Text composition in newsletter design

Text acquisition and text composition in Newsletter

Text composition in newsletter design

By Thomson Chemmanoor

Text composition is an important part in a newsletter design. It is basically a component of desktop publishing, which deals with the arrangement of fonts on a page. It involves the manipulation of text and the alteration of the visual appearance of the text. The components of text composition are the choosing of text alignment, changing of font size, the usage of bold or italic text in the newsletter, and deciding how much space is needed between lines of text using typographical embellishments like drop caps.

The placement of the text covers the part of the usage of margins and columns or grids to confine text to certain portions of the page. If needed, there may be fitting or wrapping of text around graphic elements and other blocks of text to flow with the flow of the text. It is the alignment of the text and the other elements of the page with each other that affects the overall appearance of the page.

A portion of the text can be relative in size with another portion of text. Or perhaps the font size and the style will be relative to the dimensions of the page to create some contrast, affect readability of the page and also contribute to the look and feel of the composition of the page.

To make the page look visually lighter or heavier, the amount of space between characters, words, blocks of text and lines of text can be altered to fit more text on the page. This of course, increases readability in the process. If you intend to add visual interest to the layout of the pate, then initial caps, hanging punctuation, bullets and printers are used. Once the text acquisition and text composition of the desktop publishing is complete, the next phase lies in image acquisition and preparation of the text. Sometimes, working with images may occur during the text composition phase as their placement affects the alignment and flow of text.

When placing matter on the page, the size for body type should be between 9 and 11 points. This point size should be maintained for all text in all articles of the newsletter. If an article does not fit to the space allocated to the correct point size, the copy has to be edited or changed to the size of the space, rather than reducing the point size of the type. Make it a point to use a minimum of 20% leading in the page. If a spacious look is required or wide columns or dense type in the page, the leading has to be slightly increased. If the length of the line exceeds 45 characters, it is better to set the leading factor at 25%.
Always remember not to use more than three typefaces in the text composition of the newsletter design. One may be used for the body type, one for headlines and a third for special use. You may also try using only one type family, while creating variation by using different sizes and weights. Usually serif fonts are preferred for running text and sans serif font for headlines and display type.

Keep all these points in mind while laying out the text composition of the newsletter design, as these are sure to help in the process of publishing of the newsletter.