Before we start the first Newspaper Design project, we need to know some terms and find some examples of what actually makes up a newspaper page. Many of you will be joining us in newspaper next year, and you are supposed to be focusing on the "visual" side of things. That starts with photography, but it also involves design, infographics, illustrations, podcasting and videography.
When we are talking about newspaper design, it can get extremely complex, but there are basic things you should know and understand before you can get more in-depth. For those of you moving on, these terms and understanding their uses, will really help you as you transition to the production classes. For those of you who are not, these basic terms are used in other places, like yearbook, graphic design and even into the real world. So all of you will benefit from understanding these concepts.
Below are a list of terms you should know. Your job today is to find examples of each of these concepts, take a screen shot of these ideas and share them on your Google Site in a new subpage called Newspaper Design Concepts. You will need to label each image with the correct term.
You will need to find these using the Dispatch newspaper. You can access the print edition of the newspaper here: https://thedispatchonline.net/category/print/
To access each issue, you will need to click on the link and go to Issuu.com and view them as full screen. If you are unsure how to take a screen shot, it's easy - hold down the SHIFT, COMMAND and the #4. That will create a "bullseye" cursor. Now you just click and drag over the item you want to take a screen shot of. This image will either go into the Download folder or to your desktop. Make sure to move these into your Digital Media folder on the desktop. Put them in a new folder called Newspaper Design Concepts.
This is a long list, and I have specified exactly what I am looking for in each term description. In some cases I am asking for a whole page but some screen shots will be portions of the paper, so do not take one big shot and expect me to understand what you are showing me. Find these SPECIFIC elements and take the screen shot. You are welcome to use preview editor and draw lines to what you are trying to show me, if that helps you.
As you look for these items in the Dispatch, please take the time to look at the design of each page you look at. Notice where these elements appear. Look at the way the pages are designed in terms of where headlines appear and where the photos and captions are placed. How does the copy wrap around photos. What about art? Where does the copy go on some art pieces? What about bylines and photo credit lines? There are very specific rules about the placement of all of these items. You will be using the Dispatch as your guide when you create your second newspaper page in the next project.
Above the fold: the top half of any page.
Art: photos, illustrations, line art, cartoons, graphics, charts, etc.
Attribution: assigning information to a source, e.g., he said. Any attribution will be fine.
Banner: headline that stretches across entire newspaper page. Reserved for the big news.
Box: 1- or 2-point lines, known as rules, enclosing a story alone or story and art. Used to draw attention to art and story. Also called packaging.
Byline: name of author of story. (Different from credit line, which is the name of the photographer.)
Caption: text accompanying a photograph; also called, cutline (but rarely used)
Center spread: two facing pages at the center of a magazine or newspaper.
Column: section of text that runs from top to bottom of the page. Also, regular editorial feature in a publication, usually with a byline. Please find me BOTH of these. They both appear in our newspaper.
Copy: article, story, other written material.
Credit line: name of photographer who took the accompanying picture, the artist who drew the illustration or the person who made the informational graphic. Placed immediately under the photo or art, often in 6- or 8-point type.
Deck: wording following a headline but preceding the text or body copy. Expands on the meaning of the title, explaining its significance.
Double truck: newspaper term for spread, or the two facing pages.
Drop cap: large decorative initial capital letter that extends below the top line of a paragraph it begins.
Editorial: article of comment or opinion usually on the editorial/opinion page.
Flag: name of the newspaper across the top of page one. Sometimes called the logo or nameplate.
Folio: page numbers. Also can refer to date, price, publisher, sometimes volume and number of newspaper that usually is in relatively small type and positioned below the flag or nameplate.
Gutter: blank space between two facing pages or adjacent columns of type.
Hairline: very thin rule or line.
Head, Headline, Hed: tells readers what the story is about. Similar to a title but includes a verb.
Information graphic: information presented largely as a picture or visual, e.g., bar and pie charts, tables, time-series lines, maps, illustrations.
Jump line: a few words that tell the reader that the story is continued on another page. Continued on... and Please turn to... are the most common jump lines. Please find the jump to AND the jumped from labels.
Lead: the first paragraph, which in hard news stories is the first sentence of the story. Tells the reader what the news is. In longer feature stories, lead can be a block of paragraphs that set the stage or put the reader in the scene.
leading: space between lines of type, usually measured from baseline to baseline.
Masthead: information about the publication run on an inside page. Usually includes publishers, editors, directors, address, etc.
Modular Design: all elements in a package can be placed inside of a square box (this box may not be a physical box, but you can draw an invisible box around all the related content), creating "modular" boxes that can be moved around as a square package.
Mug shot: a picture of the head and shoulders of a person. Usually run relatively small. In a newspaper usually a half-column wide by 1.5 inches deep or one column wide by 3 inches deep.
Nameline: a name that appears underneath a mugshot, identifying the person in the picture.
Op-ed page: short for opposite the editorial page. Page that features columnists' opinions often about social, political issues.
Package: A set of items that all go together to complete a group of items that tell the entire story, this includes all art, graphics, photos, story, headline, captions in a presentation. Designed in Modular fashion.
Photo essay: series of photographs that make a single point.
Pic: short for picture.
Reverse: images appear in white on a dark or colored background. Must be used only for a few words. Difficult to read.
Run-around: body copy that wraps around an inset piece of art.
Sidebar: a related story intended to run with a major story on same topic.
Standing heads, standing sigs or standing signatures: title and/or graphic that signals a regular column (e.g., Dear Abby), regular features (Editorials), a special series of stories or a particular breaking news story topic (e.g., The Summit, Plane Crash). Usually positioned above the head or near the top of a story.
Subhead, drop head: headline that elaborates on the main head. Set in smaller type size than the main head. Positioned below the main head.
Teasers: a headline, phrase or sentence, sometimes accompanied by art, that advertises stories inside the paper. Usually positioned at the top of the cover.
Text: body copy.
Tombstone head: similar size and style headlines, side by side. Usually to be avoided.
White space: space on a page not occupied by type, pictures or other elements. Floating or trapped white space is to be avoided.
