Tall news

No, no, and no. The only thing your newsletter must do is communicate your message. How it does that is entirely up to you. It may, in fact, be to your advantage to make your newsletter look nothing like a newsletter (figure 1). This layout breaks the size barrier by splitting a conventional page in two, features a magazine-like cover to persuade the reader to pick it up, and presents one article over multiple pages rather than multiple articles on a single page. A combination of differences that add up to unique.

Everything with just three typefaces! The word “SKY” in the nameplate (figure 2) is Raleigh Gothic—everything else is set in two workhorse typefaces: Century Expanded for headline AND text, Franklin Gothic Book Cond. for tiny details.

Resources: Typefaces: Century Expanded, Franklin Gothic, adobe.com; Raleigh Gothic, agfamonotype.com; Illustrations: Mars Photos from Hubble Space Telescope (credit: Material created with support to AURA/STScI from NASA contract NAS5-26555); Diagrams: Antique Science and Technology, visuallanguage.com; Planetary Photographs: CLICKART 200,000 from Broderbund, available from software retailers worldwide; Man: Faces 1, rubberball.com

Build two page grids. One for the headline pages, one for article text pages (figure 3). The headline page grid is narrower, with a wider left-hand margin that allows some breathing room around the text and emphasis for the illustration.

Use illustrations as a theme. Even a subject that lends itself to as diverse a collection of photographic subjects as this one does (figure 4) can benefit from a secondary visual element—in this case, a series of beautifully complex antique scientific diagrams and illustrations. The images offer a subtle visual connection between the pages.

Design a simple nameplate. A super-condensed typeface like Raleigh Gothic produces dramatic, interesting shapes (figure 5). To create your version (left), use Adobe Illustrator to scale the text to just beyond the edge of a rectangle, use the Divide Tool to cookie-cut the word out of the background, and apply colors. Using a longer name? Try a variation on the theme (right) using a colored box to encapsulate the subtitle.

Make it reader-friendly. One simple way of doing this is to begin the text of each article with a compelling statement (figure 6); a paragraph or two of text that is more prominent and easier to read than the running text.

Use the back door. Don't forget that many readers, by mere chance, see the back of the newsletter first (figure 7). Use the space to invite them inside with an article teaser—a few words that summarize the compelling idea to be found there.

Balance the page. You can keep running text interesting by staggering the placement of illustrations (figure 8). Stacking weighs down one side of the page, staggering distributes the load.

Notice the squares? Small square photographs and illustrations offer a nice contrast to the long, tall shape of the pages (figure 9). Squint at this page and you'll see how dominant they are on the layout. You can keep running text interesting by staggering the placement of illustrations. Stacking weighs down one side of the page, staggering distributes the load.

Organize the details. The left-hand page above displays eight critical pieces of information in one small space: the issue date and subtitle, nameplate, contents, contact information, primary staff, the masthead, and copyright.

Make it easy to get in touch. Include a Web-like connection (figure 10) including the author's name, phone number, and E-mail address, and a link to your Web site where the reader can hook up with more information on the article subject.

This project is one of those from my Design-It-Yourself: GRAPHIC WORKSHOP, A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE (ISBN 1-59253-088-5). Step through the concept, layout, and production of creating a marketing-smart designs. From the initial research to checking the quality of the final, printed product, nothing is left to chance.