Typography, Headlines and Infographics

Headline Styles

The most popular and basic of modern headline styles is the banner.

A banner runs across the entire width of a page. Banners are great

for breaking news and big events, such as prom or awards night. A

steady diet of banners, however, would soon become monotonous.

Fortunately, designers have a number of alternative headline styles to

choose from.

A kicker is a clever word or phrase that runs above the main headline

and is usually set in italics.

A slammer is a two-part headline that uses a boldface word or phrase

to lead into the main headline.

A raw wrap lets the story wrap around the headline on two sides.

Use this headline style sparingly.

A hammer head uses a big, bold phrase to catch the reader’s eye and

then adds a lengthier main headline below. It’s like an upside-down

kicker.

Tripods are headlines that come in three parts: a boldface word or

phrase (often in all caps) with two smaller lines set alongside it.

The sidesaddle head style puts the headline beside the story. It’s

used to squeeze a story—preferably one that’s boxed—into a shallow

horizontal space. Figure 16.3 illustrates these six headline styles.

Headlines that are two or three lines deep can create a tricky prob-

lem—line breaks, or the place where one line ends and another begins.

Line breaks can lead to miscommunication if a designer isn’t careful.

Avoid bad splits caused by dangling verbs, adjectives or prepositions. For

example, instead of

Pet rooster pulls drowning

child from icy pond

use the following:

Pet rooster pulls

drowning child

from icy pond

Headline Sizes

Bigger stories usually get bigger headlines. The largest headlines

range upward from 48 points. Medium headlines range from 24 to 48

points. Small headlines range from 18 to 24 points. Designers gener-

ally put the larger headlines at the top of the page (sometimes in

boldface) and then move down the page with smaller, lighter or italic

headlines.

Designers communicate the kind of headline they want by using a

special code. The code lists first the column width, next the point size

and finally the number of lines in the headline. Using that formula, a

(^364) PRODUCING THE NEWS
banner
a headline that runs across
the entire width of a page
kicker
a clever word or phrase that
runs above the main head-
line; usually set in italics
slammer
a two-part headline that
uses a boldface word or
phrase leading into the main
headline
raw wrap
a headline style in which
the story wraps around the
headline on two sides
hammer
a headline that uses a big,
bold phrase to catch the
reader’s eye and then adds
a lengthier main headline
below
tripod
a three-part headline that
includes a boldface word
or phrase (often in all caps)
with two smaller lines set
alongside it
sidesaddle head
a headline style that sets the
headline beside the story