ELEMENTS OF NEWSPAPER MAKEUP

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Identify the individual elements used in ship or station newspaper makeup.

Thus far, all the subject matter in this chapter has dealt with the tools and materials available for presenting the reader of a ship or station newspaper with an attractive, interesting and convenient look at the news. Whether you achieve the desired product will depend on how these tools and materials are used in assembling your newspaper.

If you are the person responsible for laying out, making up or actually pasting up your newspaper, you should adopt a basic typographic plan or style. First, read all of the copy being considered for the newspaper. Study the pictures and other artwork closely. Visualize the news story message, or ideas, and the nature of the artwork as a whole. Decide the relative importance of the elements; then put the entire page together using the individual components of newspaper makeup (fig. 8-18).

Makeup creates recognition of a newspaper. A good editor varies the makeup in each issue, so the readers are not bored with the newspaper. On the other hand, each page will resemble the previous editions enough so the reader can immediately identify it.

The following components help the reader identify a newspaper: l Nameplate l Flags l Masthead

. Headlines 

l Pictures 

l Whites, grays and blacks 

. Rules

NAMEPLATE

The nameplate should be simple in design, attractive, and in harmony with the character of the paper. Its type should either harmonize or contrast with the headline type. The nameplate can combine type and artwork together. The artwork however, should not make the nameplate jumbled and hard to read. Figure 8-19 shows several examples of nameplates.

The nameplate can be made to float on the page. Although a nameplate that runs the entire width of the page can be made to float, a floating nameplate usually occupies two or three columns and is placed anywhere in the upper third of the page.

FLAGS

A flag of the newspaper is a display used by a newspaper to indicate section pages or special pages, such as editorial, sports and family pages. Just like nameplates, a flag should not dominate its page and should appear above the fold. Flags can also be floated. (NOTE: Some authorities maintain that a flag is the same as a nameplate and identify a section head as a "section logo." We do not.)

MASTHEAD

A masthead of the newspaper is often refereed to, incorrectly, as a nameplate. A masthead is a statement that should appear in every edition to give information about the publication.

The masthead of a CE or funded military newspaper includes the following elements:

l The name of the officer in command or head of the activity.

l The name of the newspaper and the producing command.

l The following statement: "The editorial content of this newspaper is prepared, edited and provided by the public affairs office of (command)."

l The name, rank or rate (if military) and editorial position on the newspaper staff of all personnel assigned newspaper production and editing duties. This is listed under the heading "(command) Editorial Staff."

l The following disclaimer: "This newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the military services (add the words "stationed overseas" "at sea" or "and their families" if applicable). Its contents do not necessarily reflect the official views of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Navy and do not imply endorsement thereof."

l The following disclaimer (for CE newspapers only): "The appearance of advertising in this newspaper, including inserts of supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the

Department of Defense, the U.S. Navy, (name of command) or (name of publisher) of the products and services advertised"

"Everything advertised in this newspaper shall be made available for purchase, use or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation or any other nonmerit factor of the purchaser, user or patron. If a violation or rejection of this equal opportunity policy by an advertiser is confirmed, the publisher shall refuse to print advertising from that source until the violation is corrected"

"Published by (name of publisher), a private firm in no way connected with the DoD or U.S. Navy, under exclusive contract with the U.S. Navy."

For second-class mailing, postal regulations require a masthead to be within the first five pages of the newspaper. These regulations also require that the masthead contain the following information: l Name of publication l Date of issue . Frequency of publication l Issue number l Subscription price (if applicable) l Name and address of the publisher l Second-class mailing imprint

The masthead of CE or funded newspapers must be printed in type not smaller than six point. Additional information on mastheads maybe found in PA Regs or Ship or Station Newspaper/Civilian Enterprise (CE) Publications, NAVPUBINST 5600.42 series.

HEADLINES

Headlines, or simply heads, contribute to all five concepts of newspaper design - balance, contrast, rhythm, unity and harmony.

The headline for one story should be separated from that of another. Heads that appear side by side (called 'Tombstones") could be read as one head and confuse the reader. Tombstoning also prevents each head from gaining its share of attention.

When headlines and pictures are used together, they should be placed so the reader is not confused by their positions. You should not place a picture between a headline and a story, because the reader might begin reading the cutline thinking it is the first paragraph of the story.

Heads of the same column width should not be placed lower on the page than a smaller one, or higher on the page than a larger one. This does not mean that the bottom of the page cannot contain a large multicolumn head. It only means that heads of the same width should decrease in point size as they descend the page.

Do not run stories out from under their heads. This creates a readability problem by confusing the reader about where to find and finish reading the rest of the story.

A story can be wrapped (to continue a story from one column to the next) under its main head, or lead, to achieve variation. A story is always turned to the right from its main part. A turn running above the headline of the story could confuse the reader and cause the individual to abandon the item.

A story requiring a "jump," or continuation, to another page should be split in midsentence, never at a period of a paragraph. For example, "(Continued on page , col. ) will direct the reader adequately. The jumped portion should carry a brief head, or key word, taken from the main head to identify it as a continuation. The "jump head" should be keyed to the same type style and face, although it seldom will be in the same type size, as the original headline. Never jump a story on a hyphenated word, or carry over the last line of a paragraph.

PICTURES

Readability studies have shown that pictures are one of the most popular elements in a newspaper. For that reason alone, important pictures should be large and positioned in a manner that maximizes their display.

Pictures of two-column widths or more should be placed on a page so they stand or hang from something that gives them support. A picture can stand on a headline, another picture or the bottom of the page. A picture can hang from a headline, another picture or the top of the page. A picture of two-column widths or more should not float in copy, but a one-column-wide picture or smaller can float in copy.

Pictures and headlines that are not related should be separated by more than a rule, if the possibility exists that, when placed together, they are humorous or in bad taste.

Avoid any clashing items. For example, do not place an accident story next to a mortuary advertisement. (Discuss the placement of advertisements with your editor or the CE newspaper publisher.)

If you run two pictures, two boxes or a picture and a box side by side, except in cases where the subjects are related, they tend to cancel each other out. It is best to separate unrelated artwork with body type.

Reader's eyes have a tendency to follow the line of sight of people in pictures. Therefore, if people in a picture look off the page, readers will tend to look off the page. To prevent the reader from doing this, the main subjects in pictures should look straight ahead or into the page. This also holds true for pictures showing action. The motion should go toward the center of the page whenever possible. This reader tendency can be used to your advantage. The line of sight and motion can be used to guide the reader's eye through a page.

Try to avoid running pictures on the horizontal fold of a newspaper, because the area along the fold becomes distorted once the newspaper has been folded.

Do not give a picture more display space than it deserves, especially a "mug shot" (portrait-type, close-up photograph of an individual). Mug shots can float in copy, but it is best if they stand on or hang from something. If a mug shot floats, it is best to float it within a sentence in a paragraph. Mug shots should be accompanied by at least a name line for identification. By omitting the name line, the reader is forced into trying to identify the individual in the picture.

"Thumbnails" also are used in making up newspaper pages. The term refers to half-column mug shots. A thumbnail is best used when it looks into the story or directly out of the page. A name line, in most cases, should also be used with thumbnails.