Saturday, 8 February 2014

Creating layouts

Templates

  • simplify all aspects of page makeup - care must be taken to ensure they don't make pages look too alike; imagery plays an important part here: subject, crop, scale and tension can be used to distinguish pages from each other
Headline and Heading
  • title of the story usually the largest type size on the layout - aims to stimulate curiosity
Kicker
  • it is normally around 40-50 words in length: any longer and it defeats its purpose, any shorter and it becomes difficult to get the necessary information in and can make the page look unbalanced.
Byline
  • if the name of the writer or author is well-known it often appears alongside a picture of him or her to form a picture byline
Body Copy
  • columns of text are either justified (text filling the column width), aligned left with ragged right, or aligned right with ragged left
  • left aligned text is the most common because text that is centered or aligned right can be tiring
  • column widths should be narrow enough to read easily but not too narrow as  to create rivers of white space
  • toward the end of the production cycle,  - words must be kerned or lines tracked back  to remove a single word at the end of a paragraph, or a single word at the top of a column, or words taken over to improve line lengths 
Drop caps and initial caps
  • indicate where a story begins
  • the former drops below the baseline, the latter sits on it but is bigger than the rest of the body copy
  • can sit withing the body copy or outside
  • they can be enormous and whole words or symbols.

Crossheads or subheads
  • usually sit withing the body copy but may be a larger size, bolder, a color, or set in a different typeface
Quotes, pull-quotes and sound bites
  • quote marks form a focal point on a page, and can be used in varying ways to create extra interest
  • can be used as long as usage is consistent
  • ways of designing pull-quotes include: floating text in a box, running them in a separate column, running them as bands across a whole spread, or using them over pictures
Straplines, section headings, and running headlines
  • give structure to the various sections of a publication, identifying or emphasizing what that subject matter, section or feature is about
  • lines or rules, blocks, bars, WOB and shapes can be used to give straplines an identity
Icons
  • it is helpful to let the reader know if a story is continued overleaf or elsewhere by using "continued on" or "continued from" lines or some form of directional arrow - this is called a jumpline, turn arrow.
Captions
  • usually appear near or on an image, giving information about wither that picture's content or the reason for the image's presence and its relationship to the story
Folios
  • they work as navigational aid around the issue and are usually in the same place on each page. 
Picture credits
  • they run on the same page as their image
  • either running vertically up the side of the image or in the inside gutter of the page
Boxes, panels and sidebars
  •  rules, color tints, boarders, different column widths and sans serif faces

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