NDS Newsletter Archives

It should be obvious that I believe that newspaper design is an important part of good journalism. Design is important not just for large newspapers, which are the focus of most design magazines and organizations today, it is also important for small newspapers, be they dailies or weeklies.

Newspaper design can be either simple or it can seem complicated. A large newspaper probably needs an art director and a number of artists, but they are unnecessary to get good, solid newspaper design. Even the smallest weekly can have a well-designed newspaper by following certain principles and rules.

Here is a list of what I think are the “general” basics for small newspapers (“specifics” next time):

1. Good design has to be a priority for everybody from the top to the bottom, from the publisher to the newest reporter. Good design is not an add-on to be applied at the end of the reporting process. There must be an understanding of and a commitment to the understanding that design, or the presentation of news, is an important journalistic function. It needs to be an equal partner with the gathering of and the reporting of news. Bring visual people into the planning process.

2. The basic framework of the entire publication needs to be set in stone. This means the column grid, all the typography, and where certain content will be placed. There should be a design style book sitting right next to the AP style book. There should be a plan, and it should be followed. Create templates for several basic layouts for the section fronts. This will speed up the tedious process, saving time for creative thinking.

3. The presentation of the news should be a consideration at the time of the assignment, whether it’s for a reporter or a photographer. Both writers and photographers should consider how their work will be presented as they are gathering the necessary information: reporting the story, taking the pictures.

4. Keep it simple. A good design does not have to be complicated. Stick to one or two typefaces, one or two column grids, and set up standard story and photo sizes in your InDesign templates. With a good library set up with pre-made elements, putting together a page can be quick and easy, leaving time for quality creative work on the pages that really need it.

5. Prepare a good library of free or cheap clip art, easily found and downloaded from the Web. If you make the effort to set this up ahead of time, using good descriptive tags, finding usable art, even at the last minute (which, of course, shouldn’t happen!), will be easy. In fact preparation in everything is probably the key. One can’t be creative on deadline. Two sites I like: www.cooltext.com (free) and www.graphicsfactory.com ($49 a year – and worth it!).

6. Check out other publications, and not just the ones nearby. Visit various websites, including those of large daily newspapers, and feel free to swipe good ideas. Swiping, not copying, is a time-honored design tradition. Keep a file folder of design ideas that you really like. Turn to it regularly for inspiration.

7. Read design blogs (especially pageshare.newsdesignschool.com!) and visit design-based websites. Join in the conversation, ask questions, leave comments. Especially for small newspaper staffs, having someone to talk to about design is critical. Another good place for this kind of conversation is our easy-to-join NDS Forum (forum.newsdesignschool.com.)

8. Finally, there is News Design School’s website. Learn from the many newspaper design tutorials, and as mentioned, carry on discussions in the Forum, and post your pages for others to comment on and post comments in general at the Pageshare/Blog. You can learn a lot from one another, and members of the NDS staff and I will join in and/or lead conversations as well. So go to our website (newsdesignschool.com) and sign up at the forum and blog. See you there!

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Bob Bohle :: bob@newsdesignschool.com