FOCUS ON LAYOUT & DESIGN

Design Terminology

Pica: a unit of measure; 1/6 inch. Column inch: vertical measurement

of text in a column of a newspaper article

Masthead: newspaper’s name found on page 1

Banner: name of specific newspaper page (news, sports, features, opinion)

Design Terminology

Headline: title that appears at the top of the newspaper story

Cutline: words that appear under a photograph describing/identifying the photo

Kicker: small headline that works in conjunction with the main headline

Dummy: blank sheet w/columns used to plan a page’s design

Design Terminology

River: in the space between columns, being able to trace an uninterrupted line from top to bottom (try to avoid)

Butting headlines: headlines for adjoining stories that are directly next to each other (avoid)

Byline: name of the story’s writer White space: avoid white space at

all costs, but trapped white space is BAD.

Design Terminology

Bank/deck: lines of a headline Broadsheet: large (22”x 14”)

newspaper page size used by most daily papers

Tabloid: smaller (12”x 18”) page size used by papers such as the Columbia Flier.

The Current: tabloid, 5 columns

Layout & Design Rules

Strive for a tight layout; no white space Avoid 48 pt headlines; too big Never stack more than two decks in a

headline UNLESS it’s a one column story; then

use 3-4 decks Allow at least ½ - ¾” for a cutline; 1

inch max Allow ¾” – 1” for each headline deck

Type styles

Use only one font/typeface for headlines

Though you should vary size and employ italicized and bold versions

Use “Down style;” capitalize the first word and proper nouns only