Art of Layout, Design and Page Make-up

The overall look of the newspaper is as important as the content itself. Mark Twain says, “The first duty of the newspaper is that it may look beautiful, and second is that it should speak truth”. To make a good, effective and attractive newspaper both content and make-up is needed. The editor decides the appropriate position on which page the news will be published, what would be its heading, what would be the size of the heading, on which page the advertisements, business and game news will be published?

The main objective of the make-up is to decorate the newspaper in such a manner that it may appeal to the readers’ mind, intellect, and eyes, which would contribute to the success of the news. As far as presentation of the newspaper is concerned we are confronted with three words viz. (i) Make-up, (ii) Lay out, and (iii) Design.

Make-up : The make-up is concerned with building the page. When the subject matter of one page is ready, it is previewed by putting it on the paper as to how the page is looking. If it is less attractive, the news is repositioned to make it more attractive and appealing. According to Westley Make-up is largely a matter of placement of headlines and art.

Layout : It is an outline of the newspaper. The editorial department prepares a dummy of the page indicating where should the name of newspaper, news, articles, cartoons, advertisements, photos etc. be put? What would be the headings? What would be the lead news? How should all these be presented?

Design : It deals with formation or structure of the newspaper. Such as how many pages the newspaper will have? On which page what news will appear?, on which page the remaining part of the news will be published?, on which page the game news will appear?, where will the advertisements be placed? and so on.

Principles of page make-up

The editorial section of the press needs to keep following basic principles in mind :

1. Principle of balance : The news should appear in a balanced way in the newspaper. Not the

certain portion of the page or certain page should be overloaded with important news and rest of

portion of the page and remaining pages should be filled with trivial news.

2. Principle of change : The make-up should be changed to break the monotony for sustaining the interest of the readers.

3. Principle of importance : The important news should not be overlooked.

4. Principle of inclusion : All types of news-local, regional, national and international should be

included.

5. Principle of neutrality : The newspaper should not show any kind of biasness towards an individual, place or institution.

6. Principle of economy : Due care should be given on the time and space so that maximum news can be accommodated.

7. Principle of interest : The interest of the reader should be kept in mind while taking up page

make-up.

8. Principle of edition : The news could be enlarged or reduced to give an attractive look to the

newspaper.

Do’s and Don’ts of page make-up

1. On every page there should necessarily be included one or two photos.

2. Dummy of the newspaper must be prepared.

3. While putting photos, it should be kept in mind that when paper is folded, these should not come in the middle.

4. There should not be any blank space in the newspaper.

5. Attractive colour combination should be used.