Visual content

Visual content is all the visual information that accompanies the text: photographs, drawings, diagrams, videos, graphic design, logos, etc. Active use of visualization tools is not only a tribute to the times (few people will read undiluted text today), it is also a real opportunity to attract and retain consumers.

Basic visualization tools

Visual content placed on a printed or online page attracts the reader's attention first. Then the image captions, headings and subheadings are looked at. And if all this could interest the reader, he will pay attention to the main text. Studies prove that our brain perceives visual information 60 times faster than textual information, and the duration of stay on a website page increases 10 times due to pictures and photographs. The advantage of visual content over text is increasingly being proven social media, in which users prioritize photos and videos. This fact is confirmed by the high popularity of Instagram and Pinterest projects.

Means of visual communication and the place of visual content in them.

Let's consider below which elements of visual communication can be used as visual content:

Photographs, including collages.

Drawings.

Videos, animation, including presentations, flash animation and gif animation (video sequence created by changing photos).

Infographics: tables, graphs, diagrams, maps and original illustrations including text comments.

Page design, corporate identity.

Visualization tools include fonts and color schemes.

Each element of visual content has its own impact on the reader's perception, to the point that the base colors used create a mood for certain information and mood (for example, green corresponds to the theme of nature or finance).

Visual Content Tools and Functions

Features of visual content compared to text

The easy assimilation of visual information and the requirements of the modern media market make visualization a necessary attribute of advertising and PR.

1) Photos, videos, infographics are easily and quickly copied, and accordingly they are most quickly published, which gives them advantages over texts and allows them to be quickly distributed in the media.

2) Visual content is reproduced in the best possible way by modern electronic devices (smartphones, tablets), and is more convenient for perception on a small screen than text. As an example, 75% of smartphone owners watch videos from these devices.

3) High-quality visual content, especially diagrams and infographics, greatly simplifies and speeds up the understanding of complex and lengthy information.

5) Many companies have their own accounts on social media, and the most visited profiles are characterized by rich, but at the same time organic visual content that attracts users with aesthetics, usefulness, and originality. Thus, Starbucks (photo above), Fanta, Coca Cola, and design studio Corner Of Art (photo below) successfully designed their Facebook pages.

Photo tasks

Photographic images are the most common type of visual content in the media and on Internet pages. In addition to the fact that a successful photograph attracts the attention of the audience and, accordingly, gives a greater chance of reading your text, the photo also performs other tasks.

Product photographs enable buyers to better imagine the company's products.

Photos of real company employees on its website additionally attract users to view the resource: people are interested in knowing the brand in person.

Photo images in business are rarely posted without processing: it allows you to pay attention to individual details (enlarging the image), hide or, if necessary, emphasize flaws.

Experts point out that when choosing a photograph for text content, its informativeness is very important. The more information a photo contains that is useful to the audience, the more visitors will stay on your page.

The LPgenerator platform publishes the results of a comparison of page traffic for two online stores - Pottery Barn and Amazon. The page of the larger retail chain, Amazon, has fewer photo views than Pottery Barn. There are two reasons for this: an image of a TV provides less information than a photo of a bookcase; photos in the Amazon store are more generalized, which makes it easier to work with a large mass of them, while Pottery Barn has a smaller assortment and has the ability to post more detailed photos.

Features of infographics

The main goal of infographics is to simplify the presentation of complex material. If visual content developers use enough imagination and ingenuity, data that could make up complex and boring text will turn into a capacious drawing with little verbal commentary. If the idea is successfully implemented, your infographic is simply doomed to a lot of views and copies in media resources. In other words, “an image that tells the whole story is easier to copy than an all-text article.” According to some data, users get acquainted with information transmitted in the form of infographics 30 times more often than with any other kind. Let's give an illustrative example. In 2012, the American company WordStream compared the effectiveness of Facebook and Google’s Display Network as advertising platforms. To draw attention to the results of its research, the company presented them in the form of infographics (Photo 6). Within a few days, this infographic with a link to WordStream was published by several major American media: USA Today, CNN, Fast Company, The Economist and others. And a week after the infographic appeared on the company’s website, Google found more than 13 thousand articles mentioning WordStream, most of which contained this infographic with a link to the source site.

The secret to video popularity

Video content is the most effective way to convey information, since the combination of visual and auditory content is perceived faster and easier to digest. It's no surprise that television and online videos remain popular. By the way, 71.6% of global network users watch video content at least once a week. Another statistic shows that users spend twice as much time on a site that has videos. And those who watch a video about a product are 85% more likely to purchase the product they saw. And, of course, increasing the length of time users stay on your site increases its position in search engines.

“Information is beautiful,” this is how one can translate the theme of David McCandless’s TED talk, who is convinced that the future lies in visual information and data:

We are confident that we have provided enough examples to convince our readers of the high effectiveness of visual content in preparing various types of PR and information messages. Let us emphasize once again that visualization is the most efficient, capacious and effective way of conveying the necessary data to the audience, as well as the most popular.

V.V. Tulupov

Today, journalists especially clearly understand that the design of a periodical should not be neglected, but still, among some there continues to be an opinion: when a newspaper is meaningful and interesting, is it worth paying attention to such “little things” as its appearance and layout. Thus, short-sighted editors are deprived of another effective means of targeting the reader. Moreover, it has long been noted that the emotional impact on a person is more effective than the usual verbal and informational one; Moreover, modern visual chaos causes a natural defensive reaction in the reader - he selects only those visual units that are capable of arousing his interest (original designs, formats, fonts, color combinations...). That is why designers are faced with a dual task: to organize the video sequence of newspapers and make it the most attractive, bright, individualized: after all, the external form determines a certain way of perceiving the newspaper and distinguishing it from other types of printed products.

When the reader perceives the content of a newspaper, we can talk about visual communication, since in this case the bulk of the various information is transmitted by textual means on the widest scale, and the transmission is carried out visually. In this case, there is no need to first train the reader in any special way of perceiving information 2 - the reader’s “training” occurs indirectly, through social practice, through the consistent offering of certain means of visual communication. Moreover, visual messages need to be streamlined - a modern person gets tired even with passive perception, since he involuntarily registers all visual messages in conditions of local concentration (in institutions, in stores, on city streets, when perceiving outdoor advertising, advertising on transport, etc. ).

Newspaper design is sensitive to changes in the nature of journalism and the content of print materials. The percentage of publications in information genres has increased - there is a need for visual organization of a large number of notes, reports, and interviews. The volume of publications has increased, and this has led to a renewal of the appearance of newspapers, which are laid out on the basis of a “page-by-page” thematic structure. The volume of information consumed by the reader is growing rapidly 3 , and the designer is faced with a practical task - to be able to distinguish a newspaper from a number of others, to focus on as many materials as possible. Since our contemporary, always in a hurry, starts reading the newspaper and skimming (sometimes limiting himself to this), it is important to “catch” his gaze, to highlight at least the main, essential things. For some, such “purple” information is enough, but for others, the accentuated design serves as a kind of beacon, leading the eye from important to more important. Thus, the intensity of newspaper graphics and the dynamism of visual compositions are in demand today.

It becomes all the more important for designers to realize their responsibility to the mass of readers, who are surrounded by an essentially aggressive visual environment. Today, the strain on people’s eyes and psyche sometimes goes beyond the risk of “Dangerous to health!” Special effects (one of the newest ones is segmented display) used on television can adversely affect the eyesight of viewers. Eye movement, doctors believe, is impaired if a person is in an unfavorable visual environment. Video ecologists - representatives of a new scientific direction - are engaged in the identification and study of negative (aggressive visual) fields.

Modern newspapers also often demonstrate examples of the negative impact on readers' vision when designers use annoying - literally and figuratively - the same type of geometric shapes. After all, when a person sees many identical objects of two diametrically opposite color ranges, for example, parallel black stripes on a white background (the so-called “vest”), his eyes jump like crazy. They are forced to continuously record the transition “white-black”, “black-white”, while attention is defocused, the brain is constantly “bombarded” with impulses. If you look at such a picture for a long time, it will lead to fatigue, headaches, and irritability.” 1 Newspaper layout designers, using the capabilities of the computer, began to abuse the so-called “reversals” - white letters on black. It is even more difficult to perceive text on a gray background, especially when the font is used in a light rather than bold (bold) style. In general, the newspaper pattern, that is, the combination of a text field, spaces, black and gray planes, is becoming more and more aggressive, and from an aesthetic point of view, also eclectic. Small text font sizes and excessively large title fonts do not optimize, but zat-" hinder the process of semantic perception of visual information. Nuances and graphic pauses are ignored, but the use of these techniques is not only an indicator of the class of designers - without them the process of perception is truly nervous. Especially if you take into account the enormous size of the photographs, the ever-increasing number of montages, collages on the front pages of newspapers and the covers of tabloids, magazines, and on the inside pages - when designing the header complexes of voluminous publications. Another problem is the multi-headset. It seems that other designers decided to reproduce literally all the fonts of computer libraries. The possibilities of modern layout programs are great, if not limitless, but when changing the size, writing, and shading of letters, you should remember a sense of proportion. Good taste is a feeling of harmony. It is harmonious compositions that correspond to the human nature of perception.

Psycholinguists use the term “semantic perception” in connection with speech messages. There is no doubt that the perception of visual information is characterized by a process of comprehension, which has an effective side (understanding - misunderstanding): “...Being an awareness of an object, human perception normally includes the act of understanding, comprehension” 1. Consequently, we can talk about the semantic perception of visual information in a newspaper (visual information in a newspaper is all elements of the newspaper form visible to the eye, obtained by the contact of paper and the printing elements of the printed form; spaces can also act as visual units).

If the reader is offered prints of printing materials (for example, rulers), then perception will take place at the simplest level recognition Some geometric figure, formed using the same rulers (in a newspaper it is most often a quadrangle or a right angle), the reader will perceive it differently - at the level legibility. When the internal space, limited by the frame, is filled with a newspaper message with an appropriate heading complex and structured in a certain way (lead, afterword, bullet points in the text, chapters, etc.), the reader’s perception will proceed in the most high level- level semantic perception.

The reader can attribute the shortcomings of the form to the content. Moreover, the editors’ underestimation of the importance of the formation processes most often leads to the poverty of the newspaper’s content. And the shortcomings of the content always affect the external face of the publication. This also reveals the universal law of the unity of content and form. Among the factors influencing the perception, memorization and acceptance or non-acceptance of transmitted information (general assessment by the audience of the social usefulness of a certain means of delivering information; adherence to the moral and ethical standards prevailing in the audience; maintaining group prestige, etc.), Yu.A. Sherkovin highlighted the following: reaction to the style and presentation of information 2. Naturally, the role of design in the reader’s perception of a newspaper should be assessed only when there are favorable conditions that optimize this process: the reader has enough knowledge to become interested in the materials of a given newspaper, understand and assimilate them; For the reader, these materials are valuable with new interesting (useful, educational) information. That is why it is very important to position your newspaper for a certain part of the audience, clearly representing its needs (motives, needs, interests, attitudes, stereotypes). her intellectual level, life experience(practical training), giving the materials appropriate literary form, electing a certain tone design. For example, it is obvious that the reader of youth newspapers is extremely unstable, his character, tastes and preferences have not yet been completely determined, and therefore it is extremely difficult to “catch the eye” in the process of visual communication (E. Lissitzky’s expression). The peculiarity of this reader also lies in the fact that in the process of visual communication he has the highest level of “conditional independence” in the “read or not read” attitude. And since design not only presents information, but also convinces, and also has elements of suggestion, it is clear how much the requirements for its ideological, semantic and aesthetic sides are increasing.

Let us turn to the process of the reader’s perception of the newspaper form, which imperceptibly brings the content to the reader’s consciousness (it seems to the person that he is perceiving the content directly). It is clear that no one specifically teaches the perception of design, but this process is carried out informally - through the past experience of people for whom reading not only local, but also central newspapers has become an everyday need. “Psychological processing of information is schematized to the extent that it is due to the combined influence of internal and external factors, regardless of whether you are aware of it or not” 1. TO external factors let us attribute everything that happens around the reader to at the moment time, to internal - everything that happens inside him at the same moment (past knowledge and experience, attitude to this newspaper, this issue, this genre, this author, the current state of his health, “psychological baggage” - beliefs, misconceptions , opinions, etc.). These factors are periodically - both consciously and unconsciously - processed by a person, and as a result he acts in one way or another: he looks through the newspaper, begins to carefully read the material that interests him, puts off reading until later...

Sensory perception formally precedes the main stage of semantic perception - the process of analysis and synthesis of the information received.

At the first stage, visual information is instantly perceived. But the newspaper also contains text that sets a certain reading order; its composition is not fully realized instantly, but only after finishing reading. Thus, the text presented in the newspaper “is simultaneously perceived both as the text itself and as a visual sign, that is, in conflict” 1 . Here it is appropriate to give a description of the nature of our perception given by V.A. Favorsky. A well-known graphic artist and book design researcher says that this nature is in some sense full of conflicts: “The conflict between the plane and the space that is depicted on it. Conflict of plans - what is the main one? Conflict of subject and space, conflict of color and volume, etc.” 2. He further clarifies: the artist (in our case, the designer) must see and resolve conflicts, bringing them to wholeness, and organize a line of viewing. By organizing movement in the newspaper, the designer also organizes the reader’s memory.

The optimality of perception is reduced by the presence of interference - a combination of factors that can interfere with the reception of a message. Among them are “the insufficiency of non-linguistic context (the absence of a communicator, and this is an obstacle to understanding the content) and often one-time perception due to lack of time and lack of orientation to perception” 3, as well as: poor typographical execution of the entire newspaper issue, incomprehensible configuration of the material, small text font and many other factors, both technical (the capabilities of editorial technology and the printing base) and subjective (errors during layout, errors of the layout designer, proofreader, room attendant - even the work of the post office).

Modeling the newspaper as a whole allows you to reduce the amount of interference to a certain minimum - the structure of the editorial office, the work of the editorial team, the release of the issue, the external appearance of the publications, etc. For example, compositional and graphic modeling optimizes the perception of newspaper content mainly due to the stability of a pre-thought-out, aesthetically verified external it expressions. It is with compositional and graphic modeling that a kind of “training” of the reader in the perception of newspaper design occurs. The erudition of modern people (knowledge in the field of architecture, applied graphics, etc.), reading and viewing experience allows them to approach the design of a newspaper with the most strict standards. And even if the reader cannot explain to himself or you what the flaws in the design of this newspaper are, he will still easily distinguish a reasonably and carefully, lovingly designed publication from a sloppy publication that is ill-conceived in terms of form.

Among the hindrances that reduce the optimality of perception, we also named the lack of attitude towards perception. What is this installation? It is most correct to characterize it as a holistic state of the subject, a state that is not conscious, but still represents “a peculiar tendency towards certain contents of consciousness” 1 . This is the final psychological product of information influence, the state of internal readiness of the individual as an integral subject for a certain actual action.

We have already noted that reading a newspaper for modern man rather not even a necessity, but a need. On the pages of “his” newspaper, he finds materials telling about the political, social, personal life of people, society as a whole. The reader can come, call or send a letter to the editor - ask a question, make criticism, talk about painful issues... With today's typological diversity of the press, there are all the conditions (i.e. needs and situations) for the manifestation and “education” of reader activity - this is both “a technique that guarantees us a means of satisfying our needs” and “a source that makes it possible to directly satisfy them” 2 . Such quality grows on the basis of a fixed installation.

If the reader has developed a certain attitude towards the design of this newspaper, if it is fixed firmly enough, and we will also update it constantly, then we can notice that a certain form will orient him to a certain nature of the content (here we are dealing with advanced reflection) . The depth of design impact will be achieved only when the opinions of the recipient (reader) and the communicator (newspaper) converge as closely as possible. In this sense, the concept of attitude coincides with the concepts of stereotype (the term of the American publicist and sociologist Walter Lippmann, introduced into scientific circulation in 1922), predicted expectation, action acceptor, etc. 3 . The specificity of the attitude (stereotype) and the strength of its influence on decision-making depend on an effective (scientific, aesthetically verified) compositional and graphic model.

The difficulties that designers face arise from the specifics of the newspaper as a technical means of communication. This specificity is manifested in the lack of feedback during the communication process. Therefore, the secretariat workers, when constructing strips, first of all put themselves in the reader’s place. Just as the director, according to V. Meyerhold, is essentially an ideal viewer, so the journalist-designer is an ideal reader who compares the logic of the compositional and graphic construction of the pages with his experience as a newspaper reader (in parentheses, we note that focusing only on the subjective factor is the way quite dangerous, since the designer’s attitude may not coincide with the attitudes of the bulk of the readership; today, in conditions of real competition, the editors simply need to order or conduct special specific sociological studies of the target groups of influence). Without leaving a given concept, designers each time look for new ways of design, improvise within the model and thus activate the perception of readers, causing them a pleasant feeling of surprise, two: of the many psychological effects of any mass communication - emotional and aesthetic - directly relate to design 1.

A separate issue is only a part of a newspaper, unfolded in space and time, and therefore everything new should not conflict with the existing design system in this newspaper. In practice, this is what happens: traditional methods in presenting newspaper video sequences dominate regardless of the subjective decisions of the designer, especially since the subordination of the design to the content, which is characterized by greater stability in relation to form, as well as the minimum time devoted to the design and layout of newspaper pages, and other reasons force designers to maintain consistency in the composition and graphics of the newspaper. But if the design policy is not recorded in the document (descriptive and physical models), or entered into the computer memory (styles), there will be more subjective decisions than normal, and this destroys the attitude towards receiving newspaper information. By the way, according to psychologists, when meeting an acquaintance, the reader receives pleasure from recognition and easily transfers it to a recognizable object, and this object (in our case, a newspaper message) is perceived faster. Thoughtful compositions, successful graphic solutions (the presence of a certain design idea for a selection, page, issue, newspaper model), perceived (understood) by the reader, contribute to the feeling of satisfaction and even involvement in the process of creating, designing and transmitting information - this is a kind of “co-creation” journalists and audiences at the level of “form awareness”.

Practice shows that even the most sharp turns In the design line of the publication, it is more reasonable to test it in some special issues (thematic, holiday, and, if possible, in special experimental issues), so as not to destroy the reader’s understanding of the newspaper’s policy in ordinary issues. It is advisable to introduce proven innovations from the beginning of the year, when the reader traditionally has an attitude towards accepting something new. By this time, the newspaper model should also be adjusted to take into account the changes caused by the requirements of the day. This is also explained by the fact that the annual set of the newspaper should be considered as an integral organism.

So, during perception, the reader’s attitude towards acceptance or rejection of the message is updated. And since the reception attitude must be reinforced (otherwise it will be destroyed), the undeserved “pulling out” of weak materials due to design can undermine the reader’s trust in the newspaper. The design challenge extends even further: it is necessary to destroy the attitude of aversion. This happens in cases where the design attracts the reader and “forces” him to start reading. Even if a newspaper report interests him, this does not mean that the next time the reader will certainly turn to similar materials. But since a stable design does gradually undermine the aversion mindset, it is reasonable to induce similar positive perceptual effects through repeated repetition. It is also possible: the material is captivating, captivates the reader, and immediately after reading it, he or she develops an attitude toward receiving such messages. Next time, a familiar design can serve as a cue to start reading, and engaging content will help strengthen the reader's acceptance mindset.

We find approximately the same thing among psycholinguists, who claim that the basis of the psychological scheme of semantic perception is the establishment of a connection between visual units and semantic links: “If such a connection was in past experience and it is recorded in memory, then establishing a connection is tantamount to reproduction - understanding in this case occurs instantly. If such a connection is established for the first time, then its establishment is mediated by the reproduction of connections already existing in past experience, their grouping, identification of similarities and differences, etc. In this case, understanding may take a fairly long period of time, and in some situations it may not be achieved” 1. That is, the current and fixed attitudes do not contradict each other; moreover, the first, having arisen on the basis of new situations and the needs of the subject, under favorable conditions develops into the second.

All of the above will not be valid if, in the process of communication, the main condition for the effectiveness of the influence of the press as a whole is not met - attention. That is, it is necessary to achieve the reader’s intrapersonal, psychological focus on a certain subject (newspaper, issue, strip, collection, individual material) and maintain this focus even when the external “irritation” weakens.

Once you get attention, it's important to keep it. which is possible only when the design and form of a newspaper message are adequate to its specific content, when the content is interesting to the reader. Only then does contact arise understanding as a result of meaningful perception of a particular message. The instability of the attention of the modern reader poses special challenges for journalists to win over their readers. Of the three forms of attention - involuntary, hypnotic, conscious - the last, the highest, has a direct connection with the problem of understanding the directed, targeted impact of mass communication.

For effective perception, it is important to establish a correspondence between the “preliminary image” and the perceptual signal. Therefore, it is necessary that the reader is familiar with the design concept of his newspaper and imagines its “face” (image, image). The stability underlying compositional and graphic modeling contributes to the accumulation of “design knowledge” in its reader (modeling is a kind of unnoticed “training”, “education”). In the process of perception, evaluation always accompanies cognition: logical and evaluative are inextricably linked, logical is always inherent in an evaluative judgment.

The reader, receiving visual information, isolates it from the entire system of objects of perception; unconsciously (but perhaps consciously) relates it to past experience; “gives” a general and then a specific assessment of this information, as well as the information surrounding it. Then perception rises to the last level - understanding the meaning of visual information, the design idea as a whole. Thus, the stability of topics and issues, as well as the appearance of the publication, optimizes the process of semantic perception of the newspaper.

But any stability is in constant conflict with rapidly changing opinions, tastes, likes, and dislikes of the readership. In our opinion, it is this contradiction that is productive - designers must keep up with modern advances in the field aesthetic culture and adjust - educate - the tastes of the audience, increasing its aesthetic education. This process is more successful the more consistent the designers are in their efforts. And then true, enduring trust of readers in the newspaper arises.

If a newspaper stands out from others due to its form, then in conditions of a certain shortage of aesthetically verified and targeted visual information, the efficiency of its perception increases. At the same time, suggestion acquires special power - and not only at the level of the content of information, but also at the level of the very form of its presentation. Until recently, newspapers had a reputation for reliability in the minds of our readers, but their credibility is rapidly declining. This is largely due to the bias of certain newspapers, specific journalists, and the mass of commissioned materials, but it is very important to give an objective, holistic picture of the world, to direct the direct and spontaneous reflection of reality in the minds of readers “into the mainstream of a systematized, theoretically grounded and rationally comprehensible worldview” 1 by beliefs and suggestions.

The specificity of readiness to perceive information products is expressed in a clear orientation towards a certain content and the form of its presentation, and possibly towards a specific author. Readiness for perception is formed and maintained by a system of constant rubrics and a stable design (planned readiness). The readiness to accept continued publications will be even more pronounced. “The readiness to perceive certain messages (or a set of them) with a view to their logical comprehension and regardless of the external conditions in which communication occurs can be designated as “persuasibility.” The readiness to uncritically perceive messages under the direct or indirect influence of external conditions - prestige or group pressure, for example - should accordingly be called “suggestibility” 2.

It is worth dwelling in more detail on two undifferentiated methods of bringing the meaning of content to the reader’s consciousness: the main one, persuasion, and the auxiliary one, suggestion.

Firstly, we can rightfully talk about the “inspiring power of persuasion”: “...The absorption of the audience by the logic of arguments in the process of persuasion, the penetration of logic not only into consciousness, but also into feelings creates a qualitative new effect- effect of suggestion" 3. The order itself, the original and logical system of elements can cause positive emotions- satisfaction, surprise, etc. (cf.: “paradoxical move” in a chess game, “witty solution”, “elegant formula” - in mathematics). The design of newspaper information, of course, should have an internal logic. The very logic and rationality of the compositional and graphic ensemble of the newspaper, based on the laws of proportion, contrast and rhythm, convinces the reader. Logicity is also inherent in the CGM, and therefore the latter contributes to the evidential presentation of judgments, that is, to beliefs.

Newspaper design has a suggestive power: after all, suggestion can take place “when we are talking about... simple cultural norms, stereotypes that express complex phenomena of social reality in a simplified form” 4 . The mechanism of repetition contributes to the effectiveness of suggestion (at the same time, one should not forget about the elements of novelty in the familiar, recognizable appearance of the publication). It is worth clarifying: we *mean the suggestion that is based mainly on a feeling of respect and trust in the suggestor. It can only be carried out regularly when the reader’s trust in the newspaper is evident, when the reader recognizes himself as a part of a large audience participating in the process of reading his (their) newspaper. “Moreover, thoughts and feelings born by suggestion are clear and categorical, requiring action, as if they arose not indirectly, but as a result of one’s own observation and knowledge of the person being suggested.”

When a designer, using a number of techniques, highlights this or that material on a strip, he uses elements of suggestion, the effectiveness of which, in conditions of a lack of visual information (or high-quality visual information), increases significantly. The process of suggestion during design can be of two types: D) the use of a minimum of design means in the case when the newspaper material itself has one or two characteristics that allow it to stand out on the page, such as: large volume, signature of a famous author, permanent place in the newspaper ; 2) the use of a set of design means that cause aesthetic satisfaction to the reader. And here “not only the content of information, the external circumstances of its perception and the prestige of the communicator, but also the very form of presenting the material acquires suggestive power...” 2.

To better imagine the process of the reader’s perception of form, let us dwell on the concept barrier - totality various factors, which influence the process of perception, have the ability to direct and condition the individual’s reactions to what is perceived, and thereby can increase the effectiveness of the message’s impact on the reader 3.

The design of a newspaper is, in a certain sense, a barrier, through which the message not only does not lose in perception, but also gains. When perceiving the newspaper form, general erudition, aesthetic preparedness, and reading experience of people can act as a barrier. With a stable design, the reader spends less energy searching for the necessary messages, and understanding the line of the newspaper and the logical design brings him a certain satisfaction. In this case, the barrier plays a positive role and helps to consolidate the acceptance attitude.

Barriers (“associated factors”) that are associated with and influence newspaper design are the reader’s predisposition to perception, group norms, interpersonal contacts, customs, traditions, and national characteristics... There is a known case when English readers At first they did not accept the Soviet newspaper, published in London during the Second World War in English, only because it repeated the layout of our newspapers.

It is very difficult to find qualitative criteria for the conditions of perception and assimilation of the meaning of a newspaper message, therefore journalists must carefully study the experience of preparing the best Russian newspapers. At the same time, it is important to know the ways to overcome obstacles, identified by psychologists and journalism researchers. For example, designers use small font to type texts of minor importance. But it is precisely such texts that are given to the reader with tension, and he involuntarily focuses on them. Is it true, constant use This technique has led to the fact that the reader already understands: the text typed in non-pareil does not play the main role. Studies have shown that “if all the text is in bold, the reading speed remains unchanged; if it appears in regular text, it attracts the reader’s attention and slows down the reading speed. If the reader gets used to bold font, then the reading speed increases again.

The larger the line, the more fixations (stops) the reader makes, the slower the reading speed." It can be concluded that font and format highlighting are very effective, but they should not be used too often and intensively: this harms readability and also creates variegation that interferes with a normal understanding of the meaning of the content and disrupts the elegance of the appearance of the strip.

A few words about print quality. It is clear that only the maximum optical clarity of newspaper strips can serve the directional impact of the design. A bad print makes reading difficult, causing irritation in the reader, hides the positive aspects of the layout, visual units - contributes to the destruction of the reception attitude 2. The concept of readability - one of the conditions for reading productivity - is broader than the concept of visibility, “since readability is significantly influenced by factors such as the psychophysiological characteristics of the reader, his fatigue, qualifications, and profession. The visibility of the font depends only on the quality of the font design itself and on the characteristics of the reader’s vision. Readability is affected not only by font design and size, but also a whole series conditions related to the specific design of printed material, for example, different ratios of materials, location on the page (line length, line spacing, letter spaces, type of layout of the text of the publication), paper color, printing method, etc.” 1.

Based on the research of scientists involved in the problems of readability, a number of specific conclusions can be drawn regarding newspaper design:

As the main text font, it is preferable to use a “Latin” group font, a serif font (for example, a new newspaper typeface); this rule remains the same when moving to smaller fonts - from petit to nonpareil, etc.;

When communicating to a less qualified reader, it is very important to preserve the typeface features of the text font, since their influence on a specific audience (children, youth, rural readers) is quite large;

It is ineffective to read excessively short and excessively long lines (in newspapers, formats from 2.5 to 4 squares are preferred; non-standard ones should not exceed 6 squares);

Short headings contribute to speed of reading (more broadly, perception);

In the heading complex, sequential change of pins is important. Turning to the psychology of perception, we tried to trace

how the design of a newspaper, “resorting” to rational and emotional impulses, contributes to achieving the effect of information impact. Knowing that the final synthesis of impressions from the perception of visual information in a newspaper arises only as a result of the correlation of all units, it is necessary to move on to the consideration of visual information in the system of composition and graphics of a strip (number, set of numbers), to the concept of “aesthetics of a newspaper strip.”

When designing newspaper pages, executive secretaries choose a specific compositional system. The vast majority of newspapers adhere to straight, mixed (a combination of vertical and horizontal structures), and asymmetrical layout. Traditions and modern trends in newspaper design, the requirements for the prompt release of an issue objectively dictate a simple, reasonable and at the same time informal way of arranging materials.

Most local A3 newspapers today choose a six-column layout. Its advantages are obvious: firstly, with a six-column layout and typing text on 2 1/4 squares, newspaper space is saved (compared to a typesetting of 2 1/2 squares), secondly, there are many more options for the compositional placement of materials - layouts are not repeated, which naturally enlivens newspaper pages and makes them attractive. But six-column layout by itself does not provide advantages; they must be found. And some designers still “cut” pages in half, “make pies”, leave no room for dividing lines, frames - ъ In this case, it is necessary to reduce the width of one of the columns. It turns out that other newspapers, although they are laid out in the old way, with 5 columns, have a more attractive appearance. They have their own advantages: increased intercolumn spaces allow you to freely maneuver rulers, other typesetting and graphic elements, etc. But - and this must be emphasized - the use of a column with a width of 2 1/2 squares leads to the fact that readers do not receive nearly 200 lines of newspaper information in each issue...

The optimal number of columns on an A2 newspaper page is eight. Rarely do designers choose a nine-column layout, and even less often, a ten-column layout (at one time, this was how “Evening Moscow” was designed). In this case, you should not reduce the spaces between columns too much (at least 8 points), and use frames very carefully. Otherwise, having won in one thing (it is possible to build more dynamic compositions), you can lose in another - in readability.

The fact that qualified secretaries carefully vary typing formats contributes to the creation of rhythm on the newspaper page, complies with the principles of compositional and graphic modeling, and speeds up the layout processes. And yet, it is absolutely necessary to use additional formats in certain, pre-agreed cases: when typing particularly important editorial materials, going under permanent headings and located in a certain place, captions for pictures, “insets”, “takeaways in the text”, conclusions etc. Without all this, the newspaper space looks like a solid gray mass, the readers' eyes get tired, and they also find it difficult to distinguish between the main and the secondary when reading published materials - the design of the newspaper does not fully fulfill its commentary role.

An effective remedy dynamic architectural solution of the strip, methods of grouping materials in order to emphasize their connections and optimize the semantic perception of visual information is also proportion. Pleasant to the eye, the proportions in the newspaper are close to the “golden ratio” and amount to 21:34 (0.61803). Even Renaissance artists used the golden ratio in the compositions of their paintings, considering it an ideal expression of proportionality. And indeed, such a strict correspondence is observed in nature itself: for example, in sunflower baskets the deviation from the golden ratio is only four thousandths of a percent, the number of spirals in a round cactus going clockwise and counterclockwise is, respectively, 34 and 21 (!) "When creating newspaper graphics, you should also not violate this ratio too clearly. But, relying on traditional proportions, designers should not avoid changing them - changing proportions, as well as asymmetry techniques, determine the dynamics of the stripes.

The proportions that prevail in the newspaper serve the unity of the composition, and ultimately, the creation of a complete organism of the newspaper. Each specific newspaper has its own favorite proportions (some designers prefer three-column layouts - top to bottom right, others - two-column layouts, others lay out materials on 5, 6, 8 columns 60 petite lines high, with a “basement” on the 2nd, 3rd , 4 lanes...). The specificity of certain proportions determines the stability of the size of publications and sections of the newspaper. Editors often set an upper limit on the size of publications (in large-format newspapers it is approximately 300 typesetting lines), which allows for stable proportions and even serves to improve the skill of journalists seeking to express their thoughts in a concise form, the exact word. If multi-page materials are balanced by notes, short reports, interviews, correspondence, this means that the designer used a technique that is effective from the point of view of semantic visual perception - a change in proportions.

Both symmetry (asymmetry) and proportion create a certain rhythm in the composition of the newspaper, which serves to organize the movement and stopping of the reader’s eyes. Rhythm and meter along with the volumetric-spatial structure, scale, proportion, contrast and nuance, symmetry and asymmetry, color, these are the most important formative categories (means of composition). The metric structure of the form presupposes uniform movement, alternation of identical elements; rhythmic - is the result of uniform accelerated or slow motion, alternation of elements. “The metric series is characterized by the fact that individual equal parts are placed at equal intervals (simple series). With its help, rigor and balance are achieved. Compared to a simple series, a rhythmic series is more mobile, tense, and more interesting. It is more alive, it gives the opportunity further development and is therefore used by designers to express movement” 1 . Rhythm (from Greek - proportionate, harmonious) “is the most essential moment in the formation of the integrity of any work, regardless of through what channels (visual, auditory, tactile, etc.) it is perceived” 2.

The metrical basis in a newspaper is the columns of text, and the horizontal eye movement is intersected by the vertical one. The distribution of attention on a mosaic newspaper page is, in general, chaotic - design serves to organize attention (design is always order). And each reader perceives the newspaper in his own way, and not strictly from the first to the last page, from the top to the bottom materials - escheat, selective reading are specific to readers of periodicals. Rhythm is based on repetition; it is characteristic of all elements of newspaper design. A special place here is occupied by linear rhythm, which is distinguished not just by repetition, but also by a certain periodicity. In general, rhythmic repetition has a rather complex expression - it is repetition with elements of novelty. There are different dynamic and static rhythms - the first is more often characteristic of the design of children's, youth, tabloid newspapers, the second - for high-quality socio-political newspapers.

The newspaper page is built on contrasts, textual materials are adjacent to illustrations, which, in turn, are divided into line and tone; an information note is also required in a newspaper, like correspondence and an article (contrast of big and small); journalistic materials are interspersed with statistical, literary, artistic, reference and other materials; positive - critical; editorial - official, advertising, etc. Designers, in addition to the already mentioned contrast of large and small, consciously or intuitively use the contrasts of horizontal and vertical, wide and narrow, “black and white” (and sometimes additional) colors, black, gray, white and colored. In a newspaper, the “dark” parts are large headlines in bold (chopped) font, dark photographs, dense text blocks; “gray” parts - individual texts, backgrounds; “light” - parts of the strip containing a small amount of text (white space is called “air”). Some newspapers prefer a high-contrast design, while others prefer a low-contrast design.

Contrasts should be used carefully so that they do not disturb the proportions, balance and rhythm on the strip. It is apparently worthwhile to think through the use of contrast in advance, fixing its main manifestations in the model: to determine several schemes for the compositional placement of materials on certain strips, based on their theme and dimensional characteristics; choose one or two main text fonts (and heading ones too) and one or two additional ones; fix a certain group of lines, among which also highlight the main and auxiliary ones; set the size of the intercolumn spaces between illustrations.

Some people understand newspaper design primarily fontography. There is a reason for this - most of the newspaper space is occupied by fonts: text and heading, typesetting and hand-drawn. “The font plays not only the role of an informative, communicative tool, but it is a carrier of aesthetic information. Hence our requirement for a font that, along with readability, it should be beautiful, that the shape of the letters should be pleasing to the eye and provide aesthetic pleasure."" A special place is given to heading fonts, since the design of a newspaper "guides" the reader's attention mainly with the help of headings. If you try to roughly divide the process of semantic perception of visual information into stages, it can be assumed that the main heading will be a semantic stimulus for the reader, and the visual elements that form a complex with the heading (splash symbols, photos) will be a visual stimulus. Moreover, the latter precedes the semantic stimulus, and together they optimize. the process of perception as a whole.

Content is primary in relation to form. This is an axiom. But how, for example, can we use fonts in exact accordance with the content of the text? After all, there are no strict rules that would determine the semantic meaning of fonts, just as there are no exact rules that determine the meaning of dividing lines, etc. The statement “the size and design of the font indicate to the reader the meaning of the material” is of little help to the designer. Of course, the size of the headline font is consistent with the meaning, the degree of importance of the newspaper message, the size, the place where it will be laid out, as well as the number of columns devoted to it. In such cases, the practitioner determines the font size by eye. But what about its drawing, outline?

Each time is characterized by certain fonts: in the Middle Ages, Gothic type fonts dominated in Western European countries, and Church Slavonic ones dominated in Russia. Then, from the 15th century in Europe, from the 18th century in Russia, the antiqua and civil fonts, introduced by Peter I in 1710, respectively, began to be used. The Russian font school was influenced by fonts developed in French and German foundries, which led to some convergence of the graphics of the Russian font with the Latin one. By the beginning of the 90s. of our century, the domestic library of typographic fonts numbered more than 300 typefaces and contained a full range of fonts intended for typesetting all types of printed publications (for example, for newspapers such typefaces as “Novaya Gazetnaya”, “Gazetnaya Rublenaya”, “Gazetnaya Trudovskaya”, “Gazetnaya Trudovskaya”, “Star”, “Norma”, etc.). With the transition of editorial offices to computer technology for publishing newspapers, the demand for computer fonts has increased. Unfortunately, a lot of Russified font crafts have appeared. “This is done simply: from the catalog of any foreign company, you select a font based on the Latin alphabet that you like and add pictures of Cyrillic characters to it at your own discretion. The resulting set of characters is packaged in the appropriate format (HP PCL or PostScript, True Type) and offered for sale as a new font. To make it even more significant, the name of the font is changed, although in its graphic character and other features it differs little from the original source” 1 . Naturally, when designing newspapers, you should use professionally designed fonts that contain basic leading, taking into account readability, which ensure optimal page density and normal text perception. These fonts are not only technologically advanced and economical, but simply beautiful (their creators, in coming up with original designs, scientifically calculating the proportions of letters and characters, relied on the entire experience of type art).

Any font has some abstract meaning - a relationship to a certain historical period of time, softness, hardness...

But this is largely a subjective view of its nature, which also presupposes in every designer, journalist and graphic designer high taste, artistic skill, and deep knowledge of the aesthetics of the font. What if they don’t possess these qualities? What to do if there is a constant rush to publish a newspaper?

It makes more sense, based on the tastes of the editorial staff and the printing house, on the rich experience of designing the best newspapers, taking into account the traditions of your newspaper and the capabilities of the printing house where it is printed, to conditionally divide the fonts into groups by meaning. Because they will be used repeatedly in a newspaper in a particular context, readers are bound to develop an understanding of the commentary meaning of different fonts. Order in the font management will also serve the font harmony of the newspaper and will minimize errors in the use of fonts during urgent re-layouts.

Interestingly, designers are often hampered not by the lack of text and heading fonts, but by their... excess. In an effort to “decorate” newspaper pages, they use the entire “font library”. As a result, outdated and modern, sans (grotesque) and literary (Latin), excessively large and extremely small fonts can “dispute” on the pages.

It is best to use in headings only two or three universal fonts, similar in style, vary their size, the angle between the main strokes and the imaginary line on which they stand (straight - italic), the ratio between the width of the letter and its height (normal - wide - narrow), uppercase and lowercase writing, ensuring that all types of headings (elements of the heading complex) are in harmony both on the page and in the issue. This design of headings is called small typeface and requires the presence of a font schedule. There are two more approaches that designers now, as a rule, abandon: single-type design (typing the entire newspaper in the same typeface using different styles and spellings) and multi-typeface design.

In some newspapers, headlines are typed in an extremely inexpressive manner - often the title of a major publication is no different from the title of a short article on the same page. The situation is especially unfavorable with the headings of materials in collections, which are typed in completely different fonts. Sometimes there is too much “air” to the left and right of the headlines. There is no system in the presentation of headings: they are typed either in capital text font or in heading font, which in size competes with the main heading (!). Often titles are typed in capital petit. There are also errors when calculating the header area; there are many repetitions of words in the titles, even on one page. Somewhere it is customary to put titles above pictures. But this is not always justified - often the titles are too far removed from the beginning of the text. It happens that they cut the text so that it upper part perceived completely autonomously.

Hand-drawn headlines are rarely seen in local newspapers, which explains disabilities their printing houses, and, apparently, it is difficult to attract good type designers to constant - and, most importantly, operational cooperation (besides, today journalists strive to design a newspaper mainly by printing means). Often hand-drawn headlines, even if they appear on pages, are inferior in quality compared to clichéd headings. Isn’t it because this happens because they are engaged in drawing “to number”? random people? You shouldn’t neglect hand-drawn headings (they are especially appropriate in literary and artistic materials; in this case, headings can be accompanied by drawings), but it’s still better to refuse them if the editors do not have the opportunity to turn to a professional artist.

One type of heading is a heading. Since the headings differ in theme, genre, time of action, etc., designers are faced with the task of graphically identifying their unity. Indeed, groups of headings: “Essay”, “Report”, “Feuilleton”; "Replica", "Sharp Signal"; "For round table", "Direct Line", etc. - are not the same in nature and purpose, but each of the listed names is nevertheless a specific type of title.

When a newspaper has a large selection of hand-drawn sections, this is good - even in the absence of photographs and other illustrations, the newspaper pages look quite lively, but, on the other hand, the juxtaposition on one page of a large number of different “clichés” (we put this word in quotation marks, since the concept “ cliché” is preserved only with “metal” layout) threatens with excessive diversity, and therefore requires caution and special taste when arranging illustrations. Yes, not all of our local newspapers can boast of modern and aesthetic, from the point of view of applied graphics, hand-drawn sections. Rather, on the contrary, such headings carry a touch of unreasonable embellishment and decorativeism, which is not functionally justified. Headings should be made in the same style, preferably in small sizes, and it is good when their font is in harmony with the font of the newspaper title. And since they accompany permanent sections, readers create a memorable image of their publication.

But the text of headings often includes three words or more, and it becomes impossible to squeeze a fairly voluminous text into the small space of the planned “cliché” without compromising the quality of the font. Perhaps this is why executive secretaries refuse the services of artists, preferring to use typeface when submitting headings, sometimes supplementing it with small witty symbols. When the opportunity arises to increase the size of the “cliché” (a large thematic collection or page is published), the designers, of course. order permanent hand-drawn screensavers.

It is considered modern to combine graphic and font elements, to use photography or photomontage in columns, screensavers, and posters.

Some designers are fond of “reversals” in hand-drawn headings and headings, but the reverse contrast makes it difficult to read; dark “blocks” look funereal and clumsy. Still, black signs on a white background are perceived better, more familiar. Drawn sections and screensavers should not be either overly laconic or overly complex in content and set of graphic elements. Signs of medium complexity are perceived most optimally.

The fact that secretaries carefully vary typing formats contributes to the creation of rhythm on the newspaper page, complies with the principles of compositional and graphic modeling, and speeds up the layout processes. And yet, it is absolutely necessary to use additional formats in some specific, pre-agreed cases: when typing particularly important editorial materials, going under permanent headings and located in a certain place, captions for pictures, sidebars, conclusions, etc. Without all this, the newspaper space looks like a solid gray mass, the readers' eyes get tired, and they also find it difficult to distinguish between the main and the secondary when reading published materials - the design of the newspaper does not fully fulfill its commentary role.

Today, more and more newspapers are trying to avoid “font confusion” on their pages. But materials are still found large volumes, typed in bold font. In this case, the reader quickly gets tired, and the graphic rhythm of the page on which such material is placed is often disrupted. The “dark” font is used mainly when typing “inserts”, captions for pictures, for highlighting in the text - by the way, all this, as well as the use of primary and additional fonts in general, should be planned in advance by secretaries. Speaking about highlighting in the text, it should be noted that the most effective are “active” - synthetic - highlighting, combining font and non-font means (increasing or lowering the size, changing the typeface, changing to bold, writing to italic, spacing, using kerning, tracking, typesetting in capital letters, capitals, indentation, increased leading, setting a side ruler, framing, using backgrounds, turning out, highlighting). This method is especially often used: "insets" typed in a non-standard format with an additional bold font, they are taken in a light, most often newspaper, ruler, or all the lines of this “inset” are underlined with rulers. At the same time, designers strive to bring the highlighted part of the material closer to the title.

In many newspapers author's signature typed in the same font as the main text. Well, since in some newspapers the number of main and additional fonts reaches three or four, it is obvious that it is difficult to maintain order and system in the design of author’s signatures. It is necessary to unify the presentation of signatures and, regardless of what font a particular text is in, all author’s signatures should be typed in the same font size and typeface. Apparently, unification should also affect the presentation photo captions, especially the names of the authors, which in some newspapers are typed in lowercase petit, and sometimes in nonpareil, and for some reason the word “photo” is given in a light font, and the author’s surname in bold. In some cases, it is good to place the author’s signature at the beginning of materials - for example, literary and artistic, artistic and journalistic genres, thus emphasizing the significance of the publication.

Another design detail - initial (“flashlight”). As a rule, it is used when designing large materials, which are broken up by internal subheadings, and the initials open each of the parts of the text designated by these subheadings. When placing the main "heading" inside the material, the text must begin with a "flashlight", giving the reader an extra signal where to start reading. You can also use drawn "flashlights" - when designing essays, stories, etc., but you should not use them get too carried away, since an excessive number of drawn initials will create a variegated stripe and thereby complicate the process of perception.

With the introduction of computer technology, designers began to actively use "takeaways in the text"- several sentences expressing the main idea of ​​the publication. Their design is also modeled, the drawing, style and writing of the font are determined.

Newspaper ornament, in contrast to ornament - type decorative arts, in itself does not have ideological and artistic significance, but can actively serve to identify it. It should, however, be noted that it can also have some emotional content (“strict”, “light”, “cheerful”). At the same time, the connection between newspaper graphics and composition, which, as is known, can also have different character- dynamic, static... In general, the entire newspaper ornament should be an ensemble that creates an aesthetic image of the publication, cultivating the reader’s taste. It should be based on the skillful use of not only three newspaper contrasts (black and white, large and small, wide and narrow), but also the laws of proportion and rhythm, performing the main function - to help identify the meaning of the newspaper’s content.

The principles that gave rise to the desire to “overcome decorativeness, to consider a newspaper as a harmonious composition of typographic elements are appropriate both from an aesthetic and from a production and technical point of view. The elimination of decorativeness shows that designers consider the beauty of a newspaper page no longer as a set of elements that should be imported from the outside, but as something that follows from the very nature of the page, from the printing materials that make it up" 1 . Newspaper graphics are a kind of information. This means that here, too, it is necessary to take into account factors that lead to audience resistance during persuasive influence: you cannot oversaturate a newspaper sheet with graphic elements, and the elements themselves with details; logical errors should not be made when using graphical tools; It is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the reader.

Resolving the peculiar conflict “constancy and novelty” confronts the designer when designing each strip, each number. The designer needs to achieve individualization of any newspaper issue, finding something new in the design details - for example, in the presentation of the elements of the headline complex; in the design of the material due to its internal structure (“sidebar”, subheading, photo screensaver, initials, paragraphs highlighted in one way or another, etc.). The help of the authors plays an important role here. Journalists themselves can much more accurately use extra-linguistic means of identifying the meaning of the material even when writing it: accompany the material with precise, emotional headings and subheadings, an appropriate heading; break the material into separate semantic pieces, which would be nice to separate with “flashlights”; indicate where it is necessary to emphasize certain parts of the text. And these are just a few of the many techniques for the initial design of a manuscript. Of course, they should be used only according to the “internal requirement” of the material itself. The designer will complete the publishing processing of the manuscript by including it in the system of spatial, font, color and other features of his newspaper.

The designer of a newspaper is at the same time its first reader, who repeatedly checks for himself what is planned and executed. Therefore, the design policy must be clearly understood, first of all, by the executive secretary himself (only in this case will it be a policy), and strict adherence to it will certainly give rise to an understanding of the “newspaper line” among readers.

The art of newspaper design necessarily involves: understanding the idea of ​​the page (number); selection of certain materials to express this idea; selection of certain compositional and graphic means for its emotional embodiment. When laying out pages and directing their layout, it is important to take into account the entire complex of permanent elements of the newspaper: title, pages of the issue, text materials and headings for them, illustrations, service details. A newspaper issue is the final product of the creativity of journalists, graphic designers and printers. Let's see how, using basic design elements and the laws of composition, press designers create a newspaper issue.

Header part in newspapers, as a rule, it spans the width of the entire front page or occupies part of the columns.

It includes a logo (the name of the publication, expressed in graphic form), and the main output data. The logo is a kind of trademark, trademark publications (it is no coincidence that most of the famous newspapers - “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, “Moskovsky Komsomolets”, “Pravda”, “Izvestia”, etc. - not only did not change their names, but also retained the design of their font, orders, signs). The newspaper title font may influence the choice of primary and secondary heading fonts; The logo is often repeated in a reduced form in the footers of the internal and last pages.

An indication of the year of publication, calendar information, serial number, and price of a separate issue are typed either in one line at the bottom of the title, or placed in a separate block - “calendar book”. There are also combinations of layout of this data. In general, when laying out a title, designers use all known methods of presenting it - another thing is how it looks on the page, whether it is printed correctly...

It’s bad when the title part takes up too little space and is not striking, when the title font does not meet modern aesthetic standards, when the appeal, output information and other data are not combined into a complex - they “scatter”, are typed in fonts that are not in harmony with each other, when the rulers do not meet in the corners, are poorly printed, their number is often too large, and therefore they do not fit together... The area allocated for the heading part increases, but not by itself, but due to neighboring elements that designers intentionally close to the title. For example, “Obshchaya Gazeta” devotes two columns to the right of the title (at its height) to an extended announcement of the “nail” publication of the issue, and under the title, across the entire width of the first page, there are announcements of several materials from the internal pages. If we take into account that the first page is crowned with a catchy multi-line “header” and a “shock” photograph, located directly below the header, then we can conclude: by artificially expanding the boundaries of the header, designers are strengthening the reader’s orientation apparatus.

Until recently, the headline part of local newspapers was actively movable, that is, at the discretion of the designers, it moved both horizontally and vertically. Currently, not only the graphics are being stabilized, but also the composition of the title and its location. Today, as a rule, it occupies the upper left corner of the first page; of the other presentation options, two are most often encountered: the title is shifted to the right, and some important material is “at the opening”; the title is lowered slightly, and a “cap” is located above it.

Now they are also abandoning such a design technique, which was previously recognized as effective, such as the use of several title sizes. This is probably correct: the title is a permanent element of the newspaper, and it is hardly worth giving it different kind. It is best to choose the optimal size of the heading part, not too large and not too small, and for the title use clear, block fonts (they are easier to read), also achieving stylistic unity between the fonts of the newspaper title and the hand-drawn headings.

Designers actively use such permanent elements in layout as rulers. Lines in general have a special emotional impact on a person: “horizontal lines evoke a feeling of peace, being associated with the horizon line; vertical - conveys upward aspiration; inclined - causes an unstable position; broken line - associated with imbalance of mood, character, and some aggressiveness; a wavy line is a flowing line of movement, but of varying speed (depending on the direction: vertical, inclined or horizontal). In addition to movement, it contains the sign of rolling; the spiral line shows the rotational movement in development" 1. Lines can be “sluggish”, “tense”, “dynamic”, etc., which should be taken into account by designers when choosing dividing and accenting means.

Here it is necessary to adhere to the following rules: separating means must form an ensemble, correspond to the general graphic style chosen by a particular newspaper: their number should not be too large, otherwise diversity is created, making it difficult to understand the functional purpose of a particular design means (ultimately , the consistency of the design as a whole is violated).

Some newspapers choose light (newspaper) and dull 2-point rulers as their main ones. Modern design trends are associated with more daring solutions, using frames to highlight individual materials, rulers that are more “active” in style and font size, allowing for a more prominent outline of compositional layout schemes. In other publications, on the contrary, they abuse bordering and are carried away with the use of rulers of various designs - here in almost every issue you can find straight and wavy, welted and quoted, dotted and ornamental rulers. Perhaps this reflects some of the design style of newspapers, but nevertheless, separating agents must be used systematically. The number of lines, and especially their quality, the harmonious combination with each other and with other elements of the newspaper actively influence its appearance.

Related information.

Have you ever thought about how we see things? How to grab them from all the visual diversity environment using sensory stimuli? And how do we interpret what we see?

Visual processing is the ability to make sense of images, allowing humans (and even animals) to process and interpret the meaning of the information we receive through our vision.

Visual perception plays an important role in everyday life, helping with learning and communicating with others. At first glance it seems as if perception occurs easily. In fact, behind the supposed ease lies a complex process. Understanding how we interpret what we see helps us design visual information.

A balanced infographic involves the proper use of visual representation (for example, charts, graphs, icons, images), the appropriate choice of colors and fonts, a suitable layout and site map, etc. And we must not forget about the data, its sources and topics, which is no less important. But today we will not talk about them. We will focus on the visual side of information design.

Psychologist Richard Gregory (1970) was convinced that visual perception depends on downstream processing.

Top-down processing, or conceptually driven processing, occurs when we form a picture of the big picture from small details. We make assumptions about what we see based on expectations, beliefs, prior knowledge, and previous experiences. In other words, we are making an educated guess.

Gregory's theory is supported by numerous evidence and experiments. One of the most famous examples is the hollow mask effect:

When the mask is turned to the hollow side, you see a normal face

Gregory used Charlie Chaplin's rotating mask to explain how we perceive the hollow surface of a mask as bulges based on our beliefs about the world. According to our previous knowledge of facial structure, the nose should protrude. As a result, we subconsciously reconstruct the hollow face and see a normal one.

How do we perceive visual information according to Gregory's theory?

1. Almost 90% of information received through the eyes does not reach the brain. Thus, the brain uses previous experience or existing knowledge to construct reality.

2. The visual information that we perceive is combined with previously stored information about the world that we have acquired through experience.

3. Based on various examples Top-down processing theory suggests that pattern recognition is based on contextual information.

Information Design Tip #1, based on Gregory's Visual Inference Theory: Enhance the data with an appropriate theme and design; use a meaningful headline to set key expectations; Support your visuals with expressive text.

2. Sanoka and Sulman's experiment on color relationships

According to numerous psychological studies, combinations of homogeneous colors are more harmonious and pleasant. While contrasting colors are usually associated with chaos and aggression.

In 2011, Thomas Sanocki and Noah Sulman conducted an experiment to study how color combinations affect short-term memory - our ability to remember what we just saw.

Four different experiments were carried out using harmonious and disharmonious color palettes. In each trial, participants were shown two palettes: first one, then a second, which had to be compared with the first. The palettes were shown at a certain time interval and several times in random combinations. The subjects had to determine whether the palettes were the same or different. Also, the experiment participants had to evaluate the harmony of the palette - a pleasant/unpleasant combination of colors.

Below are 4 examples of palettes that were shown to participants in the experiment:

How do colors affect our visual perception according to Sanocki and Sulman's theory?

1. People remember better those palettes in which the colors are combined with each other.
2. People remember palettes that contain a combination of only three or fewer colors better than those that contain four or more colors.
3. The contrast of adjacent colors affects how well a person remembers a color scheme. In other words, this means that the color difference between context and background can enhance our ability to focus on the context.
4. We can remember quite large number color combinations at the same time.

Thus, the results of the experiment indicate that people are better able to absorb and remember more information when perceiving images with a contrasting but harmonious color scheme, preferably with a combination of three or fewer colors.

Information design tip #2, based on Sanoka and Sulman's experiment: Use as few different colors as possible in complex content; increase the contrast between the visual information and the background; choose themes with a harmonious combination of shades; use disharmonious color combinations wisely.

Binocular rivalry occurs when we see two different images in the same location. One of them dominates, and the second is suppressed. Dominance alternates at certain intervals. So, instead of seeing a combination of two pictures at the same time, we perceive them in turn, as two images competing for dominance.

In a 1998 experiment, Frank Tong, Ken Nakayama, J. Thomas Vaughan, and Nancy Kanwisher concluded that if you look at two different images at the same time, the effect of binocular rivalry occurs.

Four trained people took part in the experiment. As stimuli, they were shown images of a face and a house through glasses with red and green filters. During the perception process, there was an irregular alternation of signals from the two eyes. The subjects' stimulus-specific responses were monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

How do we perceive visual information according to Tong's experiment?

1. According to MRI data, all subjects showed active binocular rivalry when they were shown dissimilar pictures.
2. In our visual system, the binocular rivalry effect occurs during visual processing. In other words, during the short period of time when the eyes are looking at two dissimilar images located close to each other, we are not able to determine what we are actually seeing.

David Carmel, Michael Arcaro, Sabine Kastner and Uri Hasson conducted a separate experiment and found that binocular rivalry can be manipulated using stimulus parameters such as color, brightness, contrast , shape, size, spatial frequency or speed.

Manipulating contrast in the example below causes the left eye to perceive a dominant image, while the right eye perceives a suppressed image:

How does contrast affect our visual perception according to the experiment?

1. Manipulating contrast causes the stronger stimulus to be dominant for a greater amount of time.
2. We will see a fusion of the dominant image and part of the suppressed one until the effect of binocular rivalry arises.

Information Design Tip #3 Based on the Binocular Rivalry Effect: n Don’t overload the content; use themed icons; highlight key points.

4. The influence of typography and aesthetics on the reading process

Did you know that typography can influence a person's mood and ability to make decisions?

Typography is the design and use of typefaces as a means of visual communication. Nowadays, typography has moved from the field of book printing into the digital sphere. Summarizing all possible definitions of the term, we can say that the purpose of typography is to improve the visual perception of text.

In an experiment, Kevin Larson (Microsoft) and Rosalind Picard (MIT) found out how typography affects a reader's mood and problem-solving ability.

They conducted two studies, each involving 20 people. Participants were divided into two equal groups and given 20 minutes to read an issue of The New Yorker magazine on a tablet. One group received a text with bad typography, the other - with good typography (examples are given below):

During the experiment, participants were interrupted and asked how much time they thought had passed since the start of the experiment. According to psychological research (Weybrew, 1984): people who find their activities enjoyable and are engaged in positive mood, believe that they spent much less time reading.

After reading the texts, the experiment participants were asked to solve the candle problem. They had to attach the candle to the wall so that the wax would not drip, using pushpins.

How do we perceive good typography and its impact?

1. Both groups of participants misestimated the time spent reading. This means that reading was a fun activity for them.
2. Participants who were presented with text with good typography significantly underestimated their reading time compared to participants who were presented with text with poor typography. This means that they found the first text more interesting.
3. None of the participants who read the text with poor typography were able to solve the candle problem. While less than half of the second group completed the task. Thus, good typography influenced the ability to solve problems.

Information Design Tip #4, based on Larsen and Picard's experiment on the influence of typography: Use readable fonts; separate text from images; do not overlay pictures or icons on the text; leave enough white space between paragraphs.

5. Perception of the essence of the scene according to Castellano and Henderson

Have you ever wondered what the expression “a picture says a thousand words” really means? Or why do we perceive images better than text?

This does not mean that the image tells us all the information we need. It's just that a person has the ability to grasp the main elements of a scene at one glance. When we fix our gaze on an object or objects, we form a general idea and recognize the meaning of the scene.

What is scene perception? According to Nissan Research & Development researcher Ronald A. Rensink:

“Scene gist, or scene perception, is the visual perception of the environment as an observer at any given time. It includes not only the perception of individual objects, but also such parameters as their relative positions, as well as the idea that other types of objects are encountered."

Imagine that you see certain objects that represent two signs with symbols, and a diagram that symbolizes a fork and indicates two different paths. Most likely, the following scene appeared in front of you - you are in the middle of the jungle/forest/highway and there are two paths ahead that lead to two different destinations. Based on this scene, we know that a decision must be made and one path must be chosen.

In 2008, Monica S. Castelhano of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and John M. Henderson of the University of Edinburgh studied the effect of color on the ability to perceive the essence of a scene.

The experiment included three different trials. Students were shown several hundred photographs (natural or man-made objects) under different conditions for each test. Each image was shown in a specific sequence and time point. Participants were asked to respond “yes” or “no” when they saw details that matched the scene.

Normal and blurred photographs were presented with color and monochrome photographs, respectively.

To determine the role of colors in the perception of the essence of the scene for following examples photographs used abnormal colors:

How do we perceive visual information based on Castellano and Henderson's findings?

1. The subjects grasped the essence of the scene and the target object within seconds. This means that people can quickly understand the meaning of a normal scene.
2. The subjects were faster at matching color pictures than black and white ones. Thus, color helps us understand a picture better.
3. In general, colors determine the structure of objects. How better color corresponds to how we usually perceive the world, the easier it is for us to understand the meaning of the image.

Information Design Tip #5 Based on Castellano and Henderson's Scene Perception Research: Use appropriate icons or pictures to represent data; arrange content in the correct sequence; use familiar colors for important objects.

Conclusions

Understanding how people perceive visual information helps improve infographics. Summarizing the conclusions of the experiments reviewed, we bring to your attention key tips for visual information design:

1. Layout and design

• The theme and design should be consistent with the information.
• Don't overcrowd your page's infographics.
• Use themed icons.
• Arrange content in proper sequence.
• Use headings to set key expectations.

2. Video series

• Visuals should accompany the text.
• Show important numbers in graphs and charts.
• Use the right pictures and icons to represent your data.

• Reduce the number of colors for complex content.
• Make the contrast higher between important visual information and the background.
• Use harmonious theme colors.
• Use disharmonious colors wisely.
• Use regular colors for important objects.

4. Typography

• Choose readable fonts.
• Leave plenty of white space between the title and the text or image.
• Do not overlay pictures or icons on text.
• Provide sufficient spaces between characters.

Now that you know the ins and outs of creating beautiful and compelling infographics, it's up to you!