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I've been doing newsletters for quite a while, and here are my suggestions.
Establish regular departments with titles on regular pages.
If you are printing pages 2-up and then folding them to down to a smaller
size, go down to 4 pages or up to 8. Doing 6 is goofy, because it means you
will have an extra smaller page that falls out on the floor.
If the newsletter is just pages stapled together, then 6 will be OK.
The classic page flow for a newsletter is this:
page 1: MOST important story --> NOT WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT!!! with an
INSIDE THIS ISSUE box
page 2: editorial, Word from the president if it fits, staff box,
publisher's notices like copyright, address, email, etc. This is where you
tuck all your housekeeping stuff.
page 3: second most important story OR Word from the President if it doesn't
fit on page 2
pages 4 and 5: centre-spread, your longest story, with a nice design across
both pages
page 6: secondary stories or listings or lighter stuff or spill from other
pages
page 7: secondary stories or spill from other pages
page 8: second most important story OR as you suggest, some sort of
directory or listings, or lighter stuff
Many people will look at the front page of a newsletter or magazine, then
flip it over and look at the back page. That's why the last page is
important.
The three-column grid is standard and works very nicely. Put your more
serious material on pages 3,5,7 and your lighter or more visual material on
pages 2,4,6. That way your reader's eyes can scan over the lighter stuff and
come to rest and spend more time on your more important stories.
Don't try to cram too much text on any page. Use big headlines, subheads,
little lines and boxes, anything to break up the monotony. But establish a
style, and use these elements consistently on every page.
Good luck!
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Gordon Graham, partner
Gordon & Gordon
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Technical Writing for the Real World
Marketing Writing for the Real World
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Tel (514) 488-1875
Web http://www.gordonandgordon.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-62169 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-62169 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of Jennifer O
Neill
Sent: August 21, 2001 3:07 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Doing a newsletter
I'm looking at an empty template of a brand new newsletter which will be 6
pages. Besides putting the editorial and President's Letter on the front
page and the list of the board members on the back, anything can go
anywhere. Articles are between 300-1000 words long. How do people plan what
goes where? What the text looks like in Word (no formatting, one column)
will look very different in Quark (3 columns).
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IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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