newsletter design
 

lacing content in order of visual importance to promote maximum readership begins the design process of a newsletter. This doesn't necessarily mean filling a front page with the top story. Instead, the goal is figuring out how and where to start the first paragraphs of each piece to afford everything a great amount of visibility.
Then, departmental areas are given consistent treatments to establish memorability. This strategy instills a kind of familiarity that says, "welcome back" to the target audience.
Next, logical placement of images and typography for best fit into an established design grid, fine tunes the look of a newsletter. Special care is taken to create editorial spaces with elements that look great together. Thankfully, mind's eye guesswork needn't imagine how a number of illustration and photographic styles will work together. Instead, desktop publishing makes color proofing viable at any stage during the process. Whenever an incompatible relationship is found, Photoshop offers many solutions. Often, simple adjustments in the contrast, intensity, color or the style of offending visuals can make a design spread sing rather than choke.
Finally, attention to well done newspapers reveals a headline style worth borrowing to achieve great flexibility. It involves using at least two type weights, one decidedly bolder than the other. With such variety comes the ability to control emphasis of editorial content, while achieving a most dynamic layout. For example, an important story that looks best at the bottom of a spread can be elevated in prominence if its headline is bold, so long as the headline positioned above is set in the book weight. Samples on the next two pages show how News Gothic Bold works with ITC Century Condensed Book.

sample

A two color newsletter design can have its advantages.

To begin with, it is distinctive. Well designed and perfectly produced, it can broadcast a tasteful austerity that can't be achieved any other way. You've seen those black and white commercials on tv with just a teeny splash of second color on the logo or something. Those spots are bound to be noticed, if only for their striking contrast to the hundreds of run-of-the-mill full-color ad messages that are aired every day.