Newsletters - Project Guidelines

A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. It should highlight recent important events or people. Your newsletter will highlight important events from your favorite band, sports team, or television show. You will need to pick something CURRENT (a television show that ended 6 years ago is not going to have a newsletter.) Your newsletter should be appealing to FANS. It should NOT be historical or biographical. Ideally, anyone who subscribes to this newsletter is already going to know the basics of this band/team/show.

Your InDesign document should be:
1 page
51picas by 66 picas
2 or 3 columns
1 pica gutter
3 pica margins around all sides

You will need to include:
  1. A Masthead, consisting of creative imagery combined with text. A masthead also has information about the date that the newsletter was published
  2. At least 2 columns in your document
  3. Headings and sub-headings for all important sections. You should have at least two sections.
  4. At least one major article of text (about 4 paragraphs)
  5. At least two pictures (not including the images used in the masthead)
  6. Captions for any pictures used. See information about captions below. 
  7. A sidebar that has other important information (such as a schedule of events or "In the Next Issue..."). A sidebar is only meant to show highlights of information. You should take the time to design an interesting sidebar. Make sure you are still creating a clear visual RANKING of your text/images in that sidebar.
  8. A signer. A signer is at the end of your newsletter. It indicates who wrote it (you).
    "by John Kennedy" is an example of a signer. The "b" in "by" should be lowercase in the signer. 

 Other Specifications and Requirements
  • Your main body text should be between 8-12pts.
  • Avoid widows (one line that has been separated from the paragraph to which it belongs.)
  • Avoid orphans (one word that has been left on a line by itself.)
  • Control your leading. It should not be on auto. You will know if it is on auto because the leading value will be in (parenthesis).
  • You should demonstrate a clear hierarchy of type (ranking system)
  • CONSISTENCY with fonts and spacing

    How to Add a Caption
    All pictures need to have captions. 
    1. Move your picture out of your newsletter area (off to the side of the pasteboard). 
    2. Take any text wrap off of that picture that you might have added. 
    3. Add a text box under your picture explaining the contents of the picture. Remember that the font for your caption should be different than the main body of text for your newsletter (smaller, italic, or different font all-together.) It should not be bigger or bolder. You do not want to make the caption seem more important than the regular body of text.
    4. Use your black arrow tool to draw a box around the picture and the caption so they are both selected.
    5. Then go to Object>Group so that InDesign treats both the picture and the caption as a connected object. 
    6. Now, go to your Text Wrap palette and put a text wrap around the group.

    So the you should end up with something like this:
     

    Helpful Hints:
    • If you are having trouble selecting an object because it is under something, hold your COMMAND key down while you click in that area.
    • Go to View>Screen Mode>Preview to see a more accurate display of the final product. 
    • To adjust the arrangement of objects, go to Object>Arrange>Send Backward (or Bring Forward depending on your needs)
    • Avoid hyphens in your headings and sub-headings. You can turn off hyphenation in your paragraph palette (Window>Type & Tables>Paragraph).

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