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Tips on layout on a senior newspaper (first time poster)
Posted by favek in
24 Oct 2004 — 10:38pm
24 Oct 2004 — 10:38pm
Hi all new to the forums here looks like a great resource! I will tell you all a little about myself.
I just got started doing layout for a small town newspaper. Its tabloid size paper and it runs 20 pages. I am fairly new to newspaper layout and I am into my fifth issue now but I am loving the learning process.
So now I have a contract with a non-profit organization to do a monthly senior paper. "Supposedly" I am working with a man that will deliver all of the copy and pictures to me at or near the end of the month and then all I do is the layout. Seeing the will be the first issue that remains to be seen.
So when we had a meeting he mentioned that he would like to see a 3 column format. Instead of a 4. I also suggested arial font because old people will need to easily read it. I was thinking something larger like 12 point. He also said he would like to run at least 26 pages.
So I guess I am looking for some work flow tips, maybe some suggestions on paper layout anything really.
This is my first post here so if I left anything out please dont hestiate to respond.
Oh ya I use InDesign CS for my layout program.
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24 Oct 2004 — 10:47pm
If this person wants it to be readable, and suggested Arial, they don't know much about text and readability. With its relatively closed counterforms, Arial tends to be harder to read by those with poor eyesight than, well, lots of things. If you and he are convinced that a sans serif is the way to go, use a more humanist sans with more open counterforms. Frutiger and Myriad come to mind, but there are many other choices.
Regards,
T
24 Oct 2004 — 11:23pm
A couple of things came to mind as I read your post:
- Arial is not a great choice for body copy. For the kind of longish stories that a newspaper typically carries, a serif typeface is generally considered a better (more readable) choice. Times New Roman started life as a newspaper "font" -- if your type options are limited, pick Times over Arial.
- If the senior paper is also a tabloid, then a 3-column layout may yield columns that are too wide for comfortable, quick reading. Even with the larger type size you're proposing, a 4-, 5- or even 6-column approach might work better.
- Are you familiar with the Society of Newspaper Designers? Among other things, they publish a design annual that might be a good source for inspiration.
http://www.snd.org
- Mario Garcia is a well-known newspaper designer who recently published a book on the topic called "Pure Design." Lots of basic, useful information.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0972469605/qid=1098684488/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0823421-5853518?v=glance&s=books
- Workflow tips: Before you start production on the first issue set up style sheets and master pages for the publication. Consider having all of your text (heads, decks, etc.) use leading that is a multiple of the body copy's leading, and have everything snap to the baseline grid. (This can be set up as part of the style sheet.)
Hopefully some of the other publication designers that frequent these parts will chime in with more suggestions. Good luck!
25 Oct 2004 — 5:36am
he would like to run at least 26 pages
How would you do that? Unless you can print single, 2-sided sheets, newspapers, especially tabloids, are made up of spreads printed front and back and folded in the middle. The total page number does therefore have to be a multiple of 4. If the printing press can print 2 of those signatures at the same time, they would be folded in the middle and trimmed in the press (it you
25 Oct 2004 — 9:31am
Ok so Arial is out and I will look into something else.
So it seems if I want to go with a biger font size I should definatly go with more than 3 columns. I think going with a biger font size is a good idea because a lot of elderly have bad eyes.
With the 26 pages I am not sure what thats all about. I will call the printing press and see what the deal is.
Thanks for all the feedback please send more my way!
25 Oct 2004 — 12:43pm
12 points is big enough (too much I would say) for most types and certainly for a newspaper. If you find that it still looks small for you, maybe you should try a widest font.
26 Oct 2004 — 6:04am
http://www.tiresias.org/fonts/ this is a font designed for blind/partially sighted readers.
Surprisingly, the RNIB recommends Arial at 14/21-28 pt as a font to use for people with sight problems, I agree with the comments above that it is not the first (or even fourth) choice.
Tim
26 Oct 2004 — 7:08am
surprisingly, the RNIB recommends Arial
Not surprisingly. That is all they know, just like most of the recent testers. As long as legibility tests keep comparing Arial to Times, the poor readers won
26 Oct 2004 — 8:03am
Tiresias thread - http://www.typophile.com/cgibin/discus.pl?pg=prev&topic=4100&page=12103
26 Oct 2004 — 8:18am
The "official" Arial recommendations are indeed not surprising, and it's due to the confounding of legibility/deliberative_reading versus readability/immersive_reading. And although typographic practioners don't [seem to] have enough answers either, one thing they can certainly do is alert the field scientists that something is very wrong. These two worlds are what some of us have been trying to reconcile, to fuse together what they know best; the best attempt so far was this year's Thessaloniki conference.
hhp
26 Oct 2004 — 9:45am
and it's due to the confounding of legibility/deliberative_reading versus readability/immersive_reading.
No, Hrant, it
26 Oct 2004 — 9:52am
Well, as far as I can tell what you're describing is pretty much what I meant! The fact that Arial is particularly bad -even for a sans- is sort of circumstantial.
hhp
27 Oct 2004 — 7:00am
I meant that the font was funded by RNIB (I meant to put in a link but got distracted) http://www.tiresias.org/fonts/acknowledgements_info.htm (It would have made more sense with it.). I can only suppose that the recommendations are for people with a narrow selection of fonts.
Tim
31 Oct 2004 — 10:33pm
Hey thanks guys for all the posts. Some of it was a little over my head even with having an art degree. But this wasnt my field of study. I will have to see when I get all the copy what font I do settle on.
Besides Myriad and Frutiger I would still like to here some other suggestions as well.
So I have some time to work on a name plate. Please tell which one you like and what you would change or add to any of them.
They are listed A,B,C,D starting from the top.
http://www.photodump.com/direct/favek/name-plate-page.jpg
1 Nov 2004 — 3:00am
Besides Myriad and Frutiger I would still like to here some other suggestions as well.
If it has to be a sans.
There are many but to name a couple of my personal favourites:
-Legacy Sans (& Serif)
-Meta
-Syntax
-Scala Sans (& serif)
-Gill Sans