different angles. Or try these approaches: ♦ Parody. There's a world of symbols and cliches out there waiting to be recycled. Some are universal: an egg {frailty, rebirth), a light bulb (creativity), a test tube (research), a gun (danger), an apple (education). You can play with the flag, dollar bills, road signs, game boards. Or parody cultural icons: The Statue of Liberty. The Thinker. Uncle Sam. "American Gothic." ♦ Combination. Two images can combine to form a fresh new idea. If your story's about people trapped by credit cards, create a credit-card mousetrap. If your story's about some puzzle at City Hall, create a City Hall jigsaw puzzle. And so on. ♦ Exaggeration. Distort size, speed, emotion, repetition. Is there a BIG problem looming? Is something shrinking? Fading? Taken to an extreme, what would this subject look like? How would affected people look? ♦ Montage. Arrange a scrapbook of images: photos, artifacts, old engravings from library books. Try to create order, interplay or point of view. By now, you may have found a solution that seems like pure genius to you. But beware: Ideas don't always translate into reality. Your solution must work instantly for hundreds of readers. So before you proceed, run a rough sketch past your colleagues to test their reactions. If it doesn't fly, drop it. Remember, too: Informational art is usually better than decorational art. Will your illustration inform, or is it just a siliy cartoon? Does it make a point, or convey fuzzy emotion? Is it big simply because you need to fill space? You can still salvage your idea — but consider using it along with: infographics. Dress up charts, graphs, maps or diagrams as lead or secondary art, Show your readers how things work, what they mean, where they're headed. Use the design to teach — not just entertain. Sidebars (with or without art). You can create lists, glossaries, how-to's, polls (see our list on page 165). If you add enough art (mug shots, diagrams, book jackets, etc.) you can make a sidebar carry the whole page. Big, bold type effects. Often a display headline that's aggressive enough can serve as a page's dominant element — you could even work a piece of art into the headline. Or try starting the text with a HUGE initial cap. Muq shots and lift out quotes. Drop these in wherever pages look gray. Or play them upas dominant elements by adding rules, screens, shadows. Or group a series of mugs and quotes in a bold, colorful way. If you're still trying to dress things up, try a combination of boxes, screens or background wallpaper effects. This is just fancy footwork, however — distracting the reader to disguise your lack of art. A FINAL WARNING: If you've come this far and still don't have a solid solution, re-think your story. If it's too vague for you, it's probably too vague for readers. PHOTOS & ART RISKY BUSINESS In your search for The Ultimate Page Design, you may he tempted to try some of these effects. But before you do, read on: HI Before you "borrow" an image from an outside source, be sure you're not violating copyright laws. Old art, like the Mona Lisa, is usually safe; current, copyrighted art can be reproduced if it accompanies a review or plays a part in a news story. But copyright laws are complex (as are laws governing the reprinting of money*) so get good advice before you plunge into unfamiliar territory. There are clip-art books full of fancy frames, computer programs loaded with decorative rules. And someday, you may succumb to temptation. You'll decide to surround an elegant image with a gaudy, glitzy frame. Don't do it. Artwork and photographs should be bordered with thin, simple rules. Colorful or overly ornate frames just distract readers' attention from what's important. Printing a photo backward, as a mirror image of itself, is called flopping. Usually, its done because a designer wants a photo facing the opposite direction, to better suit a layout. But that's dishonest and dangerous. It distorts the truth of the image. Never flop news photos. Flop feature photos or studio shots only as a last resort, and only if there's no way to tell you've done it. As we've learned, photos work best as rectangles with right-angle corners. Cutting them into other "creative" shapes distorts their meaning, clutters up the page and confuses readers. Put simply: Slicing up photos is the mark of an amateur. There's rarely a valid reason for doing it, so put the idea right out of your mind. Sometimes you get art that's so wild 'n' wacky, you just gotta give it an equally nutty layout. OK — but beware. Unless you choose appropriate art, tilt it at just the right angle and skew the type smoothly, you'll look silly. Even though pros try it once in a while (see pages 200-201), save it for when you really need it. 4 If a photo is weakened by a distracting background or needs a dramatic boost, you can carefully cut out the central image and run it against the white page. That works well with some photos, poorly with others — but it usually should be avoided for news photos. For more advice and warnings, see page 208. "For instance, you may reproduce dollar bills only at sizes 150% or larger, or 75% or smaller. 138 rHOIOS&ART TROUBLESHOOTING Quick answers to questions frequently asked by perplexed designers about photos and art: p Is there anything wrong with using a stand-alone photo -> as the dominant art on Page One? If you ask readers what they want Page One to be, most would answer "newsy" They want data. Summaries. Stories. Newspapers often forget this. They fall into lazy ruts, running big photos of cute kids and sunsets on Page One. Usually, this is because editors get preoccupied with meetings and money stories for which there are no interesting photos, so at the last minute they panic and yell, "Quick! I need a photo! Run to the park and shoot me a squirrel!" Which results in pages like this: When it comes to warm 'ri fuzzy front-page photo cliches, the worst of the repeat offenders are these: The Bugle-Beacon Boring stuff debated at dull meeting ■M»k'.-.-'. m**+*ii£$f.*S .... m Balloons Cute kids Flowers Squirrels Clowns Many newspapers adhere to the adage that you should never run wild art as lead art. In other words, if you consistently run soft, stand-alone photos as lead art, it's a sign you're not doing enough photojournalism, enough packaging or enough planning. (See page 188 for more on planning better front-page packages.) My editor insists on running grip-and-grin photos in the paper. He says that readers want to see faces of people in the community. Is he right? You know what newspapers do best? Two things: teaching and storytelling. In a way, that's our sacred mission — giving people data they need to lead better lives, and capturing the drama of life in the 21st century. Teaching and storytelling. Data and drama. Good teaching conveys data; good storytelling conveys drama. Keep those words in mind as you thumb through a newspaper. A photo of some guy holding a trophy teaches us nothing. It tells no story. A photo of that same guy doing the thing that earned him the award — helping the children, building the park — would convey more data and drama. It would be an immeasurably superior image. Look at the photo at left. Why is it a classic? Consider all the data it contains: the who, the what, the where, the how. Now consider the drama it contains: an actual murder, occurring right before your eyes. Apply this same standard to every photo in your newspaper. You'll realize that's why those grip-and-grin photos are so journalistically weak: Those awkward-looking people could be anybody anywhere. Only their families and friends will care about those photos; the other 99 % of us will turn the page, looking for real news. Always search for the true photograph behind every story — the real activity, not the phony ceremony. And if your editor insists on running "cheese" photos anyway, consider creating a page like the one at right to house all those trophy-clutching grip-and-grins. That way, you can keep your news separate from your cheese. y:^':i:.::'!'^'-v. W*'',. y^SvW'V" lit J" i Hey! They're doing some wacky tiling aver there At the Bainbridge Island Review, this page gives local award-winners their moment of glory. 139 PHOTOS & .. TROUBLESHOOTING Q We're a small paper on a tight budget, and we can't afford to hire artists. What are the best sources for clip artP The good news is: There's plenty of affordable clip art out there. The bad news: Most of it is junk. If you buy Art Explosion — a CD with 125,000 images on it — here's a sample of what you'll find under the heading of "Education": rV7 Which of these images are useful, and which are junk? That'll depend, day to day, on what you're looking for. Your best bet is to buy a disk loaded with art so you can pick and choose more easily. Or visit Web sites for companies like Art Parts and Eye Wire, which offer quickie images like those above as well as bigger, better illustrations you can buy individually. 0 Nttsre ItKLK: Health care "iotrn E A dramatic news story as it might appear in a newsmagazine, with reversed type and the headline atop the photo. , Our paper is small; our photo staff is virtually nonexistent. I What can we do to get better photos into the paper? ♦ Consider buying stock images. Like clip-art illustrations, stock photos help most when you need generic art for stories like the one at right. Visit Web pages for PhotoDisc, EyeWire and Corbis; you can download images quickly and cheaply. ♦ Buy a reliable, droolproof digital camera. Train everyone ; to use it for mug shots and simple portraits. ~" . I ♦ Quit shooting everything at eye level, 10 feet away. Stand on \ tables. Squat on the floor. Zoom in and out. Find fresh angles. ♦ Carry a black sheet to use as a backdrop for portraits. It can add instant drama and let you reverse type into the background. 1 _ Our photo editor won't allow us to run any headlines on photos, or to use any photo cutouts, because Et damages the images' integrity. Is that true? For years, photo cutouts and superimposed headlines were taboo in newsrooms. But look at magazines now. Look at newsmagazines like Time and Newsweek; they run shadowed photo silhouettes and fancy reversed headlines everywhere. Newspapers are behind the curve when it comes to izing images. They still treat photos, especially local photos, like sacred art objects. You can argue either side and never get anywhere. So try this: bring a pile of magazines into the newsroom. Analyze the cutouts, the superimposed headlines. Discuss what works, what doesn't. See if you can reach agreement on where to draw the line. Designate certain places in the paper (Features, Sports, the frontpage promos) where it's OK to bend the rules. For more on this controversy, see pages 208 and 277. Q A volcano tnrcattms I El Salvador village If that same story ran in a newspaper, the headline, text and photo would all be designed as separate rectangles. PHOTIS&IST EXERCISES ANSWERS 274 ITf Below are four photos that accompany a story about a woman jockey. Using bU| all four, create a full-page photo spread for a broadsheet feature section, with the headline "On the Fast Track" (and you'll need to add a deck below the headline, as well). The story is very long, so assume you can jump as much text as you need. Here are the photographer's recommended crops for the images. But before you begin, ask yourself: Which photo should be dominant? PHOTOS & IT EXERCISES fj% The photos for that woman jockey spread (previous page) were good, both %rk in content and technical quality. But if you were the photo editor for that page and there was time to go back and shoot more photos, what might you ask for? What's missing? The three layouts below were created from those jockey photos. Can you find at least three things wrong with each of these page designs? Yd i At ^ *s a photo of Tiger 1 Woods playing in a local golf tournament. This is your photographer's best shot. (Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get a dramatic closeup or reaction shot of Tiger.) The sports editor insists on leading with this photo. So how would you crop it? im 274 142 70 ■H ■111 ■is ISlilllllil 111 newspaper is a product. . . like corn flakes. They're both good for you. They're both a traditional part of America's breakfast routine. And like corn flakes, newspapers often seem indistinguishable from one brand to another. Darlington What tiie boss . SPECiU.SECTION &So how do you make your brand of corn flakes look more appealing to consumers? You dress it up in a colorful box. Design a slick logo. Dream up an attractive promotion (FREE WHISTLE INSIDE!) or lift out some catchy phrase (High-fiber nutrition with real corn goodness) to catch the eye of passing shoppers. Finally, you stick in all the extras that are required to be there — ingredients, the date, the company address — as neatly and unobtrusively as you can. All that holds true for news publications, too. And in this chapter, we'll examine the graphic nuts and bolts used to assemble newspapers: logos, flags, bylines, decks, teasers, liftout quotes and more. Previously, we looked at ways to design individual stories. In this chapter, we'll explain how to label and connect related stories. How to break up deep columns of gray text. And how to add graphic devices that sell stories to readers. In other words, how to pack more real corn goodness into every bite. WMwmSmMmWi mi H - The flag: Examples of different newspaper nameplate styles............................144 - Logos & slgs: How to design headers, logos, sigs and hugs to label regular and special features.............145 - Liftout quotes: Using quotations as a graphic element within text...................148 > Decks & summaries: How to size them, where to dummy them and other design guidelines.........150 GHAPTER GONTENTS v Bylines: A look at different formats both for news stories and for special pages. ...152 Credit lines: Options for crediting photographers and illustrators...................153 * Spacing: Guidelines for aligning story elements and margins on a typical page.............................151 -:y Rules & boxes: Guidelines for using them both functionally and decorativelv................155 !• Refers, teasers and promos: Guiding readers to stories scattered throughout the paper.....................156 '» Breaking up text: Using subheads, initial caps and dingbats to break up long legs of text.......157 * Jumps: Guidelines for jumping st pi 1 Tl Jl I I I II I M ■ HUTS & BOLTS THE FLAG Let's begin at the top of Page One, with one of journalism's oldest traditions, the flag. Though newspapers have tried boxing it in a corner, flipping it sideways or floating it partway down the page, most papers choose the simplest solution: anchor the flag front and center to lend the page some dignity. (Flags, incidentally, are often mistakenly called "mastheads." But a masthead is the staff box full of publication data that usually runs on the editorial page.) Student publications often update their flags every few years, while editors at larger, more traditional newspapers are less inclined to fiddle with them (in part because repainting delivery trucks and reprinting stationery gets expensive). They believe that flags should evoke a sense of tradition, trust, sobriety — and indeed, some Old English flags look downright religious. But others argue that flags are like corporate logos and should look fresh. Bold. Innovative. Graphically sophisticated. Examine the sampling of flags below. What clues do they offer to their papers' personalities? 4 TRADITIONAL THFjMfeSI TN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. i hesßgffPress mW v * * s SI Some papers float their flag in white space to give it prominence. Others add ears (text or graphic elements in the corners beside the flag) to fill the space. Papers stick a variety of items in their ears and flags: weather reports, slogans ("All the News That's Fit to Print") or teasers promoting features inside the paper: - EXCLUSIVE MONDAY: Your views on Alberta's place in Canada Super Es$a^j OBs irate' Ihesym What's essential in a flag? The name of the paper. The city, school or organization it serves. The date. The price. The edition (First, Westside, Sunrise), if different editions are published. Some papers include the volume number — but though that may matter to librarians, readers rarely keep score. 144 NUTS & BOLTS LOGOS & SIGS STANDING HEADS AND SECTION LOGOS This section logo uses the same typeface as the headlines — they're both the same size and weight, too. Nothing sets the logos apart from the day's news; they just don't "pop" off the page. As you travel through a newspaper, you pass signposts that tell you where you are. Some are like big billboards ("Now entering LIVING"). Others are like small road signs ("Exit here for Movie Review"). Every paper needs a well-coordinated system of signposts — or, as they're often called, headers or standing heads. Just as highway signs are designed to stand apart from the scenery, standing heads are designed to "pop" off the page. They can use rules, decorative type, fancy screens or reverses — but it's essential that their personalities differ from the ordinary text, headlines and cudines they accompany. Compare, for example, these two headers (also called section flags or logos): Living & Life Oat bran: the silent killer? Mil! MI Oat bran: the silent killer? A logo is a title or name that's customized in a graphic way. Logos can be created with type alone, or by adding rules, photos or other art elements. Section logos, like those above, help departmentalize the paper. In small tabloids, they should appear atop the page to signal major topic changes (from Features to Opinion, for instance). Bigger broadsheets use section logos to label each separate section, often adding teasers to promote what's inside. Some newspapers use standing heads to label the content on every single page. Others reserve that treatment for special themed pages (Super Bowl Preview) or investigative packages (Guns in Our Schools: A Special Report). Either way, those added signposts guide readers most effectively when they're designed consistently throughout the paper, in a graphic style that sets them apart from the "live" news — as these section logos from The Salt Lake Tribune demonstrate. Here, the section logo looks entirely different from the headline below. It uses an alTcaps serif font. It's screened, with a thin drop shadow. And a thick rule sets the header apart from the live stories downpage. Has little JTuit is the ; Flailing erupts ~1 'in fish hatchery i ;infectiondeijate NUTS & BOLTS . LOGOS & SIGS As we've just seen, section logos and page headers are used to label sections and pages. But labels are necessary for special stories, too. And those labels for stories are called logos, sigs or bugs. Story logos are usually small enough to park within a leg of text. But whatever their size, they need to be designed with: ♦ A graphic personality that sets them apart from text and headlines; ♦ A consistent style that's maintained throughout the paper; and - ♦ Flexible widths that work well in any design context. It's important to dummy logos where they'll label a story's content without confusing its layout — which means they shouldn't disrupt the flow of text or collide with other elements. Here are some of the most common ways to dummy logos with stories: Uvuvtwuvuy uvuvuv uy vuuuv f 1 LMMV "1 ' Uuinnnm vuyvuvu : uyuvtivy j Uvuvuvu i vuyvuvu ' Uyuvuvy [MUM LMMMW Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuv In multi-column layouts, sigs and logos are usually dummied atop the second leg so they wont interrupt the flow of the text. Avoid adding mug shots or photos to that second leg, too — the logo will look odd whether dummied above or below other art, and both images will fight for the reader's attention. In vertical layouts, sigs and logos are either dummied above the headline or indented a few inches down into the text. Indenting logos is tricky, though, since text should be at least an inch wide — which doesn't leave room for long words in a logo. Instead of placing sigs and logos down in the text, some papers use headers that stretch above the headline, usually running the full width of the story. This is a very clean, clear way to label special features, but it takes up more space than the other formats — and doesn't do anything to break up gray legs of text. COLUMN Column logos are a way to label special writers, those regularly appearing per-j |gjjg sonalities whose names and faces deserve prominent display. These logos (also called photo sigs) are usually reserved for writers whose columns are subjective, opinionated or humorous — and whose columns hopefully become a regular reader habit. (To support that habit, then, it's important to dummy the column in the same style and the same place each time it runs.) Column logos usually consist of: ♦ The writer's name. ♦ The writer's likeness (either a photo or a sketch). ♦ A catchy title: Dear Abby, Screen Scene or (yawn) On the Town. ON THE TOWN BY REED DAEMON ...J '■LAID On the. Tc own on the town REED DARMON 146~ NUTS & BOLTS LOGOS & SIGS Column logos promote the personalities of writers. Sigs and bugs, on the other hand, identify topics. They're a functional yet decorative typographic treatment that's used to label: ♦ Briefs and non-standard news columns (Business Notes, People, World Roundup); ♦ Opinion pieces that need to be distinguished from ordinary news stories (News Analysis, Movie Review); ♦ Regularly appearing features (NFL Notebook, Action Line!, Money Matters, Letters to the Editor). At some papers, there's even a trend toward labeling more and more stories by topic (City Council, Medicine, Tennis). That's difficult to do consistently throughout the paper — quick, what's a one-word label for a story about two jets that nearly collide? — but when it works, it's a helpful way to guide busy readers from topic to topic. Other papers use sigs that refer to stories on other pages or include fast facts (as in that bottom movie review sig at right). Sigs can be designed in a variety of sizes and styles, adding rules, screens or graphic effects to catch readers' eyes. But every paper should use a consistent graphic treatment for all its logos. That means the style you use for POP MUSIC should also be appropriate for OBITUARIES. MOVIE REVIEW MOVIE REVIEW movie review ■ Fast-fact boxes: Ideas for capsulizing information like that movie review box below...................166 irvvs MOVIE REVIEW I ovie w&iew MOVIE REVIEW MOVIE REVIEW Breamgirls ■ *** ■ Starrjhg: Eddie Murphy, Foxx, Beyonce Knpwles: Director: Bill Condon Rating: PG-13 for language, : sexuality and drug content Jamie i Ra- mi COMING OF Series logos are a way to label special packages (a five-day series on Racism in the Classroom) or stories that will continue to unfold over an extended period (like Flection 2008 or Revolt in China). Series logos (called icons at some papers) usually consist of: ♦ A catchy tide that creates reader familiarity; ♦ A small illustration or photo that graphicizes the topic; ♦ Optional refer lines to other pages or to tomorrow's installment. Logos are usually one column wide or indented into the text — and as these examples from The Detroit Free Press show, they come in a variety of styles: ......... NUTS & BOLTS LIFTOUT QUOTES "If I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" — Henry David Thoreau Slav "T :. JL: don doniwiwtto : achieve nnmoriohlii :.: through my work, 1 want to. achieve i.li: : through not dying.".. eare healthy only to the extent that ouk ideas are humane." — Kurt Vonnegut Jr. u Sara grew up to be a copy editor, a profession she compares to walking behind an elephant in a parade and scooping up what it has left on the road. — Anne Fadiman, in her memoir, "Ex Libris" _¥9 "The surest way to make a monkey of a man," said Robert Benchley, "is to quote him." And a sure way to make readers curious about a story is to display a wise, witty or controversial quote in one of the columns of text. As the examples above show, liftout quotes can be packaged in a variety of styles, enhanced with rules, boxes, screens or reverses. They go by a variety of names, too: pull quotes, breakouts, quote blocks, etc. But whether simple or ornate, liftout quotes should follow these guidelines: ♦ They should be quotations. Not paraphrases, not decks, not narration from the text, but complete sentences spoken by someone in the story. ♦ They should be attributed. Don't run "mystery quotes" that force us to comb the text for the speaker's identity. Tell us who's doing the talking. ♦ They should be bigger and bolder than text type. Don't be shy. Use a liftout style that pops from the page to catch the reader's eye - something distinctive that won't be mistaken for a headline or subhead. ♦ They should be 1-2 inches deep. Shallower than that, they seem too terse and trivial; deeper than that, they seem too dense and wordy. mm FES I MUGS Words of wisdom are attractive. And when we see the speaker's face, we're attracted even more. That's why mug/quote combinations are among the best ways to hook passing readers. Quotes with mugs can be designed to run boxed or unboxed, screened or unscreened. Whatever style you adopt, adapt it to run both horizontally (in 2- or 3-column widths) and vertically (in 1-column widths or indented within a column). Be sure the format's wide enough, and the type small or condensed enough, to fit long words without hyphenation. "I'm like a dung beetle, pushing this ball of dung up a mountain." BETTE MIDLER, on working on her rV sitcom, "Bette" -'People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, &m-itata-crookit:i - Richard Nixon . NUTS & SOLTE LIFTOUT QUOTES MINES FOR IIIIYK L1FT0UTS ♦ Be sure you have a quote worth lifting before you dummy it in. You can t expect |||| || 'p great quotes to materialize automatically — some stories, after all, don't even use ' * Making stories fit any quotations. by adding liftout Read the story first. Or talk to the reporter. Remember, once you develop the quotes.....................96 habit of promoting great quotes, it encourages reporters to find more great * Quote packages: quotes. As a result, both stories and readers will benefit. sPecta^ tr^"™ts ♦ Don't sprinkle liftouts randomly through the text just to kill space: quolcs.T.T!"!...... 175 .............>_r................................................................................................................................... * Skews and text jdor wraps: Guidelines £>r for dummying special r , SrCrr type effects............206 That gets distracting. For maximum impact and better balance, dummy quotes symmetrically (below left). Or create a point/counterpoint effect with two mugs (center). Or combine multiple quotes into an attractive package (right). ffiivuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuvuy ^svuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuvy iiuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuvuy Wtmmv u.U." ♦ Never force readers to read around any 2- or 3-column impediment, Text that hops back and forth like that gets too confusing (below left). Use 2-column liftouts only at the top of the text (center). One-column liftouts usually aren't quite as confusing, but as an alternative, you might try indenting a window for the liftout, then wrapping the text around it (right). tfvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuvuy ; ^^auvuy uvuvuv uy vuvuvuvu uvuvuy ^ššvuvuy uvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu uvuvuy ♦ Keep liftout quotes as typographically tidy as you can. Avoid partial quotes, parentheses, hyphenation, ellipses and widows. The liftout below actually ran in a student newspaper. The editors probably thought they were keeping the quote accurate, but the distracting typography sabotaged the quote's readability: "... possible enhancements (such as)... an essay as a direct measurement of writing skill..." ..... NUTS & BOLTS DECKS & SUMMARIES This example uses a 36-point boldface headline and an 18-point lightface deck. Decks are most effective • in lightweight or italic faces that contrast with the main headline. In news stories, they're usually set flush left in the first leg of text. One of the most persistent problems in all of newspapering is The Headline That Doesn't Quite Make Sense: Schools bill falls Copy editors are only human, usually, so headlines like that are inevitable. But one way to make headlines more intelligible — especially on important stories — is to add a deck below the headline to explain things further: Schools bill falls Senators ki 11 a plan ; •••••.....to finance classes by taxing cigarettes Quite often, decks make more sense than headlines. Which shows you how valuable they can be. Years ago, papers stacked decks in deep rows (see example, page 28). Today, most use only one deck per story. Decks for news stories are often 3-4 lines (10-15 words); decks for features are generally longer (15-30 words). Some editors think decks are a waste of space and use them only as padding when stories come up short. That's a mistake. Since most readers browse the paper by scanning headlines, it's easy to see that a good head/deck combination adds meaning — and increases readership. Bill DECK ♦ Use decks for all long or important stories. Remember, readers are more like-GUIBELINE8 ^ t0 Puin8c HU0 a sea of text if they know in advance what it's about. ♦ Use decks with all hammer or display headlines. It's fine to dream up a clever feature headline like "Heavy Mental." But if you don't add a deck to explain what that means, readers may never decipher your cleverness. ♦ Give decks contrast — in size and weight. By sizing decks noticeably smaller than headlines, they'll be easier to write. They'll convey more information. And they'll look more graceful (as magazines discovered long ago). Though most papers devise their own systems of deck sizing, decks generally range from 12 to 24 points, depending on the size of the headline they accompany. For added contrast, most papers use either italic decks (with roman heads) or lightface decks (with regular or boldface heads). Whatever your paper s style, it's important to set the deck apart — with both spacing and typography — from the headline and the text. ♦ Stack decks at the start of the story. Don't bury them in the text. Stick them in some corner or banner them across the full width of the page. Decks are functional, not decorative. Put them to work where they'll lead readers into the text — usually in the first leg (though in wider layouts, 2-column decks work fine). In fancy feature layouts, you can be more creative. But that comes later. 150 N01MB0UB DECKS & SUMMARIES SUi ECKS Compare this headline/ deck combination with the one on the facing page. Which offers more information at a glance? This example uses 13- ' point type. It begins with a dingbat to catch your eye (and to distinguish the summary from the text that follows). Some papers call them summaries. Others call them nut grafs. Either way, they're more than just downsized decks. They're a response to busy readers who say, I'm in a hurry — why should I care about this story? In 1987, The Oregonian became the first American daily to add summaries to all key stories on section fronts. Today, hundreds of papers use them on all their stories to distill the content of the text into 20-30 words: Schools bill falls ■ By a 78-12 vote, the Ohio Senate rejects a plan to .........finance classes by adding a 10-cent tax on each pack of cigarettes sold this year * Headlines: Different styles of headlines and how to size them.....28 ' Display headlines: How to add variety to feature headlines.. 213 ' Fast-fact boxes: How they summarize stories for readers in a hurry.............166 The simplest way to create a summary is to write a longer-than-usual deck using smaller-than-usual type. But some papers try more creative approaches, both in the typography they use and in the way they highlight information: This summary uses a boldface lead-in to highlight key words — followed by more detailed summary material in contrasting lightface italic type. TAX PLAN DEFEATED: By a 78-12 vote, the Ohio Senate rejects a plan to finance classes by adding a 10-cent tax on each package of cigarettes sold this year BRIEFLY Background: To compensate for a projected S3 million budget shortfall, the Ohio Senate debated a plan to finance classes by adding a 10-cent tax on each pack of cigarettes you buy. What it means: The bill's 78-12 defeat may force Ohio to make drastic school budget cuts. This summary reverses BRIEFLY in a bar, then uses boldface key words to set up a detailed summary of the story. The type is 9-point— which may be a bit small for a deck like this. SUMMARY ♦ Don't rehash the headline and the lead. Each element — the main headline, GUIDELINES nlc summary and the lead of the story — should add something different to the reader's overall understanding. That means you should avoid repeating words or phrases. More importantly, it means writing those three elements as a single unit, with a flow of logic that leads the reader smoothly into the text. In many newsrooms, the writer of the story contributes the wording for the headline and summary. That's an excellent way to maintain accuracy and avoid redundancy. ♦ Use conversational language. Summaries should be complete declarative sentences in the present tense. Unlike traditional decks, summaries are couched in a reader-friendly, conversational style. As the examples above show, there's no need to eliminate articles (a, an, the), relative pronouns or contractions. Don't be stodgy or pretentious. Avoid obscure words or jargon. Simple words always work best — and short words will make hyphenation unnecessary. ♦ Don't worry about bad breaks. The traditional rules of headline writing don't apply here. A subject can be on one line, a verb on the next. Nobody will care if an infinitive is split between lines. But do avoid hyphenation and widows. ♦ Feel free to improvise. Many papers add quotes or mug shots to summaries, transforming them into graphic elements. How far is your paper willing to go? 151 NUTS & BOLTS BYLINES To reporters, bylines are the most important graphic element in the entire newspaper. What a shame, then, that readers rarely give bylines a glance as their eyes dart from the end of the headline to the start of the story. It's necessary, though, to give credit where credit is due (especially when readers have complaints or questions about a story). Papers differ on byline policies, but most publications put reporters' names on stories of substance — that is, all stories more than about 6 inches long. Bylines generally run at the start of the story in a style that sets them apart from the text: boldface, italics, one or two rules. The first line gives the reporter's name; a second line tells whether he or she writes for an outside organization (The Associated Press, for example), works as a freelancer (often labeled a "special writer" or "correspondent") or belongs on the staff (most papers run either the name of the paper or the writer's title). Every newspaper should adopt one standard byline style. Some examples: By MOE HOWARD The Daily Planet By Larry Fine THE DAILY PLANET FILM CRITIC By CURLY HOWARD curlyhoward@dailypkinet com Student newspapers sometimes use loud, eye-catching byline styles, perhaps as a bribe to lure reporters onto the staff. Screened, reversed or indented bylines can seem fun, but they call too much attention to themselves. Proceed with caution. By GROUCHO MARX By CHICO MARX For short sidebars or columns of briefs, credit is often given in the form of a flush-right tag line at the end of the text. As with bylines, these credit lines need spacing and typography that sets them apart from the text: — The Associated Press — Compiled from staff reports Some papers run all bylines at the end of the story (and some even include the reporter's phone number or e-mail address). At the start of the story, the logic goes, bylines just add clutter amid the headlines and decks; since writers' names are less urgent, they can come later. On photo spreads and special features, newspapers often use a more prominent byline style to credit the writer, the photographer, or both (page designers, sad to say, rarely receive printed credit for their work). These special credits are either parked at the edge of the design or indented into a wide column of text, like the Laurel and Hardy credit here. Story by STAN LAUREL Photos by OLIVER HARDY 152- SUTBS-BOLTS CREDIT LINES Not many papers run credit lines in the lower left corner. Instead, it's common to run the source line here —. that's the line in a chart, map or diagram that tells the source of the data being used. Putting that information here (or inside the box) keeps it separate from other credit lines. Artwork, like stories, should be credited — whether the art comes from HQf5E fjl ► staffers, freelancers, wire services or library files. Different styles of credit lines ,.cr ., *■ Photo spreads; serve different functions: Tips on designing ♦ For photos and illustrations, they provide the name and affiliation of the photo pages—and photographer or artist who produced the image. %edhT"S130 ♦ For old, historic photos or maps, they tell readers where the documents come i' The Oregonian/STEVE NEHL j run as the Dodgers rallied in the ninth inning to win. ritcher threw, ' us terrified ball game." — Harris Siegel iders." That was a signal agnized, although it had passed between him and was saying, "Pitch to the big bum if he hammers every ball in the park into the North River." And so, at Snyder's request, Bentley did pitch to Ruth, and the Babe drove the ball deep into right center; so deep that Casey Stengel could feel the hot lm vil 11 \ji ui*- uiutu-iii^in-v-s ma [.ml [\ as the ball came down and he caught it. If that drive had been just a shade to the right it would have been a third home run for Ruth. As it was, the Babe had a great day, with two home runs, a terrific long fly and two bases on balls. Ump claims new balk rule may be unfair By JACK KENNEDY Sports editor - For the first time since-the. American League instituted, its ■controversial new, guidelines on EGTION LOGOS & HEADERS • Above: Allow 3 points between logos and the folio line. Inside: Maintain 8-point margins between logo type and ' the edge of the box. Below: Allow 18 points between logos and headlines or photos. IEADLINES Above: Allow 18 points between logos or unrelated stories and the top of the headline. Below: Allow 6 points between descenders and text/photos below. Roundups and briefs: When compiling packages of briefs that use small headlines (12- or 14-point), use tighter spacing: 1 pica of space above the headline and 6 points below. ■ Credit line: Allow 3 points between photos and credit lines. Gutline: Allow 3 points between credit lines and cutlines. . Allow 3 points between photos and cutlines if there's no credit line. TEXT '"•Above: Allow I pica between cutlines and text. Gutters: All vertical gutters are 1 pica wide. ... Graphic elements: Allow 1 pica between all graphic elements (liftout quotes, refers, etc.) and text. Beiow: Allow 18 points between text and unrelated stories. mm STiRiES/eiAPHics >t Margins: Allow 1 pica between outside rules and ail headlines/text/photos. BYLINES '•• Above: Allow 9points between headline descenders and bylines. ■•• Below: Allow 9points between bylines and text. 154- HUTS £ BOLTS... RULES & BOXES Newspapers use rules both functionally (to organize and separate elements) and decoratively (to add contrast and flair). Notice, for instance, how the rules in this sig and byline are both functional and decorative: w4 tt us »£*»!» íiií" sis ?&*»•*• fr- By ROBIN FOX Bugle-Beacon staff writer Rule thickness, like type size, is measured in points. That "NFL Roundup" sig uses a 4-point ride above the type and a 1 -point rule below, while that byline uses a hairline rule (that's the thinnest rule available). With so many widths to choose from, most papers restrict rule usage to just one or two sizes — say, 1-point and 4-point: one thin, one thick. Rules are most commonly used in the following ways: ♦ To build logos, bylines and ♦ To embellish feature designs other standing elements. ♦ To create boxes (for stories, graphics, ads, etc.). ♦ To build charts and graphs. and display headlines. ♦ To separate stories and elements from each other; ♦ To border photos. j Fast-spreading fire I kills 2 young sisters Ruling boosts steroids probe m baseball 2nd bid tor presidency raises heat on Edward Kindred stranger seeks to honor soldier Sir This page from The Charlotte Observer shows how cutoff and column rules help organize story elements -even keeping those top two headlines from butting. Decades ago, newspapers used rules to separate all stories from each other. Some ran vertically in the gutters (column rules); others ran horizontally beneath stories (cutoff rules). That trend faded in the '60s, but it's been making a comeback recently. As Harold Evans, editor of The Sunday Times in London, once said: "The most backward step, under the flag of freedom, has been the abandonment of column rules and cutoffs which so usefully define columns and separate stories." Running rules between stories is an attractive, effective way to control the flow of traffic. Still, many papers choose to run stories unruled and unboxed, saving box treatments for big news packages, sidebars, stand-alone photos, etc. As we've said before, it's best to box stories only if they're special or if they need to be set apart from other stories on the page — not to compensate for butting headlines or poorly placed photos. You may occasionally be tempted to use decorative rules or borders for special effects. But like other graphic gimmicks, it's easy to use them clumsily or excessively — so go easy. JLES ROER 2 point 4 point Decorative borders r;- -y ->v s-, k -k vir fiiiiiai This box is bordered with a plain .5-pt. rule. Thick frames and fat shadows add a lot of noise and clutter, so avoid them. It's best to use thin rules to build boxes and border photos. Underscoring Some designers try to jazz up headlines by adding a rule (called an underscore) beneath them. It works for kickers and some display headlines (see page 212}, but usually... not. On Web sites, underlined words offer links to other pages. Rounded corners and decorative borders were stylish 30 years ago, but they look corny: and old-fashioned today. Gimmicks like these just call attention to themselves.; 155 .... ITSáBULTŠ. REFERS, TEASERS & PROMOS IEFE1S Throughout this book, we've cross-referenced material by adding "more on" indexes at the top of many pages. They're a handy way to show you where to turn for related information. Newspapers need to cross-reference their stories, too. And they do that by using lines, paragraphs or boxes called refers (see examples below). Some refers are simple; others, with art, are more elaborate. Whatever style your paper uses, refers should: ♦ Stand out typographically from the surrounding text. That's why refers often include rules, bullets, boldface or italic type. ♦ Be specific. Refers should index all related items — on the TV page, the opinion page, wherever — not just say, "Other stories inside." ♦ Be tightly written. Refers are signposts, so they should simply point, not pontificate. ♦ Be consistently positioned every time they're used — i.e., above the byline, at the top of a column, at the end of the story — whatever is most appropriate and unobtrusive. Refer line: □ How Obama views the tax plan. Page 5, Refer paragraph: 5 . , - i........ J . - . NAVY ALERT: Turkish destroyers were placed on red alert Wednesday as Iran launched its first nuclear submarine/ Page 4A Refer box (with art): ► Why Murphy was forced to resign ........ A5 ► Reaction from other boardmembers.A6 ► A look at Murphy's stormy career.A7- TEASERS i PROMOS In Great Britain, competition is fierce on newsstands — which is why, to survive, papers need loud, provocative front-page promos like those in Scotland's Sunday Herald, below. A refer is a signpost that guides readers to stories inside the paper. A teaser is another kind of signpost — actually, it's more like a billboard. Where refers advise, teasers advertise. They say BUY ME! HOT STORY INSIDE. The covers of most supermarket tabloids are loaded with titillating teasers. Most newspapers, by comparison, use a more subdued style for their teasers (also called promos, skylines or boxcars). Teasers are usually boxed in an eye-catching way at the top of Page One. Some are bold and simple — . mmm%mm $im wins it for dodgers/di — but the question is: Do readers even notice those text-only teasers? A better idea is to combine a catchy headline phrase, a short copy blurb and art, since an arresting image is the surest way to grab readers' attention. Here are two examples of aggressive, successful teasers: Colorful teasers aren't just for Page One anymore-Many dailies are now producing catchy promos for every section front, like those on this Asbury Park Press feature page, below. welcome to Roes-iíjnasísaníiají newspaper e^^b^i 156- WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUI. NUTS S BOILS BREAKING UP TEXT Reading long columns of text is a tiring chore. But if you break up the gray with occasional subheads, initial caps or dingbats, you can better organize your material — and, at the same time, provide rest stops for the reader's eye. Subheads are the most common way to subdivide long stories (i.e., features or news analyses that run over 30 inches). They're often inserted every 8-10 inches, wherever there's a shift of topic or a logical pause in the commentary. Avoid inserting them at random (which won't help the reader's understanding of the material) or at the very bottom of a leg of type. Subheads come in a variety of styles, but they're usually bolder than text type: without first having his wife ; '.''■:biOBght-"tO';see:.hirD3:''and--they : ' had seat an escort foi hei", which had occasioned the delay i Under the guillotine He immediately kneeled ' down, below the knife. His ; neck fitting into a hole, made tor-th& .purpose,^ m a eross . piartk, was shut down, by This is a typical style for news subheads: bold type, centered, a bit larger than the text. Sutherland's trip at 7 p.m Thursday at Pioneer Court-huuse Square. The program is. , free. * Africa preview: A slide presentation on Kenya and I Tanzania will be shown at 10.30 a.m. Wednesday at . Weststar Tour and Travel. > 19888 $E Stark, The show is a preview of a February trip This format is used to change topics in stories that consist of short, assorted bits and pieces. $50 fot Oslo, but aseven-day second-class rail pass can be bought for about $70 at rail i stations, ' WHERE TO STAY The Fjord Pass program offers discounts on rates' at 200 hotels. The pass costs $10 and. comes with a list of ■:. hotels offering discounts for This reversed subhead helps organize catalog-style stories into clearly labeled sections. Initial caps are a classy way to begin features, columns or specially packaged news stories. They're also a decorative (though non-informational) alternative to subheads for breaking up long columns of text. Be sure the large cap letter is neatly spaced and aligned, whether it's indented into the text or raised above it: This is an example of a dropped initial cap. These are usually tucked into the first three or four lines of die text. H H _i_ere is a raised initial, which sits above the first line of the text. Even small graphics and sidebars can begin with initial caps to give the text extra typographic emphasis. Use too many of them, though, and it gets distracting. SUITS Dingbat is the ridiculous-sounding term used to describe an endless assortment of typographic characters like these: ✓ QUO A$l + ilV#^^ »5" * * 3*- © Most dingbats are too silly to use in a serious news publication. Some, however, are handy for relieving long legs of text (see example at right). Others, like bullets (•) and squares (■), can help itemize lists within text. Remember, however: ♦ Use bullets or squares for three or more related items. Fewer than that, it looks odd. ♦ Keep bullet items short and punchy. Like this. ♦ Don't overdo it. Use bullets only for emphasis. had left it in that instant. It was dull, cold, livid, was;. The body also. There was a great deal of blood. When we left the window, and went close up to.the scaffold-, it was very* .dirty; one:of>the'rwo men who were throwing water NUTS & BOLTS........ JUMPS Continued from Page 97 and 4. ♦ Avoid jumping orphans. An orphan (sometimes called a widow) is a short word or phrase that's carried over to the top of a new column or page, like the first line in this column: "and 4." Orphans often look clumsy — like typographical errors, even if they aren't. And, as you may have just experienced, it's frustrating enough to reach the end of a column, then be told to turn to Page 158, then fumble around trying to find Page 158, then, when you get to Page 158, read something cryptic like "and 4" — at which point you realize you've forgotten the rest of the sentence back on Page 97. And that's why readers dislike jumps. ♦ Label jumps clearly. Since jumping is so unpopular, use typography to make it easier. There are two ways to do this: 1) Run continuation lines (the lines that tell you where a story is continued) flush right, since that's where your eye stops reading at end of a column. Run jump lines (the lines that tell you where a story has been jumped from) flush left, since that's where your eye begins reading at the top of a column. 2) Give each jump a keyword or phrase, then highlight it typographically. Suppose, for instance, you're jumping a story on oat bran. You could run a continuation line that simply says Turn to Page 6. But that's not too friendly— and it's not very informative. When readers get to page 6, how will they spot the jump? You'd be wiser to say something like See OAT BRAN, Page 6. And when readers arrived at Page 6, the/d find a jump headline like one of these: N Jumps: What they are — with guidelines on how to dummy them..........97 Oat bran: Study proves it prevents heart attacks ^■^clf blfclil Cmlimte^í™n ^a&e ®nň Continued from Page One Study proves oat bran can prevent heart attacks I OAT BRAN, from Page One This is a popular treatment for jump headlines. It treats the key word (or phrase) as a boldface lead-in, then follows with a Ughtface headline written in standard style. Since the key word is played so boldly, jump stories are easy to spot when readers arrive at the new page. To be effective, jump lines should be set apart from text by both extra spacing and type selection. This is another common style for jump headlines. It uses only the key word (or phrase) to catch readers' eyes, then adds a rule both for emphasis and to separate the text from any columns running above. One problem: Readers encountering this jump story for the first time won't have any idea what it's about if all the headline says is something like "SMITH." This treatment is rather straightforward: a standard banner headline followed by a boldface key word in the jump line. But is it obvious enough to readers that this is the oat bran story they're searching for? Some would argue that unless the jump headline boldly proclaims a key word or phrase, too many readers may get lost. ♦ Give attention to the design of jumps. Remember to package jumps as attractively as you'd package any other story. Many newspapers treat jumps like mandatory blocks of gray slop — ugly leftovers from nice-looking pages. And if your deadlines are tight, you may be forced to blow off jump-page designs. But if there's time, add photos. Create mug/quote blocks. Pull out charts or maps. To summarize: Jumps will never be popular with readers. But if you can devise a clear, consistent format for packaging jump stories, readers will regard them as minor detours — not major roadblocks. And their benefits to designers (higher story counts and increased layout options on key pages) far outweigh the annoyance they cause readers. 158 NUTS & BOLTS . . TROUBLESHOOTING Quick answers to questions commonly asked by perplexed designers about newspaper design nuts and bolts: 0 We're redesigning the front-page masthead of our newspaper. How big and colorful should it be? You mean the flag? The masthead is the staff list that runs on the editorial page; the flag (or nameplate) is the front-page treatment of your newspaper's name. But on to business. You have a wide range of typographic options, from too dull (left) to too manic (right). Most small-town papers err on the side of dullness, thinking their readers are squarer than they are. Many student papers, on the other hand, create crazed, noisy flags that draw way too much attention to themselves and drown out the 4r - ^KSflf ull"il!n"icl I news below. Your best bet; Create prototypes in a variety of styles and sizes, then allow everyone to vote: editors, reporters and especially readers. i The Bozoville Bladder Senate ; Smith wages war with county sheriff property tax hike Our paper is usually pretty small Do we need to run an index? 12 pages or less. Ask anyone who conducts newspaper market research: Readers love indexes, roundups, highlights — anything that tells them what you've got and where you've hidden it. Like diners in a restaurant, they want to see what's on the menu. So even if you're a small paper, give your readers a guide to what's inside. And if an index is difficult to compile — if your paper is just a random collection of 15-inch stories — that may indicate you need to do a better job of organizing topics and providing a mix of briefs, lists, calendars and other regular features. We run a row of small promos across the top of our front page every issue. Do readers actually notice those things? Probably not. Why should they? It's a common problem: Day after day, issue after issue, newspapers run little postage-stamp-sized promos like the one at right. Too often, these promos advertise stories nobody's excited about. Too often, they use tiny, indecipherable images and short, indecipherable headlines. As a result, readers learn to ignore them. And those skyboxes turn into wallpaper. The solution: Break out of the rut. Mix it up. Design new options that allow you to run three, two or just one dynamic image. Use cutouts. Reverse type. Remember: If you don't care about your promos, your readers won't, either. Watching waste Pag® 4 / Uta Drops Out i / Of Senate Race / Campbell entry scales • j offRepubfcaws / .'_.....__ sports^ Women's Soccer \ And Recruiting |» With scholarship limits, pfayers must negotiate/iD SiUCOtnlAUEV «H Get Yout Claws Around Crab La Nina has made tor larger, tastier aabsftE Serving Northers California Since lS5l HUTS & BOLTS . TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDELINES for CREDIT LINES How do you credit photos taken by someone's family, instead of a newspaper photographer? Or old file photos? Or digitally manipulated images? When it comes to crediting stories and ;-------------- photos, one solution just won't work for every situation. (For instance, what's your byline wording for a wire-service story that's been expanded and reworked by two of your staff writers?) In Chapter 8, we'll talk about how essential a good design stylebook is. And every staff's stylebook should contain an entry like the one at right, adapted from The Richmond Times-Dispatch's outstanding 1996 style-book, anticipating every variation of photo and graphic credits. If your newspaper runs art and text from a variety of sources, you'll find a guideline like this handy for credit lines and bylines alike. Answering these questions in advance can save valuable time on deadline. Staff photos: Special event staff photos: Former staff photos: Reporter photos: Freelance photos: Syndicated material: Agencies/miscellaneous: Family photo with date: Family photo without date: File photos: Wire photos: Wire graphics: Graphics staff: More than one artist: File graphic: Shared credit: Digitally altered images: Special staff project: Do readers actually read stories when they jump to another page? j First, the bad news: Very few readers read stories after they jump. In fact, very few readers read more than the first few inches of most stories, whether they jump or not. (If you don't believe this, see page 241 for a survey that can show you how much your readers actually read.) So why don't readers read? They're impatient. They're distracted. They're wary of being bored. They've learned that if a story doesn't get interesting in the first three inches, it probably never gets interesting. But now the good news: If readers care about a story, they'll follow it anywhere. And every story is interesting to somebody. Which is why you must write stories as tighdy as you can, but run them as long as they need to be. BENJAMIN BRINK/THE OREGONIAN Photo illustration by TOM TREICK/THE OREGONIAN JOEL DAVIS/THE OREGONIAN, January 1998 THE OREGONIAN K.RISTI TURNQUIST/THE OREGONIAN JOE SMITH/SPECIAL TO THE OREGONIAN ©WARNER BROS. RECORDS NATIONAL ARCHIVES BBC PHOTOGRAPH LIBRARY ©1995 CAROL PRATT PHOTOGRAPHY 1993 FAMILY PHOTO FAMILY PHOTO File photo, 1995 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NY. TIMES NEWS SERVICE STEVE COWDEN/THE OREGONIAN DAN AGUAYO, MOLLY SWISHER/THE OREGONIAN THE OREGONIAN Graphic by MIKE MODE, Research by WALLY BENSON/ THE OREGONIAN Illustration by RENE E1SENBART/THE OREGONIAN, source material by SUSAN UNDERHILL BY THE OREGONIAN STAFF: STEVE COWDEN, artist; RICHARD HILL, writer; MIKE MODE and WERNER BITTNER, contributing artists In magazines, I see logos and liftout quotes using smaller type than they do in newspapers. How small can those things be? Many magazines try to push the limits of miniaturization. And because their presswork is so pristine, they can successfully run type and photos much smaller than newspapers normally dare. But if you're crafty and careful, you can downsize your design components, too. Newspapers that use exotic grids (an 18-column broadsheet, for example) may need to create mug/quote combinations like the one at right — a mere 4 picas wide. But by cropping tightly and selecting condensed fonts, you can keep them both attractive and readable. Remember: the older your readership, the poorer their eyesight. Student newspapers will be able to miniaturize logos and liftout quotes more successfully than mainstream newspapers. "How is it that George slept in so many places but never told a lie?" - BUD CLARK lilii lllll ■111 We live in a visual age. We're bombarded with movies, videos, photographs and interactive multimedia. We're spoiled. We're impatient. And we're lazy. When we want information, we say show me — don't tell me. Images are strong and seductive. Words take work. So most of us prefer images over words. We'd rather scan the art on that page at right than read this column of text. So what does that mean for journalists? It means we've entered the age of informational graphics (or info-graphics for short). With infographics, publications can combine illustration and information into colorful, easily digestible packages. Infographics can be maps. Charts. Lists. Diagrams. They can be created as tiny insets. Or as entire full-color pages. Do infographics junk up journalism? Some critics of TV and USA Today think so. Cartoony charts and goofy graphs just trivialize the news, they say. But remember, true journalism is teaching. You have information; your readers need it; you must teach it to them as quickly and clearly as you can. Sometimes words work best. Other times, information is best conveyed visually, not verbally. Your job, as a designer, is to choose the most effective approach. This chapter will demonstrate your best options. * Writing for non-readers: Why today's readers want alternatives to dull, gray text..............................162 ■ Sidebars & infographics: A menu of options to help you create an information mosaic.........................165 ■* Fast facts....................166 *> Bio boxes......................167 4- Lists: Compiling Top Ten lists, Haiper's Indexes and glossaries..............168 «• Checklists....................170 fiHiPTMHTEHTS * Q&A's.............................171 * Quizzes..........................172 * Surveys £ polls...........174 ■■■ Quote collections........175 * Charts and graphs: Bar charts, fever charts and pie charts..............176 ■ Tables............................178 i- Ratings.........................179 * Timelines......................180 :: Step-by-step guides..181 * Diagrams......................182 -* Maps.............................184 * Graphics packages: Combining graphics into a successful page..........186 ™ Package planning: A process fen organizing the newsroom..............188 Graphics gallery: Comparing graphics from nine different papers ..AW « Graphics guidelines: Editing and designing graphics and sidebars.. 194 Troubleshooting..........197 ■:■:-:■:/■.■ :■■/,:::■. 00 H & BIOEBAHS ■... . WRITING FOR NON-READERS It's the first day of a new school year. You're about to begin a tough new class — say, Advanced Biology. You're holding a copy of the textbook you'll be using this term. On the cover, there's a cute photo of a red-eyed tree frog. But when you turn inside, page after .............. : page after ~ "= \our heart sinks. Your intestines churn. page aftei _ "Hoo boy," you groan. If only they'd page after "~~ ■■■ - - ': used maybe a little art to break up all page aftei ====== thatgtay — page aftei —_ vou know, page looks something like this: .................. like this: r r Yes, deep in the childish recesses of our brains, we all share the same dread of text. It's like math anxiety: text anxiety. In small doses, text is tolerable. But when we're wading through deep heaps of it, we hate it. Even worse, we hate writing it. And yet we all need to communicate, to share information, to express ideas. It's a primal urge, one that has evolved over the ages. In ancient, prehistoric times, our ape-like ancestors struggled to piece together this primitive kind of narrative: The fact is, you've come face to face with a cruel and ancient law of publication design: Me hungry! Kilimoose! Eat meat! 1 As the centuries dragged by, early humans polished their delivery. After eons of practice, they became skillful storytellers: ... So there I was, trapped in the Give of Death, staring into the drooling jaws' of Mongo;The ivloese Fion Hel ... This narrative style reached a climax with the invention of the romance novel: .. Heba. the voluptuous Moose Queen, slowly peeled off her gown • i and uttered,a moan as" trie mighty Ragnar clenched her in his tawny arms: "Itegentle.rmyw^ Yaarrrrrgggh.ihe: grunted.: Helga's bosom heaved with desire as ■:::,: Ragrar's hungry kisses grow ever mere furious. "Yes!" she cried. "Yes!!'" 162 WRITING FOR NON-READERS Impressive stuff! And perhaps that kind of narrative is what the written word does best - storytelling that transports us emotionally from one place to another. As opposed to this type of narration: Consumption of moosemeat declined significantly during the first three decades of the ninth century. Marauding hordes of Vikings averaged :: 14.3 pounds per capita of moosemeat monthly during that period, while,: consumption among Druids climbed to 22.8 pounds (for males) and 16.3 pounds (females) during winter months, up from 1.5.5. pounds in summer::.: "Yaarrrgggh," as Ragnar might say. For most of us, data turns deadly dull in narrative form. Our eyes glaze. Our bosoms heave. It feels like we're staring into the drooling jaws of The Statistician From Hell. Such data might work better as a chart or graph: That's a fine match of medium and meaning. It's quick. It's visual. It's precise. And best of all, it's interesting ... almost interactive. It's non-text, a form of writing that's — well, a kind of won-writing. Which is perfect for today's generation of non-readers. Now, these non-text formats work fine for business reports, government statistics, news features and so on. But they won't work for everything. Take Helga the Moose Queen; something's missing when you write her love scene like this: Raw lust ■ JijO 0ft |"S ■ ■ and animal ISLn-SM 10 hunger, Jilil ?0% *5 iilM mm m Hoping Ragnar won't . muss up.her hair,-10% Wondering what's:: • • -lor unnet, 3% Thinking, "Man,:this -castle is cold when-you're naked,".5°/o . Wishing Ragnar would . shower once, in a while,-12% Obviously, some types of information are best expressed in narrative form. And that's fine.......usually. But pause for a moment and ponder these past two pages. Notice how visually we presented our material. Would it have held your interest if we'd explained it all with normal narrative text? SRftfW&SIBEBM.. WRITING FOR NON-READERS So what's it all mean to newspapers? It means that editors, writers and designers must realize that today's readers are visual. Impatient. Easily bored. Readers absorb data in a variety of ways: through words, photos, charts, maps, diagrams. They want news packaged in a sort of "information mosaic," a combination of text, data and images that approaches complex issues from fresh new angles. Years ago, when big stories broke, editors assigned reporters to write miles and miles of pure text. (And yes, readers would read it.) Today, when big stories break, editors assign reporters, photographers and graphic artists to make concepts understandable in both words and pictures. For instance, when the Hindenburg crashed in 1937, most newspapers ran a photo or two but relied upon yards of text to describe the tragedy. If that disaster struck today, you'd see pages like the one at right below. Which do you prefer? Sty* fork ®im**. mndenburg mmSsmiÄKEHimr CRASHf 21 KNOWN DEAD, 12 MISSING; 64 ESCAPE Above: The New York Times from May 7,1937. Of the eight stories on Page One, five focus on the dirigible disaster — but it's all text. There's one dramatic photo (played big). Inside the section, readers were given an extra page of disaster photos. At right: A modern newspaper might package the story using a heater map, a diagram, a list of previous accidents and a sidebar transcribing the live radio broadcast of the tragedy. These days, too, that lead photo would probably run in color. The Daily 21 die as Hindenburg explodes IITí í ~\vVf — jj Hods Ot-TTS HŇ>ít*ŕ^jJtf" ----- Indiana Jones recovers f sacred Ark from Nazis Spanish Anarchists launching massive invasion of Barcelona 164 WHIGS & SIDEBARS SIDEBARS & INFOGRAPHIGS A sidebar is any short feature that accompanies a longer story. And an info-graphic (short for "informational graphic") blends text and images to convey information visually — illustrating the facts with charts, maps or diagrams. Years ago, sidebars and infographics were considered optional. Nowadays, they're essential for effective publication design. Here's why: ♦ They carve up complicated material into bite-size chunks. ♦ They offer attractive alternatives to gray-looking text. ♦ They let writers move key background information, explanations or quotes out of the narrative flow of the text and into a separate, highly visible spot. ♦ Because they're tight, bright and entertaining, they add reader appeal to any story, whether news or features. In fact, they often attract higher readership than the main story they accompany. Sidebars are usually specially packaged — boxed or screened — to help them stand apart from the main story. Notice how that's true for our sidebar below: a visual index to all the sidebars and infographics we'll explore in the pages ahead. & EMFQGRAPMIGS: THE CATEGORIES FAST-FACT BOX Nuggets pulled from the story to give readers a quick grasp of who, what, when, where or why. I A way to:ask and answer- • hypothetical questions,': or capture an interview's verbatim dialogue. . . ■A way to arrange data into columns or rows so readers: can make side-by-side comparisons. Briefprofiles of people, places, products or organizations, itemized by key characteristics. YES:: NO:: PUBLIC-OPINION POLL A survey.that samples. opinion on a.current topic,: collatingresponses into key, categories and statistics. RATINGS i ! A list of people or products j ! (sports teams, movies, etc.) • i that lets critics make __1- predictions or evaluations. -. 0-B- && A series of names, tips,' ■ components, previous eventsany categories that add context to a story. 'J QUOTE COLLECTION A series of relevant -.. comments on a topic by newsmakers, readers or., random passers-by. ..: A chronological table or list of evmts highlighting key moments in the history of a person, place or issue,: - ■ GLOSSARY A list of specialized words with definitions {and/or pronunciations) to help clarifycmiplex topics: : Away to measure changing quantities over time by plottingkey statistics as points on a graph. □ SB <► » » A brief "how-to" that explains a complex process by walking readers through it one step at a time. m ■V-- m A list of questions or guidelines that itemize key : pointscor help readers assess their own needs. ^•ji&m.i A way to compare two or moreitems visually by ;• representing tkem as columns: parked side by side. DIAGRAM A plan or drawing designed to show how something works or To explain key parts of an objectorprocess. -* 0= .0: A short list of questions that let readers interact ■ with a story by testing their ■ understanding of the topic. c A way to. compare the parts-that makeup a v. hole .. usually measuring money or population percentages. . A quick way.to give readers, geographical information .by showingthe location -of events relevant toastory. — GRAPHICS & SMRS FAST FACTS THE KLAMATH FALLS QUAKE ♦ MAGNITUDE: 5.4 on the Richter scale ♦ TIME: 8:29 p.m. Monday ♦ EPICENTER: About 15 miles .....northwest of Klamath Falls,....... i Ore. ; ♦ DEATHS: One person died • j .. : when boulders crushed his cari on U.S. 97 near Cbilpquin ♦ AFTERSHOCKS: 5.2 and 4.5 This fast-fact box accompanied a news story on an Oregon earthquake, delivering essential facts at a glance. SUPER BOWL XLI TEAMS: Chicago Sears (NFC) • vs; Indianapolis Colts (AFC) . • ; SITE: Dolphins Stadium; . • >■■! Miami. WHEN: 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4 ON TV: KOI N-TV (CBS/6) ON RADIO: KFXX{1080AM) ON THE WEB: Superbowl.com BETTING LINE: Colls by 7 Boxes like these could accompany any sports, entertainment or political event— and you can add art, as well. r j , sal;?;-*'' » tíauh fetiši s ««jí5v*.*f ofsävialQ äs loss One of the best ways to present news in a hurry is to distill the who-what-when-where-why of a story into a concise package. With a fast-fact box, you can add graphic variety to story designs, introduce basic facts without slowing down the text, and provide entertaining data for those who may not want to read the text at all. Fast-fact boxes can deliver statistics. History. Definitions. Schedules. Trivia. They can update readers on what just happened — or try to explain what'11 happen next. They can even present stand-alone "factoids," like the one at left, that lure readers into the story in the same way that hftout quotes do. Nobody likes to admit to having rats, but Multnomah County has them. Here's a snapshot of the rat population. ■ What do they eat? Garbage, nuts, , ^ cherry pits, bird' seed and dog ; -". food. ' -—.--' '' "'' ■ How many? ^t It's hard to say. One estimate says Portland has about 200,000 rats. That would be about enough to cover-Pioneer Courthouse Square, one rat deep. _^|t!g->.. ■How bio? An adult sewer rat Is rierterally 8 inches Ion til* body, 13 to 13 inc with the tail included, adgji weighs about a :>:-.--■: 8'incites ■ Where are they? All over; many live in the sewer system. About 100 times ayear, residents complain about a rat coming up through the toilet. Source: Peter Dediant, Multnomah County chief sanitarian ■ How do they spread diseases? Specialists think there is little danger to Oregonians from the Hantaan virus, which has been linked to the deaths of mote than a dozen people in the i Southwest. /CZ^y 1. The virus lives 2. The droppings dry 3. A victim breathes the in rat droppings, and become airborne. dried particles and the G virus infects the lungs. |1 There is no known vaccine for the Hantaan virus, which has been found in »j Asia and Europe but is extremely rare in the United States. e K»»t — : '" "SSSi**^ WORM FARMING AT A GLANCE Want.to start your own worm farm? It's easy, lust dig these . . eart/ty: facte;.. - ♦ Arrearthworm caneat half its weight in.food each-day. ♦ People are either boys or girls, but earthworms are both .::. male and female. ♦ An earthworm matures to breeding age. in 60-90:days ■ given proper food;eare and.environmental quality, ♦ A mature breeding worm can produce an egg.capsule •every7-10days. : :;, ■ ♦An egg capsule will hatch in 7-14 days. , ' ♦ An egg capsule contains 2r20 baby earthworms; with.an :: average of 7 per capsule. - r ♦ One breeder, can produce 1,200-1,500 worms: per year; ....... 2;000'breeders can produce:,! billion worms in two years,. FOR MORE INFO: ♦ tVormD/gest is the world's top source for earthworm information. To view articles online, visit their Web site at wormdigest.org, ♦ For tips on building a wormbox, call Metro Recycling Information at 503-234-4000. The fast-fact box above tells you everything you need to know about urban rats: their diet, their size, their location, etc. Notice how tightly written the text is. The worm-farming sidebar at left offers a variety of "worm trivia" — but the box that tells readers where to go for more information is a helpful addition. 166 NÍ Ni Ni ■*# Ní NI NJ^ N§ N§ N# NU SAPHIfiS&SIMBJSRS BIO BOXES The 19th-century philosopher Karl Marx painted a revealing self-portrait while playing a Victorian parlor game called "Confessions." Here's what he confessed: Favorite poet: Shakespeare, Aeschylus, Goethe Favorite hero: Spartacus Favorite color: Red Favorite motto: De omnibus dubitandum ("You must have doubts about everything") You can gain surprising insights through biographical bits like these. By listing facts in a bio box, you can quickly profile almost any person, place or thing. Bio boxes can stick to the basic who-what-when-where-why — or they can spin off on specialized (or humorous) tangents, as these examples show. Favorite virtue in a man: Strength Favorite virtue in a woman: Weakness Your idea of happiness: To fight Your idea of misery: Submission Favorite occupation: Bookworming Joe Spooner Cario;:ni?l Age: .13 Hometown: Dort-anc Bats: Right Writes: Left Occupation: Cartoonist, writer, dishwasher Heroes: Michael Moore and Jon Stewart. Ambition: To.have:someone else pay my health-insurance premiums Motto: "j.en'ai pas m'empecherde nre— ha-ha-ha\":(l cannot stop myself from laughing.) Forms of exercise: Running and limping Favorite spouse: Pytti Favorite child: Nice try. I loveboth my children. . Favorite food: Turkeypie with cranberry sauce Favorite drink: Guinness Stout Favorite dessert: Gobi Worst subjects in school: Spelling and geography. Favorite movies: I'tuio ,-md Prejudice : ■ Favorite book: It must be the first 10 or 15 pages of James Joyce's Ulysses. I've read them 20 times. Person whose lifestyle I'd most like to emulate: Ernest Hemingway, except for that . part about the shotgun : . Proudest feat: Getting through five years of: * . flying in the Air Force without killing myself ■ Last words: "Oh I getit." --- Bio boxes must contain tightly written and meaningful information. But as this sidebar shows, they can also use humor to capture the true personality of their subject. «* <••»?" 'i ť1 i-i ?. * Black Rhinoceros .. Diceros btcorms ♦ Weight: 2,000-3.000 lbs. A newborn calf weighs55-90.lbs. ♦ Length: 10-12 it: ♦ Color: Dark gray ♦ Longevity: SO years ♦ Population: About 4,000, down from 65,000 in 1970. About 150 black - ■ rhinoslive in zoos. ♦ Distribution: Small areas in-southern Africa....... ♦ Habitat: Rugged,hilly .:. terrain and deep hush ♦ Diet: Leaves, twigs, -.. fruits;herbs ♦ Behavior: Rhinos are . ■shy anima[s..Thaugh.their eyesight is poor; they have keen senses of smell and hearmg.These three-toed animals are generally . slow-movmg:btJt when-angered can chargeat : speeds up to 31 mph.,. : Source: r Rhinos: Endangered Species., When it comes to bio boxes, animals can enjoy the same treatment as people. Above, this tightly written "Critter of the Week" profiles a celebrity from the animal kingdom. U AREA: At 45,000 square kilometers (about the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined), Estonia is one of the smallest states in Europe. ■ HISTORY: Estonia was dominated by Germans since the 13th century and by Swedes in the 16th-18th centuries. Later ruled by Russia, Estonia became independent after 1917 and was forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. It won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. ■ POPULATION: About 30 percent of Estonia's 1.5 million people are ethnic Russians, many of whom moved to Estonia after its annexation by the Soviets. ■ RUSSIAN TROOPS: 2,400 Russian soldiers remained in Estonia as of December. ■ ECONOMY: Estonian currency, the kroon, has held relatively steady since its introduction in 1992. The GNP rose 3 percent in 1992, making the Estonian economy one of the fastest-growing in Europe. Source:11ie Associated Press This type of fast-facts treatment has appeared in almanacs and encyclopedias for years, summarizing the who-what-when-where of countries around the globe. When used to accompany news stories, these sidebar boxes give readers background data at a glance. 167- ÄPKMBEBffi LISTS What are the most popular movies of all time? The largest fast-food chains? The best-selling Christmas toys? The most prestigious universities? Ours is a culture obsessed with keeping score. We're dying to know who's the richest, the biggest, the fastest, the best. And often the fastest and best way to con -vey that information is by compiling lists like these. Lists can be used to itemize tips, trends, winners, warnings —• even religious commandments, as the Old Testament proclaimeth. And as David Letterman has shown, they can even get laughs as a comedy bit on late-night talk shows .. and the Number One Least Popular Fairy Tale: Goldilocks and the Tainted Clams!"). GOT ANY BANANA PUDDING, ELVIS? These items were to be kept at Graceland "for Elvis —AT ALL TIMES — EVERYDAY": Fresh ground round Banana pudding One case of Pepsi Ingredients for meat loaf One case orange drink Brownies Six cans of biscuits Chocolate ice cream Hamburger buns, rolls Fudge cookies Pickles Gum (Spearmint,Juicy Potatoes and onions Fruit, Doublemint— Assorted fresh fruit three packs each) ■ Cans of sauerkraut . Cigarettes ------- Wieners....... Dristan . Milk, half and half Super Anahist Lean bacon Contac- Mustard ■ ■ Sucrets, . Peanut butter Feenamintgum Source: The Associated Press ■ Random lists: These items run in no particular order, but stacking them in rows makes them more interesting (and easier to read) than if they'd run in the middle of a paragraph of text. HOW TO STAY YOUNG hy Lumy "Satchel" V-.'mv. Satchel Paige, the first black pitcher in major-league baseball, was 59 when he played his final game. Here.are his tips forstaying youthful:: ♦ Avoid fried meats, which angry up the:, blood. ♦ If your stomach disputes you, lie down, and pacify it with cool thoughts; ♦ Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as.you move. . ♦ Go very lightly on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The social ramble ain't restful. ♦ Avoid running at all times. ♦ Don't look back. Something may be . gaining on you. Source: The People's Ahnanac ■ . Lists itemized with bullets: Here, we use a combination of dingbats, a hanging indent and extra leading to separate items. Note, too, how the introduction is written in smaller italic type. AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... BEST PICTURE The Departed BEST ACTOR Forest Whitaker, ■ The last King of Scotland BEST ACTRESS Helen Mirren, The Queen BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Alan Arkin,-Little. Miss Sunshine BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Jennifer Hudson, Drcamgirls BEST DIRECTOR Martin Scorsese, The Departed Lists arranged by categories: Note the typographic elements at work here: boldface caps, italics, extra leading between items. Lists are often centered (like this) rather than flush left. THE ESSENTIAL CYBERPUNK LIBRARY Cyberpunk; Think "Blade Runner." To get familiar ; with, this futuristic literary genre, we recommend: AMY THOMSON, "Virtual G/'rf ":A lovely: woman from a Virtual Reality landscape is forced.to survive in an alien environment. K.W.JETER, "Farewell Horizontal": krebel in,., a horizontal world seeks to attain status by - achieving a vertical existence. . ORSON SCOTT CORD, "Ender's Game": - A civilization under siege breeds a race of military geniuses to battle invading aliens.:; WILLIAM GIBSON/BRUCE STERLING, "The Difference Engine": The 19th-century Victorian world is moved by a steam-powered computer. . - - .....,. -— PautP'mtarich Lists with commentary: Any subjective Top 10 list — whether it ranks pop tunes or presidents — will benefit by adding bite-size evaluations that analyze each entry or offer advice to readers. MOST COMMON LAST NAMES IN THE U.S. 1. Smith 2. Johnson 3. Williams 4. Jones 5. Brown 6. Miller 7. Davis 8. Anderson 9. Wilson 10. Thompson Top 10 lists: Notice how the numbers are boldface — and how the periods following the numbers are all vertically aligned. THE WORLD'S DEADLIEST DISEASES (with annual iloaths) SB Cardiovascular diseases 12 million Q Diarrheal diseases 5 million El Cancer 4.8 million El Pneumonia 4.8 million O Tuberculosis 3 million m HIV/AIDS 2.8 million El Chronic lung disease 2.7 million EH Measles 1.5 million O Hepatitis B 1.2 million SID Malaria 1.2 million Source: World Beallh Organization ■ ■ ■ Top 10 lists With data: Often it's not enough simply to show rankings — you need statistical support. Here, the death totals run flush right alongside the disease names. Rules and reversed numbers add graphic organization. SKIPfiIGS & SiBEBSRS LISTS 3 iss. sl«i«I Lsi ö Back in 1984, Harper's Magazine began publishing an addicthigly clever page i||r| at trie h'011'' of each issue. As editor Lewis Lapham described it, the Harper's Index offers "numbers that measure, one way or another, the drifting tide of events." A typical Harper's Index might include such items as: Numberof Americans who drink Coca-Cola for breakfast: 965,000 - '• i .:■ - - .. Percentage of America's lakes that are unfit to swim in because of pollution: 40 ■..- : ., Average weight of a male bear in Alaska: 250 pounds In Pennsylvania: 487 pounds Abortions per 1,000 live births in New York City: 852 :. . Numberof times the average child laughs each day: 400 • ■ Number of times the average adult laughs: 15 Number of films since 1960 that feature an evil albino: 55 As you can see, the basic format is consistent: text provides the setup, and a number provides the punch line. (Some publications, like the example at right, lead with the number.) But what makes these lists fascinating are the strange, often surprising combinations of random factoids — some of which, when sequenced like those statistics on laughing, raise provocative cultural questions. As with most sidebars, the juicier your facts, the more effective your list 8L8SSIWES & Think of dictionaries as immensely long lists. While ordinary dictionaries lltlWIIPSfS compile alphabetical lists of words in general use (along with their pronunciations and meanings), specialized dictionaries, or glossaries, zero in on subjects that may be unfamiliar to readers. Every subculture — from skateboarders to firefighters to newspaper designers — has its own lingo. By compiling lists of new or unusual words, you can help readers expand their vocabularies while deciphering complex topics. MOUNTAIN BIKE SLANG Auger: to take soil sampler : usually with your face, during . a crash. See eat mud. Bacon: scabs. Bomb: to ride with wild .. disregard for personal safety. • Cob clearer: the lead rider ■ v whodears out ail the spider webs for following riders.-: Cranial disharmony: how - your head feeisafteraugering,. Eat mud: to hit the ground face - . first Synonyms: auger,.hunt : moles, taste the trail, go turf , surfing, use your face brake: Gravity check: a tall. Gutter, bunny: a bicycling:. .. commuter. Compifedty Ooug tandauer Mud-ectomy: a shower after a - ,:ride:on a,muddy trail.' . POD: Potential Organ Donor. Potato chip: a wheel that has been bent badly, but not taco'd. : Prang: to hit the ground hard, ■.' usually bending or breaking - something. ■ Prune: to.use your bike or: helmet to remove leaves and : branches from the surrounding - flora.Ustiallyunintentional. Snowmine: a rock or log that's hidden by snow.on the trail. . Steed: your bike, the reason for your existence. Winky: a reflector. This glossary offers outsiders — that is, most of us "normal" folks — a glimpse of the jargon used by mountain bikers. Though most slang terms are short-lived and regional, some occasionally slip into the mainstream. And they certainly paint a colorful, cultural portrait. FAKING FRENCH A quick guide.to common words and phrases ...: bon appetit (BOH nap-ufHeet): good - appetite; a toast before eating... ■ carte blanche (kart BLAHNSH): f./l discretionary power.... .:.■■•■.■. > e'est la vie (say la VEE):that's life. : -deja vu 4>'-ja;i VOO/ the sensjlion ..... that something-has happened before.' . faux pas (fowe PAW,): a social blunder: : je ne sais quoi (zhu nn sayKWAH):••: ........: I don't know what; the little something that eludes description.: ■ : .: . joie.de vivre (zhwah dun VEEV-ruh): ■ : - ; love of life, raison d'etre .(/MV-zone £>E?"-ruh):. reason for being, vis-a-vis (vee-zuh-Vff): compared to. SourcerThe World Almanac. . ..... . News stories often introduce readers to foreign words, names, and phrases. And whether a story discusses Russian politicians or Chinese athletes, pronunciation guides increase our word power. On Sept. 16. 2001. five days after the World Trade Center attacks, The San Jose Mercury News ran a page that updated the week's grim statistics. At that time, those figures included: 549 dead 4,972 missing 4300 wounded 286 confirmed dead on the four planes 34S: approximate speed (in mph) of Flight 11 as it hit the first Twin Tower 8: Years it took to build the World Trade Center 50,053: People who worked in the World Trade Center 18,000: Approximate number of residents ordered to evacuate lower Manhattan 3O.0OO: Body bags available in New York ?: number of office buildings destroyed 25O,OC0: Estimated tons of rubble 43.600: Number of windows in the Twin Towers 521 billion: Anticipated insured losses from World Trade Center attack 15: Average daily hours on-air for major news anchors since Tuesday $100 Million: Daily loss in ad revenues for local TV stations and networks because of crisis coverage 4: Numberof days Wall Street was dosed 40.000: Average daily number of U.S. commercial flights $10 billion: Airline losses from grounding all flights 2,403: Death toll at Pearl Harbor 169 HOW YOU CAN HELP THE EARTH it's never too late to change your habits and begin making Earth-saving choices every day. Ordinary people CAN make a difference. And here are a few ways you can help. . . SRiK&SIBEBASSS CHECKLISTS .□ Save gas by avoiding sudden stops . and starts. If idling for more than a minute,, turn off your engine. .. □ Avoid jackrabbit starts. Better yet, -don't speed at all. □ Avoid air conditioning. The largest ^ source of ozone-depleting GFC. - emissions in this country, is car > air-conditioning. . □ Buy a fuel-efficient car. Increasing.. :: fuel-efficiency standards by.a . ; > single mileper gallon would save r '.. ■ • 5.9 billion gallons of gas a year. .:. □ Try to get there without driving:. ■ „......walk, bicycle, take the bus. Carpool.: □ Bring your own reusable shopping . bag. ■ : Q Buy organically grown food and -favor locally grown products.- . □ Buy in bulk. Repackage in smaller •.. portions with reusable storage - ,.: containers for pantry or freezer. . □ Look for unbleached paper versions . . of coffee filters;.milk-cartons,'toilet - paper and paper towels. □ Avoid products using.excessive-; ■ : packaging. Tell store managers how you feel about over-packaging... □ Avoid products made.from endan- > : geredspeciesortaken illegallyfrom:. • the wild.Beforebuying a pet or :;. - plant, ask the store owner where it came from. □ 1 nstead of buyi ng them, rent or bor-. ■ row items you don't use often, and - maintain and repair the things you ■ - : own.tomakethem last longer. .. □ Use detergents without phos- ... ■ . phates: Better-yet use soap flakes. □ Use chlorine bleach, sparingly. Or • . switch to:a non-chbrine bleach, . □ Only run full: loads. Set upa rack to ■■-.'■ dry small loads .(socks or under- . .: wear)? Consider drying with solar: ., - power on an outdoor clothesline.. ■- □ Keep your dryer's lint trap dean. . -□Whenbuying a new-washing - . . machine,:consider a front-loading --.: washer, They use 40 percent less ..•■■: , - water. When buying a new dryer, . consider an energy-efficient gas • - model, or an electric model with - ■ ; energy-saving.features. .. • Most lists are passive — that is, they itemize information in a concise way, but they don't really ask readers to do anything. But suppose you want to engage readers more actively? To force them to grab a pencil and interact? That's dynamic journalism. . And that's what we'll explore in the pages ahead. Checklists, for instance, are instantly interactive. They can be simple, like this checklist of macaroni 'n' cheese ingredients: u Macaroni □ Cheese Or they can be complex and decorative, compiling tips, asking questions, encouraging responses. The important thing is to get the reader involved— to make information as accessible and relevant as you can. IS YOUR HOME BURGLAR-PROOF? ■ . YES NO ■ 1. Ait- exterior doors, able to withstand excessive force? , □ Q 2. Are exterior doors secured with deadbolt locks? :. - Q Q, 3. .Doall. exterior doors fit snugly in their frames? : : DO" 4. Are door hinges pinned to preventtheirremoval?.,. - - Q- Q ■ 5; Are garage doors and windows secured with locks?- O LCC 6. Does your basement door have extra protection? CI Q 7.ls there.a wide-angle viewer onthe entrance door?, ■ CH CJ 8. Are sliding-glassdoors secure against forcing? . □ O 9. Are double-hung windows secured with extra locks? ■ O O- 10. Do basement windows have metal screens orlocks? CJ Q; 11;Are trees & shrubs trimmed from doors & windows?: CD CJ 12. Are all entrances well-lighted at night?. CHILD-CARE CHECKLIST • ' .Not sure what to look for atday-care : ■ . centers? Here are questions to ask. . ■ How long has this center been operating? B What kind of training have staff members had? ■ What is the child-to-teacher •:. - ratio? Experts say. it should be no, j -morethan4:1 -for infants, 10:1 for " toddlers. ■ Are meats provided? If so, what's on the menu? ■ Are facilities clean and well-, maintained? Are. child safety — , ^precautions observed: heat covers ... : , on radiators, safety seals on . electrical outlets, etc.? ■ Is there plenty of room for children to work and play? -■ Are play materials available and .. appropriate for different age levels? ■ Are there facilities for taking care of sick children? ■ Most important: Do the children look happy and ■•-"-.s occupied? Trust your instincts,. All three checklists on this page strive to be interactive, either by offering user-friendly tips, by asking a series of questions or by letting readers quiz themselves with check-off boxes for their answers. 170 . SRSPHJüa & SBEBA8S Q&A's THE STRAIGHT O O by : walt poqpu5 0What's the deal here? Why is this sentence in boldface? And what's with that little "Q" in the dark box? HGood questions. Journalistically, we've changed our approach. Rather than __j conveying information in the usual way — as narrative text in monologue form — we're printing a verbatim transcript of a conversation. Typographically, we're giving each voice in this dialogue a distinct identity. The interviewer speaks in boldface sans-serif, while the interviewee speaks in serif roman. And legally, I'm interviewing myself because my original plan for this page went down the toilet. I was going to reprint a juicy Q&A with a famous rock star, but the legal clearances got mucked up. So you're stuck with me instead. IjW A famous rock star? Hi Really? Which one? JTW Forget it. It's just not gonna happen. I tried, but some editors can be real - mO pinheads when it comes to sharing old material they're never going to use again anyway. HH Was there anything, uh, juicy in that interview Mi you'd like to share with us? CT| No. Something about sleeping with Madonna, as I recall. But let's get back to Wt our discussion of infographics, shall we? When you run a Q&A, you want to make sure each voice gets proper spacing, leading and — E7f| Madonna? Really? mtt Who slept with Madonna? HLook, I don't want to discuss it now. Let's talk about Q&As. Like, how effec-.....i tively they can capture the spirit of an interview, making you feel as if you're actually eavesdropping on someone else's conversa— fj|| Was it Sting? Jim Carrey — wait, no... he's not a rock star... 1 m Hey! I know: Hootie & the Blowfish! Huh??? : Does Coca-Cola contain actual-cocaine? -.. ■ -Was there ever a time when it did? — Pat Minniear, Boulder, Colo. .....When cHggist John Pemberion: brewed- .- his first batcrrof •" French Wine Coca. {Ideal1 Nerve and Tonic Stimulant}" back in 1885,.; it contained both wine and cocaine: A year later the wine mas removed; caffeine and - cola nuts were added— and Coca'Gola .. - •was.born: The original Coke contained-------- •{andpresumably-still contains) threeparts coca leaves to one part, cola nut. it was advertised as a medicine that would cure : headachevhysteria and melancholy■• ::; r - Over the years, Coca-Cola quietly........ switched from fresh to "spent" coca . Ieaves-(minus the actual cocaine).*Goke's ": -true formula, however, remains a mystery--and its;secret ingredient 7X is known:: toonly a handful of Coke employees.- - AHOY, VEY! An allegedly true radio conversation, from the Chief of Naval Operations: VOICE 1: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision. VOICE 2: Recommend you divert voub course 15 degrees south to avoid a collision. VOICE 1: This is the captain of a U.S. Navy ship. 1 say again, divert your course. VOICE 2: Mo. I say again, you divert your course. VOICE 1: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER ENTERPRISE. WE ARE A LARGE WARSHIP OF THE U.S. NAVY. DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW! VOICE 2: This is a lighthouse. Your call. INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ARRANGEMENTS This popular type of Q&A — a stand-alone special feature -gives bold display to a single reader query- It's not a Q&A — but dialogue can make an effective sidebar. What is an IRA? : An "individual retirement arrangement"«ilows you to • • i .save up to. $5,000 annually in a special account for your -later years. You can postpone paying'taxes on your earn- -ings until you begin making withdrawals at age 591fc. What are its tax advantages? .:: You can fully deduct those- S5.CCC contributions from: your income on your tax return if you aren't covered by. aretirement plan at.work.. If you are covered and earn -,.,:.: less than $35,000 for single or $50,000 for married : taxpayers, you may be able to deduct all or part of your - ■ contribution. What if I can't deduct any of my contribution? They still are.tax-advantaged;:earnings on your money •» ■ -. i - accumulate on a tax-deferred basis..That means faster■_< v - i . accumulation and more money in the pot at the mi. This "explainer" sidebar poses typical questions readers might ask — an effective way to decode confusing subjects. GRAPHICS & BiDEBÄHS . QUIZZES How IMJJjjjsJ Is your life storyt Mft alt think of ourselves as heroes fif a great novel, as kauetntauditnK snoring? 99stars 0/a neixr-m&lnz nwwe "The Story ofME'" "You only go wwnd atict in life." the iter ads iatd ut But be honest. D&yvu really think your autobiography $qy, "so you're got to grab alt the gustoiHU caw." Think would make gripping reading? W'Are they film iht movte youBegr&bted grtnWfJi gusto? Prow it. Take this quiz and cetshn of sour life, milt it be a smash 0 ihebvx office — or tksccvrr your Gitslo Quotient. -*timhari»owe« Hew ycu i'ytr jjte: __^ rang Wr-g? pliacftjlnfl? _fun ?fl^ara;*? Qraw? |10«Pi1 week? [aswi 5 phoreiinpuDK? _ DoyMjiptrN! 'una VciWr^a Ojaercr, graowl'te n*1 10TOpeap:e,bu(i*Dril Indiana j«ws. dart. NowiisSMwium 0ffl»TV.9MldO1Mliat coxn wl 9Ja ixXwj .;ps«r*Sf.-'mA».i:i wnt "feu a'ffvKatt» RnOMiTiasB'-wbrtjl iui atiiart*3. u< ol reus-*ig litest awe*:*!. Ote 130fl: Wowl CWlsäW yB-jr3$K lucky JrfURJÜÜtm Knhrt tat SHyotllDfläM)? Test your hash-hoise Above: T/;k quiz from The Oregoman lets readers test their knowledge of lunch-counter lingo. Wlxen a waitress tells the cook to "keep off the grass," does that mean hold the vegetables? The lettuce? The cole slaw? Left: This full-page quiz asks, "How thrilling is your life story?" You earn points if you've seen a ghost, survived a plane crash, spent time in jail, etc. — and by totaling your points, you can gauge your "gusto quotient'' This feature was enormously popular with readers, largely because it's so offbeat and interactive. Most newspaper stories are written in third-person past-tense: that guy over there did that thing back then. As a result, readers often feel disconnected. Left out. That's why quizzes are so successful. They're a way to let readers participate in a story, whether the topic is health (Are You a Candidate for a Heart Attack?), sports (The Super Bowl Trivia Test) or hard news (Are You Prepared for an Earthquake? Test Yourself). Quizzes, after all, are a kind of game, and readers love games. Feature pages, in fact, sometimes use game board parodies (How to Win the Diet Game) to explore and satirize cultural trends. Most of the time, you'll provide quiz answers on the same page or somewhere nearby. But if you're running a contest or reader poll, you'll need to include a mail-in address or Web site and formulate a system for processing masses of entries — as well as a plan for a follow-up story that, tabulates the results. As any student knows, tests and quizzes come in a wide variety of formats: true/false, multiple choice, matching and so on. On the next page, we've displayed the most popular quiz formats for publications. 172 SR«S&Siü£BMSS QUIZZES li -ANSWER TCCTP : 1, How many Elvis albums reached No. 1 on the music ,'. charts? 2. What was Elvis' major in high school? . . 3. What famous actor made his film debut at age 10,: kicking Elvis in the shin in :' the movie It Happened at . the World's Fairl 4. What was Elvis' middle: .:■ name?., • \ ■ 5. What was Elvis' ironclad . rule during concerts? 6. Who was Elvis' favorite movie actor as a teenager? . 7. Which of Elvis' records was his own favorite? : 8. What was the name of Elvis' flamboyant manager? 9. How much did Elvis weigh : when he died? . .10. What was Elvis doing when . he died? ANSWERS 1) None. 2) Shop. 3) Kurt Russell. 4) Aron. 5) He never took requests. 6) Tony Curtis. 7) It's Now or Never. 8) Col. Tom Parker. 9) 255 pounds. 10) He was on the toilet reading a book on the Shroud of Turin. This is a typical format for a short trivia test. Note the boldface numbers, the hanging indent, the extra leading between questions. To conserve space, we've run the answers in paragraph form in the answer key. Are they easily readable? sera CHOICE TFSTS 1. Which uses the most energy? a) Stove ■ b) Refrigerator c) Washing machine 2. Which form of energy is most environmentally friendly? a) Nuclear, power b} Natural gas . c) Coal ... 3. What percentage of tropical rain forests still exist? a) 80 ■ b) 50 c) 20. 4. How long does it take an aluminum can to decompose? a) 50 years. b) 150 years c) 500 years 5. What state has the highest level of carbon dioxide emissions? a) California b) New Jersey c) Texas -..:-■•■• 6. Which consumes the most water? a) Washing machine b) Dishwasher c) Toilet «■9 f>)-5 TuaD^ad 9 ibaoi Asia Aepoj :u,uea sip AyeuiGuo Í3i|i{q) "E "Sjapow 3upaja ueqi 1U3PIJJ.3 3JOLU are saaois set) jng (e)' I Another familiar quiz format. Here, we've boldfaced the questions and aligned everything flush left. The answer box has been printed upside-down to keep readers from cheating — and also because many readers don't WANT to be able to peek at the answers. TESTS Is your job burning you out? For esch "yes" answer, give symptom yourself the number of points shown, then add your total, points 1. My Job consists of boring, repetitive tasks...............................:..2 • 2. It's not likely that I'll be promoted anytime soon................2 3. When I'm overloaded with, work, there's no one to help me .......3 4.1 have more work to.do than I could possibly finish:.....■.,............3 .. 5. My boss and colleagues are extremely critical of my work..........4 6. live been getting sick more frequently lately.............................4 .7. I'm using more aicohol/tranquilizers than I probabfy should.......5- 8. I've lost all sense of commitment anddedication to my job........5 - 9. i act depressed and irritable around.friends and family.......;......,5 :. 10-1 fantasize acts of violence against my boss................................7 SCORING YOURSELF 0-10 points: Your job stress is relatively normal. 10-20: Moderate stress. Cultivate healthy habits to keep yourself optimistic. 20-30: Stress is affecting your life negatively. Time to consider a change. 30-40: Get some relief before your job seriously undermines your health. Unlike the quizzes above, self-appraisal tests have no right or wrong answers. Rather, these tests are checklists that allow readers to evaluate their behavior. Like other exercises in pop psychology, these tests often try to point out problems readers may be unaware of. HLHH- -THi ill ÖC -RIUÍK WS I NTE8TS 1. Favorite 2. Favorite 3. Favorite 4. Favorite 5. Favorite 6. Favorite 7. Favorite 8. Favorite TV comedy ^ TV drama _ TV actress TV actor _ TV theme song TV news anchor _ TV talk-show host TV commercial MAIL TO: Television Survey The Bugle-Beacon P.O. Box : 162 Portland, OR 97207 FAX TO: (503)221-8069 Entries must be received by noon Monday, April 14. One entry per family, please. You don't need to add fill-in blanks for most quiz answers, because they take up too much space. But if you want readers to DO something with their answers — add up scores, participate in a survey, enter a contest — then a format like this is helpful. If you want readers to respond, be sure to give them enough room to write. 173 ■■■ ■ GHňPHíCS & UEÍ'M SURVEYS & POLLS WHERE DO YOU STAND ON FAMILY VALUES? Test your own views with this cross section -of questions from our family values palf, .-then:see how four-answers compare to the 400 statewide residents we surveyed test week.- Do you. agree or disagree with the following statements: 1. In genera), fathers do not make children as: ■ much ofa priority as mothers do:. U Agree n Disagree 2. Businesses should offer flexible work schedules to accommodate the needs of families. . □ Agree 13 Disagree 3. Families where Dad works and Mom stays home with kids just aren't realistic anymore. ■I l Agree Li Disagree 4. One of the biggest causes of teen problems is that parents don't spend time with their kids. I" I Agree I ) Disagree 5. One family arrangement is as good as another, as long as children are loved and cared for. I I Agree I I Disagree 6. Two-income families tend to place material ■■ needs ahead of family values. :. Agree Disagree 7. Two-parent families are the best environ- :, : ment.in which to raise children.i :, Agree . Disagree & When parents canlt get along; they should . stay together for the sake of the children, I I Agree [ Disagree '. 9. A parent should'stay home with preschool children even if it means financial sacrifice. ' ' Agree I Disagree 10. I've seen just as many problems in two-... parent families as in single-parent families.: Agree " Disagree ! STATtWIDE i RESULTS j 1.58% agree. -! 2. 77% agree. | 3. 63% agree. .! 4. 84% agree. I 5. 76% agree, i 6.48% agree. | 7. 79% agree. ! 8.25% agree. ] 9.«% agree. ; 10.67% agree. I_____ Saurce:The OregoTiiaV ' Checklists and quizzes ask readers questions. But when you want to analyze their answers, you conduct a poll. Taking the public's pulse can be fascinating. Frightening. Time-consuming. But it's vital, whether the survey poses a question as simple as this — If you had $100 million to spare, would you feed the poor or buy a pro baseball team ? Feed the poor.......69% Buy a team..........31% — or asks a series of questions like the chart below. As you can see, a variety of design options are available, from plain text to decorative logos, photos and graphics. The crucial thing is to keep data accurate by surveying as wide a sample as possible, and by avoiding biased or misleading questions. CONGRESS: FIRST DISTRICT If the primary election were held today, who would you vote for? democrats Gary Conkling 28% Elizabeth Furse. 39% Undecided...33% REPUBLICANS ■ ■ . Tony Meeker... 58% Rick Rolf ..... .19% Undecided ... .23% CHEATING: HOW COMMON IS IT? - A majority of high-school high achievers (students who maintain an A or 8 average) admit they cheat. Most say the/ve copied someone else's homework, butasurprising40% confess to cheating on a test or quiz. ■■ :■- IS How common is cheating? Pretty. Never. Everybody rare; happens, :. does it, 19%-i 1%-i -10% Souiíe: The Associated Press • n Which of the following have you done? Copied someone/else's homework. Used CliffsWotes or Monarch Notes to avoid reading ahook" ~ '^25% ' ■ Cheated on a quiz or test •;: 140% 67% : Plagianzedpart of an essay 2114% None of the above ^3121% Survey results can run as plain text — or you can dress them up with graphic extras like these. At left, an election logo identifies this poll as part of a series; above, pie charts and bar charts help quantify poll results; at right, small mug shots add instant reader appeal. WHO WOULD YOU RATHER BE? fJLORGE BUSH 13% Lall L CLINTON 22% GFORGE OLIN TUN 65% 8Ä8&SM8 . • :.;J QUOTE COLLECTIONS STREET TALK: DO YOU SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT'S NEW TAX PLAN? "The president's plan sounds fair■-, to me. It's time for.people to stop whining and start paying their fair share." Mike Morger Wiisonville "No. Enough is enough.! don't: think I should he penalized for.: running an honest, profitable business." KlIS WOLNIAKOWSKI Lake Oswego - ■-. "I don't mind being a bread- ■■■: winner, but why do those pinhead politicians chew such big slices?" Sndoky Spackle Eugene■ • - Roone Arledge, former president of ABC News, allegedly once quipped that when gathering public-opinion quotes, you need only three: one for, one against and one funny. We've tested that maxim in our man-in-the-street quote sequence above. And whether you agree with Arledge or not, you must admit that those talking heads are both visually appealing and engaging. After all, readers love hearing their own voices in their newspaper. Whether with or without mug shots, quote collections are entertaining and informative. They generally follow one of two formats: a sampling of opinions on one topic from a variety of sources (below left), or a sampling of one person's opinions on a variety of topics (below right). Either way, a few welhchosen remarks give any subject extra accessibility. FAMOUS LAST WORDS Some fond farewells and deathbed wisdom from historical figures as they made their final exits: - "I wonder why he shot me?" :: Huey Long, Louisiana governor (1935) "My fun days are over." . . .-- James Dean; actor (1955) "The earth is suffocating. -■■ -• . Swear to make them cut me open, so I won't be buried alive." Frederic Chopin, composer (1849) "Who the hell tipped you off? I'm Floyd, all right. You got me this time." Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, gangster (1934) "l have :a terrific headache." Franklin Delano Roosevelt U.S. president (1945) "/ am dying like a poisoned rat in a hole. I am what I am I" Jonathan Swift; satirist (1745) "I love you, Sarah. For all eternity, I love you," James Polk, U.S. president (1849) "I've had 18 straight whiskeys: I think that's the record:" Dylan Thomas, poet (1953) This quote collection focuses on a single subject —famous last words — though the quotes originated from a wide variety of historical sources.. THE WIT & WISDOM OF MARK TWAIN Wry observations from the writings of American humorist Samuel Clemens (1835-1910): . "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21,1 was astonished at how much he had learned in . seven years." : "To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did.! ought to know because I've done it a thousand times." "Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18." "Golf is a good walk spoiled." "When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, . it's a sure sign you're getting old." "It Is easier to stay out than to get out." "There is no sadder sightthan a young pessimist." "It ain'tthose parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me; it's the parts that I do understand." "Let us endeavor so to live that when we die, even the undertaker will be sorry." . . while here, quotes cover a wide range of topics, but all originate from i single source. Either option is an effective sidebar for a longer feature. 175 r, : . . SMS £ SIDEBARS CHARTS & GRAPHS News is full of numbers: dollars, debts, crime statistics, budget percentages, election results. And the more complicated those numbers become, the more confused readers become. Take this brutal chunk of text, for instance: In 1986, 34,500 units were imported, comprising : 16: percent of the national total. By 1996, that number: had risen to 77,400, and by 2006 more than 17,000 units were arriving monthly, representing an increase of 591 percent over 1981, the first full year of operation. Huhh??You see the problem. When math gets heavy, charts and graphs come in handy. They present numerical data in a simple, visual way — the simpler, the better. On these pages, we'll look at the three basic types of numerical graphics: line charts, bar charts and pie charts. THE WORLD'S HIGHEST AVERAGE ANNUAL INCOMES: 2005 LUXEMBOURG 565.630 NORWAY 559,590 SWITZERLAND W]---^t*$5$93fci UNITED STATES S43.740 SWEDEN $41,060 . - To determine, ......i. these figures,: the World Bank: :;divides each: country's popula-.: : tioninto the value,'. of its total gross: ..' ,'■ national:product ~ri which yields a. figure. ::........ the bank considers '. roughly equal to income per citizen,.in V.S: dollars: iviPH r 70 60 50 40 30 20 10\ 0' MAXIMUM SPEEDS OF ANIMALS From Natural History magazine ft PIG HUMAN RABBIT HORSE CHEETAH The bars in most bar charts stack vertically — but they're equally effective running horizontally, as they do here. Bar shapes and sizes are often determined by the overall shape of the box, and here, that's how they fit best. This bar chart adds a few extra graphic elements. Those dotted rules were added to help you gauge animal speed. The arrows atop the bars imply motion — as does the graduated tint in the arrows' screens. SU CHARTS Tne DaP chart compares two or more items by sizing them as columns parked side by side. It uses two basic components: 1) a scale running either horizontally or vertically showing data totals; 2) bars extending In the same direction representing the items being measured. Bars are usually stacked in a logical order: either alphabetically, chronologically or by bar size, from longest to shortest. In simple bar charts, each item may be labeled either inside the bar or at either end (as in the examples above). The bars can be screened, colorized or given 3-D shadow effects, as long as any added effects don't distort the data. In more complex bar charts — where the same items are compared to each other in different times or situations — each item is assigned its own color or screen pattern, which is then explained in a key or legend. Background grids can be added to help readers track measurements. But though they're usually essential for fever charts, they're optional for bar charts. 176- CHARTS & GRAPHS U.S. POPULATION: 1900 2000 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Line charts work best when tracing one simple statistic over time, such as a growing population measured every decade (at left). The shading is an optional element. But you can also plot additional lines to compare different trends — as long as you clearly label which line represents which trend (at right). TEMPERATURE COMPARISONS Average daily high temperatures (Fahrenheit) for Chicago, Illinois; and Buenos Aires, Argentina JAM FEB MAR APR MAY, JUM JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC: FEVER II The line chart (also called a fever chart) measures changing quantities over time. Lilt ftlJIfiTS ^ uses mree Da-S'c components: 1) a scale running vertically along one edge, measuring amounts; 2) a scale running horizontally along the bottom, measuring time; and 3) a jagged line connecting a series of points, showing rising or falling trends. Line charts are created by plotting different points, then connecting the dots to draw a curve. (Charts often include a background grid to help readers track the numbers.) Obviously, a line that rises or falls dramatically will impress readers more than one that barely shows a blip. BOLTS FROM THE BLUE Hundreds of:us are • killed by lightning strikes each year, . though only half of all lightning^related deaths occur outdoors. The breakdown for outdoor lightning-related deaths; Athletic events,'}"/. Horse riding, 2% The pie chart at left reverses type out of a black pie — not the usual design, but one that suits the topic and best displays that lightning bolt. (See the dedication page of this book for a more normal-looking pie.) At right, slices of a dollar bill illustrate the percentages into which a typical budget dollar will be divided. WHERE YOUR DOLLAR GOES .-. -Expenditures-m the proposed city budget far 200&: .: Poke & fire . Parks & departments, ■ recreation,.. 42« 32« Public Other works, . expenses, 16< 10« PIE CHARTS Th* P'e Chart compares the parts that make up a whole. It usually consists of: 1) a circle that represents 100% of something, and 2) several wedges (like slices of a pie) that divide the circle into smaller percentages. Each "slice" of the pie is an accurate proportion, which means that a segment representing 25% of the total would be one-quarter of the pie. Figures for each slice are labeled either inside the slice (if there's room) or by arranging type, with pointers, around the outside of the pie. Slices are often shaded or color-coded for clearer distinction (or to emphasize a significant segment). As a rule of thumb, pies should be divided into no more than eight segments; beyond that, the slices become annoyingly thin. To add impact, you can sometimes create pie charts from drawings or photos of the items being measured. For example, you can slice a dollar bill into sections to show where your tax dollar goes, or draw rings around an oil drum to break down the profits from a barrel of oil. 177 r CELEBRITIES AND THEIR REAL NAMES : Woody Allen Alien Konigsberg . Tom Cruise Thomas Mat-other r: Sting Gordon Sumner Whoops Goldberg Caryn Johnson : Caky Grant Archibald Leach ■ Aoolf Hitler Adolf-Schicklgruber Harry Houdini Ehrich Weiss Boris Kakioff Wiuam Pratt Jon Stewart Jonathan :,Leibowitz ,- Snoop Dogg Calvin Sroadus Shania Twain Eileen Edwards Tables using only text: We've stacked two columns of names side by side to allow quick before-and-after comparisons. No headings or explanations are needed. THE U.S. & CANADA: HOW THEY COMPARE AREA POPULATION POPULATION DENSITY LARGEST CITY GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT PER CAPITA INCOME LIFE EXPECTANCY (at birth) LITERACY RATE 3,787,319 sq. miles 298,444,215 (2006 est.) 76 per sq. mile New York:(8;1 million) , $12.49 trillion $41,600 75 male, 81 female 99% 3,851,800 sq. miles . 33,098,932 (2006 est.) 8 per sq. mile Toronto (2:48 million) ■-. $1,035 trillion $33,900 77 male, 83 female 99% . ■ Source:The GIA World FacEbaok Tables mixing text and numbers: This simple table stacks two bio boxes side by side — one for the U.S., one for Canada — to allow readers to compare statistics. Note how the columns align with the left edges of the flags. Note, too, how the flags substitute for the names of the countries. A table is an age-old graphic device that's really half text, half chart. But unlike other charts, tables don't use bars or pie slices to make their point. Instead, they stack words and numbers in rows to let readers make side-by-side comparisons. Tables usually consist of: 1) headings running horizontally across the top of the chart; 2) categories running vertically down the left side; and 3) lists grouped in columns reading both across and down. In short, tables are smartly stacked lists. They can compare two aspects of a topic (Wliat's In & What's Out) or analyze a variety of categories: WORLD RECORDS: TRACK AND FIELD f UMIJTHY____ DAI r 100 meters ...t. 9,77 'seconds-......Asafa Powell ;.:;;.;.-.:...;.:::..-Jamaica v.:.:.. June 14,2005 1 mile.............3:13.13Hicham El GuerroujMorocco.......... July 7,1999 High jump..:.:... 8 ft.,1/2 in........Javier Sotomayor............. Cuba.:.....July 2.7,1993 : Long jump29 ft;,AVi in;...:.:..., Mike Powell....:...:.....U.S.A. ........... Aug; 30,1,991. Pole-vault.....;., 20.ft;, Wa in........... Sergei Bubka...:........:..:...: Ukraine...:.,::.. July 31,1994 To keep tables as neat as possible, carefully align all rows and columns. Though text usually works best flush left, numbers often align better flush right: AMAZING BIBLE FACTS Dr.Thomas Hartweil Home (1780-1862), a student of the . . Kmg James Version of the Bible, published these statistics in his book, Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures: OLD TESTAMENT Books Chapters Verses Words Letters 39 23,214 593,493 2,728,100 NEW TESTAMENT : 27 260 7,959 181,253 838,380 TOTAL 66 1,189 31,173 774,746 3,566,480 In small tables, hairline rules between rows may help alignment. In bigger tables, too many lines can look dizzying, so screen effects or occasional rules — every 5 lines, for example — may work better (see the tables at the top of this page). But remember: Keep all wording crisp and tight. --178- RATINGS CAST AWAY (PG-13)- Tom Hanks shines : as a. workaholic who survives a plane crash . and.tries:to survive on a barely habitable South Pacific islands For more than an hour, . the film abondons virtually every common movie convention: music, dialogue, plot..But . the rest of the film is a real downer, given the brilliance of the middle. * * * The most common way to rate movies, records, TV shows and restaurants is to assign from one (poor) to four or five stars (excellent). CAST AWAY (PG-13) Tom Hanks shines as a workaholic who survives a plane crash : and tries to survive on a barely habitable . . South Pacific island. For more.than an hour,; the film abondons every common movie convention: music, dialogue, plot. But the rest is a real downer, given the brilliance of the middle.- HRADE Many newspapers (and magazines such as Entertainment Weekly) assign letter grades— instantly decodable by anyone who's ever been a student. CASTAWAY {PG:-T3) Tom : Hanks shines:as.a,workaholic who survives a pláně crash and tries to: survive nn a South 3ar lie island. For more than an hour, the film ahondnrs every, common movie:carivention:-niusic, dialogue; plot. But the rest of thefilm isa-real:-: downer, given the brilliance of:the:middie.::: ; Other papers, such as The San Francisco Chronicle, use a series of icons. For good films, the little man applauds; for bad ones, befalls asleep. Journalists are trained to be objective. Impartial. Evenhanded. Fair. Sure, that's one way to look at it. We could also argue that bland, impartial reportage puts readers to sleep, and that what readers really want is a guidebook to help them navigate through their world, a user's manual full of inside tips on what's good, what's bad and what's ugly. Some parts of the paper have traditionally run consumer-friendly ratings and reviews: on editorial and entertainment pages, for instance. But ratings can also apply to politicians, hiking trails, stocks and bonds — nearly anything. Just choose the right device (stars, grades, thumbs) and label your package clearly. EE 33 ♦ To the courage of the Magic Man. ♦ To Louisiana's voters, for having :. the sense to choose a scoundrel over a Nazi. ♦ To the continued dominance of the CHS cross country teams. ♦ To the cast of "Charlotte's Web" for an excellent performance. ♦ To the natural high: gained from outwitting the hali monitor. ♦ To people in spandex. ♦ To people who Say that a Terminator costume promotes violence. They should be shot. ♦ To vandals who ■ can't speil. ♦ To the clumps of freshmen that clog the 3rd floor hallway. Sort of like hairbails in a drain, ♦ To Lord of the Rings action figures. Good thing plastic melts in the microwave. :::: This table runs on the editorial page of The Little Hawk, allowing editors to hurl quick brickbats and bouquets. What you should be watching KEY & Even my parents w thought it sucked I'd rather watch &&' "Star Trek"reruns to watch ''Grey's Anatomy Personality etc ft íífí íííí fí Aiidictive Factor étčt fffff é t f\ ífí Tunny : 1 actor ££ íííí í et Character Hotncss Š v ŕí íífí Overall Score im tí ííí This table from a Colorado high-school paper, The Rock, rates four TV shows according to five criteria — and the rating system uses remote-control units to keep score. PIGSKIN : Our proud panel of prpgnosticators; •'; pre-dicts- this %**-mrm- -w - weekend's ■■ m3mĚá- scores-- - ' Bud Werner ■■ ■ MADISON ■ WILSON : adams: :: JOHNSON .' Sports editor,-TheTimes- - 21-14;. ■ ■.......45řQ : ■ —21-20 ■ ■■.-. 7 0 "Z Nick Kennedy '■^Commentator, KXX Radio LINCOLN '.' 35:7 '. - ■ JEFFERSON.. ; 28-21 . ■adams ■ ■ - 14-3 .. rILLMuKb ■ ■ . 21-14: '■ ..' Wally Benson .'• '-fff Former Mudhog coach -• ■ - MADISON 21-3 ; ■ WILSON adams .35-7 : : fillmore:: .. .,10-7. Another table: Here, a panel of sports experts predicts winners (and scores) for upcoming football games. Once created, this graphic format is easy to recycle week after week. 179 .. mm k mam ........ TIMELINES MAJOR CALIFORNIA QUAKES SINCE 1900 Los AngeEi 1906: An earthquake estimated at 8:3 on the.". . ••■■-Richtef scale kills 700 in-San-Francisco. Q 1933: A 6.3quake in Long Beach kills 115 • Q ■ - 1952: A 7:7 quake near Bakersfield kills 12 © . 1971: A 65 quake inSan Fernando kills 65- 1980: A 5.8 quake in Livermore. damages ..... a.nuclear weaponslaboratory,....... O Ö 1987: A 5.9/quake in Whittier kills 8 Q .1989: A7.1 -quake in theS.F.Bay Area kills 63 Q : 1994: A 7,5 quake in Los Angeles kills 61 O THE ROAD TO KYRGYSTAN'S POPULAR UPRISING Anti-government protests gained momentum throughout the country, following disputed parte- * mentary elections on Feb. 27 and March 13, Fractious opposition unified around calls for more | democracy, an end to poverty and corruption and a desire to oust President Askar Akayev 1991 Akayev elected president shortly after parliament declared independence from Soviet Union 91 95 2002 Government began cracking down on opposition groups and independent media ........... 00 'D2 Feb. 27 First round of parliamentary elections; protests followed because election was seen as flawed............... March 22 Larger demon sirations erupted 1995 and 2000 Akayev reelected in internationally criticized votes AP Feb. 22-24, 2005 Opposition groups blocked highways and briefly took control of local government buildings after candidates denied slots on ballot for the parliamentary election March 13 Second round of elections gave Akayev a compliant parliament dominated by supporters March 24 Protesters stormed main government building in Bishkek: Akayev reportedly fled Above: This timeline recaps key moments in an ongoing news story. Note how the scale turns dark gray in 2005, signaling a shift from yearly to monthly events. Left! This California earthquake timeline is keyed to a map. Readers can either read the timeline first, then check the map, or study the map and then consult the timeline. Right: When reporting a crime, it helps to reconstruct the sequence of events. This minute-by-mmute chronology (sometimes called a "tick-tock") provides the details. When we write fiction, we plot the story chronologically: Boy meets girl in spring. Boy marries girl in summer. Boy gets hit by a bus in fall... and so on. But when we write newspaper stones, we often bounce back and forth through time: Yesterday's meeting discussed tomorrow's vote to repeal a 1999 tax to fund a domed stadium by 2009 .,, and so on. Time gets tangled up in text. That's why timelines (or chronologies) are so effective. They put topics in perspective by illustrating, step by step, how events unfolded. A CHRONOLOGY OF THE BEATING Here's how events unfolded in Friday s beating of Tony Hewlitt at Lloyd Center: S:05 p.m. Vice Principal Ted Brooks calls school police to report 40 to 50 "unwanteds".trying to get into a dance at Adams High School. 9:08:p,m. it, Steve Hodges of the school police arrives and requests backup from Portland police. Units . .are sent from- North:precinct: -9:35 p.m. fire dance is shut down. 9:40 p.m. A number of youths drift . toward Lloyd Center as police. . . . disperse the crowd from the dance. 10 p.m. The crowd of youths arrives ,. at Lloyd Center, as Hewlitt and his;..:.., fiancee, Tara White, wait for their ride. Hewlitt is beaten by two youths. Police arrive minutes later. The most graphically ambitious timelines combine images and text to create a pictorial recap of past events. Here, mug shots of musicians help to reconstruct the year's musical highlights. (Keep in mind that faces in photos should always be at least the size of a dime. This timeline, like many of the graphics on these pages, has been slightly reduced.) PORTLAND: THE YEAR IN ROCK , From Eminem to TomRetty; • 2007 vias-a stellar year for- -local music-lovers. Here are a fewselectedhighlights> April 14: Despite ■ -constant ram and thunder, 120;000 gather.m Hebb Park for the Spring Fling... .Wmgdmg featuring,, Toejam and Ducks Deluxe Aug; 10: The : Rolling Stones .: play a surprise gig at Mummy s Cabaret Lounge. . Opening the show,, is controversial,. -rapper Eminem, Feb. 17: Melissa Ethendge plays an unplugged set of acoustic blues during the annu- . al Rose City Folk Festivalat Civic Auditorium, May 20: Reck causes a near-riot -when he incites fans to storm the:: Memorial Coliseum stage; four are injured;-22 arrested-in the stampede. Sept. 3: Tom - Petty and the Heartbreakers: ... headline a benefit performance for Greenpeace in Pioneer Court- v house Square; :: Oct. 27: Reggae legend Banana .; 5pliff wows the , crowd at the .. City College ., Ballroom during the Halloween ■:: Hash Bash. Nov. 25: Local rock legend Elvis King-stuns fans by announcing he's retiring from the , stage to pursue a ., career in interior . decorating.- -. ;. ■ 180- GRAPHICS & SílíEBARS STEP-BY-STEP GUIDES HOW TO RESUSGITATE A LIZARD 0> Scoop the lizard from the pool. Q Shake out : the lizard. ; Massage the lizard's s torso; applying-.. on anil off pressure directly behind its front legs. QApply mouth-i to-mouth resuscitation to the lizard, breathing . slowly and forcefully..: Source: The CoEvolntian Quarterly Life is full of complex procedures, from changing a tire to baking a cake to — well, resuscitating a lizard. And the clearest way to walk readers through a series of instructions is to arrange them in logical, numerical form: A step-by-step guide. If you've ever assembled Christmas toys or wrestled with tax returns, you know how confusing bad instructions can be. That's why step-by-step guides must be as clear, precise and user-friendly as possible. Whenever possible, add drawings or photos to illustrate key steps. As the examples on this page make evident, it's better to show than just tell. HOW TO MAKE A HOLIDAY WREATH What you'll need: ♦ Fresh greens: (you can cut • ■ homegrown evergreens or : .: purchase,themfromanursery. -: lttakes-about7 poundsnf branches ■ to makera 12-inch wreath). ♦ Wire frame (these come in a variety of sizes; . a 12-inch.frame costs about $1.50): ♦ Preservative (this will keep greens fresh for. about a month). . ♦ Pruning shears, ♦ Wire clippers.- .. ♦ Paddle wire. What to do: □ Clipthe greens into hand-sized pieces. Save the fluffy ones; discard woody branches.' □ Layer 3r4 pieces of-greens.into a bundle. □ Attach.each bundle to the wire frame. Pull thewire away from :-the wreath's center, to tighten ii. 1 ... □ Continue to attach'bundles, overlapping.stems with greens, ; until the frame is completely covered with evergreens. Alter- -natebundles of cedar (or other greens):with bundles of fir. > • □ Add pine cones; Loop wire around the bottom of the cone, then attach the wire to the:wreath. : • □ For special .trim, place dried or silk flowers amid thegreens.., □ Attach pearl or.other garlands with wire. □ Finally, add the bow. Make your own or buy one ready-made. Left: This step-by-step guide displays a photo of a finished wreath but uses only text to explain the. assembly process. That'll work when time and space are tight — but imagine how much more effective this guide would he if every step were illustrated. Right: This full-color poster page analyzes the mechanics of hitting a baseball — the stance, the stride, the swing — with expert advice from batting coach Ken Griffey Sr. Note the freeze-frame batting sequence running along the bottom of the page. IUi 1 Is DIAGRAMS Maps focus on the where of a story; diagrams focus on the what and how. They freeze an image so we can examine it in closer detail, using cutaway views, step-by-step analyses or itemized descriptions of key components. Whatever your topic, diagrams will work best if you: ♦ FOCUS tightly. Pinpoint precisely what you need to explain before you begin. What's most essential? Most interesting? Should the diagram be active (showing how the object moves) or passive? (Notice how the passive diagrams on this page simply point to each component.) Whatever the approach — whatever the topic — keep your diagram as clean and simple as you can. ♦ Design logically. Let your central image determine the diagram's shape (for instance, that oil rig is a deep vertical). If you're running a sequence of images, find a perspective that lets you show the steps in the most logical order. ♦ Label Clearly. Avoid clutter by using a consistent treatment for all callouts (sometimes called factoids), whether with pointer boxes, shadows, lines or arrows: Callout Calicut Callout Callout Callout \ ♦ Research carefully. You're becoming an instant expert; readers will rely on your accuracy. So do your homework. Cross-check references. Read the story. Study photos. Talk to experts. In short: Become a graphics reporter. The black ink used on the -• front of a doliar bill is slightly magnetic — just enough for bill-changing machines to detect phonies. One of .the toughest things for counterfeiters to forge is this engraved portrait of George -Washington: G:F.C. Smillie did the engraving, and. it's been on : -the dollar bill since 1918. - In this emblem, the scales represent the scales of-justice. The key is an: : emblem of autborrty.,The. chevron.. of 13 stars honors.the-13 original states.:: It is illegal in the United States to..... ■ -' : This serial: : ■......- < ■ No living make paper similar to that in"" - - .number--......... person may currency. The Bureau of Engraving : indicates the appear on a and Printing won't disclose, the. • ;. : ...specific printing "-.dollar-bill.- . formula for this paper, a cotton-linen : .....plate used. blendwith red and blue nylon fibers. . 12 9A This tiny number■;: indicates, ,™.„ ... the piate-1^ f0i tew : • • position.. .This is the bank's numerical: '• -code. It appears four times,: -: for identification purposes . in case abill is burned or*,— mutilated . Sources-The People s Almanac, Harper's magazine . Want to explore the different components of a dollar bill: The diagram above combines history and trivia to give readers a quick visual tour — something difficult to achieve in text alone. At right, a more traditional diagram uses a cutaway view of the Earth's crust to make the offshore drilling process more understandable. OFFSHORE DRILLING RIG Simplified schematic; depth not to scale Drilling derrick Helicopter deck mimemtm Legs embedded in sea floor Recent sedimentary deposits Drill pipe Depth: Two miles from platform to oil deposits 182 GRAPHICS & SIDEBARS DIAGRAMS Prop designs Turkey Trivia Need a Thanh ssiutryi rfmner tonimrnaUati-stan?r? Here's more than you d ever uaní ta knwo abovt our fatal friends •*2 -§5: SL m Mem A Tte diagram above ran in the Fort Myers (Fia.) News-Press, part of a monthly series called Envision that takes a detailed look at local trends and topics: fishing, mountain biking, shuffleboard, canoeing, etc. Artists are responsible for generating ideas, doing research, writing a short text block and producing the final artwork. 4 At left, a Thanksgiving feature page from the Rochester Times-Union uses a diagram to provide little-known history, statistics and facts about a turkey's anatomy, including its voice, brain, beak and "snood." With the right topic, a diagram becomes more than just a supplementary graphic; it becomes lead art that's informational and entertaining. For example, these two big, complex diagrams combine callouts and color images to form feature-page centerpieces. (Notice how the turkey page contains no traditional "story" at all). And though these two diagram packages use illustrations, you can use photos just as effectively, too. All you need is a strong image, clean typography, logical organization and some solid reporting to achieve professional results. 183 ARS MAPS Three examples of heater maps: left, a no-frills state map shows where to find Promise in Oregon. Below, a downtown street map. At right, a 3-way heater map shows street, city and state locations. S.W. JEFFERSON ST. Essex House Apartments, former Fox Bldg. S.W. COLUMBIA ST. Undeveloped KOIN Center Q : 3 i- S.W. CLAY ST. 5 S.W. MARKET ST. o a. iile ' /\:«\ Cleveland Elementary School SCHOOL SHOOTING Five elementary school students were killed and more than 30 wounded by a man who then shot and killed himself. Kmght-RidderTribune News Most Americans are poor geographers. They have a tough time remembering even the easy stuff, like where New York City is. (Hint: it's on the East Coast — that's the right edge of a U.S. map.) So how can we help them visualize volcanoes in Fiji? Riots in Lesotho? Train wrecks In Altoona? With maps. Maps can enhance almost any news story, if you're ambitious enough, but they're especially important for: □ any story where a knowledge of geography is essential to the story's meaning (an oil spill, a border dispute, a plane crash); or □ any local story where readers may participate (a parade, a new park). Maps come in all sizes and styles — world maps, street maps, relief maps, weather maps, etc. Even animated maps are becoming more common on news Web sites. But the types of maps most often produced in newsrooms are: ♦ Locater maps: These show, as simply as possible, the location of a significant site ("X" marks the spot) or identify where a news event occurred. ♦ Explanatory maps: These use storytelling techniques to illustrate a sequence of events. Taking a step-by-step approach, these maps can become visually active (as opposed to passive locater maps). ♦ Data maps: These show the geographical distribution of data, working like a chart to convey population distributions, political trends, weather, etc. How are maps created? They're copied. Though you can't cut a map out of a road atlas and stick it in the paper (that's a copyright violation), you can redraw another map's highlights, then fill in your own details as necessary. Every paper should compile a library of maps in a variety of scales, from global to local. Buy a world atlas; collect state highway maps, city and county maps, even brochures from your local chamber of commerce (showing shopping areas, local parks, hiking trails, the layout of the airport). Be prepared. You never know where news is going to break. ■ Making maps: a step-by-step guide to creating a map from an outside source...Ml 184 iapiíiesáSKia MAPS i-----------' Eniarrjsd area nWith his right hand wrapped in a T-shirt, Steven C. Powers points it at store clerk Max Baerncopf and threatens to kill him. Saerncopf refuses to give him any money, and Powers eventually walks out the frontdoor. BBaerncopfgrabs a gun and chases Powers more than 125 feet to where Powers' ( is waiting in a parking lot, yelling at him to stc El Baerncopf catches up, holds \„u m,.0, j CJ door open and tells Powers to get out. Powers steps on the gas pedal and pulls the doc closed, holding his wrapped right hand pointed. Baerncopf, who shoots three times. as CROPS WITHERING IN SUMMER HEAT Farmers in the West and Midwest have struggled to maintain their crops during the recent wave of scorching heat and dry weather. Oon mnistrire levels Extremely dry Severely dry Excessively dry NOTE: Measures short-term crop needs against available water SDJflCE: DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Above: U.S. maps can convey data about everything from election results to weather. This data map shows at a glance which states are affected by summer heat and. drought. Left; An explanatory map showing a step-by-step sequence of events. Note the 3-D buildings, the cutaway diagrams, the helpful arrows — all describing a complex series of events in a compact two-column box. ♦ Create design guidelines for all maps. You'll save time and give your maps a consistent look if you set clear standards for abbreviations, screens, line weights, symbols — and most important: ♦ Use type consistently. Use designated fonts in designated sizes (sans serif will usually work best behind screens). Avoid type that's too big (over 12 point) or too small (under 7 point). Decide where you'll use all caps (countries? states?), italics (bodies of water?), boldface (key points of interest only?). ♦ Keep maps simple. The whole planet can fit into a one-column box, if necessary. Make your point obvious; trim away all unnecessary details. Anything that doesn't enhance the map's meaning distracts attention. ♦ Make maps dynamic. Don't just re-create a dull road map. Add shadow boxes, screens, 3-D effects, tilted perspectives — just be careful not to distort the map's accuracy or destroy its integrity. ♦ Keep north pointing "up." And if north isn't at the top of your map, include a "north" arrow to show where it is. Otherwise, the arrow isn't necessary. ♦ Add mileage scales whenever possible. They give readers perspective. ♦ Match the map to the story. Be sure that every significant place mentioned in the text is accounted for on the map. ♦ Design your map effectively. Keep the map as tightly focused as possible. If pockets of "dead" space occur, you can fill them with useful extras: mileage scales, caliout boxes, locater-map insets, photos or illustrations. ♦ Assume your readers are lost. To help them understand where they are, you may need to give your map a headline or an introductory paragraph. You may need to add a locater map to your main map if that makes it clearer. (For instance, if you draw a detailed street map, you should show what part of the city you're in.) Above all, include any familiar landmarks — cities, rivers, highways, shopping malls — that help readers get their bearings. GRAPHICS PACKAGES The Islamic faith has played a central role in world news, hut most Americans still have a vague understanding of this influential religion. This timeless Knight Kidder Tribune package explains the history, beliefs, geography and architecture of Islam. Note the elegant interplay of art and text — the mixture of maps, diagrams, charts and lists. The bigger the story, the more explanation it needs. That's why you'll often see dazzling graphic packages, like the ones on these two pages, combining charts, maps, sidebars and more into an encyclopedic extravaganza. Done well, these packages present as much (or more) information as any news story. But to execute these graphics packages well, you'll need: ♦ Time. Most megagraphics need at least several days — often several weeks — to prepare. They can't be rushed without dismal results. ♦ Teamwork. These aren't solo efforts. They demand cooperation and planning for the research, reporting, art and layout to come together smoothly. ♦ Expertise. Sorry to say, these packages are terribly difficult to produce. Don't tackle anything this tricky until you've honed your graphics techniques. ♦ A firm commitment of space. Don't let them reduce your full-page package down to 2 columns at the last minute. Get the space you need guaranteed. Above all, don't overdo it. Pages like these take readers right to the edge of information overload. Ask yourself: How much data can our readers handle? Here, on one page, is the complete beginner's guide to skiing and snowboarding. Think the design is too wild and crazy? Remember, this page from the Asbury Park Press is aimed at younger readers. The noisy, freeform type treatment is appropriate for the subject AND the audience, providing helpful tips, lingo, diagrams and lists. GRAPHICS PACKAGES A This gorgeous tabloid double-truck spread from the Minneapolis Star Tribune tells you everything you ever wanted to know about the Minnesota walleye. This attractive and comprehensive mix combines maps, charts, lists, a diagram, a quiz, a timeline — but because it's so well-organized, it's not overwhelming. You don't need color and elaborate illustrations to create an effective graphics package. This brilliant half-page graphic ran in USA Today two months before the 2006 congressional elections. By concisely combining lists, charts and bullet items, it condenses the key issues and key races into one easy-to-summary. Democrats hope to reclaim GOP-controlled House The Nov. 7 elections for the House of Representatives are shaping up to be the most pivotal since 1994, when Republicans swept into power for die first time in 40 years. J? ma®' saS§'n§ popularity, *~ ' * the Iraq war and economic concerns could help Democrats pick up the 15 seats they need For control Independent analysts such as- Stuart Rathenberg and Charlie Cook say nearly AO seats are up for grabs, most beicl by Republicans. TheGOP held its majority in 2002 and 2004 because voters said it wjs the party they could trust on terrorism, an edge which surveys show it still holds. Number of open seats JP racin'ng or reekiqg other 9lIisif.TV.ifniy-oru-jj| are ksHljy Heuublicajis, 11 byHerrHKiais ,my$ oik by jh inJopcnddJiLTIiey Indutk: Ari?xina -3th Dfst tin Usui Kp]&t',R, relifirig) Cnlfirldo- 7iJi [lislrul lESobfeauprez, R, running !or governor! y iowii^ Ls!I>iitn-^i']unKiiss-l£',S.AirtrirD;fQj'aoirM- ' FBisois -17tii DirtriiMLJneEvuiix.D, Glaring] *■ ohio-33tJi numci (SlKtrorj Brovjii, & rirMfog for US. Sunate] * fenKHi? - at Ui^e t feme Sanders, I, running fcr tIS. Ser^m) Race for control of House tightens 3r«1*stiyfib If Ji Casyrcsii ™crv!i<"ld tud.iy, wliiJi party* tindditewcijltl you vote Sbc in youirtr^LaaiiKuld&ftic" Fund raiting Tirt Natrona! Kepubha paring Lti Dp nice rat if. raising nsMrly S35 ciilfi iLiLiterpdfl in poliliwl donarions, n mnre as or Monday, Italso h-is a haul:, which tiuld h^'ps^l Wil m.'A*I«i DU5( Republicap V-windes fori? w* S lleJd byB. a : '-it Key issues and trends EfettiGn Might clues At 7 p.m. ET. tefiait tyctei Kentucky'sJutl (JEtrjot rate between ReDiib-itcan Sep. Anne NorlliiiparKi Democrat Jdin Yar-muth. hungup hasdehwi pfwiurtiosis of dei&Jt mine past. Ir ihe loses this time, "flus is swig to ue an sxvnil -nislw tor Re -putjiiLjiis* says Amy Walter of rtiemLiepefnKfltCno«fM-nVo) deport. If there i a Liemocrsbc nrtatwjue. irwiiliwasa owr titLCS vulnerable Kepublitans - ChiisLGpfrei- ibaVi.JJancv Irihnsoit arid Rob Sminoris - in CijnnertitLH in si. v/liere pells- winter;From toot- (Wl:Candidate- Rowley 2LKJ2 per-baSL to politics, sanpmier. TOnoTtSietou, Rookie politicians *■ F&i'mMWG^li^titalM(&Hi5<|uafti!rl)acfchEatb5hu1er.,i Benro(T^,]SchaiLciij3Lig.ttcpiibBfatiRi!p-.CtisHes 'tayEarin Norili Cstolifia's 1 1th Dtsttkr, ► Songwriter John Ha!t. iPFfiioiraiVi'iiRwliitsiHrliicSe^ rhe One fcrr.be band Orleans, hopes in unseat CDP" Rep. Sue lieity in New lfcife> ISrh Diitrlrr. ► Demrcr.it t cites ri Kom3ej( J(i ex-FBI wiiistlebloiwr .wd Time marine Person of rtie^at in 2002. h rotirano against OTP Fton. foist Kins ifi Mmcewa's 2nd DiiticL Like father. like son ► rtpi^Wicsn CUS fliiirakii lA Fl«mla jnd Democrat Chris (1wnsirNe,wWI:wj!isl tosticctitl tlwir reisEJqg Esthers, Mikea:nd Major, r?5PK?iw?ljl *■ Twc-mrs|j£ssicirsal oAspEing ore ^yina5^>t. 12 lor the [MrrtOfiatir:rominatKin in Marytend's^Kf District: JointSai-biities.son. rjFretin'ngSen. Paul Ssrhsne;, imi Pew CkifcnWTL Mil OfltomeT California, repitsen: a tsve Anthony Et 1 Economy 2 Picsidera Rusti andotlier 2 Bfpid^rcjnjuyiheeCTinrjmy 1 i! iR'AFIS. but pOUi Shthv pec- rsj plcat-tosjcrrneddboutliigli i| gasoline prices arid The CM of fcsuklicaw. Damocmtir catsdi-dares in tf«« races stiKi poctoriMSisstiCs' ► Georgia - 12th District: Democratirltep. _[ohn Bartow vi. fiepiibiic^n a.53*. Barn; v IndfjfW - 2fii DiSfiCG KCftiblKari Kep. □iris Chacnla vs. Democrat Joe Dornclty »■ Indiana - Slh Cisrricr Republican- Ren. Jalm Hcsttiiler »5. DciiiocratBKd ilb^ursh toiiocrdG ho^te ia use Ke-|* pubLirair ties 10-c-oiivii'ted tob-: i^'ijrja<,'i(Mjr*niorf'r(!picl(iJp -peddling srandal lytS " ') hfsit R-OJtio, ^ivaiia icirst tt. Mey denses wrongdoing. Rifles to watch: r aiitomik - 4rh Piifficr: Republican Pep, JohnDooliEtk vi. Uemacrai Charlie bun n > LouiliatiJ - 2nd! Dislricl] DetFiuLraLL" Rep Wiajjiiijc^rsoil drew live jjj-Elimjv WPQ- : Illegal immigration k: sraillif US.-MKXi«ii border K OEhcrsfntiKtOP^ttrtfiicft t- Demcftatsmmrocreaa-nri-" 2(?ri!ihipoRd]t]bDpparturaiies illegal imrriip'Jiils: Rites w!icfc it'sail issue: * Arizona - SEh Disnta RepUMfctit Sftjs. J.D. Haift-JOrLh^^ Denircfat Ha;jy Mardiell *- California — HdiDistnct: fejjublicaa Bep Bicharri Pombn v$. De-nwc^tJiMry IkNtr- J Iraq I Pall5hDws611di«ppT.3ve[ m ihewjyPiesuJem liusriis I luiribns the ™r in twit. 1TU1 ' ratesvjherethewaraiidrbe adminisr/atwsi's hMKllirg nF?t sinre the US.Jed Coniiectinjr —4ttiDJirri«: Bepuhliciir S^p.C-hristapbe3-^hay;v5 Derm c rat Diane Far- Ties to President Bush ■ Wi til their party leader's ap-? piw^Ki tings-hovering in ihi? ! Iw 403. scme-COP eaaidCtUtes. tnampeTitwe rJutricts are trying 10 fcrtd clTaftusatiita!- b^ th«r Democratic opponen.1^ rhat rriej! afe"riii>ber stamps" far the-adminisRaEion.Sey races r *■ OlliD— l^ttiDiitiirl-HepiiblkanKep. Dcbcr^Pj^ww.DejiiomcMarvJ'&KiJKiy * NewMexlco- lit District: Rcpulilirati l!ep tieatJierWillcn vs. Democra-t Palrina i»ta-drsd 187- GRAPHICS & SIDEBJHtS.. - PACKAGE PLANNING ■ Online design: How to create packages for the Web...........254 Most newsrooms are like factory assembly lines: the reporter reports. The photographer photographs. The editor edits. And then — at the last minute — the designer designs. That assembly-line process works fine if you're making sausages, but it won't consistently produce award-winning pages. Lavish layouts rarely succeed when they're slapped together on deadline. So how do you retool your newsroom to produce this type of page? By planning: by instituting a brainstorming process that shapes stories before they're written. A few years ago, Buck Ryan - journalism professor at the University of Kentucky — developed the Maestro Concept, a method of integrating writing, editing, art and design. Ryan proposed that each newsroom appoint a maestro, a visual journalist who could orchestrate the interplay of all key staffers. And to guide the process along, participants would use a story planning form like the one reprinted on the next page. How does it work? Suppose a reporter has just gathered information for a big story. Before she starts writing, there's a brief meeting. That's where the reporter, editor, photographer and designer, with the maestro's help, explore the story's potential using a form like the one below to produce a package like the one above. iM,'„vi.,\m Carpenter ants are a eoxmm pest -• so teres a consumer guide to what they ake, what they po - and how to get RID of them. Dtww^a.r...? They can cause expensing damage to the wood in your house.__ B How can you Identify them? ,^.n •■..•< dpm*™ photo with bio box B Where do they in/ade your house? „ cutaway diagram £| How do you get rid of them? The story idea: Can you summarize the ...... story in 25 words or less? That's a good test to see if your focus is tight enough - or if you're still struggling with a fuzzy concept. Questions readers / Will ask: The first / question every reader asks for every story is "Why should I care?" Try to answer this question in a highly visual way — in the headline, aphoto, a sidebar. Now: What other questions will readers have? Can you answer them in graphic ways? That list of sidebar options provides alternative ideas for reporting and design. .• Photos Or illustrations: Too often, photographers are excluded from story-planning conferences, then sent out on assignment with hardly a clue what the story's about. But when photographers are included in this preliminary discussion, they can shape the direction of the imagery and the reporting. By this point in the planning meeting, an attentive photographer should be able to suggest photo ideas - or, if the story is better served by illustrations, staffers can weigh those options instead. □ ssobcx □ mEVFfljV BOX □ Oflmowectc ■ QClKOttiST' "DIME*....... □ QU!Z DOS* DlHTOTECOlLKTiW □ mum Ofcttp □ chart OTASLE QTMEUNE D SIEP^V-STS'OCIffi □ WHERE T<3 GO/ and how the ants usually enter and fcuiid nests. Closeup photo of ants: queen, worker, etc. (If we can't shoot photos, we'll use Illustrations.) ■ sEctmMKYwn; MaiHEttMB ATTACK OF THE CARPENTER ___Ai-JTSfsci-fimoyletyps?} "■■1 mk, The ants crawl In, the ants crawl out, &ut it's not yoursaout they're after -it's your house,__ ATTACK, ants! K.YM 7..X MOtLY J5HAWN_ iwroiUHSWJIMiWtat ttoi. 5/5 [ stow — TOSntEiMI i Fri. 5/7 f Moa&lQ f w»u.£fMr 5"each Pete: cat agriculture departmeM for ant brochures Headline/deck: why wait until the story is written - and the clock • is ticking - to write a headline? Chances are you have enough info to kick around a clever headline right now, or at least generate key words you can refine later. Writing the deck now also helps the team members clearly define the story angle. . Staff, deadlines, lengths: One last chance to ensure that everyone agrees on when the different story elements are due, what sizes they'll be - and most important, who's responsible for what. Rough layout: While those ideas for photos, sidebars and headlines are being kicked around, the designer can sketch a layout that integrates all the key ingredients with their proposed shapes and sizes. Everything is subject to change, of course, but by the end of the meeting, all the participants should agree on this preliminary vision of the page. Remember, this is just a starting point — the actual page should only get better. After the meeting, this form should be photocopied and distributed for future reference. 188 STORY IDEA: QUESTIONS READERS WILL ASK I Why should I carer HOW ANSWERED: □ headline □ photo/curine □ deck □ íext □ sidebar: HOW ANSWERED: □ headline □ photo/cutline □ deck □ text □ sidebar: □ HOW ANSWERED: □ headline □ photo/cutune □ deck □ text □ sidebar: HOW ANSWERED: □ headline □ photo/cutune □ deck niEXT □ sidebar: □ FAST-FACTS BOX , □ BIO BOX .□PREVIEW BOX - ■'■ □ QUOTE COLLECTION □ LIST : □ CHECKLIST □ INDEX" □ GLOSSARY □ QUIZ □ Q&A □ RATINGS □ OPINION POLL □ MAP : □ CHART " PHOTOS / ART LEAD ART: □ DIAGRAM ; □ TABLE □ TIMELINE ; • • □ 'STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE □ EXCERPT □ WHERETO GO □ WEBSITE LINKS HEADLINE / DECK MAIN HEADLINE: DECK: ROUGH LAYOUT STAFF WRITER DESIGNER ARTIST/ PHOTOGRAPHER EDITOR/HEAD WORRIER DEADLINES IHfO FOR StDEBAR(S) STORY - FIRST READ FINAL STORY/ART RUN DATE LENGTHS MAIN STORY SIDEBAR (S) NOTES: SECONDARY ART: GMPSÍÍGS & SIDEBARS GRAPHICS GALLERY On October 18,2006, the U.S. population hit 300,000. It was a slow news day in most of the country, which gave newsrooms a chance to put that statistical milestone in perspective by creating front-page graphics packages. Here, on the next four pages, are examples from nine newspapers. Notice the different ways the data is presented. Which package seems most effective to you? THE fatheUmtedSiates: CSflSUS lhereis 30QmiDioni >• ■' ft -and counting Amcncahřts population milestone; growth expected to accelerate E plnnlMK unu/n? the tatln o»tto on cjw Great Stal rf the LTrtited states trembles ■manr.oms.-BLrth-jw many cui to be—arri flfll bo ooe naiura? Sometkr. c 1 odd', the scí.slawr. cf * e United Sffitca will trash&s million inlmlh itaiia.aaiirxlbiáíoCtMuiBiiriřsiipreiLt:-tic™, iicrtovef, aur emwui raw Is awaier-ahiUí- -War lakins Í39 yora after lmt epert tem To leneb too UlUlwra, wc doubled that ia S3 ísars, And KwtoLríd ml y 3S y«vs since 1K7 to teach (hektiSt ittil&tora, And!?? the end £if tielbt uxtiury. w-eisstippDSííSta hit 500 million, tlcubLiag Tlw THirnTjercf pcopii n bw ha ve Drctn "Thiea h w Ullon.... cocsd'l have any sigaiQcfflcc in and eíiistí r," saj a Lati-js^EanBonfdiroitotďtTJc CenjilsBLI-tean The slary is hnv Ůo pof-ulHttou has ITieUaiiaJStPtobthB only Industrial, bed ti atioc tttth signÚksii t rcpuU tlon gmffilh. In Earapo.lluasla and Japan, iítihfiisg hehistf J^alliB. Our rjlrthrate oniy paniycxtMiw '"riwrwi, the rest crimes torn the steady Jtře^/tt of pt tnl graiTO TiBt řias traajftCTicdtrs country— unci roiled our »11 Heal disaurso. Whan ml! our milestone resident canw irorp! Třu; Cora us Burcmi mys mi International mier^^vMíwreír«iry 31» end*, buřt baby is bítňi in ibe fjtnixd Stales every seircnsoraaib, AlthrtihMlW tats speculated that the SW millionth pej- Charting growth 1915 rrwUnilwi Slates" popu-fitisnlifls BBÍJďiúB rescJirf30IJmnein.t:ii; Baiertal-"' Bibb, Houston counties deal with different population dynamics T^da/a forecast foul the I'ni ted Stete Y-'UlTiil a pupulatkm nf £(H million. Istwiiins attmiLw to the cauntiy's migration tuttcmi as wen as Issaes rtlatpd to csuniara-tan Hnibaiv fcawiora. In MUUUe Geargja, when it roracs to pojhiI* HflO. n't cauU w i th EngLng of the BUsrd wSiWn ihc wvc genwiKiofi, according W t*a5*ttl oils lisustiai County could s applanl B Lob County as the teaio a'3 largest ITtrs's a d oser !cok nl the WO. HOUSTON ONE OF GEOMIA'S FASTEST OMWlHtJ COUNTIES I LouMon County^ t» ntri rjnijon Iq Amerka's popidatEon hlttlna Lrva-3*» jcilii™ mtu-Ii? A few hundred less thw K?ftt) soiife — a rrsalm of the tttal mimljer of iwaptc Uvlng ui tbo Uaitsd Sates. bi>\ Hsiiiitoft County bas <3U-> rinpiidiHl Itself as odc rf Gwr irla's fiuwrt rjrewing counties. It v»fll 3» r«p««t6l« for nwrly so pertOK oE um tHerX4W in (Up 300 miliion 1967 ¥Z!PM IM im W In arJ íůd jjiBo n in m m m i»« ™^ ;4. U^O 18M ^.a0 1820 1830 lSiO 1850 18ß0 t SOUKtS: Caoua Burfai ] 1900 1910 1920 153D 1940 1550 I960 19TO 19B0 !990 2000 2006 The Telegraph (MaCOII, Ga.): Designer Karen Ludwig had originally created a concept for this graphic using a clock that -would "marry the concepts of time and milestones" — hut the idea didn't fly, so it was scrapped. "My basic aim was to keep it simple," Ludwig said. "As far as the main graphic, I wanted to show growth in the. U.S. I found the facts at the top a good way to introduce or support the map and the c300 million and counting' element. I ended up using that graphic at the bottom because I felt it was a nice bookend to the top graphic." 100,000,000 200,000,000 300,000,000 Patfisytwfta ; 124BCW0 : ■: leWfrh Vílky,; . mow Valley no stranger to growing pains As US. population reaches 300 milliori, nation can take lesson from region's growth. ll will happen, by the VS. Cow us Bureau's best reckoning, a! 7riG aju, today, in .1 btruilcg room or it atxir-dcr«fi«$lP3 soKcwbtire 10 the land, tba natioc^ popuJadca will reach 30C million. The eciSMie is bucd cn a formula actMUflliag for birth, death and immigration 1 bit tramlaief lira cm acw AfnwiMfi i^vcty It seconds. The nufestooo, initi! today kChitncJ onjyty China ami India, coaics fast J? years after die papuiaLioa hit 200 mMQa, Dsek tt-efl, liicinagazinastafcfid ůuialotůf delivery rooms and bestowed tiwtkte of Citizen Hou žoo.qwmxh) úd a&»í-gk baby ü^nvd EtubeH W» It was a 5 ui ions title, sni [he Wm family spent a lot of time ftredinft The núdía, butlhingä tUHKdOLtl dlrlgnt, Woo gfiidüatui iron Harvard KnJbceajne a successful atlcmey 0i AÜaata. At thů äiDc ůfhlí blnh, tfcii nation was embroiled In an unpopulär war, and the Tesán in the: While House wa£ ptíttpag ca síc k through to vJacfj.Anďvfttíle tbaiaipea of our lives Biy be CKtctly the same today, ůthůí Things ten auxtgeä, for better and worse Forinstanoe, even if tfr&ťs Depan-Eient Sluto i till existed in JUtcntovrn, you Lüulin't fuid a sJařisltia suit there for the way you cauii in Bd". And you sure cant lind caSec fcr 24 «nts apouiui or malt whisltcy for a buck a quart, but such wm prices ia Bis, "a^sa this graai land wclcciucd its 300 rPJDioBln rcsldenL If s- divctijng enough to ctotpaie ihen to sow, but In scnouaacas, the Ichtgh Valley U eralicmaiic of tie stivssfs rmd uncertainties af rapid population groc-tb. it caa fdcai, at tiana, like eviry iin^k one of tht prevtous SW^^W VS. nahtocts. hu Moved to these pins in tht past Its all pan of tie long aaiinaal ijmbraec ttf^uftatjijation and the coositqucnt consumpu&n of zpzee. Arawrding to the pd^ulriiiDD. Re!it-coM BuiCiu, tbt! ptrccn.W*U Of i«al popifkticn living la the siWks of POPULATION PAfJEAJ The Morning Gall (Allentown, Pa.): "The story deak with population" saidpage designer Gary Visgaitis, "and one of our first though ts was to put a face on it in some way. Naturally, the gender and ethnic origin of people was discussed. The editors settled on the idea of an aerial photo in the heart of downtown Allentown, rich in ethnic diversity. Since the graphic is mainly about math, I strived to humanize the numbers by adding illustrative icons to dry statistics" 190 tRJ.PHRSASJDfflJ.R8 GRAPHICS Msuä balyy makes ... 300,000,000 one birth every one death every new citizen every seconds Halt Harris and Anna firiiS are its proud pat&rtls of JohnZ Gngg, a sut-pooEvj, 16-lndi baby boy, v.Jio was torn at ?tf8 a.ur. on Ttiestei'.AcHnliflg to Bie Cskus Baisai. Jolin2 "s the 300,000,531st 135. dtfcen. Oxford baby misses milestone by an hour g>"c'1'^G^NM0- HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED The American family officially has expanded, On Tuesday, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the U.S. population hit 3QG million people at about ?:4$ a,m. EDT. In Northeast Mississippi, lohnZ Kylin Grigg was bora not long after that ma*, arriving at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi in Oxford at 7:48 a.m. CDT, His parents, Anna Gr}gg and Matt Harris of Oxford, were caught off guard by bis arrival. "WtdidDt expect to have him today," said Giigg, 17, who iva5 due Nov. t. "It was kind of a shock." That Baby Grigg w&$ so dose to the theoretical 300 miUicm mark was intriguing ta his mora, but other numbers wets more important ott Tuesday, "3ie has all his iocs and all his fingers," said Giigg, whose son was bom 6 pounds and IB inches. Hard to know 3fs impossible to know nxacijy when the the 300 million population mark was hit -sonic experts think that If illegal immigration were taken inw accmuit, it Iftely happened months ago. the United States adds about 2A million people a yeat fur a growth rate of less than L percent. About 40 percent of the growth Tare toCENSU&srt Pag: 7A f *# 3315 100 miifion 1967 aoo 2006 300 Sprites .25 «JÜSltö 55.01 today .33 tJOOtodaj $3.07 to of «1J7 Hew homes S&U58 looey S21,6O0 SIWW7 today S225,000 togas Lifeexpectw St. 54.3 years 20.5 years yeais 2.5 oai™i 98.9 rnewn 237.2 Daily Journal (Tupelo, MISS.): It took about three hours to create this layout, which combines stock images with local photographs. "We liked it," said page designer Josh Hanna. "It gives a lot of information without graying out the page. It was not too gratuitous; it served the readers well.'" WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Pop. 300 million 1 h£yErjrm«ry 1 pgm&ätotff limiffMame-* 7 seconds " 13 seconds + 31 seconds 11 seconds IMP 19J6 2000 UWEDSTATSS IIB rcÄn JMnJBfr SOOtrBm dWGStfO 1.563 tHZO 15.033 1915 196T'***2Me™*' W™A™*SE«H S59 35JE 33#? L^COL^ITY !.K. ü,: .'i. Ar. RIMXJWKAffl 4313 5^51 Sy&t Daily Breeze (Torrance, Calif.): "I decided to center the package around a road sign because it's immediately recognizable and it succinctly conveys the point of the article," said page designer Jennifer Peltz. "Everyone has seen that familiar sign announcing a city, along with its population. The design feels inviting, and the information presented is easy to digest." Growth of a nation Today, our country's population is expected to reach 300 million. Here is a glimpse at how the United States has changed since we reached our other noteworthy population milestones in 1967 (when the population reached 2G0 million) and k 1915 (when it reached 100 million). 915 ! 196712006 President of the United States WqotItow Wilson j Lyndon B.Johnson j George W. Bush Price of a new home S3,20O I $24,600 I 3290,600 i ! Cost of a gallon of regular gas $0.25 | $0.33 j $2.22 Number of foreign-born people in population 13 .S million Comprised 15 percent, of the. total popuindDiL Germany was die leading country i 9.7 mrllmn Conpised 5 percent of the total population. Italy was the leading country a' ^million Comprise L2 pcrceni of the total popitfaiioa. Mexico is the Jcadiag country of origin. Average household size 4.5 people j S.3 people j 2.6 people Life expectancy at birth 54 J years j 703 years J 77.8 years Number of people age 65 and older 45 million j 19.1 million ] 36.8 million Most popular baby names for boys and girls John and Mary | Michael and Li&a j Jacob and Emily For more on the 300 nalhon mi3&s£one3 ses Pags 10A ^in^t^m Gwinnett (6a.) D3Jly POSt: Graphics editor Nicole Puckett said she considered using a photo, "but we just didn^t have anything. So I thought that if we just used a little color and packaged it neatly, that would capture people's attention better than a photo would." ■ BS!» fi SIDEBARS. ■ . - GRAPHICS GALLERY US. REACHES mSTOUC roPULATION POIN1 8,MSi«.a»" At the current rate, ^^"Jö^V Sureatft population iC^s^l tto*caiöibUsthat t QiKbtrthevery„. f u Jfewj one perawi fa added 1otheHS.evefjrU 1|& One draft wary... 13 secwais. The tota! tt«» indwiesonly ra^dsnts. not cittos Onortet «s'j living abfD&rf-11* projections are ' Immigrant every- ^t*- basfli>idaiaot)tiwi»l front various ------ fetteraJ agencies. The dodt's flat gairurf oris -a ■« prcjfiCtiWs a/e revised yearly, p&rsoti Svfcty., 11 seconds seconds seconds Growing fast The Biro it takesfor tile US. W add ths poptibtion SÄ« "SSrmrMm Maní s www Efflj äks híí—«j WETHE 300 MILLION Statistically speaking, the U.S. prpolatioo raited pest 500 million this ¥}T?/"^ T)T "c maming, AEd a look at the country by the numbers leveab we're having FA J I | /jtlf fewer babies, we're more afilueat, we're living longer and we're asicg nikich less of our take-home pay to buy a gallon of miifc tiian when we Mt 100 imlliDn in 1915. Growth of a country ft töüktf* 00t!fltl> 139 yearitart-rdiiiifiiit löö-railtum i Iii tele m. Burelu cstiiüülei. 4 wsti» is added a the pcjMilairaii every 11 MCiWrtls. is " majority uf rraiuc řUYpjalíiBrÍKC KiTiicrwtiilesĚltlSrí When the c&Litifry hi MOmiUwilcUav.it Oc nhaal WiO-ltyrtU Rfleiai and ethnic breahiJcwi! ■—12% ľ í rast Ü.5. population per square rmle. l:y en ..Oh) 10 V UU50 PiiMnlw once «ufesatititfl«? Hie QroLvUi of Pňmjia frran 1L1« äiimiň. natron's irarveiLiťii! lo the SduHi.if^ Wert, ■ Patent age oí *iiikíii(j iS viarrKü. iMü IĹ Jiid vidua UO í«ľ, I- fl W W 'tor W1SJ SWS 4.665.177 Frau riJalirů obscimW!« íJtc rat™ s fourthiiKa^ Time capsule ■ lift isqieeUirtQ! Jll*trll> ärtüoiderliiniuikwiU Cost of Irving • Prím tí a new tionw ! woo ■ PiSwafa iplkw oF^iilk PKďdeht Wíoefrew WJun fada The Fwd Mwfcf T and sitast rrm- and jw«eMSřrf ch«H arc mbnduoaí *Wo»W War i i in its SMorri ytar. •First rr»eccMin«tUI ptwx oll iwdft from Vcrfeto 5m fVsitös». Fans CoEot TV is Uw rajc. *mc Lucy ■Stow." *Ttn; Andy Sriffitfi ShoiiT and "Gwraf pyto. usMt'are tlx top rtwv HotÄhs The Summer of Uwe *av« thoustJii, tu San främisaj. -Uä troops in the WiEbHin Vlir fjrVri tfl iiwriy 500.0Oa »Thurgood WaßJatl is sworn n 3» the fim hlK* Ui. SWOTrw! CwrtjUslrctL Pwsfcterrh Ceorje W. Bush YouTube and MySpa« raícfine personal communicatterii Bot*y»: Iraq *ar wters Äirt year. -Ri^ng "rptErest rales nut the bra tes er s red-i»t heicJrig mn+rt TlRHBUclburMd jMW«JThtOawPuit *J S.tli D"»-j San JOSe Mercury News: The goal of this graphic? Jonathan Berlin, senior editor for design and graphics, said he "wanted to show how the population got to 300 million over time, some differences between now and then, and some background of how that 300-million number was calculated." In San lose, reader interest for this story was high. (It was the fourth most-viewed staff story on the paper's Web site that day.) "It's an engaging subject in a whiz-bang sorta way and is fun to spend time with," Berlin said. But if he could do the page over again, he'd try to integrate the information, typography and design a little better. "Everything was quite simple to understand," Berlin said, "but it could have used another edit informationally and visually'.' The Denver POSt: Planning for this Tuesday page began Monday morning, graphics editor Joe Watt recalled. "We talked about, rough outlines for the graphic — a fever line with 100-million, 200-miT lion, 300-million and a projection of when we would hit 400,000,000, which would add a locking-forward element— hut we also wanted it to be more than a population fever line. We wanted to see how we had changed over time, so we added a racial/ethnic breakdown and lifestyle elements. It took a little work by readers to pore over it, but their time was rewarded with interesting information at every step, from the top of the graphic to the bottom." GRAPHICS & 8SK8ARS GRAPHICS GALLERY 300 million ...and counting iesv mere reauy are people everywhere, in Charleston and throughout the nation. The growth of the United States 1915 us. Papulation 100 million Wörfd Population T-SbiEtürt. Forerun-tram people 13.5 million, 1967 2006 200 million 300 million 3.5 trillion 6.6b!UH>r! 9.7 real! tort. ■.3*Ji7kBhki,' ■. fabbktmriwksi' ISftofUKpOpu- .5% of the . -. l2%ofthepopu-tn^towUryaforigBJ latiors Germany population: Itely ■■■ Jatio^Mes^fca ■:, MtdürvirrorPKlor sräwktyv.'orwre. PopijiiflwlrfD-ames Median sgtwrtrfl wt«mn.«Sp«trHl¥ John and Mary ■16 people years ■ ■7T&ytaa.,l Michael and Lisa .fecobarid&nily 23.1 and 20.6 .-■ 27.1 and 25.8 Newborn or immigrant, nation set to hit milestone today BYBRIASIUCKS Tit Pest aXuSCtttaitt And you though; it was efowded on Highway 1?. Ihe Census Burau predtcu that just bdbre B aju. today, Iks U.S. po^uUtioa will hit; the 300 million threshold, and you know what that EflcatiK Now you arc rtevef going to gee through tJiG Ibte at Scrrbucks. Basically, the United States has a net gam of one person every 11 seconds. Sixlv percent of this population vxplo-skrn ia>m« from Wrths, and 40 percent tonics from immigration. ttie C iPods and baby names." MILLION AMERICANS US. gobbles up goods on its wa^y to today's population milestone Fnm «tlre ten-Tea WASHINGTON - America's scwlatlcB is on track to hit 300 million. tfUE moraine. and ^ causing a stir arctobg environ- PwdpI* in Hit United Slams an ronsJjffitnBTOore than euer - rao ra Twt. mora e neiBF. hbts natural resources. Open spaces are shrlnttaff and traf5c in ton tiy areas lidiearffal Tfcw tMndrrf nüältai & *l ill Email petaretä raznpaiHt to tail-Si an-plus giants India and China, which aiirady had twjr? than 3K> million peOpJB a cm- BuialfsiMiliStMtSdSMee. which is hdOKtoiuBtoader 1 in £&ofthiftö blllloilpwpl« nurLi wWs.is s tili gran imp fueled: by economic growth «M abundant immigration. Auwrfra should aää additional ICD m illiMS c^onlä is the That will t« enough fa Jteep the UJL i n tJw Ka a slot on Uw Vrtjrld'fl PDwMtm tfrart as Indes cat. tte Ha. 4 aatlat, clays rafcbiip, arrnrding to the Inter-national ds-titcte far Applied SystemBAnaiyaSn a atmgova-a-mental r^sreb cTE='T)i?ätTW)- Al the uüifii Cn ilüTÜla seal* is tinrVaticattCib',i,rhi=h tmsH fäJjUktlüD ofJUstTTD. SRtPOPULAT10NPiiff.AS Dftaawirt HMna; 1 owiy « Maine poputottott 1W1: i,öi &GQC [brüte 1 milllarü 20CT. 1 JE3.ti71 |^ ^wa i na deca d«fram2mJlliorip eopie, A5 EQUALS 1 MILLION AMERICANS Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine): "Keep it simple, stupid" is the motto of Nick Masuda, the managing editor for visuals who created this concept. "We wanted to make it easily digestible for readers," he said. "I did want to have more depth and numbers, but then I took a step back and said, 'Well, this tells the story of what Maine is like. Our numbers are just not as significant as, say, California's.'" SO WHICH GRAPHIC WORKS BEST? ':i- "jk'oit <):!i:.':il hvd ri v:wv all r.iin; v.l tl:t<.>\<;:upr:-(h f.nd;ar;p'.. Which ve:s.ü:i de yju like besi? Wliicli conveys ihn inio)i:ia:i:!ii most effectively and appeaüngty? Which is least effective? We a"sked:ii duzen' a.alabir graphic's editors and designers the . same questions. To leain whai they iked ano d:sl:l;cd — and to sea which package they chose as their favorite.— turn, to page 278. GRMS& SIDEBARS. GRAPHICS GUIDELINES "Graphical excellence is that which gives to the viewer the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space." Edward R, Tufte BEFORE YOU BEGIN, ask yourself: ♦ What's missing from this story? What will complete the picture for those who read it — or attract readers who might otherwise turn the page? ♦ What's bogging down the text? A se-ies of numbers? Detail? Dates? Definitions? Comparisons? Can information be pulled-out and played up? ♦ What data" needs clarification? Statistics? Geographical cetails? History? Does the story overestimate the readers' knowledge? ♦ How much time and space do we have? Can we squeeze in a quick list? A small map? Or should we create a huge clip 'n' save poster page? ♦ What's the point of this sidebar or graphic? Is there one clear concept we're trying to emphasize — or are we just shoveling a stack of statistics? compiling & EDITING !APHI(1 111 In this table, we've measured the deepest depths of the ocean — in meters and fathoms. Can't fathom what it means? We need to convert those depths to FEET for the data to make more sense. ■ $500 $400-$300 $200 $.100 Estimate; ■1999 figures' unavailable Projection ; '96 '97 '98 '99, '00 ' '0.1::'02 ''03 .'04■ '05. '06 '07: ♦ Collect data carefully. Use reliable sources, as current as possible. Beware of missing data, estimates or projections; if information is uncertain or unverifiable, you must flag it for your readers. In the line chart below, for instance, the artist has labeled two gaps in the data to avoid misleading readers. Does it work? ♦ Edit carefully. Every graphic and sidebar must ■..; PROFITS, 1996-PRESENT be edited. Check all the numbers: totals, percentages, years. Check all spelling and grammar. Check that all details in the sidebar match all details in the text. Finally, check that all wording presents the data fairly and objectively. ♦ Convert to understandable values. Avoid kilometers, knots per hour, temperatures in Celsius. Convert foreign currency to U.S. dollars. Avoid any obscure terms, jargon or abbreviations that might confuse or mislead readers. ♦ Simplify, simplify. What's your point? Make it absolutely, instantly clear. Depict one concrete, relevant idea — a concept readers can relate to, not something abstract, insignificant or obscure. Avoid clutter by eliminating all nonessential words and information, focusing tightly on key points. Above all, don't ever assume the reader plans to read the story's text. Your graphics and sidebars should stand on their own. PACIFIC OCEAN RECORD DEPTHS name iMariana Trench Tonga Trench Philippine Trench Kermadec Trench Bonin Trench Kuril Trench depth in meters. 10,924 10,800 10,057 10,047 9,994 9;750 depth in fathoms . 5,973. . 5,906 5,499 5,494 5,464 5,331 In this line chart, we used a dotted line to indicate an estimate (for 1999) and a projection (for 2007). Does it succeed? Or does it paint a false picture for readers? 194 GRSPHICS a SIDEB4R8 GRAPHICS GUIDELINES CONSTRUCT GOOD OF IIS How to lie with Statistics: Bar charts help us to visualize numbers by depicting them as bars. Tall bars are big numbers, short bars are small ones; in fact, a bar that's twice as tall as its neighbor should be worth two times as much — right? Right. Now study the chart at right. It looks like school spending in 2007-08 is about HALF of what it was in '05-06. Is that true? Or is the chart misleading? ♦ Keep it simple. Make sidebars and graphics look easy to understand or you'll frighten readers away. Pie charts, for instance, are the bottom feeders in the great Graphics Food Chain. Many readers hate pie charts. So don't make matters worse; don't slice pies into a dozen pieces (with an unreadable key full of stripes and polka dots) if a few broad categories convey the same idea. Don't cram years and years onto a line chart if only recent trends matter. Bottom line: Don't overwork a chart. If you want to make several different points, you'll find that several charts are usually better than one. ♦ Keep it accurate. As we SPENDING PER STUDENT $5 000 — ----------------", 2007-08 SCHOOL BUDGET ^Student services 3.5«. H Instruction 64:05, Hlnst, staff step v 3.4«;. EUtUity services 1.7JS MSchool acftriri.' 4.4%. School support.: 4,3% Bfrcmsfer ■0.3*: ■Debt service ■ 0.0% O Corrti risency;;, ■ 1.3%,; EZS General aMri. ;' ».7»; llBasiness'service 7,656'/ ■•ir"-. 1 iCustodial servic; -4.5«' HCerrtral- serve; '2.735. $4 900 $4 800 $4,700, $4 600 $4 500 $4:400 2004-05 2005-06 mentioned before, use trustworthy sources (and print their names in a source line at the bottom of the chart). Double-check their math — then have someone check your math when you're done. When drawing charts, be sure all proportions are true. Slices in a pie chart should be mathematically precise; time units in a line chart should be evenly spaced; bars in bar charts should be accurately proportioned (unlike the bars above, which distort the data because they're not stacked on a baseline of zero). Some computer programs can help you plot figures with accuracy. ♦ Label it clearly. Make sure each significant element — every line, number, circle and bar — is instantly understandable. Add a legend, if necessary. Or write an introductory blurb at the top of the chart to tell readers what they're seeing. ♦ Dress it up. Add screens, 3-D effects, photos, illustrations, color — but use them to organize and label the data, not just for decoration. Sure, it's fine to use illustrations to tweak readers' attention (as if to say, Tins chart is about shipping — see the little boat? Get it?), but at too many newspapers it's common to junk up graphics with cartoon clutter. Used carelessly, these effects distort your information and distract your readers. Used with wit and flair, they can make dry statistics fresh and appealing (as in the example at right). So proceed with caution. What makes this pie chart so confusing? Is it the excessive number of slices? (Exactly how many categories ARE there, anyway?) Is it the way all those stripes and dots are impossible to tell apart? Is it the use of a separate key to show percentages, rather than labeling or pointing to each individual pie slice? ATTENDANCE IE 141,530 161,296 195 GRAPHICS GUIDELINES TYPOGRAPHY ♦ Develop graphics style guidelines. You'll save time, avoid confusion and main- |jJR[ {f| ^ & LAYOUT ta*n a consistent look if you adopt strict standards for all type sizes, screen densi- "™'^j,'j'j^ppj|g!'"^~w ^ ties, source and credit lines, dingbats, etc. codifyyowpaper's ♦ Give every sidebar or graphic a headline. Don't force readers to guess what a guidelines for text and map or list means. Even a short title ("What They Earn") clarifies your intent. But graphics................ as mentioned above, use consistent sizes, fonts and treatments. ^ papers experiment ♦ Make it readable. Avoid type smaller than 8 point (except for source or cred- with alternative it lines). Use boldface to highlight keywords. Keep all type horizontal (except for page formats...........76 rivers or roads on maps). Use rules and careful spacing to keep elements from crowding each other and creating confusion. ♦ Position graphics as you would a photo. Generally, small graphics and sidebars are dummied like any other art elements: This 5-column story design uses two graphic elements: a dominant vertical photo and a smaller horizontal tucked into the text. uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu yuvuvuv Uvuvuvuvuy uvuvuvuv uy Vuvuvuvu yuvuvuv Here's that same c using a vertical graphic package as lead art, with a sidebar list boxed and dummied atop those legs of text. For more ambitious packages, consider running graphics in a row, or rail, either down the edge of the main story, along the bottom, or both — as these two outstanding story packages from the Ball State Daily News demonstrate: eifflfMMBäl ...... TROUBLESHOOTING Quick answers to questions frequently asked by designers perplexed about graphics and sidebars: Q What's the best way to make a map? Do you need special software? And is it OK to photocopy a map or a road atlas? You don't need to be a cartographer. You don't need special software. And you don't need to violate copyright laws to produce an accurate map. Suppose you want to show your readers how to find a local park — let's call it Tualatin Commons Park, the site of an upcoming yo-yo festival. Here's the fastest way to customize your own map from an existing source: ; Find an recent, reliable source map: |UB a tourist brochure, a government map, a commercial road atlas, even a Web database. Scan or copy the map into your computer. Or, if the map won't scan cleanly, make a tracing of the key elements — cities, roads, places of interest — and scan that instead. Fire up almost any drawing, photo or layout software that lets you create curvy lines and add type. Using the imported scan as a guide, trace all key roads, cities and places of interest. Eliminate any unnecessary details — unimportant streets, parks, etc. Keep all cartographic elements (roads, rivers, landmarks) that help readers find what they're looking for. Tj/aJafm I Nyberg Rd. Source: City ofTualatin I; Finish your map according to your : newspaper's graphic style. (Here, we're using Frutiger Condensed for street names, light italic for rivers, etc.) Add a source attribution, a distance scale and a north arrow, if appropriate. This map can probably be done in less than an hour. If you need maps of countries and states, you'll find an impressive variety of styles in most clip-art collections (like the example at left). • Once you buy the collection, those maps are yours to print or modify. But remember: You cannot simply scan and publish i c someone else's map. For one thing, map details won't copy well — they'll look messy and fuzzy. But more importandy, most professional maps are copyrighted, and unauthorized copying is stealing. Use them only as references to guide you in creating your own. You said that map above should take about an hour to produce. How long does it usually take to create most graphics? That depends on the complexity of the topic and the skill of the artist. A simple chart could take 20 minutes. A mid-sized graphic {with some sort of illustration) might take several hours. A big color centerpiece can easily take all day. And those complex, exhaustively researched mega- BOGART'S GOALS FOR 2008 graphics you saw a few pages back may take a team of artists, writers and editors weeks to prepare, polish and print. But those are the exceptions. Remember, any publication can supplement stories with short sidebars, fact boxes and lists like the one at right. They're enormously effective, and they don't require time or artistry. Since they simply summarize data that's buried in the text, they can be crafted by reporters — not graphic artists — as they write the story. ♦ Begin construction c! a new Central Point library. ♦ Establish' apension plan for police and fire department employees.,: ♦ Expand Hebb Park to include river access, boat launch.and hiking trails. ♦ Install traffic signals, at three main Advance Road intersections. fiRAPHKS A SiNEBABS TROUBLESHOOTING Street map Det nl Lyndon Intervale i Schoolcraft i New park House ■ I"* Davidson MltES DstroftFree Press Is- * Step into the mi room and enter a world of creativity How do you know which fonts, colors and point sizes to use for graphics? You can waste valuable time and energy reinventing the wheel every time you create a chart, graph or map. That's why smart newspapers produce design stylebooks to codify everything from headlines to bylines to bio boxes. (See page 235 for more.) To produce a useful stylebook, begin by creating textbook examples of every kind of graphic. Then label, as clearly as possible: ♦ Fonts and point sizes for all type. ♦ Screen densities and colors. ♦ Rule styles and thicknesses. ♦ Margins and spacing. ♦ Styles for callouts and arrows. ♦ Guidelines for credits and source attributions. ♦ Styles for any graphic extras (north arrows, map scales, shadows, etc.). The best stylebooks are teaching tools. They use good and bad examples to offer tips and convey philosophy. Sure, they can take weeks to assemble — but in the long run, they can save time by reducing deadline confusion. And by showcasing models of successful graphics, your stylebook may actually inspire staffers to produce them more frequently. We're a small paper and we don't have a graphics department. How do we encourage staffers to get more graphics into the newspaper? To repeat what we said a page ago: You don't need to manufacture monster mega-graphics. But you do need to get small, user-friendly sidebars and fact boxes into more stories more often. So try this: ♦ Maestro your big stories. Smart packaging doesn't happen unless you plan it — and unless editors encourage it. Make it newsroom policy that all major stories must be maestroed in advance (see page 188 for a reminder of how this works). Once you train staffers to generate sidebars for centerpieces, they're more likely to do it for smaller stories, as well. ♦ Make reporters more responsible- for graphics. Successful sidebars don't require drawings, color and artistic talent. In fact, most of your smartest sidebars use just text: tables, lists, Q&A's. Most reporters bury critical numbers in the middle of their stories; train them instead to distill key data into helpful fact boxes. ♦ Make graphic formats accessible and goofproof. Create easy-to-use templates for every simple chart, graph and sidebar, then train all your staffers to use them as a part of their regular reporting routine. ♦ Upgrade your grid. Some grids — like the 7-column tab format at left — force reporters to add extras to their stories (or else you end up with holes in the layout). Experiment with grids that make sidebars essential, not just optional. Colors: fjf HIGHLIGHTS PARKS, FORESTS BACKGROUND STREETS :II HIGHWAYS STREET NAMES 9 pt. Helvetica Neue Condensed Medium CALL-OUTS 10 pt. Helvetica Neue Bold Condensed This entry from the Detroit Free Press' graphics stylebook shows how the paper treats type, color and callouts in maps. 198 1 111 H ■ Sillily There was a time, not too long ago, when all newspaper pages looked serious. Respectable. Gray. Paper was white, ink was black, and everything was locked into rigid gray rows. Today, that's all changed. Newspapers are livelier than ever. Headlines are red, backgrounds are neon blue, and photos run in eye-poppingly true colors. Feature pages look flashy. News pages look flashy. Even business pages look flashy. Go fig-....................... ure. The best designers now pack big bags of graphic tricks. That's partly to make stories more informative, partly to make pages more lively, but mostly to keep up with a world in which everything competes for our attention. Thanks to innovations in computer graphics, design standards keep rising for all informational media. Just watch the news on TV, read some "serious" newsmagazines like Time or Newsweek, or surf the slickest Web sites. J. heir presentation is hvelv; their graphics are zoomy. So if your newspaper insists on being serious, respectable and gray — locking everything into rigid gray rows — you're falling behind the times. You may even be falling asleep (along with your readers). In this chapter, we'll explore graphic techniques that give pages extra energy. These techniques are optional — but with the right combination of taste and technique, special effects like these can find a home on every page in the paper. Bending the rules: Ho w some pages go beyond the ordinary to hit new heights........................200 » The Stewart Variations: Take one photo. One story. One empty page. What are your options for designing a winner?.....................202 r/ Wraparounds and skews: Alternatives to standard text blocks, with guidelines on their use.................206 CHAPTER CONTENTS * Photo cutouts: How to poke body parts out of photos — or simply run entire images against the white page..............208 4* Mortises & insets: The art of overlapping images and text blocks to dramatize layouts.......209 Screens and reverses: What's black and white and gray all over? How screen tints give pages a whole new hue..............210 ■> Display headlines: A look at type trickery that can turn your feature headlines into something dramatic flashy and splashy...................212 * Color: Types of color, how the color printing process works, arid guidelines showing when color will work — and when it won't...............216 * Troubleshooting........223 h. ^^^^^ ^^^M^_2S JVlcft Fury: Agwný of ».u.lI.lBfJ r1^ % JKWÄSäíállilÉ í*' , ws* t«. ^ >% t. S <■ -5" s? i ť/Z čg/fc, ^ ' 4ßt, Á - 'i 'éĚĚÍĚlsĚ •J Also 9 9 Stind» M řatK,' 1606 «P0 Mint«* I wiled IWye«'1 V His '„ 1 " " t W.XK: .\*o. i vlfinU • ito-'ťňeyWji&i klru/tf ttftv&T/iéy probably just ■ . wnttej í gat off.- ího-fius Htiíl the-j lead me up to Um stag» and ť "r asfc 'cm, "b ih&soiutf elitäs ar a real show?" It's almost íhai bé'f ■ Jflit Vftíŕnú.totttftcrmtpartevf ttottowilrvQHddígfwrttputts (i íífltyferOa, they've-been great There used ia bo a pince I pia •' cailcd tha Wh(te Jlors? Baling Aeadetny ~ řfiiinlc it was jr. -.. ftlai vws a höi.cDWüy musicptawi bacJftben. for ihetfiKii'; fr íl (min nad itwrntit; .whKh h d itenl nwrf . ■ ■ Ja; flirt fnfářis OetHJjé "Gwbtr'-täiSšWKluúw fňpNí; , cttiot Aim every now ajittüK-n, aiidhc'^aB«Kl>|Uy. ,'; ^^^^^^^^^niccsA'.: íw pIaj'«i-Mi the AiiKb C|; SPcíM EFFECTS THE STEWART VARIATIONS Newspaper design is a creative craft. And that's especially true on feature pages, where you start with the basic rules of page layout, then nudge and stretch them as far as your time, imagination and sense of taste will allow. For instance, here's a design exercise that demonstrates the range of options designers can choose from. Suppose you're a designer for this daily Living page. Today's cover will be entirely devoted to one hugely overplayed celebrity story, which means you have this space to fill: (i►(?I yf»||« v»'> ' On the next three pages you 11 see 12 Stewart variations. Which do you prefer? To help vou analvze each option, we ve added a score-card like this one: I ■ VOUFi OPINION Headline...................:-.r...... Photo treatment.......s^..:.. Style a flair Overall appeal..........r........ Examine each of the variations. Then write the grades that seem appropriate. The story is a profile of Jon Stewart, who'll soon celebrate his 10th anniversary as host of "The Daily Show." It's a long interview, so you can jump as much text as you like. But only one publicity photo is available (left). So how will you crop this photo? Arrange the text? Write and display the headline? Take a few minutes to create a solution on your own — then, over the next three pages, we'll take a look at a dozen Stewart variations. 202 SPECIAL THE STEWART VARIATIONS □ This no-nonsense news approach simply parks the photo in the top two legs of a 3-column layout. It works, but it's dull. The page is swimming in text. And that banner headline is flat and lifeless —fine for a news story, but too bland for a feature. The good news: This design could be done in a real hurry. The bad news: The page is no fun. Time's nothing here to grab readers. , - YOMimONlMi Headline............................ Photo treatment,............... Style& flair....................... Overall appeal................... Stewart marks 10 years at 'Daily Show' A c i He's phony, but he's funny lheT\' cvnv.dvh£ A We've made the photo more vertical — a more dynamic shape — and anchored it in the middle two legs of a very symmetrical design. We've made the headline bolder and more fun, but it's still just a wide horizontal banner. We've indented around two liftout quotes and a reader-friendly TV fact box. Overall, though, the design remains quite conservative and text-heavy. Headline.............,..„„.,.,..„ Photo treatment................ Style & flair....................... Overall appeal................... m Here, we've decided to try a holder, more colorful display headline, using all-caps red type with a fuzzy drop shadow. The headline alone transforms the page into a muchfeistier feature. The photo now fills half the page, too. That would be too big for a news page — but is it acceptable for features? All in all, you can see that this page design is much bolder than the previous two. YOUR OPINION Headline............................ Photo treatment................ Style & flair....................... Overall appeal................... "Thai-* (fit! b(Mi|1> pföurshm Cwti&ljr or politics. Wotu sort of a nnx . A space »£& potymerof bellr . And now, the A ;-\ news After 10 yesn ashattof the samtcai Daly show." 1m Sltrntirtlimlly ills in the lap ofzlie TV comely heap Let's move the photo back to the middle ofthepage and try a few more symmetrical designs like the one above. In this example, the headline is centered above the photo and uses color for effect. The photo has been cropped much more tightly, focusing on Stewart's face. Note, too, how we force readers to jump across that photo from one leg to the other: a bad idea, or does it work? SI! YOUR OPINION fHfH Headline............................ Photo treatment................ Style & flair....................... Overall appeal................... . SPĚCHU EFFECTS THE STEWART VARIATIONS Here we've moved the headline down, boxing it into the "dead space" in Stewart's chest. Or IS there such a thing as dead space in a photo? (Many photographers and editors would argue that there isn't.) Notice, too, how the text stairsteps down the page as it wraps. Is that awkward? And does the text become too wide at the bottom — or is that OK to do for just a few lines? Headline............... Photo treatment... Style & flair.......... Overall appeal...... A 0 Placing a headline so far down the page may not work on Page One — but is it OK here? Will it be clear to readers that they should begin reading at the top of the left-hand leg? (That's one good reason to start the story with an initial cap.) Notice, too, how we silhouetted the top of Stewart's head. Is that an acceptable treatment for a feature photo? If so, can we cut him out even more? :> vouhpiiiiok Headline............................ Photo treatment................ Style a flair....................... Overall appeal................... B In the previous example, we cut out part of Stewart's head. Now we've cut him out completely. Is that permissible? And how about moving him to the bottom of the page? That can be risky. When you park a big photo below the text, it often looks like an ad or intrudes into other stories. But here, with Stewart's head poking into the text, it anchors the page pretty well. YOlIt OPINION.. Headline............................ Photo treatment................ Style & flair....................... Overall appeal................... JDKSTEWAHJ PUTTING THE I in*;*- ••, t We've tried a few new tricks here: First and foremost, we've carefully cropped and positioned the photo so we'll have room to reverse the headline out of that dark background beside Stewart. Down below, we've placed a box on the photo and inserted the text there. Notice how the stylish headline treatment makes this package seem more like something you'd see in a magazine. ..youropinion mm Headline............................ Photo treatment................ Styles flair....................... Overall appeal................... , ,. SPECIAL EFFECTS .... THE STEWART VARIATIONS EI Let's get conceptual. Since Stewart is celebrating his 10th anniversary, why not make more of the number 10? Here, we've built it into the headline AND the sidebars. The first sidebar is a collection of Ton's jokes; the second is a more interactive guide to Stewart's books and. movies, for fans who want MORE media. It's always smart to provide readers with useful tools as often as you can. VOUR OPINION Headline.......................... Photo treatment............. StyleS flair...................., Overall appeal................. YEARS OF YUKS •>hw-».»r»» ttWifrfdari, Süiiu4&ys, an J £ib prtfays- Ctft' JOWSTEWAJIT celebrates his first decade ostite popithtr anchor for lite fah# nums cn III ntl tut CLASSIC STEWART QUOTES GTEVLftriTCOr.'ICOOMMODITJta Good night and good yuks is popular hast of we Daily stitw A How far are you willing to push those special Photoshop effects? We'd argue that Stewart is a comedian — so it's appropriate to bend the rules a bit. But is the headline type too corny? Is the Stewart-popping-out-of-the-TV too wacky? It's a risky design, but one with a more aggressive attitude. And your ultimate goal, remember, is to grab readers and lure them into the story. SHI YOUR OPINION'. ' Headline............................ Photo treatment................ Styles flair....................... Overall appeal................... Here's another . design that relies upon a conceptual graphic effect, and it all starts with the word SLANT. Slanting the page is a comic effect — just as Stewart slants the news for comic effect. That's the. best argument you could make to convince a reluctant editor to use this treatment: The design is driven by the story's content. It's not just a nutty layout. YOUR OPItUON i Headline...,........................ Photo treatment................ Style & flair....................... Overall appeal................... Here's another treatment that's driven by the story's content. Loyal Jon Stewart fans know he's passionately patriotic even though he's fiercely anti-establishment. (And this aggressive red, white and blue flag-themed design mimics the parodic style he used in his book, "America.)" But compared to the previous examples, there's not much text on this page. Is that a problem? SI y0uh OPINION "•' Headline............................ Photo treatment................ Styles flair....................... Overall appeal,,............ SPECIAL EFFECTS WRAPAROUNDS & SKEWS As we've previously seen — both in the Stewart variations and in the swipeable feature formats in Chapter 2 — text isn't always locked into rigid gray rows. It can, instead, dodge around liftout quotes, flow around photos, and indent around logos and bugs. When a column of text does that, it's called a wraparound, (Some papers call it a runaround. And when it snakes along a jagged piece of art, it's often called a skew.) Wraparounds can be used with a variety of graphic elements: ■ Liftout quotes: Using them with wraparounds........148 PhOtO CUtOUtS: Using them with wraps and skews....................208 Mugs Liftout quotes Headlines UFOs: THREAT OR MENACE? Art or photos Until a few years ago, wraparounds were common in books and magazines, but not in newspapers. That's because they required a lot of time, patience and tricky typesetting codes. But with the advent of page-layout software, type wraps have become a graphic gimmick that's useful for both feature stories and—when used with taste and restraint — hard news. Wraparounds add flair and flexibility to story designs in three ways: ♦ They let you place graphic elements in the middle of a layout without disrupting the flow of the text. ♦ They let a story's artwork interact more closely with its words. ♦ Best of all, they allow you to run graphic elements at their optimum sizes, rather than wedging everything into rigid column widths. As you can see here, wraparounds help you use space more efficiently by letting photos and text interact more tightly: In the layout at left, we've cropped to the edge of the photo frame. But unless we crop into the fighter's leg, we're forced to create a layout that's mostly empty white space. The layout at right, however, fits two legs of type where only one fit before. How? By treating the photo as a cutout, poking both edges into the text. SPEOfAL EFFECTS WRAPAROUNDS & SKEWS GUI Fill WRAPS ♦ Don't overdo it. Any graphic gimmick will annoy readers if they see it too often, and wraparounds are very gimmicky. That's why big, dramatic wraps are usually reserved for special centerpiece features. Think of it this way: The text of a story is a road the reader travels; a wraparound is like a pothole in the road. Steering around one pothole is tolerable, but who wants to drive a road that's loaded with potholes? ♦ Anchor the text block as solidly as you can. Then start poking art into it at carefully spaced intervals. As soon as the art starts overwhelming the text, back off. (Take a look at this page. It uses several wraps — but they're shrewdly positioned along this solid column of text.) In other words, don't let wraps create chaos. Align the text legs solidly on the page grid first, then carefully position skews as appealingly as you can. ♦ Keep text readable. Severe indents and sloppy spacing undermine your design (see box at right for details). ♦ Maintain contrast between the main text block and the object that's poking into it. As you can see here, the sidebar box at right is screened and set off with a drop shadow — and note how the art in the sidebar acts as a buffer between the sidebar text and this main text block. ♦ Don't cut out photos if it damages the image's meaning or integrity. That makes photographers quite angry. (For more on photo cutouts, turn the page.) ♦ Smooth out your skews as much as you can. Abrupt jerks in the width of the text are awkward-looking — and can be awkward to read, too. ♦ Choose sides carefully. As it turns out, skews on the right side are preferable to skews on the left. Judge for yourself: ■ When you indent an illustration or : photo into a colurrr of text, try to run at least three: lines of text above and below :-________............... the indented art - I [0f(^;^^d^r^j0g; ■ Allow a 1-ptca gutter between : the edges of the art and the text. .Run all text at least 6 picas wide ■■: (that's our width .:.: . right here). Anci . keec ir mird how tiring it is to read a deep, skinny totempole of text. Try to: limit all thin> indented legs to a few inches of depth, max. Here's a block of text with a skew along its leftedge. It looks appealing, but notice the way your eyeballs keep bouncing back and forth as you finish one line, then search for the beginning of the next one. That gets annoying pretty quickly, and it turns readers off. ♦ And finally — as we've stressed many to jump back and forth across any simple or ingenious your layout will get confused, lost or annoyed. Take this example, for instance, the designer, that you're sup-then jump across this image of — but most readers will try to get frustrated, then give up Don't believe it? Go back and as if you're a typical clueless But when text skews along the right edge, it's not nearly as difficult to read. Even though each line ends in a different place, your eye always knows exactly where to go to begin the next line. It's like an exaggerated ragged right. So if you have a choice, skew on the right. times before — try not to force readers graphic element. No matter how-may seem to you, your readers Is it worth the risk? It may seem obvious to me, posed to start reading each line, Zippy the Pinhead to finish it read each column separately, without ever getting this far. read the left leg of text there reader and see how you do. SPECIAL EFFECTS PHOTO CUTOUTS We said earlier that photos come in three basic shapes: horizontal, vertical and square. And that's usually true. But occasionally, photos break out of.the confines of the rectangle: This photo ofShaquille O'Neal, with its background intact, is cropped into a standard rectangle. In this partial cutout, Shaq's head and hands poke out of the frame. This is a complete cutout — the entire background is cut away. ARTSSPAC! Smack rhar bass, boy! Arh Vibe This tabloid arts page uses one cutout as a dramatic lead element and another for its downpage story, too. Many photographers and editors loathe this kind of treatment. They argue that it destroys the integrity of the image. (Some even call it "cookie-cutter art.") Designers, on the other hand, consider it a handy technique for creating stylish images for features and promos. They call them cutouts or silhouettes. Why create cutouts? It's usually done for dramatic effect. A photo that's boxed and framed seems flat and two-dimensional. A cutout, by contrast, seems almost - ------------ 3-D. It pops off the page in a fresh, engaging way. It's also a useful way to eliminate a distracting background from a photograph. And it can tighten up a story design by letting the text hug a photo's central image instead of parking a few inches away. How do you create cutouts? You don't carve up the original photo; instead, you scan the image electronically, then trim it using software like Adobe Photoshop. When creating cutouts, remember: ♦ Respect the photograph (and the photographer). A bad crop can change a photo's meaning; a silly silhouette can ruin an image's integrity. So when you can, work with the photographer. Discuss your ideas in advance. When in doubt, don't cut it out. ♦ Use cutouts on features, but decide where you'll draw the line for hard news. What's OK for celebrity photos or fashion * shots may be too distracting or disrespectful for news images. Establish clear guidelines so you can avoid arguments when you're on deadline. ♦ Use images with crisp, dark edges. Light skin and white clothes will fade like ghosts into the background, so be careful. And be especially careful trimming faces, fingers and frizzy hair. Crude cutouts look amateurish. ■208 MORTISES & INSETS -ft mm When one text block, illustration or photo overlaps another, it's called a mortise. When one image is placed inside another, it's called an inset. And here you see four examples of insets and mortises in action: map on photo, photo on photo, photo on text, and text on photo. When creating a mortise or inset: ♦ Overlap only into dead space, or to cover up something questionable or distracting. Avoid crowding or covering any crucial detail. ♦ Mortise only photos of different scale. Always keep readers aware that they're looking it two overlapping elements — not one big, oddly-shaped photo. ♦ Maintain contrast between overlapping elements: dark onto liglil I «;ht onto dark. If photos have similar tonal values, add a gutter m »hadow around the inset photo, as we've done here. Note: I've included this page despite hysterical protests from some of my colleagues, who believe mortises are downright evil. One even wrote me a letter that went like this — The pnr&Meot board said todfijdbfestmet to the neipiUast taxes — to show that you'd never stack one leg of text on top of another, so why do it with photos? To which I say: Fine. If you don't like it, don't do it. NYAAAHH! ... ■ SPECIAL SETS SCREENS & REVERSES Ink is black. Newsprint is white. So how do we create shades of gray? We do it by fooling the reader's eye. Instead of using gray inks, we create the illusion of gray by printing row upon row of tiny black dots in a dot screen. And the bigger those dots are, the darker the gray is. We've seen how this works in halftones (page 121), but here's how dot screens create gray tints: ] 0% I____ 10% 20% 40% ,;«!%• As these examples show, screen densities are measured by percentages. A 50% screen will be half-filled with black dots, while a 100% screen is solid ink. That ink doesn't have to be just black, either. You can create screens with any color ink, or with any combination of colors — for instance, if you look closely at a color newspaper photo through a magnifying glass, you'll see it's actually a mass of red, yellow, black and blue dots (see page 217). Screens ^tffff IP Or they can Or they can '. m'' can be used "llfef create gray '. provide back- for printing #fiS„ rules, bars ground tints gray type: ,#S„ Jl'Ik and boxes: S':v=;:-::::: : behind type: ■■ ■ ■ ■ When screens are used to create background tints, they impair the legibility of type. It's not too difficult to read black type on a light (10%) screen, but as screens get darker, reading gets harder. And it's nearly impossible to read type on dark screens unless the type is reversed— that is, printed white instead of black: ; This is 10-point type on #i This is 10-point type a white background. , orTa 10% black screen.' | It's easy to read, : It's fairly easy to read | no matter how long but works best in , ; the story is. small doses. :. This is 10-point type reversed on solid , (100%). black. It's easy to read, but only in ■ small doses. Screens and reverses dramatically expand the range of contrast on black-and-white pages. Because they're so conspicuous, they call attention to themselves and are best used to accentuate headers, logos, headlines and sidebars. They can also be integrated with photos and illustrations to create a tighter, more striking package, as in this example: In this feature layout, the photo illustration sits above the text and its sidesaddle headline. But there's empty space tn the photograph that could be put to use... BORN FREE I.L'l'.. l1uiuu1 luujuuuu; UUUIIUU/ UUUUUJU^ [km LUUiUU LUUUUiUUU .. . and here, a reversed headline and black deck are placed on the photo. This connects the headline to the image and allows more text to.fit in the columns below. SPECIAL EFFECTS SCREENS & REVERSES iui is f81 JSII SCREENS Not legible: ♦ Don't overdo it. Don't splatter screens and reverses at whim, or your paper will hie si P look like a clumsy circus poster. Use special effects only to highlight items diat are ^ Halftones- H special or different: a feature headline, a column logo, an infographic. Readers dot screens are often regard these effects as cosmetic decorations, so think twice before screening used to reproduce hard news stories. Photos;121 ♦ Don't diminish the readability of text. Any screen or reverse slows readers * ^amp^ofd^ffifLt down (and should thus be used only in small doses), but some combinations of screens at work.....212 fonts and screens create obstacles that are impossible to overcome: # color: when to use color tints and This-is S-point serif .type. It's. • too small. And senf.fonts are . hard to read when they're : . printed against gray screens.: Snik'-riiC! yo ■ aJcfu i I ii i! ■[ I'fu, Ijl: 'tfjiint' i tr I us ino-ead It' 1-ju drk -too rnrc t'i ii-nd Legible: ■ This is. a 9-pomt sans serif.: - font. Sans serif fonts,. especially bold, are more readable against screens, but use 9-point or larger. Thisis a true. ,10% screen: ■ Ifseasy onthe eyes. With: ,a darker screen, either..... -gray or in color; yourisk,.: losing legibility. When type is reversed out of solid black, the . letters keep their shape: And bolder type is evert easier to read. ♦ Don't screen small text type, unless you don't mind if it breaks apart like this. Gray headlines are OK, but be sure the font is big and bold, since the dot screen may give it a slightly ragged edge. ♦ Position the type thoughtfully. Avoid violating a good photo composition with a crowded (or awkwardly floating) reversed headline or cutline. Any added type should complement the central image — not compete with it. This reversed headline fits awkwardly into that negative space. It's jammed too tightly against the image — and there's too much dark dead space above and below it. Here, the words in the headline have been restacked, giving the image more breathing room and filling the space more evenly. The elements are now better balanced. You can see how a distracting background affects (1) black type, (2) reversed type and (3) reversed type with a black shadow. Try to maintain at least a 50% difference in screen value between type and its background. ♦ Don't print type against distracting backgrounds. Look at the mottled, inconsistent background in the photo below. In such cases, a drop shadow behind the type may improve legibility—but proceed with caution. As a rule, type is legible only when it's dark against light or light against dark. Drop shadows (like those in line 3 at left) are made by sandwiching two layers of type, one behind the other, like this: I + 1 = 211 . SPECIAL EFFECTS ■.. •....... DISPLAY HEADLINES Ordinary news stories use ordinary headlines. And then there are features. Feature stories let you stretch beyond the confines of those routine Council-mulls-landfill-zoning headlines. Using type as a tool, you can make a cultural statement. Forge a new visual identity. Or craft a miniature work of art. Some newspapers allow designers total freedom to create loud, lively \ headlines like those on this page. Others insist that display head-\ lines follow the same rules — and "\ use the same typefaces — as the rest of the paper (that's to keep feature stories from looking too different from the rest of the news). So before you plunge too far off the deep end, be sure you know the limits of your editors' tastes — as well as the limits of your own typographic skills. These wild V crazy display headlines were concocted at The Asbury Park Press (top left), The Oregonian (thetwo middle pages at left and the middle page below), The Ball State. Daily News (bottom left) and The Detroit News (bottom right). ..... SPECIAL EFFECTS . DISPLAY HEADLINES II Mi SPLAY ILINES It can take hours — days — to write the perfect headline for a special story. But while you're waiting for inspiration to strike, you may need to go ahead and dummy that story, leaving a hole for the headline to fill later. In the dummy at right, the designer left a horizontal space for a headline — which later turned out to be "Beauty and the Beast." With enough time and energy (and a big bag of fonts to choose from), you could fill that hole with a headline like this: This typeface (Coronet Script)'-" is aqua with both a white and a blurry black drop shadow. The "B" is 92 pt.; the lower-case letters are 116pt. HEADLINE A 36-pt............• Berkeley italic ampersand, white with a liaht shadow. THE This novelty font (Neuland) .- is reversed out of black. •' "the" is 14 pt., solid white; "beast" is48pt., with a gradient that runs from yellow to orange. Like many designers, you may have access to dozens of typefaces and to computer software that can crunch, curve and contort type. Fine — but go easy. Even if you're restricted to just one type family, you can use screens, rules and boxes to add style and variety. The headlines below, for instance, use just the Futura family. Let's take a closer look at how their components were crafted:* Solid black type.........Fj | A I I I \A Widely tracked u l*\\—9 i 1 type, centered........... -AND THE- on a .5-pt. rule Solid black type •....... BEAUTY 10% black box with a .5-pt. border and .....• • a 20% shadow ..... Type reversed out of a solid black 6-pt. bar 30% black type • • Type centered in a 12-pt. bar; screen fades from 0 to 50% to 0 Solid black type • ••A N D THE BEAST 20% black type (uses two .5-pt. shadows: one • ■ white, one 50% black) Box uses a graduated screen (from 50% top ........ j0 5% bottom). Shadow is 40% Mack, blurred in Photoshop 20% black type with a 50% shadow..... Type centered between .5-pt. rules spaced 2 pts. apart Solid black type with a 20% shadow BEAUTY Type reversed out of a black box with a .5-pt. ........ reversed inline 50%> black type Type reversed out of black, with .4-pt. rules spaced 1.5 pts. apart 213 * Because screens vary from one printer to another, the densities used here may need adjustment at youi paper. SPECIAL Efr^CTS DISPLAY HEADLINE GUIDELINES ♦ Don't overdo it. Sure, noodling around with type is oodles of fun. But don't turn your pages into circus posters. Use restraint. Reserve display headlines for special occasions: big feature stories, special news packages or photo spreads. Too much: Sure, it's a matter of personal taste. But if you park display headlines in every corner of the page, it'll look like rebel bands of typographers seized control of your newsroom. When you put too much emphasis on decoration, you distract your readers. tech TAX ♦ Match the tone of the story, Be sensitive to your topic. Use bold, expressive type when it's appropriate (below, left) — but don't impose it on topics that require more understated, dignified type (below, right). About right: Here, we've saved the flashy type for where we need it most: in the lead story and that small feature in the bottom corner. Because the other stories are standard news items, they get standard headlines. This typography subliminal!)' helps readers sort the news. iyj Living with. ♦ Keep it Short and punchy. To give a display headline maximum impact, build it around one or two key words or a clever, catchy phrase. Think of popular movie titles (faws, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Snakes on a Plane) and keep your story titles equally tight. Wide, wordy headlines may be fine for hard news stories — BABY BUNNIES SPREAD EASTER JOY — but phrases like that may seem heavy or threatening on feature pages. So play with the story topic to draw out a short, punchy title. Then play with the phrasing to decide where the graphic emphasis should go. S3 1 j and the K XT, AM) 'i'lii-: . SPECIAL EFFECTS DISPLAY HEADLINE GUIDELINES This headline floats too much. It's not anchored. The leading looks awkward and uneven — and worse, none of the words align. It wastes space and calls too much attention to itself. On a busy page, this headline would just add to the confusion. This headline is all lower case. And as you can see, many lowercase characters don't stack well vertically; the contours of the ascenders and descenders leave uneven gaps that are difficult to fill smoothly. ♦ Grid it off. That's design jargon for aligning your type neatly into the story design. Wild, ragged words that float in a free-form, artsy way just add clutter and noise. And noise annoys readers. Instead, enlarge, reduce, stretch or stack words so they're solidly organized. Si Si V3 ih in ingin in the Rain 4~1 11 As you manipulate the words, watch for natural breaks in phrasing. Will key words play better wide? Narrow? Centered? Stacked vertically, a headline may work best ALL CAPS. And you may want to run a word or line in a different weight or font (be careful, though) for emphasis or variety. the story ♦ Go easy on gimmicks. We've all seen terrific typography on movie posters, beer bottles and CD covers. But those are designed by highly paid professionals. Your daring headlines may look clumsy — or illegible — if you choose goofy fonts, run headlines sideways, create artsy hand-lettering. So beware, beware of gimmicky type. Do you really want readers to think you're a flake? v *» be i% Each of these headlines is neatly stacked. The top one aligns flush right; the bottom one lines up (on a slight angle) along both sides. Notice how some words have been resized to ensure a clean fit. Note, too, how in each headline the second line manages to avoid the descender of the "g". The words in that middle headline flow around the uneven ascenders and descenders. Notice how the "f" and the "y" flow together; notice how the dot of the "i" has been replaced by the word "of." At right, the key words now use all caps to provide more solid, even contours. ARE THEY Novelty type: Sorry, but some typographic cliches are hopelessly corny. Silly or gimmicky type can instantly make you look like an amateur. Special effects: Tilting, tinting, stretching, shading — a little goes a long, long way. It's fun to do, but it just adds noise and distraction. Sharing letters: Enlarged caps can add a decorative touch. But trying to share jumbo letters can be confusing. (SUNDAY CHOOL? CHOOLYt) tADDERT Rules and bars: The stacks in tins headline go on and on and on. Too many rules, bars and words make headlines dense and stripey. SPEGÍÄL EFFEßTS COLOR For decades, newspaper editors stubbornly insisted that color was fine for the Sunday funnies, but news pages should be black and white and read all over. But in the '80s, after USA Today launched, newspapers finally realized that color isn't just decoration; it attracts readers as it performs a variety of design functions: The flag This solid cyan tint makes USA Today's logo immediately recognizable. Each of the paper's section fronts is branded with its own color, too: the Sports header is red, Money is green and Life is purple. Typography Notice how color is used to make special type elements pop; the red and yellow "Coaches' Poll" box, the blue kicker for the lead population story. Even those bullets on the Newsline briefs are color-coded to each section of the paper. Photography Prior to 1980, photojournalism was primarily a black-and-white craft. But at most modern publications, color photos on section fronts are mandatory. Color reproduction is more diffiadt and expensive, but that cost is offset by the appeal color photos have and the added information they convey. Illustrations Newspapers have been colorizing art ever since they started printing the Sunday funnies more than a century ago. On this page, you can see two common uses for color illustrations: creating images for use in graphics (like the car at right), and producing special logos (the Campaign 2006 button at right and that Newsline Weekend Edition label above). MSaWlin,Onnb Nusth Kni-i rays ir. vrú bairar sancibns itnp«ttf affe r n udear «St. 1ÍK FerrisBuefler reduced to purr fiction? ■nicd^rfifcipftosdjwt^ptongawavwiihn ^psai rote ^ewwr, hue without debate. 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Vattti who an p>» any renm find ite wstwri nw conrenjpni, says r^V.riilt^i5BfdKCclaiidffi»cittirj tJiBES-office. > B«aar nbhl ti'sbCuriS. Oraige Cuuntj'. CiLit, tits clsencui >iir,kK-s vrairfi'no tw WEo- u baLlet bws sud MGr&5arcTCCOTffidr»a.eniinryware-hvjw.TWrwstauds^rlimi jsniuchof (lw pracew as lie ran1" sap Brett ttav-ley; o[ thf reji iswfs ofce. Promos & teasers Front-page promos have two jobs to do: 1) attract attention, and 2) guide readers inside. The best way to attract attention, obviously, is to run lively, compelling color images — especially faces of well-known celebrities. Most newspapers dedicate the top portion of Page One to promos using color photos and color type. Color screens Adding a color screen to the background of a story is an effective way to give it extra emphasis. Notice how the orange screen gives the lead story more visual punch. (The same is true for that ad at the bottom of the page, too.) Infographics Charts, graphs and maps rely on screens and rules to separate elements and enhance readability. And adding color makes them even more effective, as you can see in that U.S. map. Large-scale color infographics can become the centerpiece of a page, particularly when no photos are available. Small, color infographics (like that pie chart) provide essential data, as well. Advertisements More and more papers now run color ads on Page One. There's surely an ad on the back page of this section, too, since sharing color printing positions with advertisers defrays the newsroom cost of color production. Tins fsH>fť?& nights affd up fasfer with ilK CA*Y tHOfcr rewards pragma Writ see you there. 67867892 SPECiM. EFFECTS TYPES OF COLOR SPi CiLC Ordinarily, printers use just one color of ink: black. But for a little extra money, they'll add a second ink to the press — a spot color.— to let you print pages in a new hue. (For even more money, you can add several spot colors to your paper. But unless you can coax an advertiser into sharing the color and footing the bill, you could blow your whole printing budget on a few colorful pages.) Any single color — green, orange, turquoise, mauve, you name it — can print as a spot color. But because readers are so accustomed to basic black and white, any added color has instant, dramatic impact. So proceed with caution. Some "hot" colors (pink, orange) are more cartoony than "cool" ones (blue, violet) — so choose hues that suit your news. Like basic black, spot colors can print as either solid tones or tints. Here, for instance, are some screen percentages for a spot blue: 10% BLUE 30% BLUE 50% BLUE You add richness and variety to spot colors by mixing in black: 20% BLUE+ 10% BLACK At left is a duotone, a photo that's reproduced using both black and a spot color. As you can see in the enlargement below, the duotone combines different-sized black and blue screened dots to create the blue-gray effect. Pastels work best for background screens, while solid tones are best for borders and type: THIS IS 100% BLUE/20% BLACK TYPE OVER A10% SLUE SCREEN WITH A100% BLUE BORDER FULL But what if you want to print all the colors — the whole rainbow? You could add hundreds of separate spot inks, but that would cost a fortune (and you'd need a printing press a mile long). Instead, we can create the effect of full color by mixing these four process colors: CYAN MGENTA mm BLACK By layering these four colors in different densities, a printing press can create almost any hue. Publishing process color costs more— not only for the extra ink, but for the production work that's needed to prepare and print pages. Though desktop-publishing hardware and software has streamlined the process, the end result is still the same: color images must ultimately be separated into those four process colors, then recombined as the presses roll. (See page 222.) At left is a full color photograph that has been reproduced using all four of the process colors. As you can see in the enlargement below, the image combines different-sized cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow and black screened dots to create the effect of full color. Process colors can print as either solid tones or screens. Here, for instance, are the four process colors reproduced as 20% screens: 20% CYAN 20% MAGENTA 20% YELLOW ;20yil3j Combining different values of process colors creates new hues: 50% 10 CYAN CYAN, 40 50% MAGENTA, YELLOW SO YELLOW Pastels work best for background screens, while solid tones are best for borders and type: 50% CYAN.' 100% MAGENTA TYPE OVER A 20% MAGENTA/30% YELLOW SCREEN WITH A100% CYAN BORDER SPECIAL EFFETS ADDING COLOR TO A PAGE AK UfflJ .-ionot. Wm This feature page from The Washington Times demonstrates that color doesn't need to be excessive to be effective. The designer, working with a limited color palette, has carefully balanced the color elements on this page. "We've got spot purple on this page if we want it." Ohhhh, what a dangerous temptation that is. What a quick way to turn a nice newspaper into junk mail. Yes, color can be a blessing.....or a curse. It can delight your readers or destroy your design. Using color successfully requires tight deadlines. Quality control. Extra money. Extra planning. So plan for color. Don't treat it like a surprise gift. And above all: ♦ Go easy. Resist your initial urge to go overboard. Don't splash color around the page just to get your money's worth. Remember, black and white are colors, too — and newspapers have managed to look handsome for centuries without adding extra inks. ♦ Don't use color for color's sake. Remember, it's a news paper. Not the Sunday funnies. If you're deciding whether to run a color photo of circus balloons or a black-and-white photo of a bank holdup, choose the image that's meaningful — not just pretty. ♦ Beware of colorizing false relationships. Color creates connections, even where none actually exist. Put a red headline, a red chart and a red ad on the same page, and that tint may unite them all in the reader's mind. That can be misleading (depending upon the layout). Colors speak to each other. So if you don't want to connect unrelated elements, try not to brand them with the same hue. ♦ Be consistent. Don't run a purple flag one day, a green flag the next; blue subheads here, red ones there. Give your pages a consistent graphic identity by standardizing colors wherever they're appropriate. Use this chart to plan ahead: WHERE TO ADD SPOT COLOR THESE WILL 'I «:.i-,^-.V WORK IN COLOR:* ♦ Illustrations ♦ Charts, maps and i urographies ♦ Photos (full-color only) ♦ Nameplates ♦ Logos and sigs ♦ Ads i ♦ Rules, headers and:art h in classified ads ! m THESE WILL .: WORK IN COLOR:" Note the screen used in the background of this box. It's called a gradient or blend because it gently fades from one tint to another. Graduated screens offer a bit more texture than standard color screens but work best when their colors remain subtle. ♦ Display headlines (for big feature stories) ♦ Photo duotones (for special feature stories) ♦ Boxed stories/sidebars (light screen tints only) ♦ Lift quotes, initial caps (best if used in conjunction with color headlines or color illustrations) > Decorative rules/bars ♦ Borders around photos ♦ Signposts: teasers, headers, indexes, etc. (butavoidcompetmgiwith ■;■ ; similar:colors on the page) • ♦ Boxed subheads within a feature story THESE WILL ii&W.^ WORK IN COLOR: s/4 '/l ♦ Photographs (printed ■fcsi with just one spot color) ♦ News headlines ♦ Text type/cutlines ♦ Boxed or screened hard news stories ^Depending upon: (1) your choice of tint, and (2) whether the color creates misleading relationships between unrelated elements on the page. 218 SPECIAL EFFECTS .. .... ADDING COLOR TO A PAGE Adding color to a black-and-white page is a tricky thing. Where should it go? How much is too much? For best results, remember that a. little goes a long way. It would be unrealistic to dictate where color can or cannot be used — but as these examples show, some choices generally succeed more than others: Here's a typical page in basic black. It may be gray, but it's not dull: By combining a variety of rules, bars and graphic elements, it presents an attractive mix of contrasts. It doesn't need extra decoration; any color we add should probably be functional, not decorative. LOCAL NEWS LOCAL NEWS UiMMi umjuuuuuuuuuuuu/ In the race to add color to this page, the advertiser got there first. And since that red ad is so distinctive and hud, any red we add to the news design may seem related to that ad. That's a problem. To maintain a distinction between news and advertising, you can choose, to use a minimum of editorial color. Here, we've applied red only to the header — and we've added 20% black to it, to give it ahue that's different from that ad. LOCAL NEWS LOCAL NEWS Without color in that ad, we're free to colorize our editorial layout. Still, we've used restraint. We've applied spot color for organization, not just decoration. Red bars in the header and news briefs help anchor the layout; red bars in the bar graph make the information easily discernable. And the lead photo is now a duotone- permissible because it's a feature photo, not liard news. IfcilUMJ IMMUIIMIUUUUUULV "3 ■ II J uuuuiuuMUituiur MIKE'S BIKES ' iii 1/1/j I.UUVUILUU I li if He li ii i UlMMUUJUIU/JjMUlm.u.u Ikuuuutuili a^Vf^i MIKE'S Z^'T^aCT bikes We've made some poor choices here — and now the page looks silly. Pink screens taint the credibility of the news. Red headlines and liftout quotes lose integrity. Red rules and boxes distract readers, calling attention to unimportant design elements. And that red photo? It shows how poorly photos print using only process color. The page is weak — and worse, those colorized news elements all seem related, somehow, to Mike's Bikes. 219- SPEGiM. EFFECTS. COLOR GUIDELINES This Fourth of July trivia page was done on the run: The designer had no art, no budget and no time to play. But this clever solution uses only type and spot color to turn afunctional layout into a patriotic pattern. The red, white and blue colors instantly communicate the theme of the story. .........H.__________................ .... . ... .... ....................... ♦ Use appropriate colors. Colorize pages the way you'd decorate your living room. And unless you live in a circus tent, that means choosing comfortable hues (blue and tan, for instance) more often than harsh ones (pinks or bright greens). The integrity of a news story will be damaged if wacky colors surround it, and the impact of a page will be negative if readers are turned off by your color choices. Colors convey moods. "Hot" colors (red, yellow) are aggressive. "Cool" colors (blue, gray) are more relaxing. So make sure your colors produce the effect you want. And remember, too, that certain color combinations have unshakable associations. For example: Red = blood, Valentine's Day. Green ~ money, St. Patrick's Day. Red + green = Christmas, Mexico. Brown - Uh, let's just say a stinky brown can flush away a solid page design. Like it or not, these color cliches are lodged in your readers' brains. So make these colors work for you — not against you. ♦ Keep background screens as pastel as possible. When we examined background tints back on page 211, we saw how difficult it is to read text that's buried beneath a dark screen. Well, it's a problem whether the background is black, blue, brown or any dark color. Whenever you run text in a sidebar, chart or map, keep all underlying screens as light as you can. (These will usually be below 20%, but actual numbers vary from press to press. Check with your printer to see what the lightest printable percentages are.) If you must add type to a dark screen, reverse it in a font that's big or bold enough to remain readable even if the printing registration is poor. This page suffers from poor color choices. Green and purple — not a very popular color combo — are run as solid tones, and the lack of contrast makes the headline tough to read. The color green was probably meant to suggest money (see the dollar bill sign in the headline?), but the overall effect is dismal. This is 10 ucir I type owr a 10U% cyan screen Bk. iuse uV b ckground tint is cojntense, *bc type is hard to redd This is 1 u-point type over a 10% cyan screen. : Because the background tint is pale, the type is easy to read. This is 10-point type over a 10% magenta/ 15% yellow screen. Because the color is pastel, the type is easy to read. Illlilllllll . BPECmi EfFEGTS COLOR GUIDELINES -■/■ft. This color photo printed correctly. The color inks are properly balanced, so the colors are rich and true. The four color plates are properly aligned, so the image is. crisp and well-focused. ♦ Don't overreach your technology. Color production is difficult to do well. It's costly. Its time-consuming. And in the hands of a sloppy printer, it's extremely disappointing. So it pays to learn your limits. Illustrations that look gorgeous on a computer monitor often turn to mud on newsprint. Color photos look worse than black-and-whites when the inking is poor or the registration is off (i.e., the color plates print out of alignment): So use color conservatively until you're certain of the results you'll get. And beware of small, detailed graphics or headlines that demand perfect color registration to succeed — or you'll face legibility problems like this: THIS HEADLINE REGISTERS IHBHaUHISOOGSmP ♦ Watch the volume level of your colors. Want your page to look like a Hawaiian shirt? That's what'll happen if you use too many solid tones or too many different colors. So go easy when you colorize. Use bold, vivid colors for accent only, in key locations (drawings, feature headlines, reverse bars). Elsewhere, for contrast, use lighter screens or pastel blends. And if you're designing with full color, try color schemes that accent one or two hues — not the whole rainbow. Decorative colors are like decorative typefaces. In small doses, they attract; in large doses, they distract. ♦ Consult a color chart before you create new colors. Some papers fail to mix colors and end up running all their color effects in basic blue, red and yellow. As a result, they look like a comics section: loud and unsophisticated. But suppose you want to beef up your blue by adding a little black to it. How much black should you add? 10%? 50%? Or suppose you want to mix magenta and yellow to make orange. Should you simply guess at the right recipe — say, 20% magenta + 50% yellow? Don't guess. Don't trust what you see on a computer monitor, either — a lot can change between your computer and the pressroom. Instead, ask your printer to give you a color chart (right), which shows how every color combination looks when printed. You can even create your own chart — but be sure it's printed on the same paper your newspaper uses, so all your hues are true. 4& 5% 10% 20% 30% MAGENTA 5% 10% 20% 30% This photo reveals the dangers of poor color production. The inks look washed out and badly balanced. And because the four plates are so far out of alignment, the image looks fuzzy — barely legible. If your color printing looks like this, you're better off using black-and-white. A color chart shows how process inks look when they're combined. This portion of a chart, for instance, shows the tints you get when you add magenta and cyan to 20% yellow. The box highlighted at left shows the tint that results from mixing 20% yellow, 20% magenta and 20% cyan. 221 ■ SPECIAL EFFECTS PRINTING FULL COLOR How do you print full-color art and headlines using just four different-color inks? The technology is complex, but the process is simple. Here's how it works for a typical color image: Stop ono: The artist draws this color illustration on a computer using an illustration program. As she draws, she creates customized colors in the software's color palette and evaluates the. results on her color monitor. (If she's smart, she calibrates her monitor so the colors on her screen match the colors as they will actually print.) When she finishes drawing, she'll transmit this image as a digital file. If this were a drawing on paper, it would need to be separated into process colors by a digital scanner, which uses color filters to digitize the image so it can be printed. Step two: The image is output to a high-resolution printer called a typesetter (or imagesetter). The typesetter separates the image into the four process colors, producing film negatives, called 'separations," for each color using only black lines and dots. Step three: Those four different color separations must now be copied again, reproduced onto flat, flexible plates for the printing press — one for each color of ink. When the press starts to roll, each color plate will print the images shown here. Cyan separation Magenta separation Yellow separation Black separation Cyan plate Magenta plate Yellow plate Black plate Printed image Step four: The presses roll. Newsprint passes across cylinders that, one after another, print each of the four color plates using the four process color inks. If the inks are correctly balanced — and if the newsprint is properly aligned as it passes through the press — then the colors will be accurate and the image will be sharply focused, or "registered." And only examination under a magnifying glass will show how dots of those four process-color inks create the illusion of full color. Every printer has different standards and techniques for processing color images. That's why, to ensure quality control, you must develop a rapport with your printer and production crew. SPECIAL EFFEOTS. TROUBLESHOOTING Quick answers to questions frequently asked by designers perplexed about special type and color effects: 0 Some art directors say you should never use "gimmicky" headline fonts — that you should never deviate from your paper's font palette. Is that right? Never say never. It's true that you should avoid spraying fonts willy-nilly around your newspaper. (You should also avoid fonts with silly names like Willy-Nilly.) After all, you don't want your paper looking like a circus poster. Or do you? Suppose you're running a feature story on clowns, for instance. Which of these headlines is most appropriate? Most of us might agree that this font is junky and the colors are garish. A handful of headlines like this make a paper noisy and amateurish. Send in the CLOWNS Now, suppose this headline uses our standard news headline font. Sure, it's more respectable and refined. But how dull would our paper be if no headline could ever be more exciting than this: SEND IN THE Yes. this headline uses circus type to illustrate a circus story. But is that necessarily bad? Wouldn't this be a successful way to draw readers into the story? Bottom line: Yes, "gimmicky" fonts can look ugly, sloppy and cliched. But with the right topic and the right style, they can look fresh and appropriate. It's often a matter of taste. So don't fault the fonts. And don't outlaw typographic creativity. Most papers work their standard fonts everywhere they can, but they make allowances for special cases. Try to establish guidelines to define what's "special." We've asked it before, and we'll ask it again: Overall, how many typefaces should a typical newspaper use? That's up to you (see the "Troubleshooting" question on page 42). But before you select typefaces for your newspaper, consider how versatile they are. Some type families offer little variation; others come in a variety of styles and weights that will accommodate a variety of topics and headline treatments. For example: This is Times: a classic, but available in just four fonts. You may find those four fonts don't provide enough versatility. Regular Italic This is Interstate. It's available in 12 fonts, providing a wide range of styles and weights appropriate for news and feature stories alike. m BkA BOLD COMPRESSED 1 BLACK Q ccrateas«« Light 11 UnM s r-|jLigh.t condensed eT§ SfeS - regular i mi wir Ä Eiz-gg , My editor never allows us to run text or outlines either a) flush right, or J b) reversed. He says it makes the type unreadable. Is that true? As far as flush right text goes, your editor has a point. Too much ragged left text, as we've discussed before, can be annoying. But in small blocks like this one, it's no problem. And cutlines, in particular, often benefit from running flush right against a photo. 1.1 your printer is careful, you should have no problem running reversed type like . this. If you're afraid the type will smudge, try running it slightly bigger like this, or bigger and bolder like this. Try a few cautious tests to determine the most legible, readable solution. This black background, by the way, isn't just solid black. We've also added 15% cyan — an old trick to make the black look darker and richer. Solid black ink, by itself, often looks washed-out or splotchy. SP£CSäL EFFECTS TROUBLESHOOTING 4,5,8,0 5,8,13,0 5,8,13,0 I 61,16,16,0 12,100,51,20 At our newspaper, we mix colors in an unorganized and inconsistent way. How do we develop a handsome, reliable color palette? Good color doesn't just happen. It takes careful research and patient testing, on newsprint and on your press. (Remember, there's a world of difference between the colors you see on your computer monitor and the colors your press actually prints on paper.) (....._________._____ Every newspaper needs an official color guideline like the one at right. To develop it, a team of artists at The Oregonian spent weeks testing hue after hue in maps, charts and headlines until they agreed upon these 10 colors, colors that complement each other while performing every necessary duty. Want a color palette of your own? Here's a quick three-step method: O Go to a hardware store, a paint store, a K-mart — anywhere they sell house paint. Pick up booklets or paint chips showing a range of pre-coordinated decorator colors (i.e., the Tortilla Brown that goes so fabulously with their Bahama Blue). E3 Visit your printer and ask to see the Pan-tone ink book. Pantone is a company whose inks have set the industry standard, and they've given every possible hue a number. So match the paint-chip colors you like with the numbers in the Pantone ink guidebook (550 blue, 716 orange, etc.). M Sit down at your computer and open a drawing program (Freehand, Illustrator), a page-layout program (QuarkXpress, InDesign) or a photo program (Photoshop). Begin creating your color palette by choosing those Pantone numbers, then converting them to CMYK. Once you've selected a palette of complementary colors — which can range from five to 20 hues — begin testing and fine-tuning them on live pages until they print consistently, predictably and attractively. (By the way, the toughest color to produce is beige. Take, for example, the beige we've used throughout this book. After carefully testing and retesting, we finally settled upon this formula: 5% cyan, 6% magenta, 12% yellow. So how well has it printed in your version of this book? Is it truly a sandy beige — or is it too pink? Too green? Too yellow?) Our photo editor won't allow us to run any headlines on photos, or to use any photo cutouts, because it damages the images' integrity. Is that true? We asked this question back on page 140. We're asking it again now, because it comes up constantly in newsrooms everywhere. Where do you draw the line with cutouts and superimposed headlines? As we said before, newspapers are behind the curve when it comes to stylizing images. So analyze magazines and newspaper pages like the one at left. Discuss what works. Decide where to draw the line, then allow careful experimentation. -224- •CHARTBASE 1 •CHARTBASE 2 (w/white) CHARTBASE 3 •POINTER HIGHLIGHT BAR/LINE 1 (green) BAR/LINE 1 (blue) BAR/LINE 1 (red) BAR/LINE 1 (dk. green) BAR/LINE 1 (brown) 5,6,12,0 ooner or later, your paper will need new logos. A special themed page. A new section. A major typographic face-lift. Or a complete organizational overhaul. So where will you begin? Where will you find ideas? How will you I know what needs changing? ..................................................................-......................................... JUST LOVÍ THIS NEW 7-COLUMH GRID! How will you decide on the best typefaces and formats? And more importantly, who will decide? Will it be up to the designer? The editor? A redesign committee? The readers? Long ago, newspapers never worried about these things. They'd go years — decades — without upgrading any of their design components. It didn't matter to the subscribers, so it didn't matter to the editors, either. But in today's competitive marketplace, every product must remain as fresh as possible. That's why cars are redesigned every year. Department stores redecorate every five years. And many magazines get cosmetic make- -overs every three or four years. * It's essential for newspapers to regularly reinvent themselves, too. And though any redesign project can seem overwhelming at first, here's a chapter of advice and inspiration to help things run smoothly. AND GET A LOAD Of THE DINGBATS IN THAT SKYBOX! bWT£«»8ITS ■y Redesigning your paper: What IS a redesign? Here are nine steps to doing one successfully..........226 & Evaluating your paper: The newspaper design report card — a way to identify your strengths and weaknesses..........228 " Gathering examples: Borrowing design ideas from America's best-designed papers..........230 Compiling a shopping list: A checklist to help you decide which design components you'll repair or replace..........2J1 * Building prototypes: Tips on building sample pages that test your redesign ideas.............232 Testing and promotion: Learning how your readers feel - and showing them what you're up to.......234 « Writing a styEebook; Codifying the styles and formats for your paper's design elements..........235 * Launching and following Up: Refining your new look once it's in place..................236 s Redesign gallery: A before-and-after study of three papers............237 * Troubleshooting........241 iliiil ■ REDESIGNING YOUR PAPER What do we mean by a redesign? Let's take a before-and-after look at a feature page as it overhauls its typography, its grid and its design philosophy: The Bate Bra Section D 1 fiflll ILlWIlP Tu Friday, ;epl.2O.20Q6 Politicians really hank me oft sometimes She makes tri fJS'Btn L?l^ n'U5 f£4 1fr ItifrloWHiihW [1K.-T « Bit nill- vnJJ JTj KAii37 bjj 3L'I ^iJ lAjßl ill flhm. loiflzcBn Li SLV1A. nviMWctfian. Disease of the week: Head lice HoirV to teil if your cJiifd has head dee BEFORE This page needs help. But what's wrong with it, exactly? The first step in any redesign is to itemize the elements that need improvement: ~ The Bugle Btaain - Entcttainment * Äckice ♦ Television So why isn't David Letterman funny anymore'; is il in, or is lib epaedf Pcliticians: Cant live with'em, can't shoot 'em Lacal psyche clams lies diamAglincoh St" T l^itaagajuinif Llunli 1 i MHTtTjjniUb.lS..lMi EtW Aim jafclw l MA'MOMUlFrlU nid oliie.« en iunl Jk tfw im nwiiiuvflmriidsiAaad.HMi 0* Mi 1J f ■Amjs! W, i iv ii 11, [icS; AFTER This redesign creates a page that's livelier and more modern-looking. How did we address each of those problems we originally identified? Typography: The headlines and section flag are Helvetica — a bland font that lacks personality. Time to dump it (and the Bookman on that lead story) and find a more modern, expressive font. And those ears are dull, too (more Helvetica), offering no clues to what's inside the section. Color: A pretty unsophisticated color palette, with those cyan screens and harsh cyan LIVING. Time to blend some more muted earth tones. Story COlint: Only three stories, and look how big and slow they are. Aren't we tired of these topics by now? Most readers demand a better mix, with more entertainment and a greater range of subjects. Typography: We made the section flag bigger and bolder — but colored it gray to tone it back down. We added more index information in the ears. And the headlines have become Interstate Black Compressed, which allows a higher character count (that is, a lot more words) in the same space. Color: We're using more pastels for a softer tone, avoiding those comic-pagey cyans. The headlines are black, so they don't compete with the art. StOPy COlint: Now we've got seven elements on this page — a couple shorter stories, a TV promo and an offbeat humor column down the left edge of the page. Is that too much traffic now —or is the speed about right? The page grid: It's on a standard 5-column grid, which is fine for routine layouts. But is it versatile enough to organize a page with more traffic? And haven't we seen enough feature fronts with a columnist dribbling down the left edge of the page and a dull leftover along the bottom? The page grid: We're now using an unusual 9-cohimn grid, which creates some dynamic story shapes (notice the Edge column and the TV promo). This grid might not work on a page with ads at the bottom, but here, it prevents the high volume of material from becoming too chaotic. REBESSI REDESIGNING YOUR PAPER m ehe [(„.iiinim^j»»,™.»«»* I GOP womes I over charges _____on Ginsburg Conservative nominaled to fill too* secretary job ^ ; ships Hre reportedly hit fishing boat (Ifsä before E~excep! afiei- 140ttS2^tlEIL 1 Tne late '80s: J Vregcman had been stodgy for decades — and this redesign pushed as far as the old. editors would allow. The flag was retooled. A column of briefs ran down the page every day. Summary decks were introduced. (The headlines and decks had to use Helvetica; the publisher was afraid readers would object to any newer font.) She Orcaoman- ■ffrfs Water Bureau cracks down lI Qiv?r follows his hwo s path [; Tne mm- 90s: This redesign adds the energy that was missing before. Theflagis engaging and bold, with colorful promos (and an emphasis on the THURSDAY). An 11 -column grid helps organize the increased graphic traffic. And the headlines have become Franklin Gothic Condensed, an improvement over the dunkier Helvetica. 2flje Sunday dDrcgoman GOP pulls court into Florida fight K HISTORIC OIRNDARY Oregon electors could Voters, aiwitungly, test make ail the difference aa^' theliimtsofvQte^w-maii 6l- HIM * 2000: This redesign was driven by a change in paper size. Like many papers, The Oregonian reduced its width by an inch to save newsprint. Its new editor wanted a more classic, dignified, elegant feel, which is reflected in the Minion headlines, italic decks, wider gutters and reduced number of graphics and promos. Revamping your bylines? Ah, that's easy. Jazzing up your liftout quotes? No problem — that's fun. But launching a bigger project, where you overhaul a page, a section or an entire newspaper, is sometimes a perilous journey populated with panicky publishers, stubborn staffers and hypercritical readers. Nobody likes change. But every newspaper needs to reinvent itself regularly. And if you can proceed in an organized manner, you can spare everybody (your staff and your readers) unnecessary grief. You've just spent the last 200 pages learning how to assemble a newspaper. Now, in the 10 pages ahead, we'll show you how to take a newspaper apart — and how to piece it together again — as we walk you through our nine steps to a newspaper redesign: D Evaluate your newspaper to identify your strengths and weaknesses. 13 Gather examples of other newspapers to provide ideas and inspiration. 0 Make a shopping list of elements you need to change. □ Build prototypes that explore a variety of design alternatives. B Test it by showing it to staffers or readers and assessing their reactions. O Promote it with ads or stories that explain the changes to your readers. Q Write a stylebook that contains detailed guidelines for all the changes. 13 Launch it. Ulp! Good luck! □ Follow through with critiques, discussions and design feedback. '227- BEOESiGKS : ",: EVALUATING YOUR NEWSPAPER Every newspaper is unique — and so is every newspaper staff. Some excel in photography. Some write award-winning stories. Some create graphic wizardry. So how would you assess your staff? Before tinkering with your format, take inventory. Make sure your staff agrees on what's working, what's broken and where a redesign should take you. This do-it-yourself design checkup will help you itemize your newspaper's strengths and weaknesses. NEWSPAPER DESIGN J f f Jj —f* J' ~-X Answer each question by marking the corresponding box yes (worth two points), somewhat (worth one point) or no (zero points). You can earn up to 10 points per category or 100 points overall. 4 score/ comments Do news headlines intrigue, inform and invite readers in? [Zl CD CD Do feature headlines project a friendly, appealing personality? CD CD CD Do decks summarize and sell stories to readers in a hurry? CD CD CD Do headlines and text use an effective mix of styles and weights? CD CD CD Are all typographic details consistent and professional-looking? CD CD CD Are photos active and engaging (rather than dull and passive)? Are images cropped, sized and positioned effectively? Are photos sharp and well-composed? Are key photos in color— and is the color well-balanced? Do enough photos appear throughout the entire paper? Do maps, charts and diagrams supplement text where necessary? Is graphic data meaningful, accurate and understandable? Are sidebars and agate material typographically well-crafted? Is artwork polished and professional-looking? Is there witty /provocative art on the opinion page? Are special pages active, attractive and well-balanced? Are display elements — art and type — given bold treatment? Are headers and logos polished and eye-catching? Is color used effectively in photos, graphics, standing elements? Do themed pages use distinctive packaging, formats or grids? Is the content organized in a logical and consistent way? Do layouts use modular shapes with strong dominant elements? Is there a mix of briefs and analysis throughout the paper? Is each page's contents labeled with a consistent header style? Are jumped stories well-labeled and easy to find? 228 □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ CD □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ CD □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ REDESIGN EVALUATING YOUR NEWSPAPER NEWSPAPER DESIGN flirt ,4 score/ comments Are liftout quotes used often and effectively? EJ D EH Are margins and spacing uniform and appropriate? □ EH D Are column logos and sigs attractive, helpful and consistent? I I ! II I Do rules, boxes and screens effectively organize material? CD EH EH Are bylines and jump lines well-designed and -positioned? EH EH EH Does the front page cover an interesting variety of'topics? EH EH EH Have major stories been packaged with short, effective sidebars? □ □ Q Do key pages highlight special topics of high reader interest? EH EH EH Is there an appealing mix of live news and regular features? EH EH O Do stories appeal to a broad range of tastes and temperaments? EH EH EH Do front-page promos catch the reader's eye in a lively way? Did you offer any contests or giveaways? Sponsor any events? Is your Web address easy to find? Are ads well-designed? Arranged in neat, unobtrusive stacks? Have you given readers reasons to anticipate your next issue? Is there a complete index in a consistent, obvious spot? Are some stories interactive (quizzes, tips, Q&A's, checklists)? Do you run complete calendars (for meetings, sports, events)? Is it clear how to reach key staffers (by phone, fax, letter, e-mail)? Do you solicit reader input throughout the newspaper? □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ nan □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ Does your paper s personality match that of its target audience? □ D D Are regular columnists given mug shots? Anchored consistently? EH D EH Is the paper s flag distinctive and sophisticated? EH EH EH Are there any surprises on Page One? EH EH EH Will anything in today's paper incite reactions from readers? EH EH EH 90-100: Outstanding! A top-notch publication. 70-89: Good, but could sti !l use: new ideas and improvements. : 50-69: Average - possibly djll. Time to think about a redesign. Below50: Sorry, but you're old-fashioned. Your readers are probably bored. You need to consider a major overhaul. 229 ::'Wf!!lffi :f§¥li-lii WIMf: REDESIGNS GATHERING EXAMPLES Longtime rivals Eathorne, Harney battle a final time _____d^^-rc^i^^^ESj lit flotfi^ S"d"m»""",',,el""'"' iiaa teen mBlle- "CJfm'SSSS--------, T,?^™°*™'^^i ,w at, The Uwfc*i"l* ty~, ,;ea Wibj Mtisrti. Newsrooms often seem cut off from the rest of the design world. After all, who's got time to monitor all the latest trends? But before you plunge into a redesign project, find out what your colleagues are up to. Studying well-designed papers can give you fresh ideas, raise your standards, even convince stubborn staffers that you really do need to improve. A poorly designed paper, on the other hand, can point out pitfalls to avoid. Collect a variety of papers from all across the country: award-winners, trendsetters, the good, the bad and the ugly. Study their headlines, bylines, liftout quotes, grids — everything— and keep an eye out for innovative features and graphic elements like these: ♦ A statistical summary of a big sports event, like this one from The Ball State Daily News (top left); ♦ A pictorial staff box, like those in The Little Hawk; ♦ A daily crime map, like this one from The Pasadena Star-News; ♦ Kickers and summaries, like those in The Bremerton Sun; ♦ Council-meeting roundups in grid formats, like those in The Orange County Register. As you uncover intriguing new design ideas, explore ways you can adapt them to your paper. Add your own creative spins - don't just steal them. CITY COUNCIL ROUNDUP Following are some of the actions latai at Tuesdays city cauneit meetings. Y means a yes vote, 1M means a no vole. - means ™t present, A means abstamecf. Mayors a&e listed tisst. Srwuid an OEdjnancB Qo intioisuced banning skateboarding and toller skating upon request in commercial a^eas? ShtfjB tne JniKfl Mnttiwisi Cbtoxti be allowed W construct a mafuiar tdisviyxn fcufTdma » 3111 Walter SlnSfiE? ems in the city tie jnarw lo \$% Fe&rsi CflmmiinseaUreis Commission? \ v Should ihetily support mm ban ific sate androi disinbuiwr o'wb3.cn>[i.orjuas on public pfopeny? ShnM the cltyredutfl Iha^aedlimit 10 35ntp^i or, ills ouifcoujftd lanfii of kagusa Canyon a\ fne inicr section of Frontage Road? ShuuScf NatnF Nasro, owner cf Orange County Kutnane Society, be awarded a t)ne>yea.r. i39 DOT contract far aaiffiiT-sfalw,- s«v*es7 Should [hie city spenfl m.ESB w pthtenase etgJn \ psriabfc radios from Motorola Communications Should Hie speea irmh nn Liuiagswn Avenue hiiwOTn ctaft Avenue arw Kraeroer scmswra be iWu«d 15 25 mpt fiom 30' 3' '■i 6 1 S I 1 Ssiwjidihe city buy a police mewrevcte ftcmVIP ^\ Y y y- y .y i WolbrtyfJii [WS7.09i.ia? "y- y Y y "y Need some inspiration? Visit these news design Web sites: ♦ www.snd.org — Each year, the Society of News Design honors the world's best-designed news pages. Many are on view here, along with other useful design resources. Become an SND member and you'll receive monthly publications along with SND's annual book. ♦ www.newspagedesigner.com — This vast clearinghouse of pages lets you contact designers and post feedback to their work. ♦ www.visuateditors.com — A popular message board where designers sound off, provide advice and post a variety of pages. «www.newseum.org — Every day, this site displays the front pages from hundreds of newspapers around the world. «www.collegefrontpage.com —An assortment of pages, posts and links for student journalists. If you want actual pages from newspapers you admire, look up the design directors on the papers' Web sites and ask them to send you an issue or two. Most will happily comply (if you ask nicely). 230 REGES» COMPILING A SHOPPING LIST Once you've identified your flaws and established your goals, you can pinpoint specific items that need repair or replacement. As you compile your redesign shopping list, decide what's got to stay (your flag?), what's got to go (your ugly headline type?), what's mandatory and what's optional (maybe a fancy index would be nice, but not essential). To help you itemize the changes you need to make, try using this checklist: WHICH mm I ATYfl ELEMENTS REDESIGN THE FLAG......................Must.be unique and ^ v'-'-;H ;;: ■ a modern, stylish lypefuce? Special graphics effects? Color? iQ; HEADLINES^ .•OrDECKS^;.-^:.'.:;.1:-;*;;^.-;;.-.';.. -Should complemertt-the.mam headlinef&typefaca Will'youaddthem■■■ to every story? Want different styles for news and features? CD. STANDING HEADS......... Choose one expressive, stylish type family for all page toppers, logos. : □ TEXT...........................Must be comfortable to read. What's the ideal size and leading? SPECIAL TEXT..............Want a sans-serif alternative jo*-graphics, sidebars, briefs? 'CD PAGE GRIDS.................Should you try a new system of column widths and page formats? □ PAGE HEADERS............Wliere do you want them — at the top? Sideways? Indented? Cat: ihey incorporate graphic extras (fdptpids, calendars, etc.',? OBRIEFS........................Should you regardthem as fundamental building blocks and anchor them throughout the paper? Can you include art? . _ SPECIAL FEATURES......Polls. Quotes. Stats. Calendars. Quizzes. Contests. Letters. Cartoons. Can you build these into standing page formats? 0 RyLESj&rBOX 1 □ PROMOS: & INDEX........How prominent? How flexible? How much art can you add? ;..'.□ SECTIONING ^v....:..::..... Canyon restructure the. news into innovative topics.and departments?. $yy:>S$:7:i^c^ □ SEQUENCING................Wliafs the most interesting, effective flow of topics through the paper? .''.;-'v:--X,]k-.::': .'.;:.':; ■t;/;,'^ D NON-TEXT OPTIONS......Can you repackage information in a variety of forms - besides text : O. INTERACTIVITY .vs....... How user-ffkndly should you he? Wlierem opportunities to speak, participate, interact? '•■ LIFTOUT QUOTES :Z COLUMN LOGOS I REVIEW/PREVIEW BOXES [BYLINES I JUMP LINES I I JUMP HEADLINES I I INITIAL CAPS OUTLINES _ OUTLINES FOR STAND-ALONE PHOTOS 231 f i CREDIT LINES U EDITOR'S NOTES U MAPS & CHARTS Fl REFERS CORRECTIONS ■* ÜDESI8NS BUILDING PROTOTYPES SgttřtS VUVUVUV UVUV UVUVIMJ UV IMMMJUJ SPORTS VUVUVUV UVUV UVUVUVU UV uvuvuvuvu VUVUVUV UVUV UVUVUVU UV uvuvuvuvu VUVUVUV UVUV UVUVUVU UV uvuvuvuvu You've collected the ideas. You've called the meetings. Now it's finally time to crank out the prototypes — sample pages that test your new design concepts. But first, some advice: : ♦ Allow enough time. You might think j you can dream up cool prototypes in a ;... few hours (and maybe you can), but the entire process — exploring new ideas, discussing them with your colleagues, tweaking and revising design elements — can take weeks, even months. Don't rush it. If you push too hard too fast, you'll be disappointed. ♦ Be honest. Stay real. Don't fall in love with pages your staff can't produce. And don't try to sell risky designs that only you understand. If an idea won't fly in the real world, drop it. Speaking of which.,. ♦ Use dull material. When you create prototypes, resist the urge to show off. Use bland, everyday content. If your design works with boring stories and dull art, it can ; : only look better in real life. Designers often use Latin gob-bledygook for text and headlines (as we've done on the facing page) so people won't be distracted by the words they're reading, but once you've made your typographic decisions, you should use real material to test the functionality of your design. ♦ Don't steal — or at least cover your tracks. Sure, it's nice to seek a little outside inspiration. But don't blatantly copy another paper's design elements. Sooner or later, your boss will find out you've plagiarized and he'll ask why you don't have any imagination of your own... as he fires you. ♦ Stay open to opinions. Nobody wants to work with a thin-skinned, narrow-minded egotist. Be a good listener. Be a good sport. Seek constructive criticism and intelligent feedback. ♦ Present plenty of options. The more options, the better. Suppose, for instance, you need to create a Sports Shorts logo using only Berkeley and Helvetica Compressed type: Looking for a new page flag for Sports; There's a wide variety of design options — some quiet, some loud, _t some heavy, some i i light. By creating t a variety of page - ■; prototypes, you'll eventually find the style 1 that best I: suits you. Vuvuvuv UVUV UVUVUVU uv uvuvuvuvu 8. SPORTS _ hoits SHORTS SPORTS SPORTS sporte Which of these is the best? That's hard to say. Once you've produced a variety of prototypes, it often becomes a matter of taste - someone else's taste. After cranking out a handful of options like these, designers usually present them to the staff (or the boss), who then decide which one works best. shorts shorts i#y *. i#w iwm • *s m « >fa liňí*:ři«'«-f%t.i»' 4|««;n*.s fc* m m '0-í m pí í* ř* m i%HÖRTS Shorts t "ZV 2^! í< *!"* 232- UEDEM BUILDING PROTOTYPES How do you decide on new design elements? Create a template — an ordinary, everyday page design - then plug in a variety of typefaces and logo treatments until you find a combination that feels right. For example: yrnpt centum pectat * r.i in- 'J... -flSt-- Non equidem insector delendave es carmina Hos ediscit et hos arto stipara theatro special probus „i,r..r^ir«.i~-ji^=a. jntej ponetur honesta, ■m^'it-i'1™?™ c» tpii val inerisabrevi vol LOCAL NEWS Non equidem insector delendave es carmina Hos ediscit et hos arto stipara theatro spectatus Here we re trying light, elegant headlines (Minion) and bold, trendy display type (Franklin Gothic expanded to around 200%). Notice how we've used phony Latin type and a blurry photo - that way, we force you to concentrate on the typography without getting distracted by the story content. Now we've changed those light serif headlines to bold sans serif (Franklin Gothic Condensed). And the display type becomes all-cap Palatine, a serif. Like this better? Let's assume your answer is "yes," but that you want a little more oomph and variety from the display elements on the page.,.. LOCAL NEWS Script Mnttiftl peccßt annls novo est JurJiat Non equidem insector delendave es carmina Hos ediscit et hos arto stipara theatro spectatus ask • ' Here, we ve given the display elements more punch bv adding gray screens and shadows, and by switching to Stymie, a club sen] typeface. But look at the page architecture. Should we keep that conventional 5-column grid... ^|; Non equidem insector \ delendave es carmina Hos ediscit et artos stipara theatro spectatus probusit ...or should we try a 9-columngrid, as shown here? Notice how the two outermost columns are used for graphic extras — not text, this prototype page alone could generate hours of fruitful discussion in most newsrooms. 233- REOESISHS ■ TESTING AND PROMOTION DIDUCTlia MARKET RESEARCH Think you know what your readers want to read? The kinds of graphics and colors they prefer? The news they actually use? Well, you can guess (which most editors think they're pretty good at), or you can ask your readers directly. And a redesign gives you a perfect opportunity to watch real readers react to your work. Professional researchers probe public opinion in two ways: ♦ Reader surveys: Most publications research reader habits through surveys conducted over the phone, posted online or printed in the paper. If you're testing a new design, you can distribute a prototype first, then follow up with a questionnaire ("What changes have you noticed?"... "Is it better than what you're getting now?"... "Do you like THIS comic?"...). ♦ Focus groups: These may not be as statistically accurate as large-scale reader surveys, but they let you gauge readers' opinions and emotions in ways that surveys can't. Focus groups allow you to watch readers interact with the paper, whether you're observing participants through a one-way mirror — in an attempt to keep the process as objective as possible — or engaging them in an informal roundtable discussion. A behind-the-scenes look at a focus-group discussion in Seattle. Participants are often unsure exactly what's being tested - or who might be sitting behind that one-way mirror, watching them react to page prototypes. 11BI III PROMOTIONAL yew Any time you monkey with your newspaper — adding new features, deleting or relocating old ones — you've got to let your readers know. After all, it's their paper. And since they'll have opinions about you everything you do, you might as well try to drum up some enthusiasm (or at least convince them that you know what you're doing). Whether you're a big daily or a student monthly, your audience consists of these three groups: ♦ Loyal readers: They're your faithful followers, and they're intimately familiar with your newspaper. So if you make sudden changes, they'll feel confused or betrayed if you don't clue them in ahead of time. ♦ Occasional readers: They know who you are, and they know what they need from you. They may frequently grab you for some specific reason (sports scores, classified ads, movie times). But they might read you more often if you convince them it's worth it. ♦ Non-readers: Maybe they're not interested in you. Maybe they don't like you. Or maybe they just don't know about you. With the right ad campaign, however, you could win them over. So how will you sell your redesign to each of these three groups? If you promote your new look — and explain it in ads like the one at right — you'll generate a buzz among readers and non-readers alike. Now, get more out of your Sunday for less. ">FF TOR YOUrtSFI F AND CiFT W OFF. - - Hi? _ - ' IS Ml 234 WRITING A STYLEBOOK Orra pica between Sreplca betwesn rule San artStadt CHAlUCEr The lowly pen has emerged as one. oj the most powerful vegetables in remit tm% — despite constant criticism / M THE LAYOUT ■ 'Jt>rtic&'spacing. Altov;&ne pisabrlo1* tint niloandlitetcp 01 profits' 18 &m from the art 3t> the gray bar; 2 picas Nweefl the $rsy ba< and the top ol lit* ifaieriai. H tf&'mtsia! spacing Alio;/ two picas batmen tfnreTatetl yams. Aliaw n to itemize the do's and don'ts of their designs, to catalog all the tools in their typographic toolbox. Stylebooks aren't intended to stifle creativity. They're meant to save time, so that staffers on deadline don't waste energy wondering, "How dark is that screen in our logos?" or "Are we allowed to use a comic book font in headlines?" The best stylebooks are detailed and complete, like those shown above. As you proceed through the redesign process, create a stylebook entry for each new format that explains where it goes, when its used, how it's coded, where it s stored — whatever answers designers will seek in the future. -235' .... mens. LAUNCHING - AND FOLLOWING UP ILL AT ONCE — I PHASE IT II? I JUST L0V€ THESE TASTY PIE CHARTS! It's an age-old question: Should you unveil your redesign all at once, with great noise and hoopla, or phase it in more slowly and discreetly? If you're launching a new feature, a new page or a new section, it's probably best to roll it out all at once. But if you're redesigning your entire paper, you should weigh the pros and cons for both options. Launching the redesign all at once: ♦ Provides a golden marketing opportunity to generate excitement among both readers and non-readers with an ad campaign heralding your wonderful improvements. ♦ Energizes the newsroom, encouraging the staff to gear up, dig in and pull together toward a common goal. ♦ May irritate or frighten habitual readers — that vocal minority that resists change of any kind. Phasing in the redesign over days or weeks: ♦ Keeps the pace manageable, giving the staff time to test new formats, work out bugs and make incremental adjustments. ♦ Eases the transition for readers — many of whom might never even realize you've made any changes. AND THOSE ITALIC REFERS JUST BLEW MY MIND! ENfOHGiHQ h's not enough to simply launch a redesign; you've got to monitor and modify I1B REFiNING NEW y°ur new f°nriats unul they're fully integrated into the newsroom. How? gj|j || ♦ Appoint a "style cop" to target all design violations — otherwise, no one will take responsibility for ensuring quality control. ♦ Set up a design bulletin board to display successes and analyze mistakes. ♦ Send out memos that discuss problems and summarize solutions (these could include excerpts from the stylebook that deserve special attention). ♦ Above all, hold regular post-mortem sessions where you assess the redesign and make any necessary modifications. Once it all works perfectly, you can relax. .. and begin planning your next design project. Which raises the question: How often should you redesign? That depends on your audience, your publisher, your paper's personality — and the success of your current design. For weeklies, one redesign per decade may be all the staff (or readers) can handle. Dailies, though, should upgrade their appearance every five years. And student papers often redesign annually. For big papers, redesigns are major undertakings. But for smaller papers — especially student publications — an annual redesign lets each new staff stamp its identity on the paper, as the staff of the Little Hawk in Iowa City has done in this sequence affront pages from the past decade. REDESISH& REDESIGN GALLERY |j|£ The Bakersfield Californlan is a midsize daily (circulation 70,000) north of Los EIKFISFIELD Angeles, dramatic 2005 redesign, under the guidance of design consultant GAL'FORNhV ^aco^son' creaTC(l a bold new look for the front page and attempted to 1 change the way the newsroom edited stories, as the prototype at right shows. I LoeaS: Proposed GET bus mites t&£ttfjKl9]H| GivBjourpeiHintatiBdiaiicetosTitac ! Up Cfose: RoughingH WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 200S Sobs trial testimony focuses on officer's alleged aggression asm CSOB STIIOEtin 10 l'»H GN T9IPLIHC FEES fOS SKo; (I Bill TIME Private accounts in doubt &mBush'»TOPaliiK slate rewnaiwiisalwuiniftimiplan Sehoollooks to join elite nuiks1 i*™^™^ gives tuna to five Jfjeeecrht succeeds, ^mp^tiiti-jaoTWlJi^imlstattts, bvildpi&a^jiine&sfacility ^lfcl±bwtfl1iilKrt6;Sia,i&AlW«*K rt-aridcanjiira im a rre tn4iTVd Turn t«x iVfli* r-sW^Ji** fl *»Q-» ttrV^Jtety^^ar S^'^M.ifll^T'KP. L4J TttrStf uCtflnCalSW-SEtf-itt^.111 Waitart hgects Tee, citing fluatclal C haflfflgtt fel ^lyirith quints 04< 1 Sr. t6 10*r/*k)»: EE WECMESDAV. APRIl IT. ■'. NEW BUS ^ NEW DRUG ROUTES ,v POLICY Trial focuses on aggression SOCIAL SECURITY: • Pnvatc accounts in doulst Ttie palate Finance committee's ^. . first ftiii-scale deturbe on Social-.-.Security raised n&w doubts about ...^whether a rnsmnty would vote tar - Presntent Buslvs proofs alfor-dndr-. ■ .viduar retirement accounts. All * ■ - Democrats-on the committee -~: were resolutely opposed. Even . on* Republican.senator -ja.J ste did not want tfi tarftper ,<*nth ii..-. Surrogate mom delivers quints OK Doctor Steroid use discovered during autopsy procedure Students Vote on Tripling Fees If fee vote succeeds. CSUBwill pursue THEREHSEimilSI Division I status, build top fitness facility ^^VLZ^ BEFORE AFTER Flag and promos: A traditional Old-English flag prints in black. Above it, skyboxes use postage stamp-sized art to promote inside stories. At that size, those promos (and the ones along the bottom of the page) are easy to ignore. Flag and promos: The flag has been retooled; now it's reversed out of the colors and images in those bigger, bolder promos. Note the unusual "L" shape that results in the top-left corner of the page. Headlines: Two traditional, conservative families: serif Century for most headlines and decks, with sans-serif Franklin Gothic used for special accents. Headlines: Poynter Gothic gives headlines a more contemporary feel, as does the Mercury Display used for section flags and accent headlines. Color: hike most American newspapers, photos run in color — but all other design elements use colors minimally, with a muted, unpretentious palette. Color: It's now used much more aggressively. Note the variety of bold color splashed across the page, including red headlines for extra impact. Story presentation: The page is text-heavy and gray except for the lead story (which uses threephotos too loosely cropped). Otherwise, most stories run at least 15 inches long and lack images. As executive editor Mike Jenner pointed out before the redesign, "Readers tell us their lifestyles are busier than ever before. We wanted to address the issues of time-starved readers" Story presentation: Virtually every story element has been reworked in a more efficient, engaging way. The quints story, for instance, adds a red headline and photo, and no longer jumps off the page. The Social Security story, once 22 inches long, now uses just three sentences. Everything else, from the lead photo to the headlines, has more punch. -237- REDESIGNS REDESIGN GALLERY |||[ In the summer of2006, The Kansas City Star inaugurated its new state-of-the-art KANSAS CITY Presses by introducing a dramatic new look (and a slightly smaller page size). STAR rec^es^n was coor,iinated by Tom Dolphens, assistant managing editor for art and design, in collaboration with consultant Kelly Frankeny of Garcia Media. LEOit REVIEW: i SPECIAL SECTION tmmmsmm TIPS AND TAB08S Ř y. , w FOR «fflfi USVEBIS! f SĚtíMOtSiSfíi * v ^ť- * KSU'SWOOLDDIDCE SET FOR SURGERY «SB B/JH THE KANSAS CITY STAR. 5IJf JOMKBOLY (TťíUNÍT EDITION Industry faces a road less traveled A LEGISLATIVE SQUEEZE PLAV BUDGET AIDS DEFENSE, CUTS 141 PROGRAMS Hugfest replaces slugfest 'I have ii (ace like everyone e!stí? J Nominee's path could get rough Fnri glance v*, .a Aquik to lake buvout EXPLOSION, FIRE LEAVE KC SHAKEN AND SHROUDED Copters face growing nsk in Iraq war hist il iss sell job world-class exhibit AFTE Flag and typography: Tfe old design looks outdated and predictable — and the typography is partly to blame. The redesigned flag uses a more modern font; it's reversed out of color screens and photos. Headlines now use Gotham and Miller, while the text type has changed to Poynter OS. i Size: The redesigned pages are 2 inches narrower and an inch-and-a-halj shorter (about 20 percent smaller overall). This greatly reduces newsprint costs, while readers find the smaller size easier to handle and more appealing to scan. Color: The Star's new presses can print brighter color on more pages, so the redesign takes advantage with a vibrant new palette. With names like maize, wheat, summer sun and fountain blue, the colors reflect Kansas City's personality. Navigation: It may not be apparent on Page One, but the redesign uses color to help organize the newspaper for readers. Page headers are color-coded on section fronts as well as on inside pages. Those new headers, incorporating both promos and stand-alone briefs, are called "balconies." Local content: After conducting extensive reader research, editors introduced new columnists, added more letters to the editor and created such new features as "Watchdog" (a column that solves reader problems), "Scam of the Week" and "Where I've Been," a roundup of readers' vacation stories in Go (formerly called Travel). Summaries and briefs: Readers (especially younger readers) want shorter stories and more summaries. The redesign expands the number of graphics, grids, calendars and briefs. 238 REBESiSKS REDESIGN GALLERY l:ld JiHJ METROPOLITAN NEW m DAWNS FOR FOSTER CHILDREN Tht old Metropolitan ectwn has an old fashioned feci and a ngidfoitnat (nott the column! tplanted in that left hand-leg): Ontke revised Local section: at right, dements float moie freely — t\en that vertical column o) bi lef B 8PORTS DAILY Edwards thinks l.O. is good fit If irt upij J,. Super, those SI"---' -^siumSlVbiiJPttiuiil™ Ml 7 rEUi 66. MEWM S3 SMACKED AROUND Hewn} breaker tan braur bail; Tlit Stai \ new pie es enabled thcpapei to pi int higha-quahty color photon more often (and with later deadlines) Notut, in theiedt igned sport page at upper i ight, how the aggies tveu e of coloi ttan form thepapei personality |- ^ Milking a cash Cowboy TRUCK DRIVER AND 8 STUDENTS HURT MAVS WITHER IN A HEAT WAVE 1 lil VI1\C C I II \ M Ol DM IIO )KOl 1 \i\MIR AFTER; Section fronts: The Star's bold use of color adds modern appeal Notice how the color-coding (blue for news, brown for sports) helps guide readers through the paper. Inside pages: Each section of the Star includes specially formatted themed pages with an engaging mix of features. Nation Watch runs on page A2; Showtime runs inside the daily features section. -239- REDESIGNS REDESIGN GALLERY JlfJ This twice-monthly tabloid is published at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research CENTER NEWS ('cnter 'n Seattle. The newspaper's staff is small — just a few part-time editors and reporters — so when they redesigned in the fall of 2000, design consultant Tim Harrower (that's me) knew that he (I) had to keep things simple. They're the voices .. of the Center to ;v THOUSANDS, AND they're backbones ofhbm^data DOTOtTGET THE BEST /computer support?1 ■ Bring family members try theCenter'sSept-lS-ie. ■■■ Open House Ceiebrahon! UA.i.^riiinmiinil.irtuwltiiia-rt!i*irT-Bl:-Fa ht-atw. o*i- B ■ n^woK^IIAdiahffiiiiiiHrt "- ENTER News I Fkkd Hutchinsow Cancek Riisearck Center I FACULrv/STAťFTwicfi-MořJTHLY Newsletter í Thursday, Aug*, 17, 2000 Here are all these people working to keep me alive :PjiiipS«iowterg-Pciira oi GErrany. afcng nitt-WC atftci palwnti. IMr m E&teca rHJ oven: hcfd&nurdBy. Aug: -5. risked ihaihro^-dayBpirt cfl iiiiiBS^ftaisoiupaBaniMfliri^irBnLpknisilOTlaL^ HHO"=nirtsií5hárs>vlm!9Sciiupellerii5 al me líiíiian Eflhjmbfiifl- stoMinija^ionSfrorilMí^l^^FjlWCíaitOůl /HkallTiD A reunion of courage, gratitude, humor Í1H.VI1 1 t Aňiiitiontri jslwřus oj lbe ifiiniminnr touched byati Angel. :: i: 17AUJŤNaiACTOH-rn^tftia™- ■-: ■ Li oHwer ol tie B*b Arigels.'^JtE witrr" ■ : HoCirKon wasiv »«i»fltiwisj*iiH - AnqifSEtWBlMa|MrTliiKml." Help put on the best party in town 25,h-anniversary Open House Celebration needs volunteers on Friday and Saturday, Sept 15-16 Tnri nun ■. 'j-jiiimwu^ iiiwirtidp lit |^ftr~ffi BEFORE Typography: This is the biggest problem with the old look. In fact, this redesign shows how dramatically a typographic face-lift can transform a paper's personality. Though everything is readable here, the typefaces are bland and dated. The text is Times, the cutlines Helvetica (two tired, overused fonts). And all the big type — headlines, decks, promos, logos, even the flag— is Valatino. That's too much work for one typeface to do. THURSDAY. HOV.Í6. 2000 C{ YOU KEEP COMIN'BACK £ fp írtw/iífulfjflítófl deswftr variety OrtTii Top Set i rrtry r^les for Decembers toflday door dícíraími contest 'A '-t i HERt Hatch blood tfr*f& somas tfsdiiesday after Ttoi^vbg Haliday Fair. 'Light the Way set Friday. Dec. l en Dav Gampus 4- % ^jf* £ Cancer answers skin-deep? i Bik Latter s tab uwestwates isound repair to learn more I about new the body Incurs coordinated growth af cells i i™rtim.ui:,ru. tuu.'IKIII:u J1J Wl.-B.iili. Siii'i'."! rji.iiMin icriab-oiiiúi* i^wiriisfin LtQ^'jj ui ďr^nii imp arrírtí lunu wain,- nm.iuui. i dm !»>.■. w »]«.»[KsT°'-" (jiTTCrjEAnsj How marry people werMwids partiGipate in PuMis Healtii SrJances Division stitdies? Curing cancer rates high in national survey AUH.'nCbiflillLl^adlJl.lUil!I^JHt3dliT^l]nt + riotl3nj| || cufw ini.nuitEiiiiiitHijouifeKtiiieiiftifeliii: hipiuwbijjHdtii ai^i^aiii>jyr(iijihnii(iiLiclBKiniJWLH -tMareihnnm- ol Us-jwS. HOTJNrir11i«i.cannviB«ni»ill>ja pflWil i«i tj'sy lira nil til tih.rttK^Jrth.I'VluJs SlltlcalllblhjtiiKjiJiJtSittlWmitniiiaanJ trao(iiHil1S(7 uj iiyihtykMJtMMTWoiiiiilmluiiiisniIvttsim'd. -hLip.-^vnin.aj^.-tWi.ni. AFTER Typography: A complete overhaul. The flag is boldly stylized to set it apart; it uses Worldwide, as do the logos and those page numbers in the promos. Headlines are Bureau Grotesque. Cutlines, promos and liftout quotes use Palatino (italic only). The text is Utopia. And all other alternative text elements (sidebars, bylines, etc.) use Frutiger. That's five different type families in all — but their duties are all carefully delineated. Color: One spot color is available on the cover, and it's used haphazardly: in screens, headlines, initial caps, logos. The color changes each edition, too — one issue it's green, the next it's orange. The editor was considering spending more money to add spot color to every inside page, as well. Color: An alternative proposal: Instead of buying more spot-color ink, why not upgrade the cheap newsprint paper stock? A huge success; the new, whiter paper conveys a more upscale, professional image. And instead of changing spot colors with each edition, blue becomes the standard hue. The grid: All pages are on a 7-column grid. The editor liked the way this grid allowed and encouraged the addition of fact boxes and quotes. Too often, however, huge holes would materialize in stories that failed to generate sidebar material. The grid: Still a 7-column grid (which is, after all, an excellent format for designing sidebar material with stones). Style libraries were created for lift-outs, fact boxes, editor's notes and sidebars to make them easy to produce. And new design guidelines helped eliminate awkward white space. 240 p.tOE»is . TROUBLESHOOTING Quick answers to questions frequently asked by designers perplexed about redesigns: O Invisible m Children m _ We can't afford to hire researchers to conduct focus groups or mail surveys. Are there cheaper alternatives? Sure. You can always mail out your own questionnaires, host round-table chats with readers, even stop people on the street to ask why they just grabbed a paper. But remember, the more informal your methods, the less accurate your results. Here's an intriguing idea for an unscientific yet revealing reader survey: Recruit 5 to 10 ordinary readers. Ask them to look at the next few editions of your paper, and circle with a felt-tip pen what they actually read (see example at right). Not what they merely glance at — but what they slow down to read. It may be just a headline. Just a photo caption. Or just the first two paragraphs of a story. (By reading, we mean "paying meaningful attention to." If someone glances at a headline about Bosnian import quotas, then glances away, that wouldn't qualify as actual reading.) And when they're done, have them return the complete papers to you. What will you learn? You may find that certain types of stories are extremely popular — or universally ignored. You may detect demographic trends (do older readers read one way, younger readers another?). You may discover that few readers last more than three inches into any story — yet they're attracted to sidebars and briefs. Remember, this survey isn't flawless. But at the very least, posting these marked-up pages on your newsroom wall is a great way to stimulate discussion. -T Hit Miolti kliei : One dead, one still missing-... ■ alter landslide buries lowers?:? e desí expected : deadline neara . Q How risky is it to change your newspaper's text type when you do a redesign? What's the best way to test the new type in advance? Yes, if you want to provoke crazed reader reaction, just eliminate a comic, change the TV listings or tweak the text type (no matter how ugly it is). But if you're careful and sensitive enough, you can pull it off. A few tips; ♦ Test all new fonts on the press before you even consider making changes. (Try a paragraph or two at the end of some obscure story.) Watch how the ink and paper combine to thicken or thin the font. Fine-tune the size and tracking. Then: ♦ Print an entire story in both the old and new fonts. Stroll around, newspaper in hand, asking people to study the "before" and "after" text and rate them on a scale of 0 ("hate it") to 10 ("love it"). Chart their responses with dots, like this: hate it hi LOVE IT HATE IT IMiULS LOVE IT Jot down reader comments in the margins, too ("It looks too squeezed"). Poll as many readers as you can — and be prepared to jettison any font that draws too many negative reactions. Most importantly, pay special attention to readers with bad eyes or sour attitudes; they're the ones who'll whine the loudest later on. 241 TROUBLESHOOTING Bouncing baby boys T I r« jin -u hi- N /^i How long should it take to do a redesign? Some professional consultants say y*f J it takes six months to a year. A complete overhaul of a complex daily paper can easily take a year. Interestingly, deciding what the new design looks like is often the easiest part; it's the reader research, staff training and computer coding (sometimes for several different production systems) that can take months. And whether you're a big daily or a small weekly, writing a detailed stylebook — accounting for every possible design decision — is one of the most time-consuming parts of the project. On the other hand, smaller papers can be redesigned in a matter of weeks — or, if you're trying to set a record, days. But that's more a typographic face-lift than a full-blown overhaul. And instead of writing detailed stylebooks for projects on tight deadlines, you can create diagrams like the one shown here. Do you recommend formulating some sort of mission statement before you begin a redesign? Absolutely. Reaching consensus on your goals is a valuable way to launch any project. A concise mission statement can clarify those goals — and itemize the strategies you'll use to achieve them. For instance, your redesign mission statement might consist of a series of points like this: GOAL: Increase our appeal to busy, impatient readers. STRATEGY: Shorten story lengths. Increase story count. Improve summary deck style. Encourage the addition of fact boxes and graphics to every major story. Another tip: Use memorable adjectives. If everyone agrees that your goal is to create a classic, elegant design, that will help you filter out any inappropriately wild 'n' crazy ideas that creep into the prototypes. If your feature section's goal is to be useful and entertaining, that can later serve as a guide to editors and reporters alike. ("Sorry. Your story about quilting is neither useful nor entertaining. Can we rework it— or should it run someplace else in the paper?") In our upcoming redesign, our publisher wants to begin running ads on the front page. Will that be the end of respectable journalism as we know it? Over the years, front-page ads have come and gone. Journalists find them vulgar. Degrading. A symbol of greed. (Besides, they can overwhelm the news with noise, as Web sites demonstrate.) But if your publication desperately needs the extra ad revenue, you may need to get over your outrage and learn to live with them. Keep the ad units as modular as possible, so they don't intrude into the news design. If possible, strip them along the bottom of the entire page, like this: What do you do when you redesign a paper using QuarkKpress — hut the staff uses In-Design software? The solution: Diagram a sample page to pass along all the font, size and spacing details. (For more on this redesign, see page 240.) li 242 »—4 ' ill electronic newspapers replace dead-tree newspapers someday? Probably. They'll be cheaper to produce, more enjoyable to read, more timely, more comprehensive. . . the list goes on and on. Paper newspapers, sadly, will become smelly, yellow antiques. And worst of all, I will stop collecting royalties on this nice book. But enough about me. How will online design change the way you approach page layout? Creating pages for the World Wide Web requires the same understanding of type and images that you need when creating pages for print. But it's a different environment, one where readers have more control than ever before. Instead of designing pages that sort the news in a pre-arranged progression, you create an interface where users interact at random. Instead of - - — organizing stories in two dimensions the way newspaper pages always have, like this — — you link related topics in three dimensions, letting readers roam from story to story, like this: To unlock the power and potential of online design, you've got to focus on navigation. You've got to craft a site that's inviting, informative and intuitively logical, a site that lets users roam effortlessly, poking their noses into every intriguing corner, following their curiosities to customize their news. This chapter provides a brief introduction to Web design. We won't recap Internet history, train you to use JavaScript or ponder the impact of hypertext on the great media paradigm shift. If you're serious about achieving Web expertise, supplement this book with more specialized training. For another thing, Web technology is changing so rapidly, this chapter was out of date before 1 even wrote it. So hurry up and get started. i Transforming print pages into Web pages: How stories move online, and how front pages become home pages.... 244 -I Home page design: How to group and grid elements for better organization...............246 & Stn™ nata riecifln- *4P 'y Special project design; Using multimedia to expand your options .250 : Adding online extras: Links, multimedia and interactive elements .. 252 i> Planning online packages: How to collaborate on big stories and projects.... 254 Pi k ng a major news t low an online site created a special treatment for the Super Bowl.....256 Setting up your site: A guide to organizing and buildingyour online newspaper..................256 > Web design guidelines: Tips and warnings for online designers ........260 * Web site checklist: A form to help you assess your she's success.......264 ^4 ■mm. lit! WmSm IIÄlti _. rnmrn TRANSFORMING PRINT PAGES... State i Ji t.t II till 1 When the Web first caught on back in the '90s, it became a playground of visual razzle-dazzle. Creating a simple site was seriously uncool; it had to be jampacked with colors, shadows, groovy patterns and wiggy type. You couldn't just call yourself The Bozoville News; no, you had to be ... News-o-matic! Since then, the Web has evolved even further, with animated graphics, streaming soundtracks, images that bulge, blink, jiggle and bounce. It's fabulous! It's fantastic! It's......sort of scary. If you've never designed a Web page before, it's easy to feel intimidated. But relax. You don't need pizazz. You don't need to worry about making hardcore Web geeks happy. You're a journalist, remember. You've got data to deliver. Online news sites don't need to be cool; they need to be: ♦ Informative, That means useful news, not whizbang gimmickry. ♦ Easy to navigate. That means a clean, uncluttered, user-friendly interface. ♦ Fast-moving. That means it's responsive — quick clicks from link to link. ♦ Current. That means you guarantee freshness every day. Every minute, even. How complicated is online design? Sure, there are new computer terms and technology to learn. But the same basic design goals and guidelines apply whether you're creating a newspaper page or a Web page. Take the story at left, for instance. It's fairly simple: a *'■■ photo, a cutline, a headline, some text, and a box that refers to related stories. We've folded the text into three legs so it fits. On the Web, that » story looks like this: same elements, dif- ~i- ferent configuration. Instead of three legs, we use one wide, deep column of text. Otherwise, it's not new or unusual at all. In a newspaper, space is finite, and you spend your time making the puzzle fit. On the Web, the page size is smaller, but space is infinite, and stories can run on forever. (Now, there's a scary thought.) In fact, you can generally divide most online newspaper pages into two categories: stories, like the one shown here, and home pages — special ' directories that function as section fronts to guide users through your Web site. In the pages ahead, we'll examine both kinds of layouts more closely (along with a third type of online design: freestanding special projects). champs! .am defeats i^entrat to capture tuk Bugler girls' volleyball team wins state championship By LEX MINNIEAR It took seven long years. But tiie Lincoln High School Lgdy Bugler volleyball team captures the State championship Friday nir1"'" - "---'he 1994 reason. The final win agarflst Central I brought the team's averail retr. setting 3 school record. The Buglers teak the match against Central 10 only two games with scares of 15-7 101 each. Teammates Robin Fox, Holly Lukn-,, Krystyna Wolniakowskl and Lorrie Richardson landed iOO percent in serves to huiu clutch the 'Jictory. Patty Snow and Clan* Piichy combined tor 11 kills while Kottiv Hughes and Su» Payseno chipped in with Coach Georgia Eldridge was pleased witn their performance, "l love these Sirls," She said. "There was never a point in //hen 1 thought we wouldn't go all the way.' letlyartTreplrvJ Eldridge credited the Elite Efgnt sejifors. ■ "™ M°rne-a=„ng spfc- ~ ■ Kathrin Wiggmton, Nancy Casey, Holiy - ♦ Fan rcaeHonfBirgleTans. Lukas, Krystyna WölflEakQVJSM, Lome d&i*.t£ it, the streeb " „ . Richardson, Patty Snow, Claire Puchy, ami • ■ Kathy Hugfies für keeping the team focused and under Control. "They've each done a good job Claying important roles for u£ end I arn very proud of everything these kids have accomplished irt the last two seasons/ said Coach E idridge. The Lacy Si:gK;:5 were the r'jrimrs-up in the state finals last year UeHmd Noitrwille. Nine of the returning players were on the team that advanced to the regional quarterfinals hut were defeated hy North Farming ton. The Centrai wach v, A. BACK TO TOP . WEB DM ■:. INTO WEB PAGES Cf)£ itogie-lleatrjtt As you can see, basic story design may actually be easier to do on the Web than on paper. You just pour in the text until the story ends. But what about page design? Well, pages like the one at left don't exist on the Web, so many of the problems that go with them — like squeezing unrelated stories into a limited space — don't exist, either. Except on the home page. Just as the front page is the doorway to the printed newspaper, the home page is the gateway to the online newspaper. And because the home page links users to every inside page, it must be comprehensive, yet easy to navigate. Here's a simplified look at what you'll find on a typical newspaper home page: • Web terminology: If you encounter unfamiliar technical terms in this chapter, consult o ur glossary on pave................284 The flag: jot online editions, newspapers often devise a new name and spifjed-up logo, while maintaining some connection to the print version. Time/date: If you update your site more than once a day, you should include the time of this edition, as well. ••. Index (or navigation bar): It's easy to get lost in cyberspace. That's why a complete, clickable index is vital on the home page — AND on every other page in the site, as well. Lead story: It's usually just a summary, but you can click the headline to link to the full text — or dick the icons below to see photos and a video clip. That lead photo may seem small, but by avoiding large images, pages download much more quickly. buglebeacon com FOUR-OAV FORECAST ' SEPT. 20. 2007 • 2:44 . .Local news ^ * . " Nation/world - - - Ci ime report Obituaries Weather Cnlumnists ■ ■■■■ Dings St opinion!; Sports Scarf! 5/ st,-j n'fMigj 5* ■= bnter'toiprrtfcnt . Eyeifls caltindnr ■ ■ * Lottery Horoscope ' PhotosHdeshows , Audio/vfdso^ ■~-Special reports, „ :■= SELL A CA«; SELL ft HOME : FIND A JOB PLACE AN AO. SUBSCRIBE CONTACT US Classified ads - : . ■ View todny.'s ans-• Datefinder Weddings. ■ Contest: update • v. NeJ p. center Bugler girls win state volleyball championship In a come-trom-behind victory Friday night the Lincoln High School qirls defeated Central to win their first-ever state titie. "It's the greatest feeling m my life," said coach Georgia Eldridqe. Stories Photo Video & stats gallery clip OTHER NEWS: ♦ Mud Creek Reservoir water levels reach a dangerous all-time low ♦ Rock-tossing vandals destroy a historic Lutheran church window ♦ Owner of Toad Hollow Hardware calls it quits after 59 years ♦ Grant trial enters its third week SOUND OFF Who s your «(favorite local radio * disc jockey? DAIan Alien 3 Cubby Culberf 1 Bob "Bopper" Six ' MORS STORIES Send feedback Customer: 132007 0v Bugle-Beaco keyword search: ervice Subscribe nqw Newspapers, inc. Navigation buttons: These quickly link users to non-news services; the ' index down the left side guides us to actual news. Search engine: This helps users hunt for specific topics or names in the news. Ads/promotions: These are often dummied horizontally at the top of the page or (better) aligned neatly in this right-hand rail. Interactive extras: Online newspapers provide features that ordinary newspapers , cant: instant polls. Pod-casts. Photo galleries. Animated graphics. See our list on page 255. Page depth: This page is designed to fit on one screen, so readers wont have to scroll. Ideally, you'll try to avoid never-ending vertically scrolling home pages — which requires smart planning and tight editing — but usually, the bigger the site, the deeper the homepage. Footer: Every page on every Web site should include, copyright information. But this is also a good spot to solicit e-mail feedback from users or provide links to other sections of the site. Links: Click on these headlines and you'll be transferred to the story page, where you can read the text in full. For most home pages like this one, virtually everything you see is a clickable link to another page. 245- , WEBKSteH. HOME PAGE DESIGN Most home pages present a sprawling mix of material: headlines, text, car ads, |||| || p-photos, promos, restaurant ads, blogs, videos — and furniture ads. 7 Grids-""u d t "ď'"' Yes, virtually everything on your Web site wants a spot on your home page. * t^ea^hh^cmTiMt"^ (Your publisher wants big ads there, too — prominent, profitable ads — to pay underlies your page the bills.) desiSn....................76 For online news sites, home pages are directories. Digests. Mega-menus. You'll ^ Guidelines for using rarely see full-length stories there; instead you'll browse a collage of links, with %tb pages ^.1°.".262 short blurbs and small photos laid out like a postage-stamp collection. Most newspaper home pages consist of: ♦ News content. The lead story gets bigger play and bigger art; secondary stories and briefs are usually grouped by topic (Sports, Business, etc.). Headlines provide clickable links; small photos link to bigger photos, slideshows or videos. ♦ Web extras. These are often an assortment of standalone news features such as blogs, polls, podcasts and photo galleries generated by the newsroom. ♦ Navigation bar. This may be the most crucial element on the page, so it's got to be easy to find, easy to use, and displayed in the same identical place (along the top? Down the side?) on every page of the site. ♦ Service menu. This is where you promote all the non-news features your site provides: classified ads, subscription information, newsroom contacts, reprints, contests, etc. ♦ Ads. Decisions about advertisements — how big, how intrusive, how many — will shape your home-page architecture. In a perfect world, ads would be organized to provide impact without dominating the news content. Juggling all these different elements isn't easy, which is why many home pages become chaotic jumbles. Smart Web designers group and grid related elements, developing a dependable architecture that organizes material consistently from day to day. Designing a home page is like decorating your home; the furniture stays in the same place while the guests come and go. For example: X T R A S NEWS CONTENT NEWS CONTENT E If T R A s CONTENT SERVICES Here's a common way to group and grid homepage elements: two vertical columns of indexes, ads and extras run alongside the news content. If you provide navigation in a horizontal "toolbar" at the top of the page, you can then use the full width of the page for news content and ads. R V 1 C This page architecture allows ads to interrupt the news content without causing too much confusion or intrusion. 246- HOME PAGE DESIGN Here's the home page for a typical edition of savannahnow.com, theWeb site for the Savannah Morning News. Four color-coded icons I staffers-call them the-"four, food groups") ■ help users navigate the ■ site: ■ „ ■ ♦ KNOW links you to ■ news stones and • videos, which are also accessible from those . menus m the middle of the page. ♦ SHARE links you to blogs and reader forums wheie you can ■ discuss issuesrpostnews and upload photos. ♦ SHOP links you to classifieds, ads pom ihepaper, homes from realtors: ears, etc: ■ - . ♦.DO-shows you what,, to-do m Savannah: frommovtetrailers to ■ travel tips. It's also — . •whereyou subscribe to the paper, place an ad -or. contact-the staff. • In addition to the ••». color-coded navigation. . colons also, used to -orgamzethe page: A- ■ blue fiameprovides a buffer between those modules in the mam section ntlight. . Noticethebiglead -story near thetop of the page. Thafs one of fwe-largehonzontal images that rotate in a- -constant hop — a mt\ of local news, spoits, ads and promos. Notice, too, the gild this-page uses. The central section of the page is designed on a Sicolumngnd; The fat ■ left-hand column -is used primarily foi -navigation: the far : right-hand column is used exclusive!} jor ads Everything Effingham Homa1ž3 Moitnaag Loans Bag" Cteöit? Wů con Iwfp. There may bo loan plains [fulfil... ww.HbjyiůI 23,com Whaťa Vour credit scora? The average U.S. cradli score: 67S. ThůcMtlůSíeyOura:SO. ťAV.v.fťaůfccrl tviffi Mows Sports Braves- ma.iiRrvftf jfttkfstB fj Mors Headlines-. More Headlines... Sonata annrfevrts "Marfdl'to-ao* ML! ATLANTA - A plan alSowifij)... Huaa shallanae ah Bad lor Savannah Christian TftJoy vaH to bittersweet.., Now ffiarah rules OK'd ATLANTA - Sotn©.ilonstrufll5.,. Sonata can el hoars oraumorrts oh Sunday alcohol satoa scd, CiiEvarv hoeohomo crowds hefo (fa net oxacrv iwff* but.,, HIah Schoai Saskmbatl Pr&vlew ATLANTAAmucr>det!fliffll f>... GHSA STATE TOURNAMENTS A.. MftfoSosrts TfZJQ f Yeli©w advantage] Find local bü3lRMse& What: 1 I everybody iovo i ,r .':Y v ■ ■ .<;■ ■ ■ í.i:.Hi;»ivn[,:u-;',v![M,í,v*- (rtttiutvely Irdin >J+ ťn^ti U.'jr«>líii.: ■ » ven on- $9999 WhOíĎ: Savannah,GA > eat Llatari ff-SMrĚJH Featured Advertisers Otročit he dl no* latest video headlines from the AP ■ Did a burr!to cause coralysis"?, : Garo says madia too balaccftd Man 3trrjma.ts.to.cash $Sflh checft from God Doyau support iho -Můriot-tĎ-ůů' bill that would allow restaurant patrerw t4 laků on unflnlahod botitoof wJno O ur^eíxíetl ] Polles Cartlírm i Missouri TorniKh» Death Friends. Family -fl Funeral Downpage, the design shifts too 3-cohtmn gtidfoi "additional hnksto mac atones und news videos. Sotoct an Area:; intown 1 cpfntfigrtt 146 reads | older calls | rnaults Top Newa - Natten/World ^ Ma.raAraa Polaus Australian atatc bam VouTufto in schools Ha rig to mako nclso In KCAA& — 247- I £p Play Share; your vacation uholo.s!.-,. WEI DESIGN.. . STORY PAGE DESIGN Just as you need to develop a consistent architecture for home pages, you need to establish a standard format for story pages, too. Most stories may be short and simple — no photos, graphics or multimedia extras — but they all incorporate elements that need to be uniformly sired and positioned. For example: ♦ Headers/navigation bars. To avoid confusing users, these must be firmly nailed down and remain in exactly the same spot on every page of your site, ♦ Headlines. Most sites use one headline font and size for all standard stories, another for shorter sidebars. A 24-to-30-point banner headline is typical for most stories; many sites add decks to their bigger stories, too. ♦ Text. One wide leg of easily readable type (usually 12 point) is standard for most stories. Double-spacing between paragraphs is typical, too. Photos, sidebars and links are frequently indented into the text — along with ads, as well. ♦ Bylines. These often provide links to biographical data about reporters or allow users to send e-mail feedback. ♦ Time/date. This shows when the page was posted or last updated. ♦ Photo links. To speed each page's download time, images usually run small, then link to larger photos, slideshows or video clips. ♦ Text links. These connect users to related stories, columns, blogs, graphics, etc. Like sidebars in print publications, these usually use a smaller sans-serif font to distinguish them from body type. ♦ Comments. Readers want to react to stories or voice their opinions, so a TELL US WHAT YOU THINK link will connect them to a message board — though many sites post reader comments immediately following the end of the story. ♦ Ads. Yes, they have to go somewhere. But how big and intrusive must they be? There's another important reason for developing standard treatments for all these story elements: to save time. Few Web designers can afford to reinvent the wheel every time they post a new story, so each site adopts a consistent story-page format that usually resembles one of these options: > Online extras: A guide to the links, interactive elements and multimedia options used by online news sites.............252 IBS ■MR ■HH R A S Here's a common way to group and grid story-page elements: two vertical columns of indexes, ads and extras run alongside the news content. Here, navigation runs horizontally, wide ads stack along the right side, and links are indented into the left side of the text. Many sites avoid running large photos (so pages download faster) but at other sites, image sizes are increasing. To please advertisers, some sites indent ads into the text. Long, deep stories end up with white space alongside, which isn't really a problem. .. . -WEBDESKU. STORY PAGE DESIGN This layout, from Toronto's globeandmail.com, aligns its ads along the right side of the page. An indent on the left side of the story provides links to photos, related stories, other work by the reporter and an outpouring of reader comments. Long stories like this one may continue on a new page. gfobeandmaiI.com Home) rí-ationúFl Wprtrfl 3nE:ne;s& irü/G££i!tgi|£&&rtsJ Opinions| TeäincEagy) rt.ii[i.u ji la wane n uN ufftHfaj 'Inherently toxic1 chemical faces Its future MARTIN MlTTEiSTAEDT From Saturday's Cfobe and Mai! BISfTrUHi A Is Ingested by practical/ evsyorte in carniOj who eau canned (bods or drinks from a con or hard piastre water bottles. Nw a controversy Is raging over the safety ef widespread pcbtic exoHure tome chemical, whit* fe know to act 81« a synthetic female sat hormone, AtiheJieart the Intense debate over bteehersoi A Js that It challenges them gin tenet of modem toitatogy, the idea ihw ths fcsfi maKfis tfte poiswi, a prtndrie crafted to the 15th-cer-titty Swiss oldiemst Theophrastus Paracelsus. Under this Efiridpte, o two-pack-a^y srnoter is more at risk of cancer than a one-pack-a-day user, be tdMf mat rising doses make a substance m«e danoerous is the basis cf aB government KWtet^s&H&&ta^^tettp&zwesttxkarrfifu\ charnicals. Elsewhere on this site Related to this art&e Enlarge Image [? Jennifer Story and rwrtifvd fUtk Sroltf) of Toronta, wrfth f|V5-fnofiB\-oW son OtttKi. lecocftly dlldicrj their ptesHc betY bctdes In favtrur oí jbss due (a thf use «f Bi&pherml A ta tfie bottle linings. (Charfa Jon«/Globe nnd Matt) Controversial chemical round En fow33,U£. tests strew fi Stater to tea 5,0(10 Ľtaple f PM unveils chemical traefcdown 3 Breast cancer risk 'starts in the womb' BoWed-vtater safety rules 3 Fi Inadequate, Ottawa told £ water buttles linked Cltemŕcal i*i to prosti* car,r»r ä Are CriäStic products coated In paril? o It seems ob^tus that ahlgpi dw( of a poison would be frtdre dangerous than a fewer one, but tlsphří5ůt A is creeling a stir because it dcsait rcflwj mis seernřilířy comirsc-n-BenEe ruie. ftsearrherssayOirs «3iSty r*sjlte rrorri ther&t that ^phenol A Jsirt a convene hsrmfiji agent, arch as ogarette smote, Bui oíthwé* in thfc unccnifendonal way typical of rsonhones, Vthere even vanish In g(y small exposures can be harmful, this is why Sune eďmlrůnmenteíisu and scientists attend tři at fc)if*e*tur A, which ieatfiss In trace amounts from foccf and beverage parJcaeing, is among the scariest rnanuractured substances In use, an eerie mcdera version of the vaunted teas »ater pipes by which ardent Remaps ^ere urKruwInQly iwfconetJ. Extrapriating from the resets cf arsiraaf experiments, tftey tucpect bahněna A has its finserprints as over the uneipMned human health trerufe emertfrg in recent decades hinting at something odr-g íiay wire with sex hormonés, Jfttíuffing the earty onstt oř pyberty, deďnlna tounts, and tru; nt^e i^utsse In bretfC Sílit píůstste uncer, amon^ ctheraíments. Sut ma/ic;ra£ttjrers — wňlrh íricfticJe some of the •uorhTs Wjgeít diemlíai cempanies — insist bbphenol A Is harrrtóss a^a saytriosí óSttiViO otherwise have It wfwig. W«cfar*e to She heated controversy over Wspftenil X«* STOBI5S5V31CT10« OiutinDSS! tht njafl mac lor St orJiharTfcJs Asian expautan h^lidnnli WsnHoE» city still unJer (twi wamlfit as Ice iajnstalli VV-grld: Aid reacheä ort» Sokrasn hJEs Sports' Haj]e uafs dotheiTpart Arts: A «ry personal tragedy Tcdirvologv': Tol" rrtaker ^trJli« qcld Hi* Beanie Babiei of »e flnliift pra WSJ-rom; KewTorfc Stare Rej«:l5 0»E POPULAR OISCUSSIOHS ^ 743^ Posrviiiliulf-r, report predicts 1,21: Vimv FJdSli miking of a myth I6fi: Rsberles iAvruibgates sea? hudit EKftved fi yn petrdcurrt, CWiitt&noJ A Is the ch^f | fngredJen1 ifi pclysarton.aTs, the rlsW, rranstucar-t | rwri fJati lc used W waKf Kttles and many baby | bottles. II s also used td make the retins that line | m«t tin i ens, dental sealants, car parts, 1 ftijerc/jw ;atJe plastrs, wots helmets ana CDs. 1 Envirwttf int Carada and HeaJ* Canada wst yesr | alerted P as one nf 200 ajtstencas that a i f^omina y review fleemea possitJy danaerw^ | in reed o thorojoh safety assessnents. The 200 | were euHi d as the most wofrtscrfle flWfthals from I dmarg at «jt substances In use In tha 1 1-9G0£ an I {jra/nSfatfiered from detailed s&fety I studes vj i«n Canada its 1r*t rnotfem I poitoUoni iws. I Governm nt scLentbte dassJfied bi^enti A as | "inherersL^ towc* sod ccmpaiifas making It mrUI be ° challenged ty the aEKSsmarit to prove that 137 reader comments Sun the continued tra fs s*Te. CCrsw«rs3tlon Trse assessment is expected to begw rext mcftth ^gf and c«wlste a ofimpee into one of (fee Wfffiest pubBc-health and sdsntifTc tonawerses In the yjcrtd. Sprne researchers VjMi cfose-up wtews ftfejrfienDl A are to j^cciced by As aciSty tositew devetocmertt rn their taborautv anfmafs, «ven at amors trie towest doses ew used In expertmeftu, the/ orent wafting fw thB government to bar. It In tfieJr Knv.y Kves, trife/ Cant run away rrorn products cchtuning ic fast entiigti. "I mculd (ove to see ft barlshsd cfl the face of trie Earth,' Dr, Patr>93 Hurt^ a Washingta? State Un!i/er$fty S&netWSj -saJd. Srtebetta^ fflt£tiir\a her fcfsFhenol-A'Cpfiiairitng rxodti^afWcSscoYeraifl that mere traces of ti-.t Chemja! were ^Ue to scramble theesasc/ herlacratte. Hi humans, ^rMar damage vtiviii teafi O mtscarrtajei arfl tsrln iMects, stjch ?s Own syrtcVome.HitricuQhtr'Oh my GocV/r *e Hid. "I'm gur,o to trircw cut every piece of plastic En mv kltxriEn.-ConDfiljost on Page Z. PK0TOC*ii^r(tt5 S Qraphic: Adverts eriKts oTBIspheral A In laBffitory Dnimals P O LiO WtHlt WfUTlR »* Add MARTtEV MITTELSTAEDT to Kiy s-mall alerts & LATtSf COKm£»K 4 Orcst: Anything simUerwv Khatates? I t&ich an rntro environmental engS-eetlrta class to a group oF... BPA Part -!A - OOPS - J niarte a typing error, sorry, ft was geit^a... Orest: Gt^t inforrriaiJTe pasts. The real tragedy here Is that... Unlike the layout at left, this page—from baItimoresun.com — uses an indent within the text to give ads more bang for their buck. That right-hand rail provides an effective way to organize the sidebars: links to related stories, reader comments, photos and videos. lbaftimoresun.com JDB5 CARS HEAL ESTATE SHOW*! ■ jrv.;. ©site Ow**: * FiWH-ytund news > pt>litif ; Immigrant tuition bill put off until next year i U would aftow siudeatx to qualify for instate rates : BY KtllT SňtiMMÍQN O-.K' l^srlSittP Af«s;-t 10, The General Assembly adjourocd yesttarjay without rekibg t fiíai voie on & bai dealing with 6ns oftbc naiionJs m&jt conEcniious Issue*: fllcg&l iairr%itwc. Lawniakiri Lq (ht Stilatt were Wttcriy divided over a measure that would 6llow PfcgaJ imnuenuus who have graduated from Maryland high sehoab ta qualify &r íri-ítaic mju'oit. The House of Delegates rjaprowsd she ItEiiiaiton laslmon*,aň£fancmwÍQ&a3 i íJcbaw ibattcocÍKá &n cWú rights and the i failure of federal írmtígiaíion laws. But after Senate Republicans úuvswčd iaít week to filibue&r íí rJac bill advanoid to (he 5cnacc lTocr, iiic cammlttcc assigned to the Jcgjstedtrti dccHccd to vote on it yesterday. Supporters expressed frustration wiifc lawrrtatos' inacto, vowirig a> push thtf DKasurc next jicar. Titose who opposed the bili said it wes aXiri u awarding a taspaj«ffllMÍ(Jyfw]a»v&iealtCB. "Irs bad public policy,* said Sttt, ! ArKSr^P.Hanis.aEaltíínúicCatirili' ■' ,\ RcpuMican. "Iťs also giving these swiens a falie jiraniiäc.Tfccy wili ntsci be sbte tô giit a job in Mary bed ifihey are flkgal- Vfliy m wnwutmsi on cducaiblg legal cft&cns who wOl goorj to contribute » our sore?" Del, Vfctor a. I George's Cwnty Democrat w*d js ibc bja's-spcflsc*, sakJ that until ibc Mssion's final hours, be was optlraisoc atom passage. unfanuimtc.' be s&id, 'We oofc our slid, and die Houk ilmu.-cd much tesderirdp \a makingMsijland an inclusive uacc.' i Orathaboutf!: i S. Print Is : E9 Contact us ^1 R53 feed ; 9ostcoRmt»Rtoani ( a propose a billtftst : would allow : undocumented ; iflfrtfgrarrts to pay i in-state colkge : tuition. ' MesalE »houi« beewrw ; c'ltiiwis antt pay me . same taxes we to tft&a : ftfcteto rewartl i ttarroelVHMlhan I Mm. will [hey US»1to»f Marytsnd etfutoSon *«m th*m lo ihothec estmtjy vnre giving our (ritJuit^sB ewer ta? SwKrtrteti by: HiCiy AST?. EOT UtedfiiS ace net taKpaylctg citizens. So. írtcul-cí-sbato atíirtóol v** fS br Ameiicsn eiEřan. the)? pfiwrtř p*yňff teuer, simíá fiSty tfibtů luiliort lhan ILLEGALLY? Submitted by: Kpft EOT Tíii&l C^euAML-r ?2 Acad more comments or post yc-ur own í SéSticfi leaves sqqw : feglssuuj in limbo 249' RamiííZ wtó be dionfbc the oDl's faflurc would hurt Dernoctais. "thii raises questions about Hnw tnoptíivc (he Míuybcd D«rjocratic Pany mm a be tcrtvftnj iminlěranQ,' be said. 'Ifwcdun'idc southing ^n,ltfti&Ii ive are goiiig10 iuimJSrant voters turn on dw DtrrKKtarJc l^arry. Toe bill got a doom fiom Gov. Mania O'Mallcjr. a Democrat wita ptedged kj sj{rt the IcfitiMori sud jnsstĚíday rfiadc- a law-diieft cifon to pcnuBdoUwrni^ toa^^witrTbe General Assembly applied sUltilar tegStafian in 2003. but Gov. RobortL.Eřitlrctt If,, n Republican, vetoed it, OMaBcy spokesmwi RicJi AbbnizKsc said rhc gowertMr was "c>iíflppoill[cd■ that di& AsaatiÍJjy tíid not pass the measure. Sen, Joan Carter Conway, s Baltimore DcnKxrat and chairwoman at útíůKBttímas assigned to (be biUf said she fevofsd ůtítónctna it to spectTy that eJjgitte sudctm sncnd & Maryksd hi£b sebool forfiaur yean rather than ibf ihat Gs orifiinal bill r«)Ubcti. The bill abo rarujfed clígíbie stodents ta agito to QrJply (be legal rcsMaccy etíí! rwjjUÍrcd that thctt pjstttnrs )tavc paid Maryland taxes for at least a year. Advocaas have said that many swdcias whd wíwW betíigibFe aw lUcíaJ f mraSgrarits ftttoegb oů fai&cfdtttr ov>ri, having been brought to the United States by their parc&u. WirJidiH lu-saic cuitíůn, seidenu wbo had ítEodcd public sdiDoli vouki be unable to nitend cotíCEĎ, Stippůrtcrs said. Out-ůf-itiůt aiidon ^t Mítryíact) eoítegěstscíi average ihicc wks as mucls ior toc«] residena. Dlcgal itaralgrarui art noj eliglbfc for Mate or federal fmanciat aid. Opporieats alio pointed io the mate's unicturaJ buůgci acd said they ft$rctj třat fjií bil! wůiiii cost ťňůéí more ihaa dte csiiraatai $1.15 mlllicn by 2012j ECCůrding ta d report by Icgi£kii\* analysts. Lt. Gov. Anthony ^r, ■vitfc 251 WEB DESIGN ...... ADDING ONLINE EXTRAS Web developers use a sarcastic term, shovelware, to describe headlines and text lifted from a print publication and dumped onto a Web site without adding anything extra. Shovelware is easy, but it's lazy. If you just shovel your print material online, users will realize that either you don't care — or you just don't get it. The Web offers vast storytelling potential, but you'll never tap it if you're too dependent on just headline-text-photos-and-cudines. So put down that shovel. Here are three types of online tools every smart news site should incorporate. LINKS ^ y°uve done your job and presented good information, users will want more. Online, it's easy to give it to them. You can link to other material by highlighting words or phrases in the text, but that can get distracting if it's overdone. Usually, it's best to gather links into lists that run alongside stories. By clicking on these links, users can connect to: ♦ Related material that's posted elsewhere on the site. This will include stories, graphics, photos, videos, reader comments or polls. ♦ Previously run material on this topic (or related topics) from your newsroom's archives. ♦ Editorials or columns that offer analysis or commentary on topics discussed in the story. ♦ Additional information that was left out of the story: statistics, quotes, even full-length transcripts or audio of interviews. ♦ Organizations or individuals whom users may want to contact. ♦ Other Web sites that offer additional viewpoints or data. Home News Money ■ Spora ■ Lite Here's a story from usatoday.com. It's a complex topic, involving the war in Iraq, military funding, troop withdrawals, Congressional politics and more. To help users fully comprehend all the different aspects of this topic, the site provides these links •••• to related stories — some of them current, some of them older, archived material. Notice how this sidebar combines keywords, icons and links in an appealing, organized way. mm NeWS » Washington • Government Guide ■ fiallup Guru «NewPolftlss: Chuck Raaseh House panel approves biil with Iraq timetable Updated 1 Dm ago j toinma.it —.J j Fíeaomíra.id E-mail 3 Sávo I Print | Reprints & Permissions I U.S. POLICY ON IRAQ ■ Funding: House to vote on S124B bií! j Bush rmkes cuts to pay for S.20Ö route troops 1 Tho push for Ssghdad: President: Iraq v/ar pisn will prove its worth ] Bush G&A " The plan and the troops: Baghdad cracfHiown | Dangerous fjutiss unfold I Hetktopter crashes sprke 1 Congressional rosponso: GOP weighs dissent options | 63ttlo over war budget looros " Iraq Study Croup Report: Hov; other countries car. help [ Ropsrl highlights } Corr,miits$ 1 Opinions: Editorial j Columns | Letters By Kathy Ktery, USA TODAY . Washington — The House Appropriations committee today approved a military funding bill that would seta firm timetable for ending the war in Iraq before September, 2008. The $124 billion bill, which includes $95.5 billion for the wars in Iraq ana Afghanistan, passed on a mostly partisan vote, 36 to 26. The measure could go to trie House floor as early as next week. It was the first major test of unity among Democrats since they took control of Congress In January. Parly members agree the war should end, but have been deeply divided over how fer to go to force President Bush's hand. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. a strong opponent of the war, voted against the measure, saying afterward, "I believe the American people sent a mandate to us to bring home our men and women before the end of the year. The biil, however, Is unlikelyto make Itin law because of threat of a veto by the White House and dim prospects in the Senate. Senate Democrats have been reluctant to adopta firm timetable, preferring so tar only to set a goal for a troop withdrawal of Match 2000. FIND MORE STORIES IN: Iraq | House | Congress | Democrats" | Senate I George W Bush j iraqi government j Rep. Jerry Lewis The bill, formally known as a n "emergency supplemental" origlfiaily began as a request by President Bush for additional funds, mainly for the Iraq and Afghan wars. -252- If you like the work of a particular reporter — or if you want to read other stories she previously filed on her beat — this link connects you to an index of her stories. Other news sites link the reporter's byline to an e-mail form so readers can provide feedback to stories. Here's another device usatoday.com uses to link to related topics. It's a list of keywords found in the text. But instead of highlighting each individual word when it appears in the story (which ' can be distracting), they're grouped together here. The links connect you to stories in the paper's archives. WEB 0E8III ADDING ONLINE EXTRAS Above: A football slideshow from the Asbury Park Press online. Below, an example of how video clips are packaged and played at orlandosentinel.com. Sail?!1 EDI« * Slideshows (or photo galleries) present a series of photos and captions that tell a story, illustrate a topic or document an event. With a little extra effort and the right software, you can add audio narration, interviews, music and sound effects; photos can be timed to advance automatically, too. * Video. Some news sites repackage clips from TV newscasts like the example at right. That's a good start, but you can also expand your online coverage with video interviews, documentary-style packages, even digital footage submitted by users. * Audio. News sites often provide audio files of speeches, interviews or musical excerpts to supplement the text of a story. * Animated graphics. These are like the charts, maps and diagrams you see in print, except they're animated to simulate motion. They'll illustrate the path of the hurricane or show, step by step, how a new gizmo works. Some add sound; some are "clickable," giving users more choices and control. * Podcasts. These are audio versions of stories for users who'd rather listen than read — downloadable for playback at a later time. Like radio news stories, podcasts are most effective when they incorporate sound bites, music and other audio extras. TOP VIDEOS Exotic pets end up t New láuei explains ř of products I Employers focus úrs Ifta health of workers Montana meth a bus a ads called graphic Exotic pets end up in learning center Ulli ACTIVE PTI0N8 For centuries, newspapers were a one-way monologue. But online news sites are now giving readers a voice, too, providing dialogue through: ♦ User comments. Stories and columns often add a "comment" section that allows everyone to voice opinions, correct errors or supply further details. Many online news sites feature reporters' or editors'Web logs (or blogs) where journalists discuss controversial stories, defend their decisions, publish newsroom memos and add a human face to their news coverage. *■ User-generated content. Many news sites post users' blogs, photos and videos, both for standalone features and breaking news. Some encourage local experts to report on their areas of expertise; others ask readers to send in story ideas, anecdotes and interview questions — or ask them to participate in: v Online polls, contests and quizzes. With the right software, you can conduct reader surveys on any topic (though results may not be statistically accurate). You can integrate tests and quizzes into stories, too, with forms that check your fitness level, test your Grammy IQ or calculate: What Will This New Tax Plan Cost YOU? * Live chats. These are interviews — of newsmakers, experts, even newsroom staffers — asking questions submitted by readers and moderated by a reporter or editor. -253- Today's Foil Evolution vs. creationism ® i believe that only evolution should be taught in, public-school > •science classes.""— © I believe that '■ evolution should not be taught in public-school science Glasses.,,:.' ■ „ O I believe that both evolution and -creafionisnrr should-be > ■-taught in public-school science classes. A typical multiple-choice setup for an online opinion poll. WEB DESIGN PLANNING ONLINE PACKAGES Suppose you decide to profile Ludwig van Gogh, a famous painter/ composer. Which medium, or media, would produce the best story? To display his paintings, you'd need photographs. To play his music, you'd need audio clips. To show him at work — conducting an orchestra or painting a picture — you'd need video footage. To explain the meaning and impact of his art, you'd need text. In short, to create the ideal profile, you'd need multimedia. Cross-platform journalism. Media convergence. Whatever you call it, it's an idea whose time has finally come. Some skilled newsroom pioneers consider themselves to be "converged" journalists: They write. They shoot video. They anchor webcasts. And in the future, some predict, all journalists will need expertise in a mix of media. Others say that'll never happen — that asking journalists to juggle too many balls will only result in mediocrity and burnout. The truth lies somewhere in between. Yes, journalists should broaden their skills (and those with multimedia ability will become more hireable, too). But producing richly layered multimedia stories is a complex process. And creating successful online packages will always be a team effort where skilled staffers pool their specialized talents. tOWTO USE OUR HANE PLANN fYOI {UHF. FORM As we said in Chapter 6: For the past hundred years, newsrooms have worked like factory assembly lines. First, the reporter reports. Then the photographer photographs. The editor edits. The designer designs. And the presses roll. That assembly-line process gets newspapers printed, sure, but it doesn't encourage creative collaboration. And besides, the goal is no longer just to get the newspaper printed—you've got to produce a smart, solid Web site, too. And that's impossible without planning and collaboration. If you simply want to shovel stories online without tapping their multimedia potential, that assembly-line approach will get it done. But if your goal is to enrich and expand your online journalism, then you've got to play as a team. You've got to share the workload, plan the package and delegate duties. Here's one way to do it: ■ Package planning: A closer look at the Maestro Concept, a process that produces more effective news packages...............188 Wm SELECT YOUR TARGETS 11 If you're like most Hi newsrooms, you're crunched for time. You can't give special treatment to every story — so first, decide which stories warrant extra online attention. (The bigger your staff, however, the more stories should benefit from this process.) 0CONVENE A MEETING Depending on your staffing, this could include the editor, reporter, photographer, Web content producer — anyone involved with the story's presentation. Sit down together. Use a copy of the form on the next page to guide your discussion. 3THINK LIKE A READER Begin by asking: What's this story really about? Boil the idea down to 25 words or less. Now think like a reader. What are the most important, useful, engaging questions this story provokes? And where will you answer them? In the main text? A sidebar? A graphic? A photo? Or better yet, is there an interactive, multimedia extra that best delivers the information? Consult the list at far right for options. Most importantly, ask yourselves: Should you break this story into several linked Web pages, each with its own online extras? QPLAN THE PACKAGE Continue to organize the complete story treatment, starting with the main page (which may be your only page): ♦ Discuss words and ideas that belong in the headline and deck. You'll need them for home-page promos, too. ♦ Discuss any photos or artwork you'll need to include on this page. ♦ Want to incorporate Web extras or sidebars? Assign these now. ♦ What links should you include on this page? If your story works best as several linked pages, repeat Step 4 for each page. g!! ONLINE PACKAGE PLANNING GUIDE questions READERS will ASK Why should I care?. WHERE WE'LL ANSWER: □ main story □ related story □ sidebar/web extra □ photo/graphic details: WHERE WE'LL ANSWER: □ main story □ related story □ sidebar/web extra □ photo/graphic details: WHERE WE'LL ANSWER: □ main story □ related story □ sidebar/web extra □ photo/graphic details: O WHERE WE'LL ANSWER: DETAILS: MAIN PAGE HEADLINE/DECK _ □ main story □ related story □ sidebar/web extra rmm, story package □ photo/graphic PHOTOS/ART _ SIDEBARS/EXTRAS. LINKS_ race; (optional) HEADLINE/DECK _ PH0I0S/ART_ SIDEBARS/EXTRAS. LINKS_ THIRD/RELATED PAGE HEADLINE/DECK_ (for more than three pages. use additional forms) PHOTOS/ART SIDEBARS/EXTRAS SIDEBAR OPTIONS □ f AST-FACTS BOX ; □ Q and A □ FAQs □ LIFTOUT QUOTE □ QUOTE COLLECTION ] □ MAP □ CHAfiT □ LIST □ CHECKLIST □ BIO BOX D DIAGRAM □ TABLE □ QUIZ ; □ TIMELINE J □ 5-TEP-BY-STEP GUIDE : - □ GLOSSARY ' \ □ EXCERPT : □ CONTACT INFORMATION FOR SOURCES CITED' IN THE STORY \ MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS □ VIDEO CLIP □ AUDIO SOUND BITE □ SLIDESHOW ; □ NARRATED SUDESFjQW □ WEBCAM - - - - □ ANIMATED GRAPHICS' □ LIVE WEBCAST □ PODCAST : INTERACTIVE OPTIONS □ ONLINE POLL □ FEEDBACK/COMMENTS □ LIVE CHAT ;. □ REQUEST FOR READERS TO SUBMIT: : - STORIES J - STORY IDEAS :■ - PHOTOS - VIDEOS □ INTERACTIVE MAP □ DOWNLOADS □ CONTESTS LINKS TO: □ PREVIOUS STORIES □ RELATED WEB SITES □ EDITORIALS/ COLUMNISTS ■ □ UNEDITED INTERVIEW' • TRANSCRIPTS □ OFFICIAL RECORDS AND DOCUMENTS \ □ BLOGS LINKS _ 255 WEB DKM * PACKAGING A MAJOR NEWS EVENT Narrated slideshow: Gai;u highlights shot by Herald photographers and narrated by one of the Herald's sports columnists. Which was the bast Super Bowl commercial? ■ :SianLO& - Spcy, Cheesy, Cwrtciiy ^Srntkfcrs - Aftsr ilia Wsj> ^.F*dEK - Moon CWitC f: CoreerbulFiler.com . Jongs tr-alWrtq semifine ~:6tt«le - ROBbed by your bark ■jcoca ana > crorrj-n-.^rt flu to ssoor ■JSuS Lla^t ■ The ■slap » In 0 Emerald Ntrts-ftecft OWSy (rorti Robert Goulel Cottier 319 people have v-otertsofar *^...........................!-n-- Web poll: Whether you watched the game on TV or viewed the videos posted here, you can:vote for your favorite=do:mrnereiaL. > *■ * * AL DIAZI WfAWl HEttUD STAFF ; i « indtanapoKs Colts head coach Tony Dungy is lifted by his players in '2. * celebration of wl/infag Super Bowl XLl, dofeatmg the Chicago Bears 29- v * 17. and bscomino, the first black couch lo win.thoSupDrBo\vl . * * ♦ ffcSl NarmtorJ SIEdcshow: Dan Lo Biliard remaps Super Bowl XLl MJ& Post game [ icq Super Fun {t!t3 Photos from Supra Sunday lj£] Super Bowl week scorros I Postgymo Audio iv Super Slog: Tell us about yourfavontocomm&reial Super Ads voto: 3 Best) S Worst} !*J Most creative fnifianspolis« *| Chicago • - 6 10 ■■■»■■■14 0 Piovffi-w i fttatcrup i Las I Wr:p | Sox 29 17 COLTS REIGN! Indy's Manning, Dungy are champions at last COLTS 29, BEARS 17 After the ram and the rain of confetti had passed. Super Bowl XU could be remembered os the game that changed the Identity of the Indianapols Colts. DAN LE BATARD tColts' victory has an uncommon grace GREG COTE EColts stand tall on bear of a night DAVE BARRY fJoin the fun in Dave's blog from the game INSIDE SUNDAYS GAME - Super soaker docsnlfinn fans' fun » Edwin Pope i Manning takes, keeps control • Super-priced ads not worth fho hype ■ Prince's "Purple Rain* an apt anthem • Former Canes shine despite ram - Colts offense dtsplays horesepower • Manning's Pey-day: Super Bowl MVP . Nantz has flawless Super Bowl debut THE SUPER BOWL is, m many ways, the ultimate news event, combining sports, celebrities, big business and pop cultute for a woildwide-audience. Fortunately, games ate planned years in advance, which gave the staff of the Miami Hetaldplenty of time to plan their coveiage when Miami hosted the big game in 2007, Hetc's a look at the MiamiHetald.com Super Bowl homepage just hours after the game ended. Notice the clean design that keeps the site organized — and the ifnptessive mix of multimedia options. Among the highlights. Interactive trivia test: This multiple-choice quiz lets you dick the buttons to test your football knowledge. (Which ] team won the first two Super Bowls'' Answer: Green Bay treen say Packers.) ■Wfrhwwt i ?!>f-W; «vi jS ft sponsored by STAKES ■:MiamlHeraJd.comSs; ěá 4»» . Video commercials: Eor many viewers, : the ads are just as appealing as the game Here's your chance to see them all VIDEOS Watch the latest Super Bowl news TRIVIA Test your knowledoo in our quiz SUPER STADIUM öeca spruced up uoiphin stadium * SUPER ADS Preview the upcoming commercials I DAVE BARRY | ON THE SUPER BOWL NFlBcxtcera-Indli If you go to the gams, you'll miss the show It j Super Bowl Sunday at last Finally - after ail the hype, all the parties, all the talk-we will getto see ont bOfcer BdMXLI : SUPER BLOG • Bling at Boost • Diamonds for Giselle? • Bowl Bits Partil • Bits of me buzz... • Movin'on up • School gets an Early start • Most valuable dancer • Pink Elephant partes • K Hi to ffslei Hme Jiupoj« mak he r*"*' /l^srs ^übe> Do not be alarmed; Miami isnl so weird EDWIN POPE EVENT GUIDE VISITOR'S GUIDE PHOTOS Sports stats: A detailed breakdown of the game's statistics — scoring, rushing, passing, punting, penalties and so on Super Scenes from around town Check back regularly to view photos from this week's extravaganza - belter known as Super Bowl XU » Super Bowl Media Day » NFL Experience photo gallery J ü£Mmv Photo Galleries: Boars arrlv« In Miami | Coas arrive In S. Fla. 40 days and nlghte Mism Karpia- worts n,lun,n>s«Eewto pppp. pnp 5f s haadfiaafsparajwrlmn to atentf eveny EirperBowJ Baarsens ragman1 eaftamaBdi SaparS^neiay. sl«alcl»d,t,'tlrBBami>carilrBr.Chaa«Bularirhe i ■NrT.Exoananr.e ■FrarbsllCliiircs ■Vall&vpalG-oia -SuperBrtakraS? 'SgpprFlppioal Blogs; A variety of writers blogged before, during and after the game, including humorist Dave Barry, who < filed this report The Cote offense opened with a surpjise tactic, the rarely seen Butterfly Formation, but the Bears quickly countered with the Giant Inflatable Alligator * SUPER BOWL POSTERS I SUPER BOWLS IN MIAMI On ja mo TlsiYSiaieii Horn v Temporality rsrnlrigsriit for iha tf g gamut Hse-s your atHieffl. Snopp!rig ^v:MerivPintaB-J, Mare Cinwrts Four-way: menu; Clicking o,n the tabs:.along: the loo o' this box links you to oioto galleries,:' iinsights fi^^^rdjp^:^l^n,ls% or ■ • \ guides to Miami erring, stticdons srd events* SUPER BOWL { LESSON I Super Bowl lessons Htetoiyin the ppaktAoj F& utiatlhe Sears and Colts are suhtne. Tor, ettnouott (hp theme a will vary from team to team and n&yer to player. tnajtMllYrrrtftlilUflB/uaay. nwa*a,*a,iOCttre*'|iu» da Dclphh Sladkm iuil ar-nurrnadankioaf oaiittny wan-aft raarrAartaiplriravars ptflnpff«,aBn5nMpnnw rarTtamDrarioaniay. k«**t*tp*4«494p«*pft«*44u*4»4p««4«* SUPER BOWL NEWS ■ Sights on the stars » Even if .trains today, it sure beats frostbite » If you go to the game, you'll miss the show • Football players well-paid by corporate planners = Parties pit NFL against pastors « Uninvited guesis shutdown high-priced party • Joe's has game plan for Super appetites • Super Bowl parties—the sportin'life « Street closings planned for Super Bowl weekend ■ Prince's haiafme preview WHAT THE WRITERS ARE SAYING Dowloadable posters: These a-» PDI' Iii» ttl rioters tiiiijiwlly \'.\\\\\\\ in :'.e'.v-.|id:iM,: ■including that: giant s x-pait p:>-,ter t:n the left.;- « The quarterback of the Super Bowl broadcast g To the victors go commercial spoils . Addal's friendship endures the test oHime ai We interrupt the Super circus to bring you some football • A sideline to the NFL's past BY ART SHHU. Watfreislon Posl Servies ■ COLTS WILL WIN: Manning will be a ringing success ■ BEARS WILL WIN: Destiny, Devin are key factors • Proud papa Archie makes sure focus stays on son » Manning's mission: deliverbiggestvictory - Colts are ready to win > O'er the land of the spree and home of the rave • Here's picking the Sears LATEST NFL NEWS v Super Bowl lessons* ♦**e*«#*****«*»4>«* ■ Edwin Pope j Manning wont fall today « Quiet Colts WR looking to make some noise « Manning oul to make his mark » Sreg Cote | Super Bowl dwarfed by excess » Appreciate Dungy and Smith » Bears' Hester could provide excitement ■ Dan Le Balard | S. Florida seeing stars as the big finish nears g frvin receives his due with Hail of Fame selection . Greg Cote | A day lhat made Irvln turn humble MOST VErVORABLE SUPER BOWL MOMENTS » Super Memories | Super Bowl XL » Memorable Moments j Super Bowi XXXIX ■ Super Memories [Super Bowl XXVIli » Memorable Moments | Super Bow! XXXVII = Memorable Moments j Super Bow! XXXVI . Memorable Moments: Super Bowl XXXV » Memorable Moments | Super Bow! XXXIV » Super Bowi Memories: Super Bowl XXXII! a MemorableMoments{SuperBowlXXXIi . Memorable Moments} Super Bowi XXXI s Memorable Moments 1 Super Bowl XXX •♦«♦♦•« ■ Memorable Moments j Super Bow! XXIX 4 *V>>m MaspeM MutuInMuaarnraüwliPe MaaPa »*rtiarr-tieraaan>,m J Pavian f.tennlns a wlnaeiai f. caaassCniragalanaleant [ . Links to stories: A cnllmion of thf men : ■ : interesting;Super Eovy]news-stories; cpjurans; ■ andiipredictibnspreviouslyipQsterJ online;::: Memorable Moments j Super Bowl XXX \ 'i &Y SNWH ROTKSCHIIil '. p oi^fAJLllSo'ionTS'AnHU.f w ■ :1 DALLAS 27, PITTSBURGH ^«>aa^Mffatinia^errjtrjucflao«iinjri. Memorable mbments: Li.fi.ks'-.leading you:: :tb; short recaps (with :photos); of the: dozen ::. most recönt:SuperEöW] parties. WEB DESK SETTING UP YOUR SITE NEWS J story menu/news briefs _..:_^!..i..T_: I police t i log Need to either launch or retool your newspaper's Web site? Here's what to do: DTake a tour of online newspapers. Spend a couple of days — or, ideally, weeks „ j — getting familiar with online newspapers. Visit Web sites for magazines, local TV and radio stations, big dailies and student papers. Once you're familiar with their styles and strengths, zero in on newspapers your size. Evaluate their successes and failures (using the checklist on page 264). Make screen captures of pages you like. Study their color. Typography. Grids. Navigation. Experiment, too, with making online newspapers your only source of information. That way, you'll better understand the medium's strengths and weaknesses — the gaps in its coverage and the frustrations of its readers. BDiscuss your goals and ambitions. Launching a Web site is like adopting a puppy: Most people don't realize how much constant care and feeding it requires, and how the slightest neglect results in unpleasant "accidents." So how ambitious will your site be? Will it deliver fresh, new material, or just recycle old newspaper stories (i.e., "shovelware")? Must you sell ads and make a profit — or are all your expenses covered by a school or corporation? Brainstorm. Push the envelope. Draft an inspiring mission statement. Just remember: The more complex the site, the harder it'll be to create and maintain. To help you balance your wish lists and your workload, it's best to... BPIan your site. Planning? Ugh. Forget it. If you're like most newspaperpeople, you hate planning. You're too creative! But remember what we said in the chapter introduction: good Web design is all about navigation. And without a solid plan for linking stories and pages, you're doomed. Begin by listing your content. Organize it. Prioritize it. Figure out the smartest, cleanest way to group topics. Start sketching an organizational tree, like the one at left, that shows how readers will move from branch to branch. The best thing about a Web planning session is that it frees you from your two-dimensional orientation. Think structure. Think links. How can you anticipate your readers' next need? How can you keep them from getting lost? Remember the three-click rule: Try to keep every page in your Web site within three clicks of the home page (as our model at left tries to do). Once you have the site planned, you'll have a rough sense of the overall traffic flow and workload. This will help you determine how much stuff — and staff — is needed for each page, and how much time you'll have to enhance those pages with value-added extras like those in the shopping list at right. meetings calendar f- story 1,2,3 .. IMi'ii sidebar/ photos/ archives H SPORTS , story menu/sports briefs | ] schedule' .scores columnists story 1,2,3. sidebar/ photos/ archives : ARTS •FEATURES f story 1,2, 3. story menu / best bets if; i calendar reviews sidebar/ photos/ archives OPINION P i menu/lead editorial | .__^P_,-----r. columnists letters CONTACT US ARCHIVES J Here's a planning map for a small online newspaper. Can you follow the proposed links as you move around the site? Notice how even' story links readers to the feedback page. And though it's not shown here, remember that every page will link to the home page and main index. WEB SITE EXTRAS Sure, your Web site will provide stones, blogs and multimedia. That's good. But is it enough? As you plan your site, consider formatting extras like: A search engine for the entire site. A PDF version of your newspaper's front page. A local webcam. Reader polls. Reader blogs and message boards. Reader-submitted photos and videos. RSS feeds or e-mail alerts for local news stories, sports scores, weather, reviews, etc. A complete staff list with e-mail links — or better yet, a blog page for every staffer where readers can interact. A print this story or email this story option. Promos soliciting input from readers on upcoming feature stories. A downloadable mp3 section offering tunes from local musicians. A contact for buying photos or back issues of the newspaper. FAQs about your paper, campus, town, etc., with links to stories or guides you've produced. A form at the end of breaking news stories where witnesses can supply more information. Interactive ads, games, puzzles or contests. Podcasts of columnists or special interviews. Online chats with ail political candidates. A special section for readers who speak a different language, with story translations and unique features. A text-only option (for users with slow modem connections). An overall site map. 258 web mm SETTING UP YOUR SITE 0Evaluate your computer resources. If you already paginate your paper, you're probably well-prepared to go online. It takes hardware — ♦ A gutsy computer with a big monitor and lots of memory. ♦ A Web server (a goofproof computer to host your site. You can always use your own, but it maybe smarter to lease space from an Internet Service Provider). ♦ An high-speed Internet connection (a modem just isn't fast enough; you need a reliable DSL line or cable modem). — and it takes software: ♦ An image-editing program (like Photoshop) to compress your graphics into GIF and JPEG files. ♦ An FTP ("File Transfer Protocol") program to upload images and text to your server. ♦ A Web browser (Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox are among the current favorites). ♦ A text-editing program (like SimpleText or WordPad) or a Web design program (like Dreamweaver, GoLive or FrontPage) for writing your HTML. What's HTML? It's HyperText Markup Language, the coding that controls all the text and formatting of Web pages (see the before/after example at right). Mastering HTML takes time, practice and one of those heavy 500-page manuals. But it's not rocket science. And there is an alternative: Web-design software that lets you design pages as you would with a page-layout program, then crafts the HTML coding for you. Which way should you go? If you're serious about Web design, learn HTML. If you want to view and "borrow" the source codes of cool Web pages you find, learn HTML. If you're too cheap to buy Web-design software, learn HTML. Otherwise, Web-authoring software will let you create most pages quite successfully. But for best results, every staff should include someone who's HTML-sawy to debug glitches and fine-tune your site's underlying foundation. BDesign your page prototypes. It's just like redesigning a newspaper. You've got to explore suitable, stylish options for: ♦ The flag—A spiffed-up version of your old flag? Does your name change, too? ♦ Indexes — Horizontal? Vertical? With icons, buttons or drop-down menus? ♦ Headers — What sizes and fonts are most effective for story and page signage? ♦ Colors — Which hues best organize our content and project our personality? ♦ Grids — What's the ideal width for indexes and text? Where will the ads go? ♦ Traffic flow — How crowded can pages be? How quickly must they download? Eventually, you'll standardize all these design elements as you create style sheets and templates to save time for staffers (and prevent design mutations). :; Test, test, test. On big, new computers. On lousy, outdated junk. On Mac .f:fv/W/^ffi '■:.My30:^fM^< €-f:fff(0f:.; '"S-yM/fy^^-Thi - ir. a hcac.tine

<130DY>A:id this i. s bas ir. t.exl., •; though you c?.r. italicizc<''I--words, bolGfacc words, send ' yor. to '^TyiTi. news-o-raatic .oom. In HTML, it's those tag commands that let you control type and I '* A Quiet Heck Ať HTML foiling--1-1h This is a headline And this is basic text, though you can italicize words, boldface words, even add hypertext links that send you to news-o-matic .com. Jit m and Windows. On Netscape and Explorer, both current and old versions -that's called "backward compatibility." Test your pages on slow modems and slow-witted users to see what crashes and crawls. Remember, not everybody surfs the Web all day with a superfast Internet connection like you do. Think testing is a waste of time? Wrong. On the next page, we'll explain why. ■259- B DESIGN WEB DESIGN GUIDELINES DEAL DÖWNLC 16 fill IFTERENT 10 TIMES In the future, we'll all have lightning-fast Web connections that instantly display lavish, complex pages loaded with audio and video. But unfortunately, this is now. And nowadays, we all download pages at different speeds. Some of us are fast. Some of us are painfully slow. Thus, every Web designer needs to appreciate that the more complex a page is, the more slowly it downloads. The more slowly it downloads, the more frustrated users become, vowing never to return to your site again. Therefore: ♦ Keep things simple. When in doubt, minimize. News sites really don't need type that sparkles or images that blink, unless they're warning that your site is about to explode. Use special effects for good reason — animated infographics, for example — not for frills. Don't waste bandwidth. Make every K count. ♦ Keep images small. Set a limit on routine image file sizes (20K?). To display full-size photos, use clickable thumbnails that link to larger images. ♦ Monitor your users. Suppose virtually all of your users have new computers and broadband. Would that make it OK to load your site with huge graphics? Run browser-detection software to analyze who your users really are, then decide. Different Wei'connections download pages ^different • - speeds.; Take the page below, for example, where the;;,; ; combined-elements total;TOOK; •Howhttgwpufiit'^sike-^ »• .thispage to materialize usirig.differentWebxohhecttons?, TYPICAL DOWNLOAD TIMES : : for a.lOOK page like the one:abave: ACCESS SPEED DOWNLOAD TIME i 28.8 kbps modem 30 seconds 56 kbpsmodem :::: 15 seconds: DSL (Digital Subscriber line) : ; 2 seconds J" Cable modern, Ethernet"..:f .' ■ less than 1 second Source: "Creating Web Pag« for Dummie?" wens COPING WITH No matter what you do — whether you use animated graphics or the simplest DIFFERENT HTML coding — your site looks different to every visitor. Pages that look fine on my big monitor may not quite fit on your little laptop. I may use the latest version of Firefox on a new Mac; you may use an Explorer 1.1 on an old PC. And even two identically sized monitors might display everything at different resolutions. Does that matter? Yes. Take text type, for instance. That chunk of text you just posted on your Web site will appear smaller on Macs, as a rule, than on PCs: Too soon we reach the end; too late we start Too soon we reach the end; too late we to sing these quiet hymns within our heart. start to sing these quiet hymns within In addition, HTML won't let you choose exact point sizes for text; you can only choose one of seven relative sizes. You can't select exact fonts, either (since users may not own the font you're using); you can only suggest fonts for users who have them installed. And to complicate things even more, all users set up different defaults in their browsers. (My text may default to Times, yours to Helvetica.) So what can you do? Wait for Web software to evolve. And until then: ♦ Test carefully. View all your pages on all platforms and all browsers. Stay aware of the inevitable flux, so you can build a little flex into your layouts. ♦ Remember your text-only users, those viewing your site on browsers with the graphics turned off (or the visually impaired, whose browsers read the page aloud). Will your pages be navigable to them? At the very least, provide ALT tags for every image, so if the images don't appear, short descriptions of them do. -—26X»- WEB 0ESÍ8N WEB DESIGN GUIDELINES TP SŽÍhc $regonían W BBJtylUls g| Met Ken*., brouk, ctowndurfe^ i imiMpwHipww ŠMiZIIOs ♦ Avoiíl Clutter. Too many Web pages — PAGES anc' csPec'a"y home pages — look like the page at right: a distracting hodgepodge of bitsy-witsy lines, colors, dingbats and words. Which elements are news? Ads? Promos? What's the day's top story? Remember, the same rules apply whether you design a page for print or for the Web. You need clean, rectangular modules. You need a dominant image to anchor the page. You need to group related elements (ads go here, the index goes there) so that readers can navigate quickly and intuitively. Don't get sloppy or lazy. Don t settle into a dull, inflexible format. Keep pages fresh. For every edition, design your top stories with dramatic headlines and visuals, just as you would in your newspaper. ♦ Make easy navigation a priority. Clutter is bad enough; it's even worse to scroll down, 1" " "' down, down with no clue what comes next. The busier the page, the more you must label and group everything — like a restaurant menu. Use colors, headers and navigation bars consistently. Help readers search, click and exit effortlessly. ♦ Watch your page width. Web dimensions are measured in pixels, with 10 pixels to a pica. Currently, the most common size for Web pages is 800 by 600 pixels. At that size, they'll easily fit on most anyone's monitor. Some sites are built even wider, but be careful not to make your pages too wide; you may have a jumbo monitor, but if your readers don't, they'll quickly tire of scrolling sideways. We said that the standard monitor depth is 600 pixels. And in a perfect world, Web pages would all hold to that depth. But since that's seldom possible: ♦ Let 'em scroll. Some Web experts urge you to fit all your data on one screen, especially on your home page. Force readers to scroll, they warn, and they'll quit in frustration. Good theory; impractical in reality. Besides, it's not scrolling that readers dislike, it's being bored. Successful design has always been about fitting the maximum data into the smallest space, so keep pages (especially home pages) to one or two screens, if you can. Otherwise: ♦ Think vertical. Like classic newspaper pages of the i 1800s (see page 4), Web pages flow vertically as you scroll downscreen. You'll have fewer traffic-control -z-—-- * —- problems, then, if you plan your pages in ever-deepening vertical modules — like a window shade that keeps unrolling. Remember that long, long legs of text are just as boring on the Web as they are on paper. Edit stories tightly; when possible, link to sidebars and related stories — even jump long stories to fresh pages — instead of scrolling endlessly downward. ♦ Include fixed page elements. Don't ever let readers get lost or confused. When designing pages and creating page templates, keep navigation bars close by at all times. Remember, too, that users often print out pages or save them to disk. To ensure your ownership remains attached, make sure every page contains your publication's name, the date and all relevant contact/copyright information. KBĚL„. STORY ADS Too much clutter. So how would you improve this page? Start by giving more punch to the flag, then add more punch — and a clear hierarchy — to the news. Give the top story a strong headline. Add an appealing image. Group the day's best news, sports and feature stories so they're easy to browse. Group the ads and promos instead of scattering them around the page. And adopt a consistent color palette to make all headers and buttons instantly recognizable. -261 WEB DESIGN , : - WEB DESIGN GUIDELINES IIS« EFFECTIVE PAGE GRIDS The home page for the Lawrence Journal-World's sports coverage is easy to browse, thanks to a clean, clear grid that uses color to organize the different types of content. Whether you're designing a simple story or a complicated home page (like those below), you need to divide the page into modules and assign every module a specific job: the index module. The lead story module. The news briefs module. The cheesy promotional gimmick module. You can organize your modules with rules, with labels, with background screens and colors — whatever it takes to unify the elements without creating clutter. Other advice: ♦ Avoid random or redundant modules. Prioritize and sort everything, especially on crowded, busy home pages. Make every element's function and identity clear. (Some sites have both "Top Stories" and "Latest News" — what's the difference?) ♦ Align those ads. Is that Moe's Hardware ad drowning out your flag? Does your home page look a race car covered with sponsors' decals? Get those noisy ads under control. Stack them neatly, just as you would on a printed page. ♦ Avoid overcrowding. Design white space into the layout, a little extra air between modules. Make all your gutters at least a pica wide to let the page breathe. A dramatically different look from a Brazilian news site. Though nearly all the text on this page is reversed, notice how the black rules and gray screens organize the page into modules. 1 1 l k i i i L Journai-Wmu) WtKnqA's B-BaH . surtfwif '--J-f■■/■■_■} Sw'tnmiog Sdwduka ' We put the game in game day Can't ba ai Afen Fietíhouse? On game day, we've go! you covered. Get your head in the gama Get O»0 ic«Mfc*wi ort ihe matdwp with game previews from Ihe leetfeis in KU sports coverage. Yati get everything you Id Jírscw, íntíudirig trie view from ths otrW tide. Lívď game coverage Durkie B>e flame, ťc£ďw Buj action from (be Erst drive to tne with our IIvq ggjiia updates. Know the score Gatycur score updates In an e-mail or as a taxt message- Iťa oasy to sion up. Or tog on lo mobils.kbspiirtB.com frwn your mows a»/fcfi from wherever you are. 16 £8181 ♦ "so color consistently and strategically. Develop a color palette that's part of your overall navigational system, one that helps to organize page elements and direct traffic without adding unnecessary noise. (Notice how the two examples above use color. And on page 247, notice how savannahnow.com uses color-coded navigation.) Select just a few hues that harmonize well together and reflect your publication's personality. ♦ Beware of dark, textured or colorized backgrounds. Unless you've got a terrific reason, stick to black type on a white background. Too much color adds clutter — worse, it reduces readability and makes linking problematic. Yes, you can use tinted or white type in small chunks (like the example above right). But reserve that treatment for signage and dramatic display elements — not for long paragraphs of text. 262 WEB DESIGN WEB DESIGN GUIDELINES SAVING GRAPHICS IP On the Web, the word graphics refers to a variety of elements: photos, display type, flags, illustrations, icons, navigation buttons and bars. Almost anything on your site that's more complex than HTML text and headlines — including any type you want to craft precisely — will need to be imported as a graphic. As we've learned, too many imported graphics will slow your download time and constipate your page flow. But too few images can result in pages that are wordy, messy or dull. Either way, you lose. So what can you do? ♦ Compress all your images by converting them into either GIF and JPEG files. They're the two most common Web image formats. What's the difference? GIF images work best, as a rule, for line art; for images with just a few colors or with large areas of solid color; for display type; for black-and-white images; for images smaller than, say, a postage stamp. JPEG generally works best for photos and complex iEustrations. Which compresses images more efficiently? It's hard to generalize. It depends on the image — which is why you often need to test both formats to see which produces the smallest files and the best image quality. Or use a graphics optimization tool like ImageReady to audition the before/after results. ♦ Use fewer and smaller images. Yes, as you know, big photos are a bandwidth-dogger. So until Web pipelines speed up, use thumbnails {tiny postage-stamp images) to link to your full-sized photos. Try to avoid turning your readers into thumb-twiddling zombies while they wait for big, dumb, unnecessary stand-alone images like this to appear: iseeai EFFEC" TWE flVELY Balloon festival takes off in Bozoville this weekend ♦ Keep your text width comfortable. Because stories will scroll down-down-down, stacking them in narrow legs (like newspapers do) won't work. It's better to use one wide column. But don't make it too wide. Browsers vary in their text display sizes, but the ideal column width will range from 15-30 picas, or 150-300 pixels. (This column of 12-point text is 290 pixels wide. Is it readable?) ♦ Avoid excessive text on home pages. In fact, you should generally avoid running more than a paragraph of text there. Think of die home page as a menu or super-index; think of its main elements as promos. Your goal is to click users ahead. ♦ Avoid underlining text. Underlining must be reserved exclusively for links, or readers will get confused. For that matter, Web visitors have been trained to think that any differently colored or differently styled type is a clickable link. So don't colorize ordinary type; colorize only links. ♦ Be creative when installing links. Remember, you can link with headlines, words, icons or images. Experiment to expand your hyperlink repertoire: ■> Scanning images: Guidelines for choosing the right resolution for Web images......123 What's wrong here? ♦ That huge balloon photo could take a few minutes to download — and readers wouldn't even know what they were waiting for. ♦ The text runs the full width of the screen, with no space between paragraphs: too hard to read. ♦ No navigation bar. Users are forced to keep scrolling downward in hopes of finding the exit. The emperor issued a decree on gladiators. This links you to a biography of the emperor. The eiiux'ior issued a decree on glad-ators. This links you to a transcript of the decree. The emperor issued a decree on gladiators. This links you to information on gladiators. ♦ Use different fonts for different jobs, just as you would for the printed paper. Mix bolds and italics when crafting headlines, decks and bylines. Use display type, saved as small GIF files, to create appealing headers and special headlines. WE6BE8ISN WEB SITE CHECKLIST On this page, we've collected the key Web design principles presented in this chapter. Use this checklist to evaluate the online newspapers you encounter — or, more importantly, to critique your own. Is the home page attractive, inviting and well-organized? Can readers easily differentiate between promos, ads and live news? Is there a clear hierarchy of news content on the home page? In other words, is it instantly obvious which stories are most important? Do the headlines and design of the top stories on the home page show creativity or flair-(rather than being predictably■prc-formalled}? Does the site's design style match the personalities of its readers? Do pages use attractive, appropriate and consistent colors? Does the site avoid unnecessary hlinky-floaty-glowy animated effects? Does the text on most" pages avoid becoming too wide and wordy? Does the site use consistent styles for the basics: headlines, bylines, subheads, etc? Does the site use consistent styles for the extras: graphics, liftout quotes, sidebars; etc.? Does the home page download quickly? Does the site offer a "'Sunday lSrtinc.ii'\style menu of stories, visuals, reader forums and multimedia options (audio, video, animated graphics, etc.)? : Docs the site provide services, stories and sidebars not available in I he print, newspaper? Are users always a single click away from the home page or main section fronts? Is a concise index constantly viewable, from any page in the sile? Does the flag appear atop every page, to remind users where they are? Are all images necessary? Tightly cropped? Compressed into GIF or JPEG formats? Docs the site-function successfully with all images turned off in the browser? If someone visits this site looking for a specific feature, will it be easy to find? When reading the text of stones, do users find helpful links that expand/explain topics? Can users search the newspaper's back issues? Are the archives reasonably complete? • l-)oes the site provide useful-links tW-! '■'■l-'^'MM.VUUMWUUUU/LjVLMi/ This design, like the one at left, uses the small portrait to set up the headline; pairing those two elements shows instantly who is on the fast track. The cutline beside the mug also describes tire action in the lead photo below. The other two photos stack along the bottom of the page, with the photo credit floating in the left margin. Note how headline, text and two vertical photos are all given an extra indent. If there's a drawback to this layout, it's that it uses a big headline, a big deck, big photos — and a small amount of text. At some papers, editors may prefer to downsize those photos and increase the amount of copy. 274 APPENDIX EXERCISE ANSWERS: PHOTOS &, ART These layouts represent three common design approaches using the portrait of the jockey as the dominant photo. That portrait is strongly directional. As a result, your options are more limited, since you must position the lead photo looking into rather than off of the page. ON THE FAST TRACK Ity I giltst/ y uvAi mr Getting all four photos to fit properly is tricky when you're working around a directional dominant photo. In this case, the race photo is used as a scene-setter at the top of the page. The lead portrait runs below it, sharing a cutline. The other two photos fit in the space below the lead photo. Some would say this is a very clean design, with the art aligning on one side of the page, the text running in one leg alongside. Others might find it too off-balance, with a preponderance of weight on the left side. That leg of text is a bit too deep. We're relieving the gray by indenting a liftout quote halfway down. ON THE FAST TRACK lAlW/lUUlMW lfcUU< Here, the lead photo runs at the top of the page, and the other photos arrange themselves in the rectangular module below. Note how the shapes and sizes of the photos vary. This helps to avoid static, blocky configurations. If there are drawbacks to this design, they would be: 1) The excessive white space along the left edge of the page, around the cutline and photo credit. That's hard to avoid, however. It's hard to size that horse-washing photo much wider. The cutline, too, is about as big as it should be. 2) The small amount of text. Playing these photos as big as they are doesn't leave much room for the story. This is a very photo-heavy layout. On the fast track Here's a page that gets a bit crowded at the top but seems to work anyway. Three photos are grouped together in a tight unit; the race photo, however, is set apart from the rest for extra emphasis (and to give the page more of a "racing" feel). The racing photo also could have been dummied in the right-hand three columns instead of the center three; in that case, a 2-line, 2-column deck would have been preferable. But as it is, this design produces a more symmetrical page. -275- EXERCISE ANSWERS: PHOTOS 80 ART pl Several additional images would enhance this selection of photos. Among %A them: ♦ A stronger racing shot — one with clearer details and a greater sense of motion, perhaps shot from a more dramatic angle. ♦ More emotion — the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. These four photos fail to capture any athletic dramatics. ♦ An interaction shot, showing how this woman jockey relates to her colleagues in a male-dominated sport. ♦ Detail shots — whips, boots, saddles, even trophies — especially some racing apparel or artifact that's unique or meaningful to this jockey. 01 Here are some of the major problems on these pages. Remember: When it : comes to page design, tastes can be very subjective. You don't have to agree with every nitpick, but you should understand the principles that underlie our design guidelines. I On the fast track I [MMMMXl I VMMMMJ i VMWMJJ The text snakes around the photos in a clumsy, unattractive way — and that first leg of text is way too deep. There's no white space designed into this page, which results in a layout that feels fragmented and uninviting, more like an ordinary news page than a special photo spread. And that feeling is reinforced by the sizes of the photos. The lead photo isn't quite dominant enough, and there's no sense of interplay among the rest of the images. The lead photo faces off the page. If this page design were flopped, that problem could have been avoided. But there's still a problem with that big cutline blob in the center of the page. It's unclear which photo or photos it belongs to. (Does the bottom photo have a cutline?) There's too much trapped white space in the middle of the page. There's also too much white space above the headline. Finally, those two legs of text may be too thin — one wider leg would be better. On the fast track Overall, this page looks handsome, but there are some subtle problems. It's divided into three very separate chunks: 1) big photo, 2) gray text and 3) small photos. There's no interplay between elements; in fact, this seems like a formulaic page design that you could plug any photos into. In addition, there's no white space, and the shapes are too blocky and static. It's also difficult to determine which cudine describes the center photo in the bottom row. . APPE8DIX ...:.■/ EXERCISE ANSWERS: PHOTOS & ART SCropping can be a subjective, emotional thing. So we sent this Tiger Woods „___„ photo to 50 professional photographers, editors and designers across the country to see how the "experts" would handle it. As you might have predicted, many moaned and groaned about the "lame, crappy picture." ("I'd hire a new photographer if this is his/her only shot," said one.) But here's what most decided: This, or something close to it, was the most popular solution. Tiger is big enough to have impact, yet we see the diversity of his fans, too (the local aspect of the photo). Some of our participants complained that this shape was too dull and squarish. But others liked how this crop observed the "rule of thirds": a compositional principle that recommends positioning key elements one-third of the way in from the photo's edges. This is certainly a dramatic shape. But it omits most of the onlookers; if the story is about Tiger's huge following, aren't they a key element? Beware, too — the image will get fuzzy if you try to enlarge Tiger too much. This crop is virtually full-frame. We've cropped in a little on the sides and bottom, down a bit from the top. Many of those who chose this crop did so to avoid ending up with a big square, although a few argued that THIS is the way the photographer shot the scene — with Tiger in the middle, and greenery all around — so to respect the photographer, you should leave the shape alone. (One designer decided to crop this as an extreme horizontal, running the full width of the page, by slicing right through the necks of the spectators. Try it and see what you think.) The remaining 10% cropped even tighter to create a closeup of Tiger. As we looked at the winning crop (above left), we couldn't help noticing all that green, treesy dead space next to Tiger. Would it work if we put the headline there? So we tried it, sent our new solution back to the experts and asked them to vote: a) Love it. Run it. b) It's OK, but not the best solution. o) No way. Keep your stinkin' type off the photos. Putting headlines on photos is still a controversial act in most newsrooms, as you can see by the breakdown of the voting: Love it. Run it — 50% of our respondents approved of the new headline. "Ten years ago I might have answered no way," said one designer, "But times have changed. Readers are more sophisticated about type on photos." "No reader will be bothered by the type on the photo," said another. "Only photographers might take offense." No way — 25%. Many of these were photographers. Most, however, said they might approve the idea if this were a feature story — but not if it were breaking news. It's OK, but not the best solution — 25% quibbled about the headline size, font, color, gradient, etc., proving once again that there is no greater force known to man than the desire to change someone's layout. Comments from the cropping experts on that headline/ photo combination: "-fir1 s'.n-/ pr,,-' about pacKjge .'/.«:? t'i:s /> \; .TrffliCVViir ;u not '.he po'je una .r* tne '.v.'iote c/.iiiu 'Oik "Tie hoads ir.dics'.e uii cr.clo is f:o~ yc; ':. ^er^itneahiiigM'S^? y-r.ir tf^kinj type :>if i^fdjikSo^en^ry:^.).. (fbutbaVsiiilf'fyfff^ On the photo itself: :::f^All^M^lf:fm i/ioii dpp'jdi tc be ■ . identical..Cartt we. iust run.the best for efe.-roW :V3vi 277 mim GRAPHICS GALLERY SO WHICH GRAPHIC WORKS BEST? (from page 190) We showed these nine graphics to our panel of experts. Their reactions, as you'll see in the pages that follow, were often surprisingly harsh, "There's nothing better than to nitpick and Monday-morning-quarterback someone's hard work," said Wayne Kamidoi of The New York Times. "You can't do an award-winning page every day— and none of these were, but none were an embarassment." Our experts critiqued both the form and the content of these pages. And some judges felt disappointed overall. "Virtually no one did a good job of localizing this story," said design consultant Alan Jacobson. "And no one communicated how many 300 million is in a way that meant anything to me." Does that criticism sound too brutal? Remember, standards are high in every good newsroom. You need a thick skin to endure the relentless nitpicking. Our distinguished panel of judges: Nanette Bisher, creative director, The San Francisco Chronicle Tracy Collins, deputy managing editor, The Arizona Republic Julie Eiman, assistant professor at Ohio University and former Virginian-Pilot page designer Tim Frank, deputy managing editor for visuals, South Florida Sun-Sentinel J. Ford Huffman, deputy managing editor for graphics and photography, USA Today Alan Jacobson, design consultant and president of Brass Tacks Design Wayne Kamidoi, art director for sports, The New York Times Stephen Komives, design editor, Orlando Sentinel Harris Siegel, managing editor for design and photography, Asbury Park Press tori Sloan, Life section design chief, USA Today Javier Torres, assistant managing editor for photo, graphics and design, Fort Myers News-Press Michaei Whitley, news design director, Los Angeles Times •Note. We've reprinted • the entire front page of each newspaper here so you can sec each graphic in context. For a closer view of each package, seepages 190-191 Šm Jos* JÍUťcurg News 1915:lMöifliUni IM7:2O0miJ!frff 200fr 3B0rn " • i-'!*-*. JIM _kí' ■--—------- 1 STOCKÍffTBNS ! ■■ VöJfc4—--Eř ■ ' FAIJUJUTGRDW Some sample comments: i" "The best package. It simply outclassed all the other efforts by being smarter. The elements are well organized, and the headline which says Immigration driving nation's growth is on target for the readership — an important point that is lost in many of the other packages. "A design with impact. Easy to navigate. The clear winner." Grade: A i" "Ah, pros at work. Nicely handled data, using not just numbers but visual representation of the numbers and pop-culture touchstones in the photos." A •t "Organizationally, this page is confusing. The years are separated, which makes comparing their data complicated (for instance, you have to look at cost-of-living in three locations to get the comparative data, instead of seeing it on one chart). The large graphic is pretty and colorful, but it's overplayed for what it is (although the county population breakout was smart) and the interior of it is just art for art's sake. Also, the story is really jammed in and not even integrated with the graphic; for the size of the package, 4" of type is pretty lame. C *> "This graphic is packed with info, but the way it's laid out makes it easy to follow. I found myself engaged in the info, and as a reader, I took the time to comprehend what each section of the graphic was trying to tell me. Why? Because there was the payoff of learning something new." A 4> "I love the inclusion of the pop-culture images for each date. The bar charts add more visual context than simple numbers. The package is well organized but a bit crowded and noisy. The blue and red little-man pattern gives the fever graph an illustrative quality but adds to the noise without adding context." A- -SI GRAPHICS GALLERY The Denver Post Avssee ; WETHE S? i 300 MILLION Äes tatawa> _. „«""S-:" PEOPIL nuclear BAtfajertaila same ImoCk • sialic lOttt* , octane levels : ^ A "Packed with information, but its organization makes it almost too much work for the reader. The bars in the 'family portion of the graphic are mostly useless and make the type within them difficult to read. Lots to see, but I could have used a better road map to lead me through it." B- ♦ "Somebody, call an editor. Lots of data, but hard to navigate." B v "Makes efficient use of space; loaded with data. Its the only graphic to break down the data by race and ethnicity, and to project the next milestone (400 million in 2043). The bottom half of the graphic would have benefited from better use of a grid." B+ *■ "The object of bar charts is to promote comparisons. By separating the data, you just make it more complicated for the viewer. There's no visual focus and really no easy way to access any of the data — which is the whole point of newspaper design. Cute headline, though." D /WtRACiL GRADE ©Ije postani>Courier FS 300 million . and COUllting raidyfor ipecies shows the might of many mussels Some sample comments: ♦ "The package that holds my attention most is The Post and Courier's. In a comparatively small amount of space, the clearly organized table offers details about a dozen milestones of three eras. Tightly cropped photos of historical figures give the table a sense of history, and a couple of spot images — the Model T and the iPod — convey a sense of pop culture." A 0 "Data having more to do with the economy and pop culture is played ahead of information that actually reflects the population. I have no idea what an iPod has to do with the population reaching 300,000,000." C- < "In its favor: the data is presented in an orderly grid and is appropriately scaled. And it's the only graphic to contain interesting data on leading countries of origin. Working against it: The data is obvious and contains no local perspective. Also hurting this graphic is perhaps the worst photo caption ever written: 'Yes, there really are people everywhere...." C- ❖ "Clean. The chart is nicely structured. The lead photo is void of meaning other than showing lots of people (is that in Charleston?). If it's used merely to represent a crowd, lose the lame cutline at least." B- «r> "A third of the page is taken up with a useless, information-less color image. 1 guess they don't know how to design a page without a dominant photo. Pity." D <*> "If not for the worthless lead image, this page would ve received a higher grade. The chart is clear and helpful (although a bit clunky)." C- -279- APPENDIX GRAPHICS GALLERY ss SOFTBALL NOT ALL BAD? "*» MOfflffiVHiiCKlS dK&i, STTOBIPLOYEHS LIKE WHAT .wK aStKEttlEroWID : Vpv% VIDEO GAMES CffilEiCHMS Oxford ban oil And baby malten í COUflClf 300,000,000 rejects pbiuvtr Jfigsr (flllttlĽOU : £§&'-'" -f'-J-- V funds SIgU : niHn.i.u.f»««!»...^«»« of07r^S| Oxford baby mks^ milestone by an hi f", 94.1 : w.s 1 11. s AVERAGE GRADE Some sample comments: ♦.* "You cant miss what this one is about. It's local, clean and consistent. The iconic images at the top are a bit big and noisy, and some attention to kerning and spacing could help raise the visual IQ of the package." A- «§» "Probably the best headline, but easily the most deceiving — this baby, as pictured, did NOT make 300,000,000, but instead just missed the milestone by an hour (according to the subhead). Also, the census isn't only based on birthrate and that headline gives the impression that it is." C-#> "Props for making it local, and for attempting to distill the data into the elements that readers will find most interesting. Color and type are used effectively to highlight key information. Two things hurt its grade": The repeating of the baby image was unnecessary; the three calculation factors (Births - Deaths + New Citizens) are presented, but the sum of the equation (1 new American every 11 seconds) is left out, and the methodology is not explained." B ❖ "Good editing of data, and the artwork makes it easy to follow. Icons help guide the reader through the information. I like that they made the story local, though 'missing the mark by an hour' looks like a stretch when you've just told readers there is someone born every 7 seconds." B+ ** "Those big red numbers under the three pics connect too visually with And baby makes.... Something doesn't feel right here. Also, those big numbers popping off the page feel kind of meaningless. (7-13-31 — they look like lottery numbers at a glance). I'd de-emphasize those, typographically." C+ , COOL (MIS AVERACt GRADE THE MORNING CALL Šantením, ' »Rh disdain 4ŕ, IB; Hl- B" □= h»- ar Vallev no stranger " togrowingpams 'mum** revived ~~ T: ~ »The plot thickens in move of Barnes art - Some sample comments: * "This is my favorite graphic. Simple and powerful. The strong photography helps to create great sense of dimension and growth. The use of typography, hierarchy, flow and design is simple and effective." A+ <#• "The package is cohesive, and the content is localized and accessible. Beyond the numbers, though, there's little about the package that says people or population" B+ ❖ "No surprises here. The photo adds no information; the clip art usage is consistent, but it's still clip art. A yawner. Lacks explanation and. navigational devices; there are no cues on where to begin and end. Gets points for localizing the population data." D ❖ "Pretty to look at, though less digestible than other examples. Without visual comparison of graphic bars and charts, the numbers lose impact. Historical prices lack conversion to current dollars, so those facts become less interesting." B -* "Cool local art to engage the reader; good vector illustrations to 'sell' the items in comparisons; good editing of the available information; good local perspective on the numbers. It's all done in a well-designed, easy-to-follow package. (Still can't figure out the graphic for 'life expectancy,' though.)" A v "A bit disappointing to see tons of data, but no actual charting. It's easier to see a trend on a fever chart than on a list. Information having more to do with the year and economy (cost of a first-class stamp) is played ahead of information that actually reflects the population (median age, education level)." B- 280 APPEfiSIK GRAPHICS GALLERY Tech's Caivin Jojtrvson in sight of HeismanTraphy^g 1C : RAIL One^i^ea^^-i^ha^^^lraoaii. i Bibb i assessors : icadvfor . ; auditors ■ : Democrats : takecdee : mnindine Some sample comments: * "The population chart at the bottom of the page does the best of all the examples in giving an overall view of the population surge over time. Plus, the data provides a nice frame around two narrative stories: the overall trend and the localized take." A <» "The map graphic is cheesy and non-informational. The picture of houses is boring. The rail data is OK, but there's too much of it to really grab the reader. The bottom bar chart is nicely executed, but again the graphic is overplayed for the amount of information it supplies. (Yes, the population is steadily increasing, and here's a 5-column graphic showing you the obvious trend.)" C <* "The best information is the rail, but it's the last thing you see. The dominant image is a cartoon providing no real information." C- ❖ "The rail is solid work, well-edited with an interesting presentation. The main illustration is weak and unimaginative, especially since it mimics too closely the look of the actual data presentation in the graphic at bottom." C+ ❖ "There's a lot of information here, but you tend to see the bells and whistles before you see the content. There's an art head/illustration AND a photo, a deck head treated like a numbers breakout, a very large bar chart and a graphic rail. Simplifying the presentation would give the package more impact and let the content sing." C ■i "The headline treatment is uninformative and just plain ugly. The rail incorporates gratuitous photos and clip art. Its data is presented as random facts: it is not set up or ordered in a clear way." B- -a 9*.*r.i«***.^.iww%**s.«i»*. mem WELCOME TO THE UNfTED STATES OF AMERICA Pop. 300 million Ralphs agrees to $70 mil plea deal The Good, The Bad: The Text Message : Plutonium source of N. Korea blast, officials say Some sample comments: <> "I like everything beneath the sign. The strip of faces and math equation format is the best example of presenting that particular set of numbers. The sign itself makes a certain point, but feels heavy-handed and has a subtle concentration on immigration — or maybe not subtle for Southern Californians." G ■♦■ "A creative visual solution and the clearest, quickest explanation of how the census is organized. The graphic at the bottom localizes the event, but doesn't overwhelm." A « "That sign just looks silly. The meat is in the info below the sign, but it looks too much like a math problem." D ■•> "A lot of work probably went in to making the sign, which unfortunately is a Photoshop job with no information that a headline could not have handled. The graphic asks, How do they get that number?— i assume it means the 300,000,000 — but then does not answer the question." G •t "This graphic feels like, Weil, we gotta do something don't we? The sign is actually a nice touch. The numbers below are fairly uninspired. Good local numbers, but as a reader I wanted more than just slight blips of population change in the local cities." C ❖ "Gets right to the point and does it effectively. I love this idea. How did they get that number? is great— this goes beyond just plunking down numbers and gives readers a greater sense of context. Overall, this graphic is well-executed. The space, typography and words all come together. Less is more here." A 281- HTEHHX GRAPHICS GALLERY GHSAtah^torrL AHEALTfUESMOUSE, 8A appeal on w««ae . _ ..... 0iDínn£ttBaílBBost TUÉ8«V OHSUr fT. SM» Growth of a nation baffles police Tijftij- curřoumi/s ptísdatitrailnpřílolp nodi 3&i ^itüoo. Has is E gliropso at bo» tteUmifiitťt! hsjcfungcd saxe huJtbIkic odiiT oHcironhy pcpaaiuii mlLunm ii ipry? IicJhiůip pep-hia tinea; Sim 205 ifcifc-ri and n 1>/I5(u.1=i ^ ii^pJ lWinilij.il 1915 11967! 20)6 Evident of lha United Sties Pncc or' a new iianw 11.. in.", cr i WmíOw i SOraJlfim AfflK^Í !jŮUÍ.rí?Ďl£l VJC life i^nciuuiTV ai imin UJjW j W..-.n Illu. ŇuítiIej-of pewi.- :!'!<■ mnr-i 4SiJLJbj j [■..! ..n1bj:i < u.ivrir... Mci! pJpyJac baby Former Buford school ihitf honored Motiw soudil In new park to be fixed Some sample comments: •> "i like type approaches, but this one is just too much of a good thing. If you're going to use a type treatment, then usually you are after a dramatic effect — but this data contains nothing dramatic. It's just a really space-inefficient word graphic." D *> "A well-executed type attack. It's clean and readable. 1 don't think of this as an infographic, though, because we are not visualizing any of this information for the readers." B+ * "While it's relatively clean, the typography is not handled strongly or elegantly enough to stand on its own." C "At least it contains data and is organized. The lack of visuals, and of hierarchy, hurts. The graphic is flat and does not go beyond obvious data supplied by the Census Bureau." D «► "This would have benefitted from faces of presidents or use of icons, as in other papers. The chatter at the top does not need color coding. Why not have the 1,2,3 million in the chart rather than written into the intro? The graphs on the number of foreign-born people gunk up the chart with repetitive phrases; pie charts coupled with country of origin flag colors would read faster." C #• "Good editing of information. Easy to follow. No wasted 'eye candy.' But i needed a little stronger visual to engage the reader." B "If the paper decided not to use photography, that's OK. But then you have to work your typography in a way that can create more impact." C A RUN TO DAYLIGHT! i I P HEBRON HELPS INNER-CITY ATHLETE! AVERAGE GRADE Sun Journal Owner has big plans Tor mall f pirinecraZY HttttHi fftiHfti itMttMH Í Mil I IHM iHMMHl AMERICANS Bh! | if tiíffifttfiiíHH , **" " HisHiHtmtiti 1H - UHHíHíííftfft I h „~y MiiftiifiiitHi ! f* » " *ÍÍHfítfSíttfíff ' «t * ~~ iHHMttlHMrtí I .. ~ - 'mmmimm ' i < ÜfHtffftiHtüt ! i , ~r„ mmnmmm ' si -,- slfMHÉffíiffKí Change reduces filings instate Some sample comments: * "I believe in keeping things simple, but this is overly simplistic and a waste of space. It presents very little data and, while it focuses on the local element, it does nothing to put the local aspect in national or global perspective. The use of the 300 gray figures is neither impressive, nor surprising, nor visually engaging, nor original." F 0 "i see lots of gray figures in the graphic - then i wonder what the figures to the left of the story mean as opposed to the ones on the right. Then i realize that each figure means the same thing: 1 million Americans. Then I read that the managing editor says he wanted to tell the story of what Maine is like. i can't see it in the graphic (but I can read it in the small words). Am I missing something here? I'm not learning much from this graphic. The figures are acting more like wallpaper to me." D- «- "Everything hinged on their 1 man = 1 million Ame vicans, but the image of the man doesn't feel like a million to me." D -r "Tight editing and visual simplicity make this the most graphically attractive package. On a storytelling level, however, it's a bit fiat. The 300 little people feel more like a background pattern than a metaphor for 300 million people." A- t» "This is visual eye candy, an attempt to make a centerpiece out of a number, rather than putting a number into perspective. The key of each figure equaling 1 million people means nothing, because who's going to count all of those figures on the page? If the goal is to get us to say, 'Wow, that's a lot people,' just the words 300 million will do. Looks nice, though!" D 282 PEHDIX THE PROPORTION WHEEL Before there were computers — back in the Stone Age — we all used pica poles and proportion wheels to resize photos. Some of us still do. So here's a quick history lesson that demonstrates how-to resize images the traditional way: tils in si fee CALCULATE IE photo SIZES? The small photo above is 7 picas wide and 4 picas deep (always state the width first). Suppose you want to enlarge it so that it's 12 picas deep — how wide will the photo then become? THE SOLUTION: ilSiSM proportion HEEL n; Notice how there are two rows of '■ numbers on this gizmo: an inner wheel and an outer wheel On the inner wheel, find the original depth: 4. Got it? Now turn the wheel so the 4 (the old depth).......•: lines up with the 12 (the new depth) on the outer wheel. Remember: The inner wheel is the original size; the outer wheel is the reproduction size. BNow, without turning the wheel, locate the original width (7) on the inner wheel. It should be lined up against 21 on the outer wheel. That means the new width of your reproduction is 21. ; II If you need to know the percentage of reduction or enlargement, look in the window here for that figure. In this case, you'll be enlarging the photo 300%. Note: 'l he proportion wheel is marked in inches. But don't let that throw you. Your proportions hold true whether you're measuring inches, picas, light-years or cubits. or if iui mm >m f. m& m . A proportion wheel is just a mathematical shortcut, a way of showing that the original width is to the original depth as the new width is to the new depth. If you'd rather do the math by hand or on a calculator, use this formula: original width new width original depth new depth For our example above, you'd use this equation to find the new width: 7 4 x 7 is to 4 as what is to 12? To find the missing number, multiply 12 the diagonals (7X12 = 84)... . Q. ... then divide that total by the h.X—Qh remaining value (84-s- 4). . x=21 to find the missing width. -283- ... UPPUM GLOSSARY To liven up this boring glossary, we've added a gallery of gorgeous, award-winning newspaper pages, beginning with Linda Shankweil-er's classic "Blue. Rose" design. Back when I first started out in newspapers, this was my favorite page — the one that inspired me to be a newspaper designer. Agate. Small type (usually 5.5 point) used for sports statistics, stock tables, classified ads, etc. Air. White space used in a story design. All Caps. Type using only capital letters. Anchor. An image, word or phrase (usually in color and underlined) that, when clicked, connects you to another Web page. Application. A computer software program that performs a specific task: word processing, page layout, illustration, etc. Armpit. An awkward-looking page layout where a story's banner headline sits on top of a photo or another headline. Ascender. The part of a letter extending above the x-height (as in b, d,f, h, k, I, t). Attribution. A line identifying the source of a quote. Banner. A wide headline extending across the entire page. Banner 3d. An advertisement stripped across the top or bottom of a Web page. Bar. A thick rule. Often used for decoration, or to contain type for subheads or standing heads. Bar chart. A chart comparing statistical values by depicting them as bars. Baseline. An imaginary line that type rests on. Baseline Shift. A software command that allows you to raise or lower the baseline of designated text characters. Bastard measure. Any non-standard width for a column of text. Bleed. A page element that extends to the trimmed edge of a printed page. Blend. A mixture of two colors that fade gradually from one tint to another. Blog. A Web log; an online journal that provides commentary and/or links to related Web sites. Body type. Type used for text (in newspapers, it usually ranges from 8 to 10 points). Boldface. A heavier, darker weight of a typeface; used to add emphasis (the word boldface here is in boldface). Border. A rule used to form a box or to edge a photograph, BOX. A ruled border around a story or art. Broadsheet. A full-size newspaper, measuring roughly 14 by 23 inches. MAY 2 5, 1 982 + the morning call + AUENTOWN, PA. 25 iÄ-JS« TJlKMOKNI.Nt; C.VI.I. oval d rnttüÄGAZii IE UHX Browser. A software program (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) that enables users to view Web pages over the Internet. Bug. Another term for a sig or logo used to label a story; often indented into the text. Bullet. A type of dingbat, usually a big dot (•), used to highlight items listed in the text. Bumping/butting heads. Headlines from adjacent stories that collide with each other. Should be avoided when possible. Also called tombstoning. Byline. The reporter's name, usually at the beginning of a story. CallOUtS. Words, phrases or text blocks "These were the early years of poster-like, single-subject feature pages. The editor says we're doing a story called "In Search of the Blue Rose" — have at it! No Macs, lots ofamber-lith, antique presses and a patient composing room. All of us from those days at the Morning Call have fond memories of the magic that happens with the powerful chemistry and synchronized vision of the word people with the visual people." — Linda Shankweiler, designer , WIS GLOSSARY SEPT. 1 1, 2 002 ♦ ASBURY PARK PRESS ♦ ASBURY PARK, N.J. -44 "No words could properly convey the emotions that swirled around the anniversary of September 11, 200!, so we didn't try to use any. Instead,our front page became a tribute to those who lost their lives on that terrible day. Artist Joe Zeff's inspiration to replace the fallen World Trade Center towers with candles served as simple but beautiful epitaph for that day." — Harris Siegel, managing editor/ design and photography, Asbury Park Press used to label parts of a map or diagram (also called factoids). Camera-ready art. The finished page elements that are ready for printing. Gaps. Capital or uppercase letters. Caption. A line or block of type providing descriptive information about a photo; used interchangeably with cut-line. CD-ROM. Computer disks (CDs) with huge amounts of memory, used for music, photo archives, font libraries, interactive games, multimedia programs, etc. Centered. Art or type that's aligned symmetrically, sharing a common midpoint. Character. A typeset letter, numeral or punctuation mark. Clickable image map. A graphic or photo containing "hot spots" that, when clicked, link you to another Web location. Clip art. Copyright-free images you can modify and print as often as you like. CMYK. An acronym for cyan, magenta, yellow and black - the four ink colors used in color printing. Column. A vertical stack of text; also called a leg. Column inch. A way to measure the depth of text or ads; it's an area one column wide and one inch deep. Column logo. A graphic device that labels regularly appearing material by packaging the writer s name, the column's name and a small mug or drawing of the writer. Column rule. A vertical line separating stories or running between legs within a story. Compressed/condensed type. Characters narrower than the standard set width; i.e., turning this M into M. Continuation line. Type telling the reader that a story continues on another page. Continuous tone. A photo or drawing using shades of gray. To be reproduced in a newspaper, the image must be converted into a halftone. Copy. The text of a story. Copy block. A small chunk of text accompanying a photo spread or introducing a special package. Copyright. Legal protection for stories, photos or artwork, to discourage unauthorized reproduction. Crop. To trim the shape or composition of a photo before it runs in the paper. Outline. A line or block of type providing descriptive information about a photo. Cutoff rule. A horizontal line running under a story, photo or cutline to separate it from another element below. CutOUt, A photo where the background has been removed, leaving only the main subject; also called a silhouette. Deck. A small headline running below the main headline; also called a drop head. -285- . mm . GLOSSARY Descender. The part of a letter extending below the baseline (as in g,j, p, q, y). Dingbats. Decorative type characters (such as bullets, stars, boxes, etc.) used for emphasis or effect. Display headline. A non-standard headline (often with decorative type, rules, all caps, etc.) used to enhance the design of a feature story, photo spread or news package. Doglegs. L-shaped columns of text that wrap around art, ads or other stories. Dot screen. A special screen used to produce tiny rows of dots, thus allowing newspapers to print shades of gray. Dots per inch (dpi). The number of electronic dots per inch that a printer can print - or that a digital image contains. The higher the dpi, the more precise the resolution. Double burn. The process by which two different elements are overlapped when printed (for instance, printing type on top of a photo); also called overprinting. Double truck. Two facing pages on the same sheet of newsprint, treated as one unit. Download. To retrieve a document or image from the Web. DownStyle. A headline style that capitalizes only the first word and proper nouns. Drop head. A small headline running below the main headline; also called a deck. Drop Shadow. A thin shadow effect added to characters in a headline. Dummy. A small, detailed page diagram showing where all elements go. DuotOne. A halftone that uses two colors, usually black and a spot color. Dutch wrap. Text that extends into a column alongside its headline; also called a raw wrap. Ear. Text or graphic elements on either side of a newspaper's flag. Ellipsis. Three periods (...) used to indicate the omission of words. Em. An old printing term for a square-shaped blank space that's as wide as the type is high; in other words, a 10-point em space will be 10 points wide. En. Half an em space; a 10-point en space will be 5 points wide. Enlarge. To increase the size of an image. july 30, 1994 + anchorage daily news + anchorage, alaska Impulse EPS. A common computer format for saving scans, especially illustrations (short for Encapsulated PostScript). Expanded/extended type. Characters wider than the standard set width: i.e., turning this M into IVI. Family. All the different weights and styles (italic, boldface, condensed, etc.) of one typeface. FAQ. Frequently asked questions. Feature, A non-hard-news story (a profile, preview, quiz, etc.) often given special design treatment. Fever Chart. A chart connecting points on a graph to show changing quantities over time; also called a line chart. File Size. The total number of electronic "The Impulse section was designed to attract younger readers using bold, poster-like images and headlines. This page, on the music trio Dead Can Dance, is one of my all-time favorite covers. My goal was to engage readers on many emotional and graphic levels. Before they connect with the headline or text, they are already absorbing the conceptual content of the skull juxtaposed by the two ghosted faces of the band." — Galie Jean-Louis, former design director äPPENDlü GLOSSARY JANUARY 17, 1991 ♦ the detroit news + DETROIT, MICH. WAR ■ mm m ■ Siuprtse attack: Stunning air strike destroys Iraqi defenses. B President Bush: 'Why act now? The world could wait no longer.' ■ Saddam Hussein: \ 'Mother of all battles' has begun. 'Satan Bush committed his crime.' B GasoSn« Four U.S. oil firms will freeze prices. B DayBoJit raids; Second wave of U.S. and allied attacks begins. "War was coming. The Detroit News prepared exhaustively. After interviewing military experts, visual journalists created an explanatory graphic of a "first strike" scenario. When the U.S. attacked Baghdad, the graphic proved so accurate that the editors decided to build the frontpage around it. This graphic approach to a historic event was the first page in the 130-year history of The Detroit News that did not contain a narrative story." Dale Pesktn, former asst. managing editor pixels needed to create a digital image, measured in kilobytes. The more pixels an image uses, the more detail it will contain. Filler. A small story or graphic element used to fill space on a page. Flag. The name of a newspaper as it's displayed on Page One; also called a name-plate. Float. To dummy a photo or headline in an empty space so that it looks good to the designer, but looks awkward and unaligned to everyone else. Flop. To create a backward, mirror image of a photo or illustration by turning the negative over during printing. Flush left. Elements aligned so they're all even along their left margin. Flush right. Elements aligned so they're all even along their right margin. Folio. Type at the top of an inside page giving the newspaper's name, date and page number. Font. All the characters in one size and weight of a typeface (this font is 10-point Times). Four-COlor. The printing process that com -bines cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow and black to produce full-color photos and artwork. Frames. Web design tools that divide pages into separate, scrollable modules. Full frame. The entire image area of a photograph. GIF. Graphic Interface Format, a common format for compressed Web images, especially illustrations and graphics. Graf. Newsroom slang for "paragraph." Graph. Statistical information presented visually, using lines or bars to represent values. Grayscale. A scan of a photograph or artwork that uses shades of gray. Grid. The underlying pattern of lines forming the framework of a page; also, to align elements on a page. Gutter. The space running vertically between columns. H and J. Hyphenation and justification; the computerized spacing and aligning of text. Hairline. The thinnest rule used in newspapers. Halftone. A photograph or drawing that has been converted into a pattern of tiny dots. By screening images this way, printing presses can reproduce shades of gray. Hammer head. A headline that uses a big, bold word or phrase for impact and runs a small, wide deck below. Hanging indent. Type set with the first line flush left and all other lines in that paragraph indented (this text is set with a 10-point hanging indent). Header. A special label for any regularly appearing section, page or story; also called a standing head. Headline. Large type running above or beside a story to summarize its content; also called a head, for short. High-resolution printer. An output device GLOSSARY capable of resolution from 1,200 to 5,000 dots per inch. Hit. The term used for counting the number of visitors to a Web page. (Technically, it refers to the number of elements on each Web page; accessing a page with text and three images would count as four hits.) Home page. The main page of a Web site, providing links to the rest of the site. HTML. HyperText Markup Language, the coding used to format all Web documents. Hyperlink. An image, word or phrase (usually in color and underlined) that connects you to another Web page. Hyphenation. Dividing a word with a hyphen at the end of a line (as in these hyphenated lines here). Image. In Web design, any photo, illustration or imported graphic displayed on a page. Image Size. The physical dimensions of the final scanned image. Import. To bring an electronic image into a computer software program. Indent. A part of a column set in a narrower width. The first line of a paragraph is usually indented; columns are often indented to accommodate art, logos or initial caps. Index. An alphabetized list of contents and their page numbers. InfOgraphiC. Newsroom slang for "informational graphic"; any map, chart or diagram used to analyze an event, object or place. Initial cap. A large capital letter set at the beginning of a paragraph. Inset. Art or text set inside other art or text. ISP. An abbreviation of Internet Service Provider; a company that provides a connection to the Internet. Italic. Type that slants to the right, like this. Java. A programming language that features animation. JPEG. A common format for compressed Web images, especially photos. Created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group and pronounced "jay-peg." Jump. To continue a story on another page; text that's been continued on another page is called the jump. OCT. 13, 1991 + the washington times ♦ WASHINGTON, D.C. cingto T Jump headline. A special headline treatment reserved for stories continued from another page. Jump line. Type telling the reader that a story is continued from another page. Justification. Mechanically spacing out lines of text so they're all even along both right and left margins, K: An abbreviation for "kilobyte," a unit for measuring the size of a computer file. Kerning. Tightening the spacing between letters. Kicker. A small, short, one-line headline, often underscored, placed above a larger headline. Kilobyte. A unit for measuring the size of a "In terms of its material quality, newsprint isn't very different from toilet paper. Even with the best pre-press and printing, it's a lousy medium for visual expression. My bold, oversized design style grew directly out of my frustration with the limitations of newsprint. I wanted to take full advantage of the one graphic opportunity offered by a I4"x22" sheet of toilet paper. It's the size of a poster." —- John Kascht, former art director APPENDIX GLOSSARY JANUARY 1, 2000 ♦ EL NORTE + MONTERREY, MEXICO Unanuevaera "En la edition de este dia (Enero, 1, 2000) cuida-mos todos los detalles y cada centimetro de la presentation y edition del periodica. Buscamos hacer un periodica de coleccion. Hicimos una exhaustiva edition de fotografias. Selecciona-mos unicamente lo mejor de lo mejor. Solo por esta edition cambia-mos lafuente de nues-tros titulares (Milenia e Interstate). En toda esta edition se hizo enfasis editorial en la vision del futuro de los distintos temas de cada section." — Adrian Alvarez, Coordinador Grafico, EL NORTE computer file equal to 1,024 bytes; abbreviated as"K." Laser printer. An output device that prints computer-generated text and graphics, usually at a lower resolution than professional typesetters. Layout. The placement of art and text on a page; to lay out a page is to design it. Leader. A dotted line used with tab stops. Lead-in. A word or phrase in contrasting type that precedes a cutline, headline or text. Leading. Vertical spacing between lines of type, measured in points. Leg. A column of text. Legibility. The ease with which type characters can be read. Letter spacing. The amount of air between characters in a word. LiftOlit quote. A graphic treatment of a quotation taken from a story, often using bold or italic type, rules or screens. Also called a pull quote. Line art. An image using only solid black and white - no gray tones, as opposed to a grayscale image. Line Chart. A chart connecting points on a graph to show changing quantities over time; also called a fever chart. Lines per inch dpi). The number of lines of dots per inch in a halftone screen. The higher the lpi, the more precise the image's resolution will be. Logo. A word or name that's stylized in a graphic way; used to refer to standing heads in a newspaper. Lowercase. Small characters of type (no capital letters). Margin. The space between elements. Masthead. A block of information, including staff names and publication data, often printed on the editorial page. Mechanical. The master page from which printing plates are made; also called a paste-up. Measure. The width of a headline or column of text. Modular layout. A design system that views a page as a stack of rectangles. Moire. An eerie pattern that's formed when a previously screened photo is copied, then reprinted using a new line screen. Mortise. Placing one element (text, photo, artwork) so it partially overlaps anodier. Mug Shot. A small photo showing a person's face. Nameplate. The name of a newspaper as it's displayed on Page One; also called a flag. Offset. A printing process, used by most newspapers, where the image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then printed on paper. Orphan. A short word or phrase that's carried over to a new column or page; also called a widow. Overlay. A clear plastic sheet placed over a pasted-up page, containing elements that the printer needs to screen, overprint or print in another color. -289- GLOSSARY OverTine. A small headline that runs above a photo; usually used with stand-alone art. Pagination. The process of generating a page on a computer. Paste-lip. A page assembled for printing where all type, artwork and ads have been placed into position (usually with hot wax). To paste up a page is to place those elements on it. PhOtO Credit. A line that tells who shot a photograph. Pica. A standard unit of measure in newspapers. There are 6 picas in one inch, 12 points in one pica. Pixel. The smallest dot you can draw on a computer screen (short for "picture element"). PMT. A photographic paper used for shooting halftones. Short for photomechanical transfer; also called a velox. Point. A standard unit of measure in printing. There are 12 points in one pica, 72 points in one inch. Pork Chop. A half-column mug shot. Process COlOr. One of the four standard colors used to produce full-color photos and artwork; cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow or black. Proof. A copy of a pasted-up page used to check for errors. To check a page is to proofread it. Pull quote. Another name for liftout quote. Pyramid adS. Advertisements stacked up one side of a page, wide at the base but progressively smaller near the top. Quotes. Words spoken by someone in a story. In page-design jargon, a liftout quote is a graphic treatment of a quotation, often using bold or italic type, rules or screens. Ragged right. Type that is not justified; the left edge of all the lines is even, but the right edge is uneven. Raw wrap. Text that extends into a column alongside its headline; also called a Dutch wrap. Refer (Or reefer). A line or paragraph, often given graphic treatment, referring to a related story elsewhere in the paper. Register. To align different color plates or overlays so they're perfectly positioned when they print. Resolution. The quality of digital detail in OCTOBER 23, 1 999 ♦ the vi r gi nI an - pI lot * NORFOLK, VA. inian-iWot i EVES OH ECLIPSE IflSBI] Id. We enter into a «n-oKtm rha( Khali ljuitd a sccictv in winch all South Afnuans. both black And white, will tic able to walk rait. Without any fenr in llieir hains. assurej «1 iliflir malieftoMc rtglil v> human dignity — n rcrfntton- ii;l[ioi! hi peace with uself mid the world Kevfifc ndver and iteiüi" qgam shall n in: that this titKiuiili.il land will a&mi experience (he oppression ol oncrbv another and suiter tliu indignity «f ticniB Hit; skunk ot I he world. The sun slutll never sei n» suth ;i ^Itinmii Fujiii.iii iidncvi'munt. an image, depending upon its number of dots per inch (dpi). Reverse. A printing technique that creates white type on a dark background; also called a dropout. RGB. An acronym for Red, Green, Blue - a color format used by computer monitors and video systems. Roman. Upright type, as opposed to slanted (italic) type; also called normal or regular. Rule. A printing term for a straight line; usually produced with a roll of border tape. Runaround. Text that wraps around an image; also called a wraparound or skew. Sans Serif. Type without serifs: This is "I designed this page while serving as The Virginian-Pilot's front page editor after helping them launch anew design for the entire paper. There were no important local or national stories this day, but there was a historic event in South Africa and a peculiar event in the U.S. Both events provided great-images. The most striking thing about this page is what's missing: There are no 'stories' just headlines, photos, outlines and quotes." — Alan Jacobson JPPfJDIX GLOSSARY january 1, 2 00 0 + the new york times + new york, n.y. 1 f &t %t 8^ %r ®$ f[f'j[w o /'A r-\,"v.!»■', '.mil «m ri IIIk 7";/'/iMli.iHM.i weok'v plihlll. itllllll 111 liMACltllll, > hi. i. Hammu h.i 11no a mummI^I ui.;; in ihc 'HO, .tlltl (lis flTil i.ll.'H dimco — holi)\l?d Ml k II Kill SUpOJ '•.J!'- lid fi//Ii.d out. IL H1M--u>lT.lll*i Ml tidf.jiis. hoMi iiMiiniiism niiik Ju^p*. .tid maintains . dug and ficj; l.inJi ,\il i In- I'.irV, Unlmi -idinev.'ioie vkxp in tlio OiLgcir VMKidb. 11 ii n hvli is .\Uo tho aiithov ■ ■I J',-fic i\lp->" »/„■ I I'l.'.CI-t i'i (ll't.h'iUlflK't '■'// i//■•//" ,'ii.'f.:: k ■ VILA 1. cz- V) «-** IS' q. ?«: 2. to Er -t^ o o < --«1 z3 o> fl) Tl 00 co cd cd c 00 -« 3 o NEWSPAi DES1GNE HANDBO "The Newspaper Designer's Hat\ just the greatest single source for teacning ana learning about publication design, but it continues to evolve with each edition, perfecting and. adapting as the industry itself grows and evolves. This newest version pushes the craft forward into the modern era with great insight" Steve Dorsey, assistant managing editor/presentation, Detroit Free Press 'It's beautifully designed, so well written and funny — especially refreshing in a textbook. Those features also help students absorb the great and reader-oriented design philosophy narrower espouses." Cecilia Friend, Utica College "This is a significant update to a book that has inspired thousands of the top designers in the profession today. The greatly improved Web design chapter will help keep this manual vital for a new generation, as well as all those Harrowerphiles looking to become more multimedia fluent." Tracy Collins, deputy managing editor, The Arizona Republic "'1 he Newspaper Designer's Handbook is the best book I know of for teaching the basics of newspaper design. It could just as well be called The Newspaper Designers Bible. It's practical, informative and fun to read." Hachele Kanigel, San Irancisco State University Higher Education ISBN 978-0-07-299669-2 MHID 0-07-299669-2 www.mhhe.com 978007299669290000 4240763899