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Research shows that newsletters, because they are aimed at specific audiences and because they are shorter, are more likely to be read than most other publications, including magazines. On the other hand, if not properly done, newsletters simply are not effective. With all the work you put into a club newsletter, it is worth your time to make it work. It is not difficult if you follow a few basic guidelines.

At the very beginning it is useful to determine exactly what you want to achieve with a club newsletter. This will help immediately in making it a better product as well provide some guidelines for producing it.

Newsletters can help fly fishing clubs in a multitude of ways. First they increase participation in monthly meetings, in outings, work parties, fundraisers and other club activities. Second, they provide information to all members on places to fish, reports of fishing successes, techniques, fly patterns, gear and other technical aspects that fly fishers love so much. Of course, part of the information in a fly fishing newsletter is on reasons and methods of conservation, like catch and release, reasons for certain conservation regulations or alternatively reasons why the proposed legislation may be bad for fisheries. Third, newsletters provide a way to recognize the efforts of club members who contribute to meetings, outings, and other club activities. The final purpose of a club newsletter and perhaps the least important is to entertain. While this material is often filler, when you are short of substance, it sets an engaging tone and keeps the newsletter from getting too serious. As you produce your newsletter, consider the different kinds of content can serve the club members. Usually it is a good idea to ask the membership and the officers what they want in a newsletter.

For a newsletter to be effective, it generally should meet certain criteria. A definition is helpful here. A newsletter is a publication that provides regular and easy to digest information about matters of interest and some importance to a defined group of people. Inherent within this definition is a sense of sharing information-a newsletter thus is ideal to reduce social distances and increase club cohesiveness. With this multi-component definition we can spell out some useful directions for producing an effective club newsletter.

Readable in a single sitting. Ideally, when someone first gets your newsletter, or within a short time, they read it, beginning to end. If it is laid aside, to be read later, chances are it may not be read at all. Even a fly fishing club newsletter is not a must-read communication. To meet this goal, a newsletter should not exceed 8 pages (8 1/2 x 11 inches) and generally 4 pages are better.

Short, well-written stories. An on-target newsletter should be filled with appropriately short and digestible articles. In general, a good criterion is that no single item should exceed one page. This requires discipline on the part of writers and perhaps some careful copy fitting/trimming on the part of the editor. Why short stories? Because readers inherently have short attention spans and if stories are longer, extending to back and additional pages, readers simply will not finish them, unless they are very compelling. Research has shown that 50% of all readers are lost when a story jumps to another page and when readers see a story is going to jump, it will keep them from finishing it.

Incorporate at least one relevant graphic or photo per page: As noted in the EditorHelp tutorial on graphics, readers scan over most printed material and may only stop to actually read the text if you get their attention with a graphic or a photo. While every short item cannot have a graphic or a photo, longer articles (more than ½ page) should. Graphics also will break up a page of full text, make the material less imposing as well as providing important white space (also see tutorial on desktop publishing). However, one can get too much of a good thing. Too many graphics will make a page look busy and the reader will not know where to focus.

Provide information not found elsewhere. To make a newsletter interesting, it can't be a rehash of what is found everywhere else. Some of this "interesting" information may not serve the original purposes, but it will increase readership. To this end, successful newsletter editors will look for interesting and useful information that generally is not found in the 5 fly fishing magazines, common fly fishing books or other sources. How about a fly that one of the club members developed for local waters or a description of last month's outing to Never-sink Lake? Do you have members that are particular experts on fly lines, synthetic materials for flies, the three kinds of blue-wing olives on the local spring creek? Get the information and put it in the newsletter! It is more relevant to improving their fishing that 90% of that national magazine stuff.

In the world of fishing, a local newsletter can also serve to deal with rumors or other not-quite accurate information that is always floating around. It is true that the dam administrators at Never-Sink Lake will allow higher flow during the late summer, possibly ruining the trico hatch. Is member Jim Smith really going to move to Georgia for the winters and sell his great cabin on the Pere Marquette? Is the board considering a holiday banquet instead of a raffle to raise funds this year? By filling a newsletter with these kinds of issues, readers feel they are part of the process and also they know that the newsletter will provide interesting and unique information. Obviously, this all must be in good taste and with sensitivity to personal privacy and fairness.

Be fairly regular. To be a vehicle for dissemination of club information, members need to be able to count on a newsletter being published regularly. Some newsletters are intentionally mailed a few days before or after a regular club meeting, with announcements from the meeting or alternatively descriptions of an upcoming agenda. In general, it is even worth aiming for a particular day to go to press, such as the Monday of the week before the monthly club meeting.

Aside from these more deliberate considerations, a timely newsletter is something readers look forward to for information on upcoming events, for news of changes and club activities. Likewise, if you need regular columns from someone (the President), it will be easier if those columns are due to you at the same time every issue. Basically a regular newsletter serves your readers and your contributors better than an irregular one does does. Moreover, regularity increases credibility.

Make everyone feel they count. A club newsletter can help develop club cohesiveness and identity for members. You can make members feel like their problems and opinions are being considered and get more input on important decisions. On the other hand, there is perhaps no greater problem for a newsletter than getting the reputation of representing just one point of view. Inside humor, descriptions of restricted events, discussions that "talk down" to some members, stories that consistently praise some and not others simply are to be avoided. These kinds of materials all are divisive and will reduce the quality of the club. Obviously, a newsletter with a reputation for favoritism or with an axe to grind can create more problems than it solves.

Accurate and credible as possible. A newsletter published by a club is viewed as the "the final word" on club policy and the attitudes of the the officers and board. For this reason, the editor of a club newsletter must have a skeptic's eye as toward accuracy and completeness. This is not to say that misinformation in a newsletter is a capital offense, but rather if a newsletter is to be an acceptable source for good information, care must be the byword.

Serve club goals. A newsletter written, produced, printed and distributed with member dues should the best interests of the club. Does this mean that every item in the newsletter absolutely must be strictly toward the club's main mission? Perhaps not and this of course depends on the local situation, but in general it may become difficult to justify a newsletter that has no redeeming club benefit.

A club newsletter can be the best thing about a fly fishing club. However, there is perhaps no greater frustration and even embarrassment than realizing that you cannot maintain a newsletter at the same intensity, quality and length as it was started. Because a newsletter represents the ideas and aspirations of the editor and indirectly the club officers, having it fail or be seen to diminish may have fallout on the club's strength as well. Unfortunately, many newsletters start out too ambitious. After a few issues, the primary editor (who also often does layout, maintains the mailing list, solicits and/or writes the stories) finds out that this effort is far too much. The authors who said they would contribute are late in getting material in and sometimes it never comes at all. There is perhaps no more disgusting feeling than, to realize, on the day before the newsletter is due at the printers, that you don't have enough material to fill the 8 pages.

What to do? Newsletter editors often end up (1) writing articles themselves, (2) trying to stretch what material they have, which is obvious to everyone, (3) delay going to press as they scurry around looking for more "stuff," (4) lay the newsletter aside, sometimes for good, making the effort essentially a total failure, and/or (5) desperately seek someone else to take over the effort. If this scenario does not stop you from starting a newsletter, or taking one over, at least consider the suggested precaution-keep it under control.

One way to avoid the problems of newsletter burnout and embarrassments of failure is to start with a product that is not too long and that is not produced every month. Increasing the size and frequency of your newsletter is a much more graceful and positive change than reducing it.

Some options on frequency. While most newsletters are monthly, every other month has a sanity about it and still offers a good chance to communicate. Other options include a semi-regular schedule. Some organizations will produce a publication every month from September to June and then simply take the summer off, due to reduced staff caused by vacation schedules. Also in the summer, people may be too pre-occupied (fishing!!) to fully appreciate a newsletter every month. Another alternative is a single issue for December and January (due to pre-occupation with holidays and increased vacations), with monthly issues for the remainder of the year. With these semi-regular schedules, a newsletter might be produced as few as 9 months of the year. But even with reduced frequency, most benefits of a newsletter will be experienced, and you can avoid being over-committed.

How long, what format? In the beginning, being conservative with respect to the length and distribution of the newsletter also is prudent. This will permit you to focus on a few pages of high quality material, with less cost in printing and mailing. If you get a good response and feel you have the resources to make the newsletter longer, it is easy to expand. Similarly a variable size newsletter also has merits, with fewer or more pages depending upon availability of time and the need to communicate an important message. Then, in a given month when you have more material (like the upcoming club fund-raiser) or a special topic to cover (like the outing to Never-Sink Lake), a larger newsletter is easy to justify, but for just that month. There is a practical problem in varying the size of a newsletter. It is difficult to do in small steps. For example, if you go from one letter size page (both sides) to two letter size pages you have doubled the work. If you are doing a 4-page newsletter on one sheet of 11 x 17-inch paper, the smallest increment is 4 more letter size pages!

Newsletters can vary from a single letter-size page (one or both sides) to 6-8 letter size pages. Beyond 8 pages, you are getting into a publication that is somewhat more than a newsletter, and because it cannot be read at a single short sitting, it will lose some of its impact. But there are other size options that offer advantages. A single letter-size (2 pages, both sides) often is a little small, especially if it has to be folded and addressed which takes fully 1/3 page (16 % of the total).

The next step up is not necessarily 4 pages. An alternative option for many situations is a single page 8 1/2 by 14 inches. This size can also be easily folded into a self-mailer size, using only 1/4 of a page (13% of the total). Another paper size that works well for short newsletters (and saves some money on printing and paper costs) is a single sheet that is 11 x 17 inches, giving you 4 letter size pages.

There are other options, but a caution must be made regarding a page size less than 81/2 x 11. In general small pages are more wasteful and less effective. For example, with a smaller page (5 1/2 x 8 1/2), even short stories often must be carried to multiple pages, graphics are limited in size and often there is little space for a truly striking photo or drawing and text on the same page.

If you or your page layout person are especially skilled, you can get a workable layout for the newsletter and it will carry a message of quality, even the first issue. But if this is your first newsletter, a tremendous amount of time can be spent and the product will still not look as good as it should. Moreover, because your initial effort will get particularly close scrutiny, it is especially important to make it not only look good, but great.

In the FFF ClubHelp article on desktop publishing there are a number of tips to help you over this initial stage. However, an alternative step may be to identify someone locally who lays out and publishes newsletters professionally. You can enlist their help to design a front page structure and flag (front page newsletter name and the club logo) that catches the eye and acts as a showcase for what is inside. At the same time, you also can get their help to set up some consistent internal framework to confine the columns and graphics to a structured and consistent format (see discussion of grids in desktop publishing). When text and graphics are placed on a page without some implicit structure (a grid), the look often tends to be awkward and will simply call attention away from the material. Designing this framework is not impossible by yourself, but a professional will save you time (and hence ultimately money) and the product is likely to be better.

The front and first page of your newsletter is the most important because if it is not attractive and interesting, the inside pages may never see the light of day. This probability is especially true for new publications which must depend on attracting readers on their surface merit alone. A newsletter first page also identifies the newsletter and tells us something about the nature of the publication.

What to do? First we know that a front page should ideally have a compelling photograph and a detailed caption that relates to a main story inside. The bigger the photo, the more it will attract. Readers almost always look at photos or interesting illustrations and if the photo is interesting, they almost always read the caption. If a large photo is not available or is impractical, an important story, with substantial headlines and a smaller photo can be made to suffice. The cover of the newsletter also should have a short table of contents, perhaps even with a line about each.

To identify the publication, ideally it should have a name stated in a style that will give a hint as to what to expect. The name can be a graphic, designed especially for your newsletter, or simply the name in an extra-large font. It is here that some of the unusual fonts might prove useful. A subhead is also useful, like "The newsletter of The Never-Sink Fly Casters." In addition to these items, the front page should have a month and a year, which even for the first issue adds a sense of longevity.

For all regular publications, readers are attracted to the parts that occur regularly. That is why newspapers have columns, comics, departments and sections that are virtually unchanged from one day to the next. The most popular part of our daily newspapers are local and nationally syndicated columns. But you are putting together a newsletter, perhaps no more than 4 pages and surely not a 40-page newspaper. Is there room for regular items? Certainly. The President of the club could write a column every month. Fly of the month, new members, Outing reports, Tackle Talk, a calendar of upcoming events and related topics provide constant sources of material and reader interest.

Also popular are retirements, trips and even memorials of members. While some of these suggestions may appear inconsistent with the earlier guideline that the newsletter be all club-business related, these features serve that purpose indirectly by making your newsletter interesting. However, for a club newsletter, with limited space, departments and columns must be kept under control. If every officer wants a column (President, VP, Treasurer, Secretary, etc.) you may have a problem.

Acting as "editor" of a club newletter is a challenging and fun job. There are however, certain challenges that will require some very good interpersonal skills. The major problem in editing a newsletter is getting others to provide the appropriate material to fill the pages. This is a classic "Catch 22" in the experience of most editors. This problem is highlighted by examining the kinds of contributions you often get for the newsletter.

Three kinds of newsletter authors. Certain individuals willingly provide reports and stories with great enthusiasm, even without being asked. Unfortunately, many of those stories do not fit the goals of the newsletter, or they are too long. There is a second group of individuals who have exactly the knowledge and information you need, but they are unable or unwilling to put it in a written form. A third group (smaller than either of the first two groups) knows what you need and provides it, on time and of the right length.

To make the newsletter a positive element, an editor must deal with all of these kinds of contributions and still put together a good product. The only solution is to get heavily involved in the writing yourself.

For the first kind of contributor, who writes too much and sometimes the wrong stuff, the editor must cut it down or subtly change it to meet the goals. This can be ticklish with some writers. Generally, however, if the rewritten product is good and thus reflects well on these productive authors, they will accept the result and be pleased. Your reasons for such heavy editing (re-writing) is that you must make it fit the available space. At the same time, continue to let these writers know how many words you want and the subject matter you want covered. This will give additional justification for the substantial rewriting.

The second kind of contributor has much to say, promises, but never delivers. For this kind of contributor you will probably have to do some ghost writing. These authors may need to be interviewed and then presented with your version of the story for comment. Often this will cause them to start writing the stuff themselves. But in any case, you will have the content you want and need.

Of course the third group of writers are every newletter editor's dream. Treat them well. These are the individuals you may wish to have contribute a monthly column, focused on a topic that is of continuing interest.

In the final analysis, when it is just the editor at the end of the day before the material must be in, it often is necessary to do some writing yourself, at least to fill in a column inch here and there. For these editor-generated items, do not use a byline. First it is a matter of modesty and good taste. In some newsletters, if all the items written by the editor contained a byline, it would look like self-promotion and might generally reduce the impact of the product. Readers see many of those short items as news, not great literature.

There is a group of readers who would have criticized William Shakespeare for a spelling error. This seems petty, but is nevertheless a reality. Additionally, taking a little extra time to make sure that punctuation, grammar and spelling are correct increases the credibility of your newsletter with everyone who reads it, even the more tolerant. Often newsletters go to press at the last minute, and a late change of a sentence or paragraph introduces an error in verb tense or punctuation that was not there last night. The only option, as boring as it may seem, is to read the newsletter line by line just before it goes out the door. Nowadays, you are well advised to use the wonderful spell-checker at the very end as well. Little errors, like a scratch on your new car or a spot on your tie, can spoil the whole effect.

The following list of responsibilities could be carried out by one or by five individuals. They are described here as a basis for determining the amount and kind of work necessary to produce a club newsletter.

Technical Editing: This person will collect the articles and stories, get them into acceptable English, with proper spelling, and generally do any editing and short item writing necessary to fill the pages. Estimate 2-4 hours for every 2 newsletter pages, for every issue, depending of course on skill level.

Desktop layout: At this stage, someone will need to set the type, generate or find graphics and photos and put these elements together into a pleasing and readable format (also 2-4 hours for every 2 pages of newsletter). Out of this step will come camera-ready copy for a printer. The person doing this job often is best positioned to deal with the printer as well.

Data Base/Mailing List: A fourth task, development and maintenance of a mailing list, should require no more than 1-2 hours per issue, including printing of labels, per 500 or so names. The bigger the mailing list, the bigger this job.

Affixing labels/bulk mail sorting: A final element is to take the labels, affix them to the newsletter and if you are using bulk mail, to sort them according to zip codes, carrier routes, etc. The time required to do this depends on the number of newsletters you distribute. It should not take more than an hour to label and sort.

Printing your newsletter is often the largest cost you will experience. To get the best price and the best quality this will require some research and a few phone calls. It often is useful to do a test run with the printer you have selected and make sure you will be satisfied with the final product.

Kind of printing. Before you start looking for a commercial printer, an earlier question is whether you might get satisfactory results with photocopying or quick printing. If the number of copies is small (300-400 copies), these less complicated processes may be quite satisfactory. However there are shortcomings. First the quality of these photocopying and quick printing processes will not be as good as that of a commercial printer. It comes down to the quality of the plates used for the printing itself.

In defense of quick printing, there are several new techniques which allow for color and photo reproduction that is pretty good. These may be improved to the level of commercial printing in the near future. Keep an open mind. It should be noted however that quick printing, especially for moderate quantities is not sometimes as cheap as commercial printing. So even if the quick printing is acceptable in quality, get some comparison bids from commercial printers as well.

Commercial Printing. Commercial printing these days is a niche business, with the best price dependent on whether you are able to find the right printer for your particular job. The recommendation here is that you will get the best quality and cost with a printer who specializes in the kind and volume of printing you need. Variables include numbers of copies, amount of folding and stapling, sizes of paper, kind of paper, amount of color.

Most of these factors are dependent upon the kind of printing and paper handling hardware being used and the expertise of the operators. Unfortunately few commercial printers (or quick printers for that matter) will turn down work, even if it is outside of their expertise or specialty. Many will bid jobs that are not in their specialty, usually at a higher cost or at a lower quality.

Get several printing bids. What to do? Rather than trying to become an expert in the technology of the printing business, you should try to get several bids (up to five) for your job. Expect the costs to vary by as much as 100%. At the same time, ask each of the printers to send you copies of work they do for other clients that are similar to yours, remembering such items as volume, kind of paper, color, photographs, fancy folding (if involved), etc.

As a final note, if you change your newsletter substantially, especially in terms of color or volume, get a new set of bids. The job has changed and so will the comparisons. Just because a printer gives you the best price on one job does not mean you will get the best price when the parameters of that job change.

You can readily see how finding a good and reasonable printer can take time. Generally, the money you save will make the effort worthwhile. A caution here against depending on a printer that has done other (usually very different) work for you in the past. Because of the specialty nature of the printing business, you simply cannot be sure that the same printer will be best for this job.

Technology has changed the world of fly fishing, with special alloys for reels, over 500 different varieties of lines, space age fly rods and synthetic materials that outperform and outlast feathers and furs. Well, when it comes to producing fly fishing club newsletters, the changes have been equally dramatic.

About 14 years ago, when I produced my first club newsletter, we typically spent 6-8 hours hunched over a drawing layout tables, using scissors and glue to stick it all together. Drawings and especially photographs required very special handling and were often not possible due to cost and bother. Type setting was the process of having someone run an expensive computer programs on expensive computers to transform your text into a particular type style or font.

In the last 5-8 years desktop computers have increased in power (speed) by a factor of at least 500, with the size of affordable computer storage increasing at least 1000-fold. At the same time these computer systems have become less expensive (at least in real dollars) and much easier to use. In parallel, printing from your office computer has advanced from a grainy, dot-matrix output confined only to text to a very clean and bright image that includes not only text, but graphics and even photographs.

With these changes in computers, there also has been a revolution of sorts in the way that written documents (books, magazines, newsletters, pamphlets) are prepared for printing.

Presently, all of the layout, clipping, typesetting, photo processing and pasteup can be done within a computer, virtually with the click (or a few clicks) of a button. This computer layout can now be printed at home at a level of quality that it can be taken directly to the printing company, sometimes with no need for additional processing. In the near future, many printing companies will ask that you bring your newsletter to them on a special high-capacity computer disk.

At the outset it is important to note that DTP is not word processing. The difference between word processing and desktop publishing is illustrated by looking at hand tools. Most of us have seen the multi-purpose tools that serve as a screw-driver (both Phillips and slot), pliers, wire cutter, adjustable wrench and even a small hammer. Seems like a great idea. However, these "inventions" are inferior in almost all of their functions to the individual tools that are each designed to do just one job well.

The same is true if you try to use a word processing program for desktop publishing. Everyone has word processing programs and in the usual situation, this means WordPerfect or Microsoft Word. These are fine programs, but really only for word processing. If you are interested in desktop publishing, with the ease of very flexibly manipulating text, graphics, photos, page layout, type fonts and other factors, they will work, but not with the ease and flexibility of a true page layout program. You are trying to get the job done with the wrong tool.

Newsletters are a combination of text, drawings or illustrations, lines and photographs. In most word processing programs there are limits on what you can do to manipulate letter or line spacing, limitations on the numbers and kinds of fonts as well as restrictions on where text can be placed and how it is oriented. However, in a true page layout program, text, drawings, lines and other illustration can be manipulated, as noted, with almost complete flexibility.

While this remarkable flexibility is liberating and even fun, there are some rules that must be incorporated. By comparison, much of the pseudo DTP done on word processing programs has a cookie-cutter look to it because there is not much flexibility and You must stick to a limited number of templates.

Published material is a combination of text, graphics, photographs, tables and charts, assembled in such a manner so as to tell a story. It is familiar to all of us in almost everything we read nowadays. When you think about taking on a club newsletter, you will be saved some grief if you consider the purpose, the budget, the length, how it is to be printed and mailed. All of these questions will influence what you do.

In the comments that follow, some of the major steps are laid out, more or less in the sequence that you will need to take. In many books on desktop publishing or in courses given by the experts, everything seems to work and all problems are anticipated. However, practically speaking, hardly any new publication is created in a sequential lockstep fashion. Rather, expect trial and error, with numerous revisions to finally make everything work together. The descriptions that follow do not assume that you are experienced in desktop publishing. They do assume, however, that you have an adequate computer system and software. There is a description of computer needs at the end.

Determine the elements of the publication. A good place as any to start is trying to determine what components of the newsletter will be necessary to produce an effective way to communicate to club members. Basically, you are asking what needs to go into the publication. Do you need illustrations of fly tying, pictures of fish and flies, photographs of club members and outings?

Basically, a good first step in planning your newsletter is to make a tentative list of all possible elements, including the text. The text also can be broken down into parts, according to the different purposes and kinds. What do you need? Do you want some quotes, a glossary of terms, a list of club officers, a calendar of upcoming events, an announcement for next month's fund raiser? How about columns from the president and the president's photo? These elements can be viewed as the building blocks for the newsletter. Notice at this point that you are no longer thinking about the newsletter as simply text, but rather as a multi-dimensional document.

Determine graphics (drawings, photographs, charts) needed. As indicated in the tutorial on graphics, most publications need graphics and photography. In making a list of the elements of the publication, you may have identified the photos, illustrations and charts that were desired. Unfortunately, it often takes a little time to get these graphic elements generated. Remember that existing drawings and photographs may have restricted use, because of copyright or trademarks.

If photos are needed, you may need to identify a club member who often takes pictures and would like to help out. Special drawings, of flies, knots may also require that you recruit some help. Because of inherent delays, early attention to graphic elements will help you avoid problems later on, nearer the deadline, if you have one.

You are now ready to consider the layout of your publication. The first step, for the prudent is to set up a grid, also called a template by some. Take a look at any magazine or newspaper. There is a basic skeleton in terms of the width of the columns of text, the size of the margins, how photos are positioned in relation to the text. A grid is a series of vertical and horizontal lines (that don't print) used to provide a framework as to where things (columns of text, graphics) go on the page. As part of the grid are the margins, the number and size of text columns, the alley (space) between columns, the location of headers and/or footers, where to place headlines, etc.

A grid has tremendous practical value in helping you align different elements on the page. By using a grid, which is usually laid out in the master pages of your desktop publishing file, you insure a planned cohesive look among the multiple pages of your newsletter, consistency from one page to the next, and from one month to the next.

In fact, your reader depends on consistency within a publication and will find it dissonant if, for example, the number of and width of columns is varied in a irregular fashion. Use of a grid does not however mean that you cannot deviate once in a while as the material might require or to get a particular effect, to improve white space or to incorporate other material. Rather than being viewed as a set of hand cuffs, a grid is a binding that holds a publication together and makes it stronger as a result.

In thinking about an approach to page layout, there are two practical perspectives to consider. First, we now live in an America where a very large percentage of people are of the so-called television generation. The publishers of U.S.A.Today recognized this change and have designed the most functional newspaper in the world. These designers went from columns of prose, to lists of facts, from explanations to pictures that inherently told stories, from paragraphs to tables to make comparisons explicit.

Readers have short attention spans and want the information as quickly as they can get it. Fly fishers often have other lives and read the newsletter to learn about events or techniques that will make them more successful. Even a report or article that aims to philosophize about the wonders of fishing or to urge support for a given position needs to be presented in a way that is easily processed. If you have the resources to follow the approach taken by U.S.A. Today, it will help your readers and it will make their job easier.

A second point has to do with unorthodox page layout. It must be kept in mind that newsletters for fly fishers are not intended to make statements in desktop publishing design. They are, rather, aimed at conveying information, educating and persuading in the most effective manner possible.

In this case, the best design is often the simplest. A straightforward and easy to understand design thus should be implicit. Use of standard typefaces, usual column widths and headlines in single lines of lower case letters are most comfortable to a reader.

The layout tips that follow are in keeping with both the U.S.A. Today philosophy and a design approach that incorporates what people are used to.

Introduce sidebars and tables to convey key information to readers. Technically a sidebar is a short explanation, list of facts, definition or story within your story that carries another point of view or some important definitions. Sidebars permit you to digress without losing the flow of the story. Sidebars get very high readership, especially from many readers who don't or won't take the time to read the entire story. Tables are likewise effective, especially as their column and row organization permits comparisons. As an organized list of information, summarized in columns and rows, a table is much more effective than trying to put the same

Consider using a grid with a scanning column. A professional-looking and versatile layout scheme is one that incorporates a wide margin on one side of he page which can be used to place headlines, subheads, graphics, captions, pull quotes, brief notes, sidebars, and tables. By having a special place for these key items they get attention and your page has attractive whitespace. In setting up the grid for the scanning column, the page divided vertically into an odd number of vertical columns, say five. From the left, column 1 is a scanning column, columns 2 and 3 make up one text column, while columns 4 and five are a second text column.

Use bulleted lists instead of paragraph descriptions. Whenever possible, try to simplify your reader's task by pulling out multiple, short items (single phrases or sentences) into lists, with bullets or check boxes to set them off. Readers find these easy to digest, they use fewer words than a paragraph format and they are easier to remember.

Fit your graphics and photos into the grid. For the beginner, to maintain balance and alignment, size your graphics and photos to fit into the grid. Photos could vary from 1-5 columns in width and would always be aligned with the center or an edge of an existing column of text.

For most impact, place dominant or primary visuals (drawings or photos) on the top of the page. Readers are first attracted to the visual and secondly to the caption. If the key photo is at the bottom of the page, readers may go there and never go the top again.

Focus first on the front page. On the front page use a prominent graphic or photo, as big as possible, with a caption below the photo and a headline announcing what you are promoting below the caption. Your most important job is to grab attention and orient the reader initially. Your primary objective is to get the reader to look inside. In that respect, don't give everything away on that page.

The back page is another front page. Remember that while the front page has the most readership, the second most read page is the back page. If your publication is folded to be a self-mailer, put attractive information there as well.

Layout inside pages as a center page. The inside of a newsletter…especially the center fold should be treated as a single unit, not a series of 2 separate pages. This spread might be the program for a meeting, lists of presenters at a conference, and so on. If a photo or graphic is made to bridge between the panel folds, it will create a feeling of a single unified page, rather than 2-3 separate pages.

The ability to set type, with its multiple size, space and shape properties and then print it in a camera-ready form is a key element of desktop publishing. Nowadays, even in word processing programs there are a variety of typefaces (or fonts) available, usually in a scaleable (almost infinite ability to change size) format. Indeed, in some publications the access to many typefaces has been abused, and the quality of the publication has been reduced as a result.

Readers are exposed to a variety of publications. While some deviate widely from the norm, most follow certain rules. When those rules are violated, the message is the violation makes readers uncomfortable and whatever your have to say may be lost or covered up. For these reasons, it is best to follow certain good taste rules in setting, sizing and spacing type.

Do not use more than two (2) typefaces in a single document. There is a great feeling of creativity and freedom to have a different type face for the many different parts of your pamphlet or newsletter. But if you inspect work done by professionals, they try to keep the number of fonts to 2 sometimes 3 at the maximum. Your work will distinguish itself as amateur if you get carried away, especially if some of the more flamboyant typefaces are used. In this context, readers prefer typefaces they are familiar with. Familiarity projects an image of reliability.

In text-rich newsletters, provide white space relief. White space is defined as space not occupied by type, graphics or other elements. Such space is said to "welcome" readers and make blocks of text seem less overwhelming. White space calls attention to itself like a moment of intentional silence in a speech and can be used for emphasis or to set off a graphic. Space on the outside edge of the page (the scanning column) is also useful for taking notes.

Use lines (rules) to decorate the page and segregate text. Horizontal lines separate the text and stories from department labels, headers and footers Fine Vertical lines between columns of text reduce reader difficulty in text-dense layouts and minimize the possibility of jumping columns.Generally the use of rules adds a conservative, more finished look to a document.

Provide meaningful captions with photos and graphics. If your readers don't do anything else, they will look at the pictures and read the captions. For this reason, captions or pull quotes should carry information that is redundant with the text and tell your story, at least in part. Many page layout designers recommend putting the key message of the story in captions for photos and graphics because that message is more likely to get through.

Generally use typefaces with serifs for blocks of texts. Research has shown that it is easier to identify individual letters with these additional clues offered by the little strokes at the ends of letters (serifs). Sans serif (without tails and horns) are certainly cleaner and more modern looking in the view of many, but they are not as easily recognized or readable.

Match text column width to the size of your type. For the very most readable columns of text, choose your type size and column width so that each line contains no fewer than 43 characters and 7 to 8 words. If there are too few words in a line, the normal tendency to visualize several words at a time is reduced.On the other hand, with too many words in a line, there is a tendency to lose your place between the end of one line and the start of the next. Generally you should keep your line length less than 65 characters for ease of reading. Psychologically wider columns are perhaps negative as well because wider columns look more like book text, making your text more imposing.

Choose the type size carefully. Generally for body text and sustained reading, type smaller than 9 point or larger than 12 point is difficult to read. Sizes 10-11 are acceptable. With the increasing number of Americans at an age where reading glasses are needed (the baby boomers), it would be best to err toward the larger size.

Choose space between the lines properly. This space is called leading, pronounced "leding" and it refers originally to strips of lead in metal type setting days. Too little or too much slows reading.

Align your text on the left. Text should be lined up on the left, with either ragged or justified right. Text that is centered or aligned on the right with ragged left is more difficult to read because the eye has difficulty finding the beginning of left starting lines. It remains a matter of debate whether justified text aligned on both sides or just the left side are easier to read. With justified text, spaces are inserted between letters and words, while with aligned left-ragged right the spacing remains the same throughout.

Add extra space between paragraphs. It is said that you can increase readability by 10% if you put extra space between paragraphs. In a DTP program you can specify exactly how much extra space, in inches or millimeters!

Use subheadlines within your text. Subheadlines are bolded segments of text that separate your text into sections and often signal a change in topic. Subheads can be on a separate line or on the same line and they break up long blocks of text into manageable chunks. Subheads help skim-and scan readers get information from your story and help in-depth readers see the underlying organization.

Avoid using script, italic or bold type for blocks of text. All of these typefaces are useful for special effects-to draw attention to a given sentence or word. However, when used for blocks of text, they also slow reading.

Do not use all capital letters. Even in headlines, unless a special effect is desired, avoid all capital letters. They are difficult to read-more than 95% of all letters we read are lower case.

For headlines use suns serif typefaces. In headlines, simpler text stands out. Also by kerning the text in a headline, reducing the space between the letters - you also will make it more readable. In a headline, reduce the leading, perhaps to a negative value (i.e., 22 points of leading with an 24 point font).

Use pull quotes. These are quotes from the text set off in larger type (15-20 point) to draw your reader into the story. If the story does not offer quotes that summarize well, generate a summary statement. Pull quotes work!

Use large initial capital letters. Generally large caps are for opening paragraphs and at the start of other critical paragraphs in the text. Large initial capital letters include drop caps, hanging caps, boxed caps and raised caps. Large initial letters are said to increase readership by more than 10%.

In a headline, only capitalize the first letter of the first word. Basically you want to capitalize headlines the same way you do regular text. This rule does not apply to proper nouns, of course. Called "downstyle" this is easier to read and less imposing than capitals starting every word. All headlines and subheads in this commentary use downstyle.

Typesetting to maintain an image. It is not uncommon in the world of business and large corporations to have a predetermined font and font size that is used uniformly for all documents, reports and other materials issued. Often, included within this image is specification as to where and when to use the company logo. The fonts chosen may be even designed especially for that company! Such uniformity may be a consideration for a club newsletter and club stationary. It makes you more immediately recognized.

Details on the use of graphics is provided in the EditorHelp tutorial on graphics. To summarize very briefly here, graphics are a critical feature of modern publishing design in part because readers have come to expect the assistance provided by visual images. This is because the human brain is more attentive to visual inputs than to almost any other kind of stimulation. Failure to take advantage of this human weakness, will reduce the effectiveness of your publications.

Research shows in particular that good graphics will:

• Draw reader attention
• Carry your message often better than text
• Make complex explanations understandable
• Make your material less imposing
• Provide transitions and improve the flow of ideas, and
• Improve retention of information.

It should be apparent that graphics will make your published documents more attractive, more professional and will unquestionably increase your effectiveness.

In the EditorHelp tutorial on Newsletters, issues surrounding the selection of a printer were discussed. As noted, because printing has many sub-specialities, care must be taken to find a company that has the best hardware and expertise to do a particular job. A distinction was made also in quality and price between photocopying, quick printing and standard commercial printing. The nature of your publication (length, number of copies, spot vs. full-color vs black and white, kind of paper, etc.) will determine which printing process and which printer is optimal. The recommendation must be to get quotes and samples of work from several printers, large and small. Let them know what kind of quality you expect and, if possible, let them know you want to be on-site for a press check. A press check is a review of the printing job as the first copies come off the press, in principle permitting you to make certain limited changes before incurring the cost of a full run.

It is beyond the scope of this tutorial to deal with the subtleties of color publishing. A few cautions may be worthwhile. As a beginner in desktop publishing, unless you are unusual, your color printing will probably be confined to spot color. Spot color is use of a single color, accomplished with a single ink put here and there to dress up and brighten an otherwise black and white publication. With spot color the paper is imprinted twice, once black and a second time with the single spot color ink. Even spot color can be tricky. Spot color, if you have the extra budget can be dynamite in dressing up your newsletter. A favorite among advertisers for its attention-getting capability is red. In choosing spot colors, it is important to be very careful because, depending especially upon the paper and the printer, colors can take unpleasant turns. Blues appear purple, reds turn orange and the effect or impact you desired is disappointing or worse, ugly. A particular problem is that colors on your computer screen never look the same when printed, especially on uncoated paper. It is possible to "calibrate" your computer monitor, but the range of color will never be the same. You must look to paper samples.

Paper comes in a wide variety of types, with differences in size, thickness, whiteness/brightness, opacity (ability to transmit light), smoothness and tightness. All of these factors will influence how you job will look in the final form. Paper is often surface treated or coated to make it smoother and tighter. While paper manufacturing technology is not a static phenomenon, all of these factors also influence paper cost. Unfortunately, the numerous variations in paper stock and their influence on the quality of printing your publication cannot be addressed adequately in this short commentary.

In general however, the best quality printing is accomplished or paper that is thicker, smoother, tighter, brighter and minimally translucent. There are some exceptions to this broad statement. While the brightest and smoothest paper will give you the best-looking photographs, it is not best for reading because it is actually too bright. Likewise, while slick paper does a great job with high resolution color, it is harder to read text on slick paper because of glare.

There are other costs in making a paper that prints very well. For example, coated paper is difficult to recycle. Whiter paper is usually bleached, with chemical by-products that are harmful to the environment. Recycled paper, seemingly an environmentally sensitive option usually is less bright and because it is not as popular, can also be more expensive.

Aside from these technical considerations, choosing paper for your job is as much as a part of the design as choosing the graphics or the spot color. Recycled paper, with a rustic look is both politically correct and in keeping with a more down-home image. Earth tones are popular for similar reasons. These designer papers make a statement, and may be particularly attractive for newsletters of a fishing/conservation club. For most jobs, white uncoated paper, no less than 60# and of moderate cost often turns out to be the most economical and effective choice.

You are in the process of laying out a great newsletter. Exciting graphics are on hand and some quality photographs are coming. But, before you proceed much farther, a couple of technical questions must be addressed. How do you plan to get your final layout to the printer? For many publications, camera-ready pages (or boards) are acceptable. Basically you print a version of the publication on a 300 dot per inch (dpi) laser printer and that copy is used to make the plates for commercial printing. For many situations this solution is satisfactory. The restrictions depend on the quality of your laser printer and what elements are included.

For example, certain small letters (below 4 point) and large letters (above 80 point) will be unacceptable at 300 dpi. Likewise, if you are using a screen or shading in your publication, they will be darker at lower resolution. Nowadays, while a 300 dpi copy is acceptable, the overall quality of your production will be better if you can print the camera ready copy on a 600 dpi printer.

Photographs. Photographs in camera ready copy raise some problems as well. Photographs cannot be printed on a conventional laser printer (at 300 dpi) and be acceptable as camera ready copy. Usually, if you do not have access to a higher resolution printer and are going to provide camera ready boards, the photographs are screened separately by the printer and inserted before the plates are made. You provide frames for the photographs and clearly label where they are to go.

Providing your publication to the printer electronically. A second alternative to a camera ready copy is to provide your entire newsletter to the printer as a computer file. The printer then transforms the publication to a film or plate for the press. It is more and more common to send the file as an attachment to an e-mail, directly to the printer. Increasingly printers provide this service, and while the hassles can be less, there is generally a cost.

Computer hardware. What kinds of equipment do you need to use desktop publishing more effectively in your publications? The answer depends upon what kind of computer system you already have. Ideally, you need a reasonably fast computer system that is fairly new-say no older than 4 years. As of 1999, PC and MacIntosh hardware/ software are equivalent in terms of speed and ease of use, unless you insist on doing some very sophisticated things, in which case this chapter is not for you.

The computer system should come equipped with a modern (fast as possible) CD Rom, at least 32 if not 64 megabytes of memory (more if possible), a hard disk with 2-4 gigabytes of storage (more is better), a bed scanner with 24 bits of resolution (not a hand scanner) and a high quality printer (600 dots per inch is affordable, but look for the highest resolution under $2,000). It is particularly advantageous if have or can get a PostScript printer. PostScript is a language that is used by many laser printers, particularly for graphics and desktop publishing. While all of these general specifications are high end now,in two years, you will be able to get more for less money. New software will run better with a faster computer, more memory and a bigger hard disk. The message is always buy as much power as you can afford!

Software Needs. There are a couple of good (professional level) computer programs that can help you design and layout pages for your publications. Among these are Adobe PageMaker and Quark. Other programs will let you create, copy, access and manipulate graphics as well, especially Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw. While you can do some things with word processing programs, other software simply makes it possible for the less talented to do work that is more professional.

Beginning Level. At the least complicated level, as noted previously, word processing software will let you do some desktop publishing. For graphics, commercially available clip art is available on CD or even floppy disks. These images can very often be pulled into the most common word processing programs like WordPerfect or Microsoft Word. A variety of generic photographs are also available on CD and likewise can be downloaded for use with your newletters. If you can do some cut and paste, using other sources of graphics, it is possible to generate a good newsletter.

Up One Step. As soon as possible it is worthwhile to install a real page layout program. The two major programs of this kind are Adobe PageMaker (better on PC) and Quark (better on MAC). You will never look back. Without giving up the CD clip art and generic photographs, you can improve your graphics capabilities with a true page layout program because they ease positioning and manipulation of graphic images and text. In this second level, you might consider a medium quality bed scanner, with both black and white as well as color capabilities. With the scanner, you can bring in drawings and photographs from local sources and place them into your publications. The scanner also will permit you to scan text and convert it into text files, using a program called an OCR (Optical Character Recognition).

Up two steps. At this level, building upon the software and capabilities of the less sophisticated previous two steps, you can add a program that permits you to generate illustrations (like Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator) as well as second program that allows manipulation and refinement of photographs and other images (like Adobe Photoshop). As you add more and more to your graphics sophistication, other changes will be necessary as well. Graphics images, especially photographs and particular color photographs eat up great amounts of computer storage. It is common these days to have a photograph that occupies as much as several megabytes (bigger than the whole memory in a computer just 6-8 years ago). What this means is that you will need more computer memory (32 megabytes is an absolute minimal) and a larger hard disk (the bigger the better). Likewise, because these graphic files are so large, you will need a faster computer to display them ant transfer them to and from disk.

Finally, as you reach a stage where large graphic images are being acquired, stored and transferred you must begin to consider a way to get them from one computer to another. Floppy discs are currently limited to 1.44 megabytes and simply do not have the capacity for computer graphic images. The standard in the graphics/publishing industry is via a removable cartridge called a ZIP. If at all possible get a ZIP drive. large capacity cartridge. The standard ZIP cartridge holds 100 megabytes and allows you to store big graphics files outside your computer as well as take your newsletter to the printer electronically. This technology is changing but it is important that you make sure your storage system is compatible with your printer.

A single picture is worth how many words? You know from your experiences as a fly fisher that this old adage is absolutely correct. Scientists working on the human senses find that vision is more compelling and more dominant than almost any other input to the brain. Simply put, humans are hard-wired to pay more attention to visual images than other information-maybe that is why dry fly fishing is so compelling. And that capability evolved before the age of television.

Nowadays, because we have grown up with sophisticated video and publishing technology, our expectations are even higher. In our publications, material presented without graphics or photos simply is not as effective. Visual images (line art, photographs, cartoons) are the front door to the minds of most audiences.

Importance of graphics is reflected in the fact that in the 1990s college degrees and courses are focused on their creation and effective use. In this short commentary, I will emphasize what graphics can do and some of the ways to start using them effectively.

Because your purpose is inform, engage and entertain your fellow club members, you may wish to consider the major ways that graphics (photos, technical illustrations, cartoons, borders, graphs) can help. While some Hemingway's can galvanize a reader with their prose, many of us need the power of visual images. Full use of graphics will improve the message of any writing, no matter how interesting the subject matter or how good the writing.

Graphics and photos make the first and perhaps the only impression. Because readers first process graphic and photo material, we absolutely must choose these elements very carefully. Research on human processing of printed material has found that the very first place readers look on a page is a photo, cartoon or graph) and if they are scanning (looking to see if there is something of interest), that is all they may look at. The next thing they do is read the caption to the graphic or photo, and only later, if at all, do they turn to your beautifully crafted sentences and paragraphs.

If our images carry information, are aesthetically pleasing or carry complimentary messages, we are a big step toward involving readers in wanting to read in more detail what we have to say.

Obviously, it should be apparent that an inappropriate graphic is just as destructive as an appropriate graphic is helpful. Moreover, if we use images that are unrelated to the story, or just to catch an eye, we might attract the wrong attention; a cartoon that pokes fun at some group or person for example is not a good choice. Likewise, if the image is threatening, unattractive, poorly rendered, insulting, or reflects a possible controversial perspective, that will end the interest by at least some of your readers.

A note about getting attention and color. Color, is an unlikely expense for most fly fishing club newsletters. However, if you are going to use it, remember that red, particularly is a tremendous attention getter. Red, as a spot color, is often more effective than full-color (four color).

Graphics and photos help keep your material interesting. So now that the audience has stopped to read, we must keep their interest with compelling and message-laden images. If your audience is potential new members, who you are trying to educate or persuade regarding such intrinsically exciting subjects such as the details of when to use a Duncan loop versus a Turle knot and how to tie them, you need all the help you can get. Graphics are simply vital in these situations. Just think about what casual readers do when there are no graphic images to hold their attention.

On the other hand, if your target readers (for another story in the newsletter) are serious, long-time fly fishers, perhaps they will read your inspired prose because it may give them an edge when they next get on the water. Even in these situations, if you want your information to be fully understood-like the execution of the horizontal calypso cast between branches in dense cedar swamps-even the die-hards may need a picture or two.

Alternatively, use of ambiguous graphics will confuse and lose. For example, if you are trying to provide directions to the next outing, beyond the gravel road, over the pasture and around the bend from the spring hole, a well-drawn and labelled map is critical.

Graphics signal the tone and mood of your newsletter. Right from the first word, or should we say from the first picture, you have an opportunity to let the reader know where you are going and what the route is like. Graphics should be selected with the same care as you choose your words and thoughts. The general tenor of the report is part of the message and signaled by graphics choices. Do you want your readers to to blow your report on the need to support new regulations because it has graphics that carry the wrong tone? If your report or presentation has a serious theme, say polluted runoff due to construction, the graphics should perhaps avoid humor or cartoons. If you want your report to be viewed as important information, the graphics chosen also must reflect a more conservative tone. To this point, photographs are more credible and conservative than simple line drawings.

Drawings, cartoons and photos make your material less imposing . Have you had the experience of opening up a book where all the are almost all text? For any material in a fly fishing newsletter, consider the rule that you should never have more than two page of text side by side, without at least one graphic or photo.. two are better. In newsletters about our hobby, readers will not generally read stories with narrow margins and 25-35 lines per page? Pretty imposing isn't it, and who wants to plow through all that stuff? Only the most motivated readers, and then only if they know that you have something dynamite to say.

So, we use graphics to add white space (like breathing space for a talk) and indeed, the snippets of material that surround the graphics are easier to digest. Using graphics in this way perhaps requires that a few more pages of copying or printing, but it is better to have a few more pages that someone will read than waste the money and time on a shorter story that no one can swallow. Graphics in this case are sort of like the butter on bread, milk with cookies, or beer with pretzels-a lubricant or a reward to help ingestion and digestion.

Graphics help the reader appreciate complex phenomena. Do you recall the national success of Ross Perot in his initial presentations in the presidential race of 1992? His unprecedented use of charts and graphs helped voters understand and embrace the budget deficit issue like never before. The lesson here is that people usually ignore or resist learning things they don't feel they understand. However, if a complicated process like stages of a mayfly life cycle or tying a fly can be explained effectively, even it is over-simplified, there are definite gains: (1) you generally make your audience feel confident (I understand) and in turn (2) they are more likely to appreciate the newsletter generally.

Fly fishing involves a fairly complex set of operations, from the physics of fly line casting to the varied biology of many insect species to the behavior of underwater creatures. There is an old saying-fools can ask questions that wise men can't answer. Unfortunately, you cannot label the questions as coming from fools-those asking questions are club members who are trying learn from you. You must use all the tool you can and that includes good graphics.

So what is the answer? If fly fishers understand the basic biology of water quality and aquatic life cycles because of a clever illustration, it is more likely that they will stay with the sport and contribute to maintain our fisheries. The challenge is yours.

Graphics and photos improve retention of information. When I think about how to tie certain flies, or to spin deer hair or position duck quill wings, I see in my mind's eye and illustration or a serious of photos that explain these processes. Images that are carefully designed or selected have much more impact than perhaps any other form of communication because a photograph or an illustration will stay with us much longer than facts just presented verbally or in text. Superior recollection of visual images is another reason for Ross Perot's success on budget deficit. Who can forget those graphs?

So everyone should use graphics as much as possible. Right? Without question, but always carefully and with quality.

Unfortunately, while graphics and photos can contribute in all the ways described, if they are poorly chosen or created they can also (1) create an impression of low quality, (2) result in turn-off rather than turn-on, (3) create confusion regarding relations, points, or orientation, (4) make a report even more imposing (are there any engineers out there?), (5) disorient, (6) turn off audiences due to overuse, or inconsistent styles and (7) break up a flow because of confused signals.

Use the inherent capabilities of existing computers. Nowadays, if you have access to computers built after 1995, they have some capabilities for incorporating modern graphics. Word processing software of this vintage permits you to insert and position line art and sometimes photos. Even these limited capabilities offer flexibility not available with traditional techniques alone.

Become conversant with computer graphics and systems. There is little doubt that if you have a more powerful computer or software, your graphics capability will be improved. Identify someone in your club (these people are now everywhere) who has some knowledge about computers and pick their brains. Get them involved with your effort. Take a free brown-bag workshops at a local university, get books from the library.

Don't hesitate to use pen and ink/cut and paste techniques. If you have someone who can do an acceptable job with a pen and drawing paper, or some drawing that can be imported from other sources, use them. Having some relevant and instructional graphics in your communication is almost always better than none at all.

Get some clip art and start using it. This option is the least expensive and it can help, especially if you currently are not using graphics at all. Clip art libraries now come with many page layout programs and even in some word processing software. They are not subject to copyright restrictions. There also are many clip art CDs available, for little money. One major company has a CD with 10,000 images for $39.95!

Identify a potential artist in the club. In almost any club, even a small one, there are people with artistic abilities that are unappreciated and underutilized. Remember that many aspiring artists find it necessary to get "day jobs." You may already know of someone with these capabilities. Let them be creative with the newsletter.

While doing graphics without some basic computer support is possible, it can be very limiting. Moreover, just as in desk top publishing (see FFF section on Desktop Publishing), the images, pages and written material you find can be used in printed form and ultimately on the web, if your club is moving in that direction. Even if graphics are generated with conventional techniques (like pen and ink drawings), these images can be computerized and used in all of these forms.

Graphic formats in computers. Like almost everything else associated with computers, graphic are constrained in how you might use them by compatibility of their format.

Basically, a piece of digital clip art may or may not be useable for your purposes if it does not have a format that your computer or computer software can read. The format of digital images is usually reflected in the suffix of the file name. For example, a digitized line drawing of a fly with the file name "Adams.tiff" is different than the same line drawing with the file name "Adams.eps" or "Adams.pcx." These suffixes refer to longer names for three different formats. TIFF stands for Tag Image File Format, for example, while EPS stands for Encapsulated Postscript. Some software, like Adobe PhotoShop permits you to convert digital images from one format to another, but not without some restrictions and sometimes even if you can make a conversion, there is a change in image quality. This conversion software also costs money!

The reasons for differences in digital image format are several, and in no small part to proprietary marketing practices. Other factors, like the way in which the images are stored and accessed in computers influences their (1) quality, (2) use in different page layout programs, (3) access for manipulation (e.g., size and shape changes) and (4) age since being introduced. Some of the formats were devised when computers were less powerful and storage was more expensive. For starters, the "TIFF" format is quite universal. The GIF and JPEG formats are generally not for printing, but rather are lower resolution formats for screen viewing, like on a web page.

A

Alley: Space between two columns of type.

Ascender: Part of lower case letter extends above letter main body (b, d, f, h, k,and l have ascenders).

B

Baseline: Invisible line upon which letters rest.

Bit-mapped: Representation of a type character or a graphic as a series of square dots or pixels, which if enlarged can sometimes result in jagged edges. T.F.F is a bit- mapped graphic.

Bleed: a picture printed to the edge of a sheet.

Blurb: Text summarizing an article, in type smaller than the headline and larger than body text.

C

Camera-ready copy: A paste-up ready to be photographed by the platemaker.

CMYK: Acronym for Cyan (C- blue), Magenta (M-red),Yellow (Y) and Black (K); four process colors from which all other colors are made in four-color printing.

Coated paper: Paper to which a smooth hard coating has been applied.

Color separation: See four color printing.

Column inch: area that is one column wide by one inch high.

Column rule: a line separating columns of type.

Crop: Cut away unwanted pieces of a piece of art.

D

Deck: A secondary headline (smaller type than headline, larger than text).

Descender: part of a lowercase letter that dips below the baseline (g, j, p, q have desenders).

Downstyle: A style characterized by use of lowercase letters.

Dpi: Dots per inch, measure of resolution-more dots per inch the smaller the dots and the higher the resolution

Drop cap: A large initial capital letter dropped below the baseline of first line.

Dummy: Pages of a publication in its planning stage, with features and pictures roughly pasted into place

E

Em: Width of a capital M of any size type.

En: Width of a capital N of any size type.

EPS: Short for Encapulated PostScript. a format for object-oriented graphics.

F

Floor sheets: Paper stocked by a printer, often cheaper than special order paper.

Flush-left: Text aligned at the left-hand margin.

Flush-right: Text aligned at the right-hand margin.

Font: Complete set of type of a particular face and size.

Four-color printing: The effect of full color achieved through color separation plates - used to produce/print color photographs and paintings.

G

Grid: Carefully spaced vertical and horiztonal lines that define areas for placement of text and graphics.

Gutter: Separation of two facing pages.

H

Hairline: Very fine rule or line.

Halftone: Representation of a continuous tone photograph as a series of dots that look like gray tones when printed. Also called a screened halftone. See screen.

Hanging indent: Where second and all subsequent lines of a paragraph are indented by a set amount.

House style: Style that particular to a publisher and remains the same across issues or publications.

I

Image setter: Output device that produces very high resolution pages from desktop files, on film or on paper.

Ink spread/dot gain: The amount that ink is absorbed into the paper - influences sharpness of images.

J

Justify: Alignment of type so that it forms an even line on the right and the left.

K

Kerning: Fitting letters together tightly so that parts of some appear in the space of others.

Kicker: Short headline run above the main headline, often underscored.

L

Leading: Vertical space between lines of type.

Legibility: Measurement of how easy it is to recognize individual type characters.

Line art: Art with only black and white, without continuous tone.

Logo: The name of the publication as it is run on the cover.

M

Masthead: Paragraph of information about a publication (editor, publisher, etc.).

Matte finish paper: A lower gloss form of coated paper.

N

Newsprint: Low quality paper used for printing newspapers.

O

Object-oriented graphic: A graphic that used a mathematically described shape; can be enlarged without loosing resolution. EPS is an object-oriented format.

OCR: Optical character recognition, with scanner to transform text to computer file.

Orphan: Opening line of a paragraph isolated at bottom of page separated from rest of paragraph.

P

Pantone colors: Standardized system of colors, available in printing inks, papers, markers and other materials.Necessary for making decision regarding color in your publications.

Perfect binding: Binding that uses glue instead of stitching or stapling.

Pica: 12 points, or 1/6 of an inch.

Pixel: Acronym for picture element - the smallest graphic unit that can be manipulate by a computer.

PMS: Short for Pantone Matching System, the standard for color reproduction.

Point: A unit of measurement for type: there are 72 points to an inch.

PostScript: Page description language used by many laser printers and by most high resolution typesetter.

Press run: Total number of copies printed during one printing.

Process colors: Cyan, magenta, yellow and black used to create all the other colors in 4-color printing.

Proportionally spaced type: Type in which different letters use different amounts of space.

Pull Quote: A 1-3 sentence quotation from the main story as a means to attract reader interest.

R

Ragged left: Aligned at the right, staggered to the left.

Ragged right: Aligned at the left, staggered to the right.

Reability: Measure of how easy and fast it is to read text.

Resolution: The clarity or fineness of detail (on a computer screen or a printer output).

Reverse: White letters in a gray, black or colored area.

Rivers of white: Streaks of white running through text, caused by bad or excessive word spacing.

Rule: Line used to separate columns of text, margins from text and generally segment the document.

Running foot: A line across the bottom of the page containing similar information to the running head.

Running head to title: Heading that repeats itself, page after page.

Running head: Line of text across top of the page, includes publication name, page #, issued, date.

S

Sans serif type: Typeface with strokes of equal or near-equal thickness and without serifs.

Scanner: A hardware device that "reads" a photograph or other piece of line art and transforms it into a collection of dots so it can be transferee, stored and manipulated via computer.

Scanning column: A narrow column reserved for headlines, photos, pull quotes, note taking, but not text.

Screen tint: Taking an area of a page and printing it with dots of ink to make it appear shaded or lighter.

Screen: Taking a continuous photograph and making it into a series of dots to improve printing quality.

Script type: Mimics handwriting. It adds style but is too hard to read for blocks of text.

Serif type: Small finishing or cross-stroke is found at the end of a letter.

Sidebar: Short story related to and within a major story and run nearby, boxed with its own headline.

Signature: All the pages printed on both sides of a single sheet. The sheet is folded down to page size and trimmed. Signatures usually come in multiples of 16 pages.

Small caps: Capital letters smaller than regular capital letters with the same point size.

Spot color: An ink of a particular color, usually used by itself (with black and white) or with another color.

T

Tabloid: Newspaper with pages half the usual size (about 11 inches x 17 inches).

Text wrap: Wrap text around a graphic or photo.

TIFF: Short for Tag Image File Format, a format for storing bit-mapped images.

Tile: Printing oversized pages in sections or tiles. Tiles pasted together to form full camera ready page.

Tint: Area printed with dots of ink to simulate shading or a lighter color

Trapping: Overlap of adjoining colors to eliminate possible white streaks if printing plates are not aligned.

Trim: Cutting the size of the page after it has been bound or stapled.

Type size: Measured in points, with 72 points in an inch.

U

Uncoated paper: Paper with a flat or dull finish that is not coated with clay.

W

Widow: Short line of text at the bottom of a paragraph.

WYSISYG: What you see is what you get; a now-common computer display for desktop publishing

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