This document provides an overview of best practices for designing news pages and laying out articles. It discusses key terminology, good and bad design principles, and a step-by-step process for importing photos and text into InDesign. Good design is clear, uses whitespace effectively, and features engaging photos and readable headlines. The steps include preparing photos in Photoshop, pasting text from Google Docs, and fitting all elements on the page without holes or overlapping text. Proper headlines, font choices, and repetition of the process are also covered.

1. Intro to News Design and
Layout
Nor Azilah Binti Hj. Azmil

2. NAMES OF STUFF
 Text is also called “copy”
 Photos and graphics are called “art”
 Columns are also called “legs”

3. Some page designs look good……others don’t.
✔ ✗

4. BAD DESIGNS
ARE:
1. Cluttered
2. Tight
3. Feature crappy
“art,” bad stock
photos and/or clip
art
4. Make it hard for
the reader to know
where to look
5. Contain too much
gray text
6. Contain tiny eye-straining
charts
✗

5. MORE BAD 
✗

6. EVEN WORSE 
✗

7. Good articles,
AWFUL
DESIGN 
✗

8. GOOD DESIGNS
ARE:
1. Clear
2. Contain useful (but
not clumsy) white
space
3. Feature engaging
photos
4. Feature strongest
work at top
5. Have catchy heads
and decks in proper
sizes
6. Contain helpful,
readable
infographics as
needed
✔

9. GOOD
✔

10. COMPLEX, BUT GOOD
✔

11. Basics of page
assembly:
1. Pick good photos (though you
may get sent crappy ones, so do
your best) –expect to use one
photo per article and to fit two
articles on a page…more is
possible, but harder
1. Prep your photos in Photoshop
(steps to follow)
1. READ the articles you are laying
out before you put them on the
page!
1. Place photos
2. Place text (leave room for heads,
decks, cut lines and bylines)
3. Tinker for hours until the space is
filled without holes or jams

12. THE BIGGEST
DESIGN
NIGHTMARES
=
HOLES
POORLY
CONCEALED
HOLE

13. AND JAMS

14. HOW TO FIX A HOLE:
1. Add decks to headlines
2. Make photos bigger
3. Put in a(n ugly little) promo box
Handy
deck
Big honkin’
photo
Ugly little promo box

15. HOW TO FIX A JAM:
1. Trim the text CAREFULLY!!!!
(Bottom up…YOU better have read
it!)
NOTE: Do not trim more than 10%
The top story runs
long, giving you an
inch or more of
overlapping text =
trouble.

16.  Every page should have a dominant
piece of art (if you are running two
photos for one story, one should be
bigger than the other)
 A well-designed page usually has at
least 1/3rd art
 Stories should be shaped like
rectangles
 Don’t “tombstone” your headlines
 Avoid short legs of text (should be at
least an inch)
 When in doubt, run one big photo
instead of two small ones
 Directional photos should face the
inside of the page and toward the text
they accompany

17. NEXT -
Making the magic happen…a step by step
guide

18. Step 1 – Prepare your photos
 Download your photos when they are
sent to you from the photographer via
Picasa or Google Docs
 Save them into a file where you can
find them

19. Step 2 – Open Photoshop
 Open PhotoShop and open your
photos
 First change the color mode from RGB
to CMYK
Go to the IMAGE tab,
select MODE,
select CMYK
Note: if the picture is small,
Go to IMAGE SIZE and
Increase the size to between
3,000 and 6,000 pixels wide.

20. Step 3 – Change the Levels to
brighten the photo
 Click + L
Increase the
number after the
decimal point to
brighten the photo.
Average
brightening is
between 1.2 and
1.7.

21. Step 4 – Change the Curves to
brighten the photo
 Click + M
Add three points
and make an S
curve to lighten the
lights and darken
the darks.

22. Step 5 - SAVE YOUR WORK
 Save your color corrected photos in a
file where you can find them.
SAVE
YOUR
WORK

23. Open InDesign

24. Know your basic tools
Selection Tool
Text or Type Tool
Rectangle Frame Tool
Magnifying Glass
Fill and Stroke

25. Import your photos
Rectangle Frame Tool
Use the rectangle frame tool to
make a box for your
photograph.
Stay between the column lines!
Hit + D to select your
photograph. Then hit okay.
Note: If the photo is larger than
the box, not all of it will appear,
if it’s too small it won’t fill the
box (make it larger in
Photoshop).

26. Fit your photos
To fit your photo into the frame,
go to OBJECT tab, select
FITTING and select FIT
CONTENT PROPORTIONALLY
To fit your frame around the
photo, go to OBJECT tab,
select FITTING and select FIT
FRAME TO CONTENT
Note how
the frame
doesn’t fit
precisely
yet.

27. Import your photos
Rectangle Frame Tool
Use the rectangle frame tool to
make boxes for your text

28. Go to Google Docs
 Select the article you want with RFL
marked beside it
RFL means
“ready for
layout”

29. Go to Google Docs
 Hit + A to highlight all the text
 Hit + C to copy all the text

30. Paste in your text
Text or Type Tool
First, select your
text tool then
place the tool
inside the box and
click once.
Next, hit + P to
paste the text you
copied from
Google docs.

31. Place the excess text
Selection Tool
Using the selection tool,
hover over the tiny red
box at the bottom of
your text column until a
dot appears beside your
cursor.
Click on the red box and
the excess text will
attach to your cursor.
Click inside the next box
to place the text there.
Do this until the boxes
are filled or you are out
of text.

32. Change text to Utopia Std. 10 pt.
Text or Type Tool
First, select your
text tool then
place the tool
inside the box and
click once.
Next, hit + A to
highlight all the
text. In the font
box make sure
that your body
text is in Utopia
Std. 10 pt font.

33. Import your photos
Rectangle Frame Tool
Use the rectangle frame tool to
make a box for your headline
then write a headline. Then
switch to the text tool and write
the headline of your choice.
Standard headline fonts include
Helvetica Black (or bold)
Myriad bold
Gotham Medium
Arial Narrow CE Bold

34. Writing good headlines
Headlines should be accurate and instantly understandable.
 Every story must have a headline
 5-10 words is optimum for most headlines
 Headlines get smaller as you move down the page. Smaller
stories get smaller headlines.
 Don’t butt headlines.
 Writing headlines: avoid awkward wording, jargon, omitted
verbs, bad splits.
 Write in the present tense.

35. Lather, rinse…repeat
Keep adding and adjusting design elements until each page is full.
Consult the News Designers Handbook for further layout ideas.

36. Adjust photos and text until everything fits
on the page with no holes, jams or extra
copy.

37. SAVE YOUR WORK
 Save your InDesign files and photos .
SAVE
YOUR
WORK