This class will be responsible for producing the Homecoming Special Section of The Georgetonian--and that means not just writing the stories, but also designing the layout and putting the pages together.
In order to accomplish this task, you need to learn the basics of how to design an effective page and a coherent section of the paper, and you'll also have the chance to experiment with Adobe InDesign, the desktop publishing program used for The Georgetonian (and a program that is becoming an industry standard in desktop publishing).
You will be responsible for a total of six pages in the issue that will come out the week before Homecoming and be available to students and alumni during the Homecoming festivities. Remember, you'll have to write the stories about a week and a half before the events, so plan for stories that can be completed in a timely manner.
I will bring in some past issues of The Georgetonian's Homecoming efforts, and we'll critique those for layout and story choice. Then you'll have to try to come up with a way to make this year's spread better than those from previous years.
These pages will require teamwork; we'll split up into six teams, each of which will be responsible for writing, designing and laying out a page (including getting pictures and designing visual elements, as well as working directly with the desktop publishing programs up in the Georgetonian office). I'll help with the desktop publishing problems, but you'll be doing the work.
The point of this section of the course? I want you to see the importance of the interface between writing and designing in the media. You can write the most wonderful story ever, but if it doesn't work in the space available, it simply doesn't work at all. You'll have to learn to be the writer, editor and designer all at once (read W.E.D.: Writing, Editing and Design and Why Designers Matter from the Poynter Institute).
The Georgetonian is a tabloid-sized newspaper (the Herald Leader, like most major newspapers, is a broadsheet-sized paper). Tabloids leave you with fewer design choices than are available to designers of broadsheet newspapers--which is both good and bad. The challenge in tabloid design is in finding ways to make the page look interesting.
In order to get some ideas on how tabloid newspapers can be designed, go to the LRC and pull copies of tabloid-sized publications. I particularly recommend that you look at The Christian Science Monitor, a very well-designed tabloid newspaper.
Your grade on the homecoming assignment will be broken into individual and group grades: half of your grade will be determined by how well you fulfill your role in constructing the page. Your team will have to divide responsibilities. Insist that tasks are reasonably equally divided--your individual grade will suffer if you are clearly contributing less than the other members of the team. The other half of your grade will be based on my evaluation of the final product. I will look at such criteria as how well the page is designed, how interesting and accessible it will seem to the reader, how error-free the page is page, etc.
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Your hands-on work in the layout of these pages will, I hope, make you more conscious of how important design is to the success of a publication.
Let's start by looking at two publications (The Lexington Herald Leader and The Georgetonian) and seeing if we can deduce some of the principles of document design.
Document Organization: Readers expect a certain organizational structure in their newspapers, an organization that allows them to find what they want with a minimum of confusion. Newspapers recognize their readers' need for consistency in organization, generally dividing the publication into predictable sections, with regular features presented in a consistent way. Look at the Herald-Leader, for instance. The editorial pages are always the last full spread in the front section. There's always a city/state section (with the obituaries), a sports section and a business section (with the detailed charts of stock numbers). And of course, Dear Abby and the comics always appear in close proximity deep inside the paper, with the crossword puzzle.
In The Georgetonian, Editor's Corner always fills the same spot on page 2 (and has for years); each page spread has unity (2-3=opinion, 4-5=news, 6-7=features, 8-9=arts and entertainment, 10-11=sports, 12=humor).
Your publication, because it is a special section, will not be bound by these expectations of consistency in most ways, but you will have to maintain consistency in other ways. For instance, your page headers will have to match the style in the rest of the paper. The way you lay out the stories must be consistent with the pattern in the rest of the paper. The fonts you use for headlines and captions must be consistent with the rest of the paper. In short, you will need to follow The Georgetonian's style sheet. Look over the paper and see if you can see this style sheet at work:
Style Sheet
Standard Story Text: Times New Roman 10 pt.
Standard Headline Text: Arial (point size varies)
Standard Caption Text: Arial bold italic, 10 pt.
Standard Way to Place Byline: at beginning of the story; start with
"By" (first letter capitalized, second letter not capitalized, as shown) and then follow with the author's name, all capitals. Put the writer's
title (staff writer, contributing writer, sports editor, etc) on the next line,
not bold but in italics, and with just the first letter of main words
capitalized. Leave a blank line between these two lines and the first line of
the story. Center both lines (being sure to remove the automatic indent).
Beginning of story style: Do not indent the first paragraph.
You may use a drop cap if you wish for feature stories (not news), but if you
do, use a three-line drop cap.
Bullet subhead style: Use the letter n set in Wingdings as the
bullet; use Arial 18 pt. as the size. Do not place a space between the bullet
and the first word of the bullet subhead.
If you look at any newspaper or magazine, you will see that they, too, have a standard organization and style sheet that must be followed across the publication.
The Layout Grid: All newspapers (broadsheet and tabloid) are divided into columns across the page. (Read The Grid: The Structure of Design.) Grids can be flexible on broadsheet newspapers (look at how columns are laid out on the front of the Herald Leader, for instance). In tabloid newspapers, it's harder to have a variety of column structures. In general, tabloids use either four or five columns per page; The Georgetonian usually uses five columns, with some variations (page 2 is laid out in three columns, for instance). It is permissible to use two different column structures on one page; for instance, you can lay out four columns at the top of the page and five columns on the bottom.
There are also implied horizontal elements on a page, especially on the front page. The most important element on all pages is "the fold," the place where the newspaper is folded and divides the page in half. You will hear references to whether something appears "above the fold" or "below the fold"; important elements are supposed to appear above the fold.
Every page should have a dominant visual element. (Read The Center of Visual Impact.) This visual element forms the magnet that draws the reader to the page; it should be given priority over all other design considerations on the page. Consequently, when you're planning a page you'll need to try to start with a dominant visual element, which should be set above the fold and be large enough to be clear.
There should be more than one item of visual interest on the page, but only one should be dominant. Visual elements can be such things as pictures, graphs, pull-quotes, tables, etc.
Headlines should be set in sizes appropriate to their position on the page and the importance of the story. Larger headlines (and more important stories) should be at the top; smaller headlines can be used lower down in the page. Generally, you should not use a larger font toward the bottom of the page than is used at the top of the page.
Headlines can have more than one deck (each level of headline is called a deck), and it can also have a kicker set above the main headline (a short, smaller headline often used to draw attention to a story or identify the story as part of a series).
Don't "tombstone" headlines. A "tombstone" occurs when you have headlines for two different stories running into each other. In such situations, you will need to do something to separate the headlines and the stories (such as adding a box around one of the stories).
White space: White space is the term used to describe an area of the page where there is no type. The Georgetonian tends to be a "gray" paper--that is, it uses very little white space. But look at some of the examples you can find in the library, and you will see that many tabloid publications aren't afraid to leave a little white space to give their readers a break from the gray of type. A warning, though: planned, rational use of white space is good; trapped or pointless white space is bad.
How to do your layout: Start with a page grid with the correct number of columns indicated (you can print out blank pages with the gridlines marked if you click here). Plan your page using the sheet: what stories can fit on the page? What will your dominant visual element be, and where will you place it? What secondary visual elements will you use? You might want to model your layout strategy after something you saw in a sample tabloid done by a professional; if so, be sure to xerox the page and bring it with you to the layout sessions.
Draw out your layout plan and let me look at it. I'll let you know if I think there are any problems with your layout strategy. I will introduce you to the layout program during class, and I will schedule times for the office to be open (and help available) so that you can do the layout on the computers.
Also read: Design Fundamentals (by an Oklahoma State University professor)
Those assigned to the center spread of the Homecoming Section will have an added task: designing with color. In the center spread, you can use as much color as you want--and you should plan the pages to take advantage of the color you have. You should read Understanding Color to help you figure out your approach.
Further reading: