FOUR ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

MEDIA DESIGN

STRAUCH

THE 4 ELEMENTS• Text (body copy) • Headline• Photos/Art• Cutlines/Captions

WORKING WITH TYPE

X-height

baselinedescender

ascender

Fonts come in two varieties: serif (with feet) and sans serif (without feet)

Small type (12 pts or less aka body copy): Serif

Larger type (14 pts or more): Sans Serif or Serif

Leading is the vertical space

Between lines of type.Leading

POINTS, PICAS AND INCHES

There are 6 picas in an inch.There are 12 points in a pica.So….there are 72 points in an inch.

1”

36 points=1/2 inch1/2”

72 points=1 inch

HEADLINES• Flush left (don’t center)• Needs subject and verb• Verb should be present tense, future tense or a ‘to be’ form

of the verb• Write it to fit at least halfway across the last column of the

story• Rewrite the headline to make it fit (don’t just keep going

down in size).

SIZES• See Headlines page in your textbook• Front page: 60-72 points at top; 48-42 in

the middle and no smaller than 24-30 point on the bottom.

• Inside pages: 48 points at top; 18 points is the smallest

• Look in your textbook to see how many decks you can have, depending on how many columns wide the story is.

Kick it

A kicker headline is small on top but big on bottomWhen using two different sizes in a headline (like hammers and kickers), the smaller deck should be regular style and the bigger deck bold.

Also, the two sizes should be half of each other. For example, the big one 48 points, the small one 24 points.

Hammer timeIn a hammer headline, the top is big and bold, and the bottom line is the smaller one in regular style

Slammer: Both are same size but one is bold with a colon

Tripod:In this headline, make sure lines even up with the top and bottom of the first word

There are 3 photo orientations:

Vertical

Horizontal

Square

CUTLINES• 9-12 points• Must be in a font that is different and distinctive from text.• Write to fit completely across the bottom of photo for first

line. Other lines should go at least halfway across the bottom.

• Flush left, ragged right (or justified)

When you put your elements together, there should be 1 pica (or 1/8th of an inch) between each.

STORY DESIGN

THERE ARE FOUR BASIC STORY SHAPES• Stack• Side by Side• L-wrap• U-wrap

Stack Design:

Photo

Cutline

Headline

Text

Cutline should always be under photo; headline always starts over text.

Side by Side:Notice that all the story shapes are modular, meaning the tops and bottom line up to create rectangles.

L-wrap:You need at least four lines of text under photo. Also, because there is text under photo, the headline must extend all the way across.

U-wrap:

Photo in middle helps to break up copy but you need a fairly long story.

What’s wrong with each of these designs?

A. Headline should start over text

B. Photo in center breaks copy flow

C. Photo is buried; should be above headline

D. Buried photo again

E. Story isn’t modular; legs must even up with cutline or story continue under photo.