1. How to Lay Out a Page

2. Read the stories Pick stories that deserve best play Check story lengths – don’t design without an idea of length Check to see if any stories related – might want to package them (main story, sidebars, pics, graphics, rules, pull-out quotes, logos, typographic devices)

3. Look at pics and graphics Which go with stories, which stand alone Pick pictures that will be dominant art on the page Pick secondary art

4. Estimate size and shape of art Vertical or horizontal (u can’t shove a vertical picture in a horizontal spot, believe me, I’ve tried) Crop pictures so they tell the news Estimate how big pictures need to be (dominant art will be 3 or 4 columns)

5. Draw some outlines of page Even if there is a pagination system Do a few, moving the dominant art around Judge the outlines – sufficient variety of horizontal/vertical, balance, any stories overplayed, are u burying important stories?

6. Pick and outline and begin work Size pictures and graphics first Make decisions about width of columns for stories Decide what size type you’ll use for headlines (generally bigger heads on major stories at top, smaller ones on stories near the bottom Once satisfied with design, do final sizing on pics