How to Lay Out a Newspaper

Laying out a newspaper requires a keen eye for design as well as an understanding of
relevant news stories. Stories should be inserted according to section and prominence. A
layout editor also must know how to insert accompanying graphics and photography. The
layout of a newspaper helps direct readers to specific stories and images of importance,
while also finding room for all timely assignments.
Instructions
Preparing a template
1
Design a template for your newspaper. If the paper has been in circulation, a previous
editor may already have a design available.
2
Include at least the following in the template's design: Newspaper's name, year of
establishment, a short description of the area served by the newspaper, sidebars for
inside story features (a tease for features, opinions, sports, entertainment articles, etc.),
and any other elements that the newspaper will include on a regular basis (weather,
local opinions, etc.). Set up the template with a specific number of columns per page
(usually 3 to 5, depending on page size).
3
The front page template will be the most elaborate. Successive pages usually should
only include the paper's name, page number and section header (if applicable).
Drafting Your Layout Plans
4
Sketch how you plan to design each section, listing all stories, graphics and photos that
must be included.
5
Draft a layout using a blank piece of printing paper and a pencil. Begin with a list of all
stories intended for the current edition. Keep the length of stories in mind so that you
allot the proper amount of space according to length. Provide for jump space if needed.
6
Add graphic elements to the layout draft, making sure to package each with the story to
which it relates. If you have a graphic designed specifically for a financial article, make
sure the graphic is placed adjacent to or in the middle of that article.
7
Make sure all stories have been thoroughly edited by the newspaper staff. All
photography and graphics, too, should go through an editing process before they are
added to the layout design.
Laying Out the Newspaper On Your Computer
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Open InDesign or the appropriate design program. Open your template. Use your layout
draft to insert articles.
Start by inserting the proper headlines. If it is your job to write the headlines, be as
concise as possible. Generally, headlines are large. You may use several headline fonts,
depending on the type of article and the featured section. (Font styles for news headlines
are generally bold and clear, but you can use more creative fonts with feature or opinion
headlines).
9
Insert bylines for articles. Include the name of the author, and their position at the
newspaper. Make sure you correctly match bylines with stories to avoid problems with
writers.
Insert lines to designate between different articles. For example, if you have two articles
on the front page, insert a vertical or horizontal line between them to clearly indicate
that you have two stories.
10
Insert article copy. Copy and paste text from a word processor document into the layout.
Justify the text. Indent the beginning of each paragraph. Eliminate "widows" (words at
the end of the paragraph that fall on a line by themselves) to save space.
If you have an article that starts on one page and jumps to another, include the jump
information at the bottom of the article. Your jumpline should include a word from the
headline, and the page number indicating where the reader will find the rest of the story.
On the jump page, place the same word at the beginning of the story's jump copy. Try
not to jump a story mid-sentence.
11
Insert graphics and pictures. Have the text wrap around images to fully utilize your
layout space. Include a cutline (a photo caption) and a byline for photos. The byline
should be very small, and as close to the photo as possible (sometimes even in the
corner of the image). The cutline should be concise, and no longer than two or three
lines. The cutline font should be smaller than your body copy.
POINTERS to ACHIEVE GOOD LAY-OUT for NEWSPAPER
Lay-outing the pages for newspaper is tough one because of the guidelines to follow. In
fact, most of the newspapers nowadays had their own style book which they followed to
achieve consistency of theirlay-out. Here, I will be discussing about the pointers to
achieve good lay-out not necessarily designing the pages.
Learn typography. Typography refers to font style and size. Usually, each pages of the
newspaper has its own style. For news page, it could be formal or semi-formal. To
achieve such style used serrif family of font type like Times New Roman, Arial, Bodoni
and others. The font size of the body should range from 10-11 size. Twelve (12) font size
is huge enough to waste space for the newspaper. Ten is an average size for a reader.

Editorial page followed formal style. Editorial being the soul of the newspaper should be
emphasized. On this page serrif is aso used with 12-13 font size. Having a bigger font
implicates the importance of reading the editorial of the newspaper.
Unlike the aforementioned pages, pages like Feature, Science, DevCom and Literary are
of free style. There is no guideline to consider. Despite that, one must be careful of
choosing proper font stye and size to avoid sacrificing the readabiity of the article and
aesthetic of the page. Sometimes a non-serrif or those special font style are not reader
friendly, while inconsistency of the font size is not pleasing to the eyes of the readers.
Avoid tombstone. Tombstone in page layout refers to two or more article being lay-out
identically in a page. Usually, it is the headline of the same size and/or type placed side
by side, resembling grave markers. The idea is actually similar to the characteristic of a
tombstones which are of the same size and are arranged in a line. This kind of lay-out is
considered dull and poor. It has a tendency of sacrificing the article for a chance to be
read because of its look.
To avoid this, box one of the article, or add a soft highlight to any of the article. Also,
changing font style and size could break the dullness of the tombstone.
Minimized using too much jump page. A jump page is a continuation of article from one
page to another.Honestly, jump page is unavoidable once the length of the article does
not fit the collumn. That is why used it only if it is awkward to cut the article.
Isolate headline. A headline is the title of the article. It should not be of the same font
size as the body text. As much as possible to make it safe use a font size twice the size
of the body text. So, if you used 10 size for the body, used 20 for the headline. Advisably,
estimate the size for the headline and see to it that it is cleary distuingished.
Avoid armpit. An armpit is the headline which cross to the other article not related to it
which creates an image of armpit.
Break gray/white area. The area in the newspaper which has a wide space is called gray
or white area. This area should be filled because every space of the newspaper is being
paid. That is why space is considered a premium in every newspaper.
Give breathing space. Breathing space means that text and graphics must not look over
crowded.
Avoid having the top half page too heavy. Balance must be observed in lay-outing. One
way of achieving this is balancing the top and half page. The whole page should look
equally getting the attention of the readers.
Do not place picture in the imaginary fold. Fold is the point at which the newspaper is
folded into half. It is only applicable to a broadsheet size newspaper, which was once put
in the news stand is intentionally folded in a half. The purpose of not placing it in the fold
is to see the whole photo while it was folded and displayed in the news stand.
These are only few of the tips which I learned from working as a lay-out artist of various
campus paper as my part-time job. But you know without looking at these tips, just put

in your mind that a good lay-out is once you had made your self satisfied that your
layout is almost perfectly good.