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.