The Impact of News Design on Society

News design is the method of planning content on a printed paper page, based on graphic and editorial guidelines and goals. Main editorial objectives in the design of news pages include the arrangement of news events by category, with an eye to standardization of content for the readers of that particular news source. The placement of headlines and images also needs to be carefully planned. The sub-divisions of the page, like the table of contents need to be neatly balanced to enhance the flow of information. While balance is an important factor, visual stimuli such as photos, charts, and graphs are used to make news design attractive and appealing.

With the advent of digital technology and online newspapers, news design is no longer confined to newspaper pages alone. Now a lot of news material is designed for websites, radio, TV and even in advertising campaigns. News related graphics and photos are very important for bringing fast and accurate information to people.

A good news design should be informative, interesting and visible to the reader at the same time. This can be achieved with the help of photos and graphics, graphs and other visual elements, which tell a story. For example, a front page of a New York Times looks different from the one of a Washington Post, both in style and content. The New York Times has always published the front page of its papers in a black and white format, whereas the Washington Post, apart from the color front page, uses full color newspaper cuttings for its front page. Other differences in style and design can be seen in the New York Times article headings, which are always shown as gray text on a light blue background.