The Art & Practice of Typography / A Manual of American Printing, Including a Brief History up to the Twentieth Century, with Reproductions of the Work of Early Masters of the Craft, and a Practical Discussion and an Extensive Demonstration of the Modern Use of Type-faces and Methods of Arrangement

by Edmund G. Gress

NEWSPAPERS

We are all familiar with the modeling clay with which children amuse themselves. They take a portion of gray clay, mold it into some shape, and decorate it with small portions of red, yellow and blue clay. After they tire of their production they knead it with their fingers and lo! the bright colors disappear and there remains only the neutral gray.

EXAMPLE 401
The first and only number of America’s first newspaper

The only way the typographical appearance of the average newspaper can be improved is by first reducing the glaring headlines and heterogeneous assortment of type-faces to a neutral gray. Upon this drab background the details of suitable and harmonious typographic form can be built.

However, it is easier to assert that the typography of newspapers can be improved than it is to improve it. In the early days of newspaper publishing the problem was a simple one, but today the newspapers of the large cities have hundreds of thousands of readers to serve, and much of the prevailing poor typography has resulted from efforts to present the news to these readers in a way that editors assume will please them best, without giving any thought to technical defects in the type work.

EXAMPLE 402
First number of the first American newspaper issued regularly

EXAMPLE 404
Front-page make-up of a Hearst newspaper on the occasion of a big story. All of the display headings are probably too large

EXAMPLE 405
The same news story, featured by the conservative “Times.” Headings are mostly well balanced. Note the use of panels

The ideal newspaper would probably be one in which the reader finds it easy to locate and read the articles in which he is interested, and in which the contents are presented in an orderly, good-looking, well-balanced and harmonious manner.

The Title.—The name of the newspaper at the head of the front page should be distinctive in design, and it would probably add interest if the style of the letters composing the title bore some relation to that used at the time the publication was founded. Unfortunately, on most newspapers the headings are altered every time a new type dress is adopted.

For titles, most publishers of city newspapers seem to have a liking for English or German text letters. Such letters are doubtless good for the purpose, as they are different from any that appear elsewhere in newspapers. The New York Sun, as an instance, uses a black German text letter, altho on its first issue in 1833 the title head appeared in modern roman capitals.

It has become a practice to make use of the blank space on both ends of the title line, and in such spaces will now be found weather forecasts, slogans such as “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” and edition names. (See Example [405].) It was the custom at one time, and is today to some extent, to print under the title a quotation which defined the newspaper’s editorial policy. (See Example [403].)

A type line under the title separated by rules on both sides contains the name of the city, the date, the volume number, and information regarding the price. (See Example [403].) Usually the rules have a double line, altho some newspapers use single rules for this purpose.

The Text.—The main desire of newspaper publishers, besides preparing the news, seems to be to have the matter set in the smallest size of type that can possibly be read. The large city dailies habitually use a seven-point type-face, which is the smallest that should appear on any newspaper. (See Example [406].) During the recent prevailing high cost of print paper some publishers began to use six-point in order to save paper, but they found that this move was a mistake. Newspapers are published to be read, and everything possible should be done to make the reader’s task an easy one. Experiments by an educational body in England resulted in determining that ten-point should be the minimum size of type used for educational purposes. From this it will be seen that the seven-point type used on newspapers is too small and a cause of eyestrain.

The narrow width of the columns of newspapers—twelve and a half or thirteen picas—makes reading of the small type fairly easy, however. The eye has been tested scientifically and the discovery made that a person actually sees at a glance less than an inch of a line of type. Hence long lines require extreme side movements of the eyeballs or of the head. It is a mistake, as will be seen, to set editorials in a measure that extends over two columns, as is done on some publications.

Space between lines also helps the reader in locating the beginning of the next line, for which reason, and also to give them prominence, editorials are usually leaded. The beginning of an important article is sometimes leaded.

Lengthy excerpts or quotations are usually set in the same size of type but indented one em at the right and left ends of the line. (See Example [405], third column.)

The Headings.—The first newspaper continuously published in this country was a letter (see Example [402]), and the items it contained were not set off with headings. As the quantity of news increased and newspapers became larger in size, headings were added. During the middle of the last century most of these were side headings joined to the first paragraph. When it became possible to print news promptly more attention was given to displaying the headings. As the Civil War developed, newspaper headlines grew, and with the Spanish War came front-page headings of poster proportions.

Headlines not only advertise the contents of the text pages, but assist the reader quickly to absorb the news. As the reader cannot in these busy days read the entire paper, headings assist him in locating the items in which he is interested.

The error of using thrilling scareheads for comparatively unimportant events was made evident when the European War started. Some of the publications had cried “Wolf!” so frequently that there was no emphasis left for a really big story.

EXAMPLE 406
Actual size of a well-treated four-deck Heading

Head-letter type should not be intensely black, unless the reader is expected to read only the headlines. It is irritating to attempt to read the text matter in an article if strong black headlines continually glare at you. (See Example [404].) The head letter should be just a trifle darker in tone than the background of text type, or if liberal leading is possible a letter the same tone as the text is suitable.

Because of the narrowness of newspaper columns it is necessary that type for headlines shall be slightly condensed, especially for the large lines. As few type-faces are legible in a condensed form, it is a problem to select a type-face for this purpose. Probably the most successful type-face of this kind has proved to be Latin Antique Condensed, a letter that has been in such use for a number of years. (See Example [406].)

It is, of course, best to have all type-faces harmonious in design, but the requirements of the newspaper are so unusual that in order to secure contrast this rule must be violated. In Example [403] will be seen the neat and restful effect that is possible by using thruout type that is harmonious, yet there is a monotony to the page that could probably be overcome by substituting, say, italic for roman in several of the headings. On the page of the New York Times (Example [405]) will be found headings in italic. Lower-case italic looks well used for the main lines of a double-column heading.

EXAMPLE 407
The sporting page of the New York “Tribune,” showing interesting make-up

It is well first to harmonize the newspaper page, as in Example [403], and then add needed contrast, as in most newspapers attempts at contrast are so frequent that the result is confusing.

Paneled headings also add variety; specimens of such headings will be found in Examples [404], [407] and [408].

Restraint in the use of display headings by the New York Times, as compared with the noisy scareheads of the New York American used in reporting the same news, will be seen by comparing Example [405] with Example [404].

What is called a four-deck single-column heading, as used by the New York Times, is shown actual size in Example [406]. Latin Antique Condensed is used for the first two lines and Newspaper Gothic for the other three decks. This heading as it stands is perhaps the most pleasing and legible of those used by metropolitan newspapers. A four-deck heading should present in the first deck the feature of the story; the first deck, and if possible every other deck in the heading, should contain a verb. The third deck is really the second in importance, and, like the first one, is usually set in capitals. The size of the lower-case used for the fourth deck is usually smaller than that used for the second. It would be a mistake to use capitals for the second and fourth decks, as the result would be monotonous and illegible. The small section of text matter accompanying the head also shows a seven-point face on an eight-point slug, as used by the Times.

The Make-up.—In the make-up of a newspaper the sometimes derided “art tenets” should not be neglected. A good-looking newspaper has well-balanced headings, properly placed illustrations, and the various typographic details treated according to the requirements of good taste. Large display headings are usually alternated at the head of the page with small headings, which arrangement not only looks well, but enables the reader to peruse one heading without interference from another.

It is the practice of most good newspapers not to have advertisements appear on the front page, which is given over to the important news of the day. As will be seen by Examples [404] and [405], the article of most importance, no matter how large the heading given to it, appears in the furthermost right column, whence it is usually continued to the second page. Example [403] also shows how an important article can be featured in the center of the page.

Interest and variety are also obtained by the use of a one-point rule around a portion of the news, as will be seen on Examples [404] and [405]. The type matter on the inside is set close to, but not against, the rule panel.

The editorials on most newspapers are to be found on the sixth page, and on the same page letters to the editors are also placed. There is a movement, begun by the Hearst newspapers, to have the editorials appear on the last page so that they may be read without the necessity of locating them in the paper.

The sporting page has also come to be an important feature of the newspaper. An attractively arranged sporting page is shown in Example [407].

It is customary to build advertisements from the lower right corner of the page in a step or pyramid arrangement. (See Example [408].) This allows most of the text matter to appear at the left and in the upper portion of the page, and also makes it easy to give position next to reading matter as required by some advertisers.

EXAMPLE 408
So-called pyramid make-up of a newspaper’s advertisements. A “make-believe” newspaper

EXAMPLE 409
Church book decorative treatment by Will Bradley Featured on a Thanksgiving number of “Collier’s”