NAMEPLATE

• The nameplate is the newsletter’s name, subtitle, publisher and date. It’s usually at the top of the page, but could be along the side or at the bottom.
• Use a simple name, eg. King’s Cross RMT News, or something snappier eg. Cross Words, with a subtitle news from RMT on King’s Cross group.
• The nameplate should be visually distinct, strong enough to get the publication noticed, but ‘soft’ enough not to overwhelm the page.

ARRANGING ITEMS

• Make important information larger. If you have a main article, make it stand out.
• Put some items in boxes.

MARGINS AND COLUMNS

• Use reasonably wide page margins.
• On an A4 page, use two or three columns, of the same width with the same space between each pair. You could put a line between columns.
• Depending on your software, you can have some articles span more than one column.

HEADLINES

• Use different-sized headlines for different articles, according to the importance of the article.
• Put headlines in a larger, bolder type than text.
• Where you use subheadings, use the same font as your headline, only smaller. Leave more space above subheads than below them.

FONTS

• Use the same font for text throughout.
• Make sure your text is large enough to read.
• Make headlines stand out by using a font that contrasts with the body text’s font.

LAYING OUT TEXT

• Left-align your text.
• Don’t have a full line break between paragraphs. Instead, have a half-line space and/or indent the first line of each paragraph.
• Avoid excessive or ambiguous hyphenation. Or don’t use hyphenation at all!

GRAPHICS

• Use cartoons, photos and other images. They draw attention and make articles more memorable.
  • Take photographs
  • Scan newspaper headlines, cartoons, photos, etc.
  • Use clipart
  • Get pictures or cartoons from the internet
  • Use charts and graphs to present information
  • if you can, find someone to draw cartoons specifically about your workplace.
• Beware of copyrighted images.

COLOUR AND PRINTING

• If you can print in colour, then do. It makes your publication livelier and makes it stand out.
• If you can only print in black-and-white, you could use coloured paper. Use a different colour paper for each new issue of your newsletter.
• If you can only print black on white, that’s fine.

Remember that these are guidelines. Break any of them if it really makes your publication look better.