Divisions of Headlines. The headline is composed of one or more divisions called “lines,” “decks,” or “banks.” These divisions are separated by dashes and are frequently different in form and in size of type. In the following head, each deck has a distinct form and size of type.
In the image above, the top deck is labelled | 3-part drop-line |. It shows three lines of upper-case text in a large font. Each line is of about equal length and are shorter than the width of the column. The start of each line is shifted further to the right. This creates a staircase effect on the right-hand side of the head.
The first line reads | ONE GIRL’S ACT | and its beginning is pushed up against the left-hand column rule. The middle line says | PREVENTS 60,000 | and is centered between the column rules. The third line says | FROM WORKING | and its end is pushed up against the righ-hand column rule. Together the three lines of the head says | ONE GIRL’S ACT PREVENTS 60,000 FROM WORKING |.
The next deck in the image is labelled | 3-part pyramid “bank” |. It is a three line head, each line graduated in length to produce an inverted pyramid effect. These three lines of mixed-case text are in a font that is smaller than that used in the deck above. The first line of the bank says | She Refuses to Join the Union and |. This line takes up the full width of the column. The second line is shorter than the first and is centered between the column rules. It says | Every Mill Owner is Against |. The third line of the inverted pyramid is shorter again than the previous two lines and is also centered between the column rules. It says | Closed Shop |. Together the three-line head says | She Refuses to Join the Union and Every Mill Owner is Against Closed Shop |.
The third deck in the image is labelled | cross-line |. Its form is a single line of upper-case text. In this instance the line of text spans the full width of the column. It is displayed in a font whose size is midway between the font used in the first deck and that used in the second deck. The line says | WEEKLY LOSS $2,500,000 |.
The fourth and final deck in the image is labelled | 4-part hanging indention |. By that it means there are four lines of text with a hanging indent. That is, the first line of the headline spans the full width of the column while the next three lines are indented by the width of two characters from the left-hand column rule. This deck is in mixed-case whose font size is smaller than that used in the other three decks. Together the four parts of the head says | Says She Quit Organized Labor Because She Does Not Believe In It and Declares She Will Not Return Despite All Threats. |
Headlines are constructed on the basis of the four forms that appear in the above example, which may be called respectively, (1) the drop-line; (2) the pyramid; (3) the cross-line; and (4) the hanging indention. Graphically these forms may be represented thus:
The graphical representation shown in the diagram above is a simpler representation of the previous example. It replaces the lines of headline text with thick lines to more clearly demonstrate the structure of each of the forms. The four forms shown in the image are labelled | (1) Drop-line |, | (2) Pyramid |, | (3) Cross-line | and | (4) Hanging indention |.