Newspaper design has its own language. To understand it you should learn what are picas and points, ems and ens, body type and text settings, leading, hyphenation and justification, dummies and modules.
# Body type: Body type is the point face used to set text. Almost all Indian newspapers set their texts in points ranging from 8.5 to 10. This ensures easy readability and optimum utilisation of space. Anything smaller than 8.5 points strains the readers’ eye while more than 10 points makes the newspaper look like a text book.
# Leading: Leading is the space between lines. The term comes from the days of hot metal when strips of lead were used to separate lines. Today the computer programmes this space. Great care is exercised in deciding leading. If it is too low then legibility is affected and if it is high then the paper tends to look loose as shown in Fig. 1.11 (b). Besides readability, valuable space is lost if the leading is high, and unneeded.
Generally leading is half to one point more than the body type. Thus if the body type is 9 points then the leading is 9.5 or 10. In design terms the text setting would then be described as 9 on 9.5 or 9 on 10, as the case may be.
# Justified setting: In this setting, all lines in a column are of the same length, even if it means that words are to be broken and run in the following line.
# Unjustified setting: In this case the computer instead of hyphenating a long word moves it into the next line leaving white space behind. As a result, the lines end irregularly giving a ragged look.
# Flush left or left aligned setting: In this case, all lines start from the left end of the column. This is the most po0pular setting in newspapers because the eye is used to reading even lines from the left.
# Flush right or right aligned setting: In this case, all text is right aligned. The column therefore has even spacing on the right but uneven spacing on the left. This kind of setting is used for blurbs to make it look different. It must be avoided for news text.
# h&j: The term stands for automatic hyphenation and justification. In this, the computer breaks a word and places a hyphen at the end of the line so that all lines in a column are of the same width.
# Hanging indent: In this setting, the first letter of the first word in each paragraph begins flush left but the rest of the paragraph is set half or even one pica away. As a result the first letters in each paragraph seem to hang in white space.
# Indents: Some editors prefer to indent a story that is to be highlighted. The computer according to the indent command leaves half or one pica space on one or both sides of the column and then sets the story. As a result, the text lines are narrower, and there is more white space. Indenting is useful when the story has to be boxed; it creates extra white space that can be used to place the border rules.
# em: A term used to measure the length of a line of type during the hot metal era. Technically, em is the area occupied by the square of a letter. Em was so called because the capital letter M in any typeface is almost as wide as it is high.
# en: En was another measurement term used during the hot metal era. An en was equal to half of em because the square of letter en is half of the square of letter em. However, both ems and ens have fallen into disuse today, and typographers prefer to express lengths in picas.
# Font: Font is a full set of characters/letters available in a specific weight/style in a family. It includes all alphabets, numerals and punctuation marks both in capitals and upper/lower case.
# Italics: These are gently sloping letters with or without serifs. They may have thick and thin stems or uniform stems, but their distinguishing characteristic remains their slanted letters. Newspapers set headlines in Italics to display a light or a non-serious story. The credit of developing the Italics type face goes to Aldus Manutius
# Kern: The condensation or expansion of space between characters that go to make a word. It can also be defined as the horizontal scaling of text.
# Leading: The term used to designate the space between two typeset lines. Another term from the hot metal era, it owes its origin to the thin strips of lead that were used to separate lines of type.
# Makeup: The arrangement of stories and art on the page. Copy editors do page makeup on dummy sheets or page dummies. In other words, they draw sketches of what the finished page will look like.
# Pica: It is a unit used to measure lengths. Twelve points make a pica, which on the metric scale is equal to one-sixth of an inch or 0.1666 inches. Pica today is the most popular term used for measuring lengths.
Useful pica metrics: 12 points = 1 pica or 1/16” (0.166”), and 6 picas = 1” (or 0.996”).
# Point: It is a measurement unit used to indicate type sizes. The point system was designed by Pierre Fourni¬er in 1837, and which, with slight modifications, continues even today. One point is equal to 1/72 of an inch or 0.0138 inches.
# Point size: It is the height of a typeface.
# Reverse: A type setting style where the letters are white and the background is grey or black. Today, it is possible to compose letters in a wide variety of colours; similarly, the background colours can be changed to make the type stand out.
# Sans Serifs: The typefaces whose each stroke is of the same width and does not end with any tiny, decorative stroke. Their stark and barren character makes them most suitable for writing headlines.
# Serifs: The type faces that use decorative flourishes at the end of main strokes to lend elegance to the character.
# Teaser: A front-page box or boxes announcing a paper’s inside contents. It is also known as menu.
# Tombstone: When two headlines of the same point size and the same width are run side by side on a page. A Tombstone is also called a Bumped headline.
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