As you've learned in Chapter One, there are thousands of typefaces available
to the newspaper designer. Take the front page of your local newspaper (or
any newspaper with an interesting design) and try to determine how many different
fonts are used. Is the same font used in different weights or styles? How
are fonts used to distinguish different design elements?
Referring to the guidelines on page 27 of the text, rewrite the following
headlines for clarity and style, making sure to keep them short:
Referendum pushed by dems
Woman slain in tragic blaze
Labor clash irks boys in blue
Take the same front page you used in exercise 1 and use your pica pole to
measure the size of the headlines. Do the headlines consistently get smaller
as you move down the page? If not, why do you think the designer chose to
vary the size? (If you don't have a pica pole, you can refer to the life-sized
reproduction on page 20 of the text.)
Select an interesting page from your local newspaper; it need not be the
front page. Referring to the sample dummies on pages 40 and 41, sketch a dummy
of the page. If you like, you can photocopy the dummy and sketch directly
onto the copy. Try to duplicate the finished design as closely as possible.
Now, referring to the original page and your dummy from exercise 4, sketch
a new dummy using the same content but rearranging the design. How does your
design differ from the original? Have you been able to use the space more
efficiently? Does your design shift the emphasis onto different elements of
the page?
