Designing for Newsletters

This week in class we have been working on designing a newsletter for a fortune 500 group. I chose Boeing, since I work with them a lot at my day job. Our assignment was to collect news articles and pictures from their website and compile them into a newsletter. Then, we had to sketch a draft layout of the newsletter and work to create it in InDesign. Here is my draft sketch below. It's definitely a little messy, but it's a good starting point!

Design Foundations

When you're designing the foundation of your layout, it is so important to keep clarity and organization in mind. Chances are, you will probably have a lot of information and photos crammed into a small space. So, it is vital to in keep organization so the information is easy to read and navigate through. Grids are a great way to do this because they help to divide up your space and ensure structure for your newsletter. Grids make the process of designing much easier because they help you break up your page into different sections.

Sketch First

InDesign can be a very overwhelming tool, especially if you go in without a design in mind. This is why it is so helpful to sketch your layout first, so you know what you want to create in InDesign. It also helps you save a ton of time because you can quickly sketch a bunch of different layouts to see which will work best for your purpose. Once you have picked a layout and decided where you want certain information to go, it is time to start designing on your computer. Your sketch doesn't have to be fancy either. Mine is just detailed enough to remind me where I want information to go and to give me a general feel for how I want the overall piece to look.

Consider your Elements

When designing, remember it is important to consider all elements of your design. What are you trying to convey with this newsletter? Who is your target audience? What articles are you putting in? Why are these articles important to the target audience? What colors are you using? What fonts are you using? How many pictures do you want? How do these pictures support the articles? Does the overall design in keep with the brand's identity?