Take a look at some different newspapers to see the different styles used to design pages and articles.
Newspaper articles are designed using page layout software such as QuarkXpress, Adobe InDesign or PageMaker. Articles are designed directly on the newspaper page in the software application. While at many newspapers, page design is handled by a staff graphic designer, smaller editors may rely on editors or editorial assistants to design the newspaper articles and pages. A newspaper will have a style guide that specifies the different fonts used in the different elements of a news article which can include headline, byline, jump and photo cutline.
Instructions
1. Take a look at the article you will be designing, and the page space allotted for the article to determine if the article will fit in that space or if the conclusion of the article will need to be jumped to another page. You will also need to determine if there are one or more pictures that accompany the article, as this will affect where you place the article on the page, and how much space you will need.
2. Create a headline that accurately describes your article using active, vibrant words. The headline should be appropriately sized for the article. For example, if an article is three columns wide, the headline should also be about three columns wide. Headlines are usually left justified with only the first word and proper nouns capitalized. The exception to this rule is a banner headline, which is generally written in all capital letters.
3. Check to make sure the news article has a byline and dateline, if these elements are required by your newspaper's style guide. Make sure the byline and dateline are properly formatted to your newspaper's specifications.
4. Place the photograph that accompanies the news story just below the headline, but not in the first column of the story. If there is more than one photograph you may place below the first one or further down on the page as space allows. Make sure any photographs that you include have a cutline, which gives credit to the person who took the photo, and a caption, which describes the photo, and that these are properly formatted per your newspaper's specifications.
5. Make sure to include a jump note telling readers which page to turn to for longer stories that need to be jumped. Your newspaper specifications will likely dictate the wording for jumped stories such as "Story continued on page x" or "Please turn to page x". When you have completed the layout of the pages, make sure to double check that the page number in the jump note is correct.
6. Glance through the news story on the page to make sure that it looks neat. Things to look for include too much white space, which can be caused by having a string of short words between two longer words. You can remedy a line like this by forcing a break in the long word at the start of the string. Check to make sure that you aren't seeing diagonal stripes of white in your text or a series of the same words right beneath each other. Again forcing a break or even making an included photograph slightly larger can help to remove these problems. Also look at any of the broken or hyphenated words to make sure they are not hyphenated in an awkward or unpleasing way. For example, if the word assume has been hyphenated ass-ume, it is best to remove the break in this word. If you are having difficulty spotting such errors on the computer screen, print out the pages out onto paper for review.
