News design is the art of planning material on a news page, often in association with graphic and editorial guidelines. Main editorial objectives are the arrangement of news content in an informative way, with particular emphasis on readability, balance and unbiased, clear presentation. Other objectives deal with the integration of various promotional elements such as logos, images or other visual cues and information to enhance the content and facilitate communication of information. A variety of media can be employed to enhance the overall impact of news. These include photographs, illustrations, graphs and charts.
The objective of a graphic design company in the field of news design is to provide clients with a range of design solutions that help them to present a well-designed, easy-to-read version of their news pages. This ensures that the final product meets standards of both accuracy and clarity. News companies need to use a range of different approaches to communicate their news design ideas to their clients. Below are some of the key approaches that are often used:
FrontPage is one of the oldest forms of news design software and still used widely today. It was developed by Adobe for use on the Mac and PC in the early nineties. In its early days FrontPage offered a number of innovative features, which made it very popular with newspapers. Although it has become outdated in most cases, many newspapers continue to use it extensively. It provides both designers and editors with a wide variety of tools and features.
Another principle of effective news design is consistency. Designers and editors are expected to create a consistent design across all types of media including text, graphics, video and images. In addition to being a principle in newspaper design, this principle is also crucial in web design and many other types of visual media. This is because it enables the viewer of the site to understand what is being portrayed.
A major advantage of using this approach in web design and news design is that it allows designers and editors to develop new material without reworking the current content. Even though it is possible to read through the newspaper, reading the news in print is not the only way in which people can get their daily dose of news. Many people now spend a considerable amount of time online, and newspapers must ensure that they make available information which is relevant and up to date.
Although the internet has replaced newspapers, news design is not something that is easy to abandon. It is generally an extremely time consuming process. Most newspapers employ hundreds of designers and editors, who need to collaborate and communicate on a regular basis. This leads to a culture of communication and information sharing within newsrooms and on-line at large. Because of these factors, it is clear that newspapers still need to hire professional news design teams. Although they may initially feel like cutting costs, cutting staff could prove to be a detrimental business move.