Back to My Home PageAuthor's Note: This is the revised text of a presentation to the Arkansas Association of Instructional Media, at their annual Spring meeting, 1994, in Little Rock, Arkansas. As it was written for teachers whose academic work is in education, the citation format is (regrettably) APA. The style is oral; the audience is teachers (primarily public school teachers); the milieu is informal. Please excuse the marking errors, and note that this is a work in progress.
Desktop publishing is an evolving term. At its most basic, it describes the use of computerized layout and graphics programs to create "camera ready" documents such as newsletters and handouts. The primary effect of desktop publishing, or DTP, on teachers is the creation of a means by which they can communicate with parents and the availability of a new approach to classroom collaborative writing (In and Out, 1990, pg. 77).
This presentation focuses on guidelines for the creation of an ongoing classroom newsletter as a device for teacher-parent communication. I'd like to begin by citing my own authority; I have been involved in DTP since the early 1980s, before the appearance of the "user friendly" DTP software so affordable today. The newsletters I have published (for my own use and at the request of others) include some monumental flops, and some agreeable successes, and from all these experiences and a little reading I believe I have come up with some workable guidelines.
DTP programs allow the user to do "layout," including text production and editing, graphics creation and import, pagination, and on-screen graphics editing. Early programs, such as the Computer Assisted Design (CAD) programs originally used by computerized daily newspapers, required learning codes and knowing something about geometry. Today's leading DTP programs, such as PageMaker and SuperPaint, require knowledge of basic Macintosh operations only. These operations, which are similar to the DOS-Windows environment, are considerably easier to learn that the complicated (and often conflicting) instructions necessary to run much of the the software of the 1970s and 1980s. [Author's Note: Since I first presented this paper, the Macintosh operating system has lost its firm hold on the education market. It's not a coincidence, I think, that the Microsoft OS has begun to look more and more like the 1980s Mac OS‹and almost all of the information I have here can be applied to Windows95-friendly software.]
As in all public writing, the three major areas of concern when beginning a newsletter are Meaning, Audience and Purpose (Basic Elements, 1993, pp. 3-5)‹in publishing this is called MAP-ing out your publication.
MEANING
Although meaning is an important step in determining what you will do with your newsletter, it has little to do with the "look" of the final project. Think of this from the perspective of the publisher: "What is the significance of your project?"
"It would be nice if..." or "I think It'd be cute to..." won't work here, Begin your justification of your newsletter with the idea of posterity firmly before you. Keep in mind that "cute" is purely a matter of personal preference (what is cute to one parent may well be insulting to the intelligence of another).
Meaning is a covert concept in publishing. It has nothing directly to do with the purpose, which is discussed later in this paper. It is your prediction of the significance of your newsletter from a future perspective, and includes anything you can think of to justify the expense. It is the attitude you develop at the beginning of your project that often determines whether or not it will succeed.
AUDIENCE
Misjudge your audience‹and this includes "talking down to" or intimidating them‹is likely to bright about the immediate demise of your publication. If your newsletter is to be a classroom project, keep in mind that you have TWO audiences: the readers and the producers. If you're publishing a newsletter by and for students, then they're your primary audience. If it's a student project for the benefit of parents, you must make the end product meaningful to both groups.
PURPOSE
Ask any successful realtor what are the three most important things to consider in his or her profession and you'll hear: "Location, location and location." A successful newsletter publisher would say, "Purpose, purpose, and purpose." Purpose is the concept which drives everything else. You might begin by looking at some of the texts designed to help you develop educational objectives, if your students are working on the project. The following are some publications you might find useful:
Purpose includes, also, what the newsletter means to you. It is the concept which drives you to work, usually for little or no compensation. It is what you feel you're "getting away with," what makes you smile when you think of what you've achieved.
After you've MAP-ed out your newsletter, you are ready to think about some of the specifics. Items for consideration at this stage include format, layout, fonts and typefaces, and content.
FORMAT
To return briefly to my real estate metaphor, no professional builder would begin to design a house without finding out something about the owner's style. Your reader is the "owner" of your newsletter, in this sense, and before you type a single word of your newsletter you should have an idea or two about what "look" will appeal to the parents who will read it (Short Course, 1973, pp. 2).
Modern computers, and the attendant evolution of DTP programs, have greatly increased options for the average teacher interested in beginning a newsletter. For example, the Macintosh computer and laser printer allow anyone who can work with PageMaker to produce slick-looking (also called "camera ready") documents.
When purchasing DTP software, you should check with your local bookstore to see if there are "users guides" available for each program you're considering. Many graphic artists (myself included) recommend that you keep the software company manuals in a safe place, unused, and buy a good privately-produced users' guide. Software company manuals are written, by and large, by computer programmers, and are notoriously difficult to use. Privately-produced users guides, however, are designed to "get you through it" without unnecessarily technical explanations. These guides often include sample documents on disk, and generally give step-by-step instructions for new newsletter publishers.
Laser printers can handle a variety of paper sizes, but for newsletter use the easiest sizes include: 8.5-by-11-inch stapled, an easy if not very exciting newsletter size; 8.5-by-11-inch folded, a very handy "pocket or purse" size which works well for programs and short information fliers; 8.5-by-14-inch folded, a professional-looking, easy size with plenty of room for artwork; and 11-by-17-inch folded, an ideal size but expensive due to the to paper and printing costs.
All these sizes can be quickly programmed into PageMaker and most other DTP software, and they are the most cost efficient with regard to stapling, collating and folding. Decide on your size, and stick to your decision! While changing the size of your newsletter from time to time might allow greater artistic freedom, such changes are annoying to readers and, particularly, archivists. If you're hoping to receive funding specifically directed to your newsletter, it's in your best interests to have a product that is archived by the people with the money‹and that isn't likely, if you make it difficult for them to spot something similar about each issue. Having a consistent size for your newsletter is the easiest choice, here. The important thing is to decide on a size BEFORE your first issue. If you change sizes frequently, don't expect your newsletter to be taken seriously.
Choosing an inexpensive format is nothing to be ashamed of. The shame is in not using your creative abilities to get the most out of whatever format you choose. Even the least expensive option can look professional and attractive if you choose consistently, add good artwork, develop standard columns, and develop a well-thought-out style sheet (Short Course, 1973, pp. 5).
Remember that nothing about your final product is set in stone. Use your first couple of issues to experiment with styles, but decide on format as soon as possible!
LAYOUT
When you begin your first newsletter, you probably will feel you've done the hard part. You've pitched the idea, got the funding, chosen the size paper and secured helpers (good luck on keeping them!). Wrong! This is where the real work begins: the sometimes fascinating and often very annoying job of laying out your newsletter. Keep the end product in mind‹what your readers will see, and comment on, is every layout error (real or perceived) you make.
Doing layout is like going on a diet. It's rough at first, and fraught with disastrous temptations. Some people will encourage you, others will make you feel you'll never make it. If you don't have a thick skin, and don't think you can develop one, you should reconsider engaging in this kind of work.
Key considerations at this point are placement, "white space" and use of appropriate artwork. The average person evaluates a page from left to right‹more specifically, from the upper left to the lower right portions of each page. Knowing this, you can place your most important or most interesting information in the upper left portion of your page. This can make or break your newsletter. If you consistently place trivial or uninteresting information in this prime position, you send your readers the message that your entire newsletter is trivial or uninteresting.
"Tombstoning" is a placement mistake you should do your best to avoid. Also known as butting heads, this is a horrible thing to do to your reader and to your reputation as a budding newsletter editor. NEVER place two headlines side-by-side. Use a major daily paper (if you can find one these days) as a guide‹you only seek tombstone layouts on the obituary page.
What you leave out of your newsletter is as important as what you put in. Give yourself, and your reader, plenty of "white space" on the page. Crowding in a lot of text and art is a good example of false economy‹you may think you're saying more, but your readers are ignoring the page because it looks difficult and boring.
The key to using artwork involves understanding your audience. Readers are put off if the artwork you use is inappropriate to them. For example, don't use "cute" hearts-and-flowers art in a professional newsletter (or on a page with a serious article), and don't try to reproduce a Rembrandt in a fourth-grade classroom project newsletter. Learn to let go, to make yourself use appropriate art even though you like something you KNOW is inappropriate (Short Course, 1973, pp. 2-3).
Text looks more interesting and is easier to read when it is set in columns. In addition, changing column widths allows you to work around odd-sized "camera-ready" artwork you intend to paste to your master before photocopying. The following are some basic guidelines for using columns: ‹Use no more than three text columns to a page. Narrow columns are easier to read, but if they're too narrow the word and letter spacing will look clumsy and unprofessional. ‹The space between columns should not be less than one-eighth of an inch (this is a general printers rule). ‹PageMaker and many other DTP programs allow you to "text wrap," which means you can insert artwork or graphics in a column of text and have the program wrap the text around it. This gives your page a very professional look.
FONTS/TYPEFACES
In modern DTP, typeface is a more general term than font. Typeface describes a "family" of characters which share a common style (i.e., Helvetica, Times, New Century Schoolbook). A font is a sub-set of a typeface, a specific size and style of type such as 10-point Helvetica bold (The Basic Elements of Design, 1993).
Macintosh DTP allows for an astounding variety of typefaces, but also presents the problem of abundance. With so many typefaces to choose fro, how do your decide. It is easy to spot a newsletter editor who has failed to make this decision‹the final product is a distracting compilation of every font the editor thought was "cute."
The reader's eye is attracted by consistency, and distracted by inconsistency. A small page with a lot of dissimilar elements is just too overwhelming to the reader, and causes him or her to ignore it. The following are some "rules of thumb" concerning typefaces:
These rules may seem limiting at first, but remember that most DTP programs allow you to vary every font at least eight ways (normal, bold italic, underline, outline, shadow and reverse), and many allow you to combine these variations (bold-italic-outline, for example). Size may be varied in headlines, which adds depth to the page and indicates major and minor text items. There's still room for lots of variety!
A NOTE ABOUT COPYRIGHT
When you begin to design pages, you'll realize how much artwork is out there. Maybe you'll look in the yellow pages and think, "Wow, I could use that little piece of art. After all, who would know?"
Well, you can't use it. Do not steal artwork from other publications, as this is a violation of copyright laws and makes you subject to prosecution. Artwork and software manufacturers have become quite touchy about this in the last few years, winning some cases against individuals and publications violating their copyright. With all the public-domain artwork available to both Macintosh and PC users through magazines and computer bulletin boards, it is better to accumulate some artwork slowly than to rush into trouble by using something you don't own.
CONCLUSION
With some very basic knowledge of layout and a user-friendly software guide, any classroom with the right hardware can produce a newsletter. The limits for this type of project are set by you, the teacher, and are bounded only by your creativity and desire to conduct such a project. Although this paper has referred primarily to Macintosh-compatible software, all the programs I mention have versions for the PC and operate (in a Windows environment) along the similar lines. The rules for format, layout, font and artwork use remain the same.
Good luck! I have know doubt that, with a little elbow grease and a lot of desire, you can make your classroom newsletter an attractive and efficient means of communication with parents.
The Basic Elements of Design (1993). Cupertino, CA: Apple Computer, Inc.
n and Out of the Classroom with Microsoft Works (1990). Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation.
Short Course in the Graphic Arts (1973). Dayton, OH: Mead Papers.
Webster, D., & Tony Webster (1988). Introducing PageMaker 3. Sydney, Australia: Webster & Associates.
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