The number of sections and headings, speaking in a professional language, - the composition of the issue - this is the foundation that underlies the formation of the corporate identity and guarantees publication recognition among the masses. Layout of newspapers and magazines is an integral part of the production process. She is responsible for optimizing a specific page and for the overall design of the number, that is, for the competent combination of text and graphic elements, for the ease of perception of fonts, for the ease of navigation ...
Benefits of Sustainable Composition
A systematic entry into circulation sooner or later leads to the fact that a newspaper or magazine has its own unique composition. From number to number, all significant bands, basic sections and thematic headings retain a certain look and structure. This is not accidental: the product made according to the template is easier for the reader to perceive, and subsequently develops a certain expectation model for the target audience.
However, the layout of newspapers according to predetermined standards does not at all imply the inviolability of the schemes. On the contrary, compositions that are easy to transform are a sign of the high-quality implementation of creative ideas.
In other words, the stylistic bias and the format of the newspaper / magazine should not depend on point corrections and adjustments. If the responsible editor falls into a stupor every time, when a few hours before the number is printed, it becomes necessary to re-arrange individual pages or even pages, then the basic composition does not justify itself, and it needs to be changed.
What is the fundamental difference between layout and layout?
Compositional preparation and layout of a newspaper are two interconnected processes with similar action algorithms. However, the tasks facing designers and typesetters cannot be called of the same type - the differences lie in the plane of the subject development (optimization) of already edited materials. The priority direction of the layout is a detailed study of the content structure: the order of bands, the configuration of publications, the “embeddability” of images, and the like. The purpose of literate layout is to make sure that the arrangement of the material on the pages not only does not cause difficulties for the reader, but also most naturally draws his attention to the most significant informational messages.
The layout material has a common thematic core. However, this is not enough to form a full-fledged publication number. A kind of finish line is the layout, which organizes the content and organizes individual elements (publications) into a single whole.
Layout of the newspaper: norms and patterns
The main guideline for choosing a typical layout structure is the content of the number. All techniques and options for technical design to one degree or another are dictated by content. The term “material for the front page” perfectly reflects the essence of the foregoing: they operate on it when they want to emphasize the importance of the article (that is, the information load of such a note plays the role of a “stencil” for the entire issue).
However, it must be understood that the so-called general layout standards are rather arbitrary. The target audience for each publication is its own, specific. Therefore, if all the newspapers turn out to be on one face, demanding readers will not be able to find the product they are interested in, which will certainly lead to a drop in sales with the ensuing consequences.
And most important: the specifics of the layout is largely determined by the history of periodicals, the stages of its development, the traditions of the work collective, national preferences and other factors that are not directly related to the technological process.
A3 format: computer prototyping
Layout designer is a specialist who works with ready-made text and already selected graphics. His professional responsibilities include posting material based on approved templates. At the dawn of “typographic evolution,” the work of the profile worker was complicated, and the time spent on fulfilling the tasks was enormous. Modern computer prototyping is a completely different matter ...
The printing formats used today are derived from the DIN A0 standard. The most popular in printing are A5, A4 and A3.
The standard layout of an A3-format newspaper is carried out using the template wizard (the program shell may be different, but the functional set of utilities is comparable). Among the undoubted advantages of computer prototyping is the availability of adjusting the contents of the number at any stage of its preparation, as well as minimizing the number of errors.
Software Overview: PageMaker and QuarkXPress
Prepress preparation of a number on a PC implies the installation of a certain software product. Initially, there were few proposals worthy of the attention of professional typesetters. In fact, there were only two of them - PageMaker from the world-famous company Adobe (reincarnation of the same assembly from Aldus) and a functional analogue called QuarkXPress from the modest organization Quark Ink.
For a long period of time, the developers of both programs went foot and foot, so the computer layout of newspapers - meaning the final result - was practically independent of the batch scenario being implemented. The release of updates violated the established equilibrium, but did not determine the leader. So, QuarkXPress demonstrated the phenomenal architecture of auxiliary modules (extensions), but failed to get rid of the awkwardness in the field of table editing. But PageMaker relied on universalization, but lost several positions in the ranking of functionality (the arsenal of special effects was especially affected).
To help layout designers: get to know Adobe InDesign
Adobe was not going to lose in the sphere of creating products for software typesetting. The appearance of a fundamentally new package was only a matter of time ...
InDesign is a much more serious competitor for QuarkXPress than obsolete PageMaker. More precisely, the question of competition is no longer standing - it all comes down to how many users the utility “steals” from Quark.
So, how is the layout of the newspaper in InDesign different from the previously described scenarios?
Intriguing is a completely redesigned graphical interface, which is “tailored” for the average user. Here, in order to annoy the competitors, there is even the option of activating the hot keys used by default in similar programs - layout designers who worked at Quark will not have to rebuild! The functionality is also amazing. In this regard, InDesign is a viable hybrid that allows you to solve complex prepress tasks by simply pressing 5-6 key combinations. And finally, the layout in InDesign is justified from the point of view of the natural development of print media: the updates to the package that are released simplify the layout process as much as possible, reduce the preparation time for publications, offer options for ready-made templates and layouts depending on the stylistic binding of the number ...
Smart newspaper layout: three rules of paramount importance
Modern layout has a computer basis. But this does not mean at all that the programs automatically fulfill all the requirements regarding a competent layout. Much depends on the master specialist.
So, what does the classic layout of a newspaper look like?
An example of the correct action algorithm is as follows:
- When preparing a number for printing, uniformity of pages should be ensured. If the typical structure is violated (the beatings of the headers and the downs of the stripes differ among themselves or there is a lack of compliance with the font design, graphic imbalances, etc.), then, therefore, the composition of the collected material is incorrectly selected.
- Layout of the output (header) sheet eliminates the use of headers, headers, and signatures; full details of the publication are submitted in the front page.
- According to the results of the layout, there must be a mandatory coincidence of the lines of the main text located on the front page of the newspaper with the lines on the back (even if the script of the font size was implemented, and the basic content of the publication was diluted with materials of secondary importance: footnotes, comments, clarifications, etc. .).
Layout of magazines: some nuances
The layout rules of the newspaper are somewhat different from those requirements that move to the specialists responsible for the publication of journal products in print.
Multi-page publications often consist of columns of different formats, while the number of illustrations in them is measured in dozens. It is much more difficult to ensure the correspondence of the lines of “face” and “turnover” in such conditions. Therefore, typesetters of magazines, as a rule, operate with functional additions (applications) to the main software packages, and the arranged numbers go into circulation on printing equipment of a higher class.
Types of layout: the basics of classification
There have been many attempts to create a unified classification of types of typesetting. However, almost all of them were unsuccessful, since they ignored the geometry of the placement of the finished material on the strip.
For this reason, it was decided to separate the types of typesetting of newspapers not by style, but on the basis of three groups of signs: the first included those that were identified by the configuration of the text and graphics, the criterion for the second was the direction of the layout (vertical / horizontal), for the third - degree of symmetry in the strip.
In newspapers, regardless of subject matter, more often than others, a simple bar layout is used (information is presented in structured horizontal rectangles - “bars”). Much less often they resort to a “broken” layout - when columns with ledges are formed due to rectangles of variable height.
Type of layout and target audience. Is there a connection?
In professional circles, the fact that newspaper layout is not just a search for optimal forms for content is well known. The final compositions are primarily required to meet the needs of the target audiences. If you look at print publications targeted at youth, you can find examples of lively and vibrant design, realized through the use of "broken" layout. The bar pattern dominates in newspapers, whose readers are mainly people of mature age. But purely informational publications differ in the original (usually complicated) form of presentation of the material: many columns of different geometries, plus a “dynamic” font.