Every day, every person is bombarded with a huge amount of information. We are faced with new situations, objects, phenomena. Some people have no problem coping with this flow of knowledge and successfully using it to their advantage. Others have a hard time remembering anything. In many respects, this situation is explained by the fact that a person belongs to a certain type according to the way of perception of information. If it is submitted in a form that is inconvenient for a person, then its processing will be extremely difficult.
What is information?
The concept of "information" has an abstract meaning and in many respects its definition depends on the context. Translated from Latin, this word means "clarification", "representation", "familiarization". Most often, the term "information" is understood as new facts that are perceived and understood by a person, and also recognized as useful. In the process of processing this information for the first time, people receive certain knowledge.
How is information received?
The perception of information by a person is an acquaintance with phenomena and objects through their impact on various sense organs. Analyzing the result of the impact of a particular object or situation on the organs of vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch, the individual receives a certain idea about them. Thus, the basis in the process of perceiving information is our five senses. At the same time, the past experience of a person and previously acquired knowledge are actively involved. Turning to them, one can attribute the information received to already known phenomena or separate it from the general mass into a separate category. Ways of perception of information are based on some processes associated with the human psyche:
- thinking (having seen or heard an object or phenomenon, a person, starting to think, realizes what he is faced with);
- speech (the ability to name the object of perception);
- feelings (various types of reactions to objects of perception);
- will to organize the process of perception).
Presentation of information
According to this parameter, information can be divided into the following types:
- Text. It is represented in the form of all kinds of symbols, which, combined with each other, allow you to get words, phrases, sentences in any language.
- Numeric. This is information represented by numbers and signs that express a certain mathematical action.
- Sound. This is directly oral speech, thanks to which information from one person is transmitted to another, and various audio recordings.
- Graphic. It includes diagrams, graphs, drawings and other images.
Perception and presentation of information are inextricably linked. Each person tries to choose exactly the option of presenting data that will provide the best understanding of them.
Ways of perception of information by a person
A person has several such methods at his disposal. They are determined by the five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. In this regard, there is a certain classification of information according to the method of perception:
- visual;
- sound;
- tactile;
- taste;
- olfactory.
Visual information is perceived through the eyes. Thanks to them, various visual images enter the human brain, which are then processed there. Hearing is necessary for the perception of information coming in the form of sounds (speech, noise, music, signals). responsible for the possibility of perception. Receptors located on the skin make it possible to assess the temperature of the object under study, the type of its surface, and the shape. Taste information enters the brain from receptors on the tongue and is converted into a signal by which a person understands what product it is: sour, sweet, bitter or salty. The sense of smell also helps us in understanding the world around us, allowing us to distinguish and identify all kinds of smells. Vision plays a major role in the perception of information. It accounts for about 90% of the acquired knowledge. The sound way of perceiving information (radio transmission, for example) is about 9%, and the rest of the senses are responsible for only 1%.
Perception types
The same information, received in any particular way, is perceived by each person in different ways. Someone after a minute reading one of the pages of the book can easily retell its content, while the other will not remember almost anything. But if such a person reads the same text aloud, he will easily recall what he heard in his memory. Such differences determine the characteristics of the perception of information by people, each of which is inherent in a certain type. There are four in total:
- Visuals.
- Audials.
- Kinesthetics.
- Discrets.
It is often very important to know what type of perception of information is dominant for a person and how it is characterized. This significantly improves mutual understanding between people, makes it possible to quickly and fully convey the necessary information to your interlocutor.
visuals
These are people for whom the main sense organ in the process of cognition of the surrounding world and the perception of information is vision. They remember very well new material if they see it in the form of text, pictures, diagrams and graphs. In the speech of visuals, there are often words that are somehow related to the characteristics of objects by their external features, the very function of vision (“let's see”, “light”, “bright”, “it will be visible”, “it seems to me”). Such people usually speak loudly, quickly, and actively gesticulate at the same time. Visuals pay great attention to their appearance, the environment.
Audials
For auditory people, it is much easier to learn what they have heard once, and not seen a hundred times. The peculiarities of the perception of information by such people lie in their ability to listen and remember well what was said both in conversation with colleagues or relatives, and at a lecture at an institute or at a workshop. Audials have a large vocabulary, it is pleasant to communicate with them. Such people know how to perfectly convince the interlocutor in a conversation with him. They prefer quiet activities to active pastime, they like to listen to music.
kinesthetics
Touch, smell and taste play an important role in the process of perception of information by kinesthetics. They seek to touch, feel, taste the object. Significant for kinesthetics and physical activity. In the speech of such people, there are often words that describe sensations (“soft”, “according to my feelings”, “grab”). For a kinesthetic child, bodily contact with loved ones is necessary. Hugs and kisses, comfortable clothes, soft and clean bed are important for him.
Discrets
Ways of perception of information are directly related to the human senses. The bulk of people with the help of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. However, the types of perception of information include the one that is associated primarily with thinking. People who perceive the world around them in this way are called discrets. There are quite a few of them, and they are found only among adults, since logic is not sufficiently developed in children. At a young age, the main ways of perceiving information in discretes are visual and auditory. And only with age do they begin to actively reflect on what they have seen and heard, while discovering new knowledge for themselves.
Type of perception and learning
The way people perceive information largely determines the form of learning that will be most effective for them. Of course, there are no such people who would receive new knowledge entirely with the help of one sense organ or a group of them, for example, touch and smell. All of them act as means of perception of information. However, knowing which sense organs are specific person dominant, enables others to quickly bring the necessary information to him, and the person himself allows you to effectively organize the process of self-education.
Visuals, for example, need to represent all new information in readable form, in drawings and diagrams. In this case, they remember it much better. Visuals usually excel in the exact sciences. Even in childhood, they perfectly put together puzzles, know many geometric shapes, draw well, draw, build from cubes or a designer.
Audials, on the contrary, perceive information received from it more easily. It can be a conversation with someone, a lecture, an audio recording. When learning foreign language for auditory students, audio courses are preferable to printed tutorials. If you still need to remember the written text, it is better to say it out loud.
Kinesthetics are very mobile. They find it difficult to concentrate on anything long time. It is difficult for such people to assimilate the material received in a lecture or from a textbook. The memorization process will go faster if kinesthetic learners learn to connect theory and practice. It is easier for them to learn such sciences as physics, chemistry, biology, in which a specific scientific term or law can be represented as the result of an experiment conducted in a laboratory.
Discrets take a little longer than other people to take note of new information. They must first comprehend it, correlate it with their past experience. Such people can, for example, record a teacher's lecture on a voice recorder in order to listen to it a second time later. There are many people of science among discrets, since rationality and logic are above all for them. Therefore, in the process of study, they will be closest to those subjects in which accuracy determines the perception of information - computer science, for example.
Role in communication
The types of perception of information also affect how to communicate with him so that he listens to you. Very important for visuals appearance interlocutor. The slightest carelessness in clothing can push him away, after which it will not matter at all what he says. When talking with a visual, you need to pay attention to your facial expressions, speak quickly using gestures, reinforce the conversation with schematic drawings.
In a conversation with an auditory person, there should be words that are close to him (“listen to me”, “sounds tempting”, “this says a lot”). The perception of information by an auditory person depends largely on how the interlocutor speaks. should be calm and pleasant. An important conversation with the auditory is better to postpone if you have a bad cold. Such people also do not tolerate shrill notes in their voices.
Negotiations with kinesthetics should be carried out in a room with a comfortable air temperature, a pleasant smell. Such people sometimes need to touch the interlocutor, so they better understand what they hear or see. You should not expect a quick decision from the kinesthetic immediately after the conversation. He needs time to listen to his feelings and understand that he is doing everything right.
Dialogue with discrete should be built on the principle of rationality. It is best to operate with strict rules. For a discrete, the language of numbers is more understandable.
V.V. Tulupov
Today, journalists especially clearly understand that the design of a periodical should not be neglected, but still there is an opinion among some: when a newspaper is informative and interesting, is it worth paying attention to such “little things” as its appearance, 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; especially since modern visual chaos evokes a natural defensive reaction in the reader - he selects only those visual units that are able to arouse his interest (original designs, formats, fonts, color combinations ...). That is why designers face a two-pronged task: to streamline the video sequence of newspapers and make it the most attractive, bright, individualized: after all, the external form already determines certain way perception of the newspaper and its difference from other types of printed matter.
When the reader perceives the content of the 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. There is no need to pre-train the reader in some way. in a special way perception of information 2 - the "learning" of the reader goes indirectly, through social practice, through a consistent offer of certain means of visual communication to him. 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 shops, on city streets, when perceiving outdoor advertising, advertising on transport, etc. ).
Newspaper design is sensitive to changes in the nature of journalism, in the content of print materials. The percentage of publications in information genres has increased - there is a need for the visual organization of a large number of notes, reports, interviews. The volume of publications has increased, and this has led to an update appearance newspapers, typesetting on the basis of "banded" thematic structure. The volume of information consumed by the reader is growing rapidly 3 , and the designer faces 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 ever-hurrying contemporary begins reading the newspaper by browsing (sometimes limiting himself to this), it is important to “hook” his gaze, to highlight at least the main, essential. For some, even such “lilac” information is enough, but for some, the accented design serves as a kind of beacon, leading the eye from the important to the more important. Thus, the intensity of newspaper graphics, 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, surrounded, in fact, by an aggressive visual environment. Today, the load on the eyes, the psyche of people sometimes goes off scale for the risk of "Dangerous to health!". Special effects (one of the newest - segmented display) used on television can adversely affect the eyesight of viewers. Eye movement, according to doctors, is disturbed if a person is in an unfavorable visual environment. Video ecologists - representatives of a new scientific direction - are engaged in the definition and study of negative (aggressive visual) fields.
Modern newspapers also often show examples of the negative impact on the eyesight of readers when designers use annoying - literally and figuratively - the same type of geometric shapes. After all, when a person sees a lot of 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 fix the transition "white-black", "black-white", while attention is defocused, the brain is constantly "fired" with impulses. If you look at such a picture for a long time, it will lead to fatigue, headaches, irritability. 1 Newspaper typesetters, using the capabilities of a computer, began to abuse the so-called "reverse" - white letters on black. It is even more difficult to perceive text on a gray background, especially when a font is used in light, rather than bold (bold) style. In general, a newspaper ornament, that is, a 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 sizes of text and excessively large title fonts do not optimize, but zat-" rude the process of semantic perception of visual information. Nuance, graphic pauses are ignored, and 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 huge size of the pictures, the ever-increasing number of montages, collages on the front pages of newspapers and the covers of tabloids, magazines, on the inside pages - when designing the headlines of voluminous publications. Another problem is multi-facetedness. It seems that other designers have decided to reproduce literally all the fonts in computer libraries. Possibilities modern programs layouts are large, if not limitless, but when changing the size, writing, filling of letters, one should remember the sense of proportion. Good taste is a feeling of harmony. It is harmonious compositions that answer human nature perception.
Psycholinguists use the term "meaningful perception" in connection with speech communication. Undoubtedly, the perception of visual information is characterized by a process of comprehension, which has a productive side (understanding - misunderstanding): "... Being the awareness of an object, a person's perception normally includes an act of understanding, comprehension" 1 . Therefore, we can also talk about the semantic perception of visual information in a newspaper (visual information in a newspaper is everything visible to the eye elements of a newspaper form obtained by contact of paper and printing elements of a printing form; spaces can also act as visual units).
If the reader is offered prints of printing materials (for example, rulers), then perception will be carried out 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 intelligibility. When the internal space limited by the frame fills the newspaper message with the appropriate heading complex and structured in a certain way (lead, afterword, passages in the text, chapters, etc.), the reader's perception will proceed at the highest level - the level semantic perception.
The reader can also attribute the shortcomings of the form to the content. Moreover, underestimation by the editors of the significance of the processes of form formation most often leads to the poverty of the content of the newspaper. And the shortcomings of the content always affect the external face of the publication. This also finds manifestation of the universal law of the unity of content and form. Among the factors influencing the perception, memorization and acceptance or non-acceptance of the transmitted information (general assessment by the audience of public utility certain remedy bringing information; following the moral and ethical standards prevailing in the audience; maintenance of group prestige, etc.), Yu.A. Sherkovin also singled out this one: reaction to 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 this newspaper, understand and assimilate them; for the reader, these materials are valuable new interesting (useful, informative) information. That is why it is very important to position your newspaper for a certain part of the audience, clearly presenting its needs (motives, needs, interests, attitudes, stereotypes). her intellectual level, life experience ( practical training), giving the materials an appropriate literary form, choosing a certain tonality of design. For example, it is obvious that the reader of youth newspapers is extremely unstable, his character, tastes and predilections have not yet been finally 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 setting "read - not read." And since design does not just present information, but at the same time convinces, having, moreover, elements of suggestion, it is clear how much the requirements for its ideological, semantic and aesthetic sides increase.
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 perceives the content directly). It is clear that no one specifically teaches the perception of design, but this process is carried out in an informal way - 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 insofar as it is due to the combined influence of internal and external factors, whether you are aware of it or not" 1 . We refer to external factors everything that happens around the reader at a given moment in time, to internal factors - everything that happens inside him at the same moment (past knowledge and experience, attitude to this newspaper, this issue, this genre, this author , the momentary state of his health, "psychological baggage" - beliefs, delusions, opinions, etc.). These factors are periodically - both consciously and unconsciously - processed by a person, and as a result, he acts one way or another: he looks through the newspaper, begins to carefully read the material that interests him, puts off reading for later ...
Sensory perception formally precedes the main stage of semantic perception - the process of analyzing and synthesizing the information received.
At the first stage, visual information is instantly perceived. But in the newspaper there is also a text that sets a certain order of reading, its composition is fully realized not instantly, but only after the end of reading. Thus, the text presented in the newspaper is “simultaneously perceived both as a text itself and as a visual sign, that is, in conflict” 1 . Here it is appropriate to give a characterization of the nature of our perception, which is given by V.A. Favorsky. A well-known graphic artist and researcher of book design says that this nature is in a sense full of conflicts: “The conflict of the plane and the space that is depicted on it. Conflict of plans - what is the main one? Conflict of object and space, conflict of color and volume, etc.” 2. Further, he clarifies: the artist (we have a designer) must see and resolve conflicts, bringing them to integrity, organizing a line of looking. Organizing the movement in the newspaper, the designer also organizes the memory of the reader.
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 “insufficient non-linguistic context (lack of a communicator, and this is an obstacle to comprehending the content) and often one-time perception due to lack of time and lack of orientation to perception” 3 font and many other factors, both technical (possibilities of editorial equipment and printing base) and subjective (mistakes in layout, errors of a typesetter, proofreader, room attendant - up to mail work).
To reduce the amount of interference to a certain minimum allows modeling the newspaper as a whole - the structure of the editorial office, the work of the editorial team, the release of the issue, external person publications, etc. For example, compositional-graphic modeling optimizes the perception of newspaper content mainly due to the stability of its pre-thought out, aesthetically verified external expression. It is during compositional-graphic modeling that a kind of “training” of the reader in the perception of the design of the newspaper takes place. Erudition modern people(knowledge in the field of architecture, applied graphics, etc.), reader and viewer experience allow them to approach the design of the newspaper with the strictest standards. And even if the reader cannot explain to himself or to you what are the miscalculations in the design of this newspaper, he will still easily distinguish a reasonable and neat, lovingly designed edition from an ill-conceived in terms of form, sloppy edition.
Among the hindrances that reduce the optimality of perception, we also named the lack of orientation towards perception. What is this - installation? It is most correct to characterize it as an integral state of the subject, a state that is not conscious, but still representing "a peculiar tendency towards certain contents of consciousness" 1 . This is the final psychological product of information impact, the state of the 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 than a necessity, but a need. On the pages of "his" newspaper, he finds materials that tell about the political, social, personal life of people, society as a whole. The reader can come, call or send a letter to the editor - to ask a question, to criticize, to talk about painful things ... With today's typological diversity of the press, there are all conditions (i.e. needs and situations) for the manifestation and "education" of the reader's activity - this is both "a technique that guarantees us the means of satisfying needs", and "a source that makes it possible to directly satisfy them" 2 . This quality grows on the basis of a fixed installation.
If the reader has a certain attitude to the design of a given newspaper, if it is firmly fixed, and we will also update it constantly, then you can see that a certain form will orient him to a certain nature of the content (here we are dealing with anticipatory reflection) . The depth of impact of design will be achieved only when the opinions of the recipient (reader) and the communicator (newspapers) 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 by him in scientific turnover in 1922), predictive expectation, action acceptor, etc. 3 . The specificity of the setting (stereotype), the strength of its influence on decision-making depend on an effective (scientific, aesthetically verified) compositional-graphic model.
The difficulties that designers face stem from the specifics of the newspaper as technical means connections. This specificity is manifested in the absence of feedback at the time of the communication process. Therefore, the employees of the secretariat, designing the strips, first of all put themselves in the place of the reader. As a director, according to V. Meyerhold, is essentially an ideal viewer, so a journalist-designer is an ideal reader who compares the logic of the compositional and graphic constructions of the pages with his experience as a newspaper reader (we note in parentheses that focusing only on the subjective factor is the way rather 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 editorial office simply needs to order or conduct special specific sociological studies of target groups of influence). Without leaving the 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 - are directly related to design 1 .
A separate issue is only a part of the newspaper deployed in space and time, and therefore everything new should not conflict with the established system of design in this newspaper. In practice, this is what happens: traditional ways Newspapers dominate in the presentation of the video sequence 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 adhere to consistency in composition and newspaper graphics. But if the design policy is not fixed in the document (descriptive and physical models), not entered into the computer's memory (styles), there will be more subjective decisions than the norm, and this destroys the attitude to receive newspaper information. By the way, according to psychologists, when meeting with a friend, the reader enjoys recognition and easily transfers it to a recognizable object, and this object (we have a newspaper report) is perceived faster. Thoughtful compositions, successful graphic solutions (the presence of a certain design idea for a selection, page, number, model of a newspaper), perceived (understood) by the reader, contribute to his feeling of satisfaction and even involvement in the process of creating, designing and transmitting information - this is a kind of "co-creation" journalists and the audience at the level of "form awareness".
Practice shows that even the sharpest turns in the design line of the publication are more reasonable to try out in some special issues (thematic, festive, if possible - in special experimental issues) so as not to destroy the reader's understanding of the newspaper's policy in ordinary issues. Approved innovations are desirable to be introduced from the beginning of the year, when the reader, by tradition, has an attitude to accept the new. By this time, the model of the newspaper should also be adjusted, taking into account the changes caused by the demands 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, when perceiving the reader, the attitude to receive or reject the message is actualized. And since the attitude to the reception must be reinforced (otherwise it will be destroyed), undeserved "pulling out" of weak materials at the expense of design can undermine the reader's confidence in the newspaper. The challenge of design extends even further: to break the mindset of rejection. This happens when the design attracts the reader, "forces" him to start reading. Even if a newspaper report interests him, this does not mean at all that the next time the reader will certainly turn to such materials. But since stable design does tend to undermine the aversion mindset, it makes sense to induce similar positive perceptual effects through repeated repetition. This is also possible: the material captures, captivates the reader, and immediately after reading it, he has an attitude to receive such messages. The next time, a familiar design can serve as a cue to start reading, and engaging content will help increase the reader's set of acceptance.
Approximately the same we find in psycholinguists, who argue 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 the past experience and it was fixed by memory, then establishing a connection is equivalent to reproduction - understanding in this case is instantaneous. If such a connection is established for the first time, then its establishment is mediated by the reproduction of connections already existing in the past experience, their grouping, identification of similarity-difference, etc. In this case, understanding may take quite a long period of time, and in some situations it may not be achieved” 1 . That is, the actual 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 the main condition for the effectiveness of the impact of the press as a whole is not observed in the process of communication - attention. That is, it is necessary to achieve an intrapersonal, psychological orientation of the reader to a certain subject (newspaper, issue, page, selection, separate material) and maintain this orientation even when the external “irritation” is weakened.
After attracting attention, it is important to keep it. which is possible only when the design, the form of a newspaper message is adequate to its specific content, when the content is interesting to the reader. Only then does the contact understanding as a result of meaningful perception of a message. The instability of the modern reader's attention poses special challenges for journalists to win over their readers. Of the three forms of attention - involuntary, hypnotic, conscious - the last, the highest, is directly related to the problem of understanding the directed, targeted impact of mass media.
For effective perception, it is important to establish the correspondence of the “anticipatory image” with the perceiving signal. Therefore, it is necessary for the reader to be familiar with the design concept of his newspaper, to imagine its “face” (image, image). The stability underlying compositional-graphic modeling contributes to the accumulation of "design knowledge" in its reader (modeling is a kind of imperceptible "training", "education"). In the process of perception, evaluation always accompanies cognition: the logical and the evaluative are inextricably linked, the logical is always embedded in the value judgment.
The reader, receiving visual information, isolates it from the entire system of objects of perception; unconsciously (but maybe consciously) correlates it with past experience; "gives" a general, and then a specific assessment of this information, as well as the information surrounding it. Then perception rises to last level- understanding the meaning of visual information, design ideas in general. 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 the rapidly changing opinions, tastes, likes and dislikes of the readership. In our opinion, it is this contradiction that is productive - designers must keep pace with modern advances in the field of aesthetic culture and correct - educate - the tastes of the audience, increasing its aesthetic education. This process is the more successful, the more consistent designers are in their efforts. And then there is a true, enduring trust of readers to the newspaper.
If a newspaper stands out from the background of others with its form, then in the conditions of a certain deficit of aesthetically verified and purposeful 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. Newspapers have until recently 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, the mass of custom-made materials, and it is very important to give an objective, holistic picture of the world, to direct a direct and spontaneous reflection of reality in the minds of readers "in the direction of a systematized, theoretically justified and rationally comprehensible worldview" 1 through persuasion and suggestion.
The specificity of readiness for the perception of information products is expressed in a clear focus on a certain content and form of its presentation, and possibly also on a certain author. Readiness for perception is formed and maintained by a system of permanent headings, stable design (planned readiness). Even more pronounced will be the willingness to accept publications with a continuation. “The readiness to perceive some messages (or their totality) for the purpose of their logical understanding and regardless of the external conditions in which communication takes place, can be designated as “persuasion”. Readiness for uncritical perception of messages under the direct or indirect influence of external conditions - prestige or pressure of the group, for example - should accordingly be called "suggestibility" 2 .
It is worth dwelling in more detail on two undifferentiated methods of bringing the meaning of the content to the reader's consciousness: the main one - persuasion and the auxiliary one - suggestion.
Firstly, one can rightfully speak of 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 qualitatively new effect - the effect of suggestion” 3 . The order itself, the original and logical system of elements can evoke 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 internal logic. The very logic, reasonableness of the compositional and graphic ensemble of the newspaper, based on the laws of proportion, contrast and rhythm, convinces the reader. Logic is also embedded in KGM, and therefore the latter contributes to the evidence-based presentation of judgments, that is, to beliefs.
Newspaper design has an inspiring power: after all, suggestion can take place "when it comes to ... simple cultural norms, about stereotypes expressing complex phenomena in a simplified form social reality" 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 that suggestion, which is based mainly on a sense of respect, trust in the inspirer. It can only be carried out regularly when there is a reader's confidence in the newspaper, when the reader is aware of himself as a particle of a large audience participating in the process of reading his (their) newspaper. “Moreover, thoughts and feelings born by suggestion are clear and categorical, require action, as if they arose not indirectly, but as a result of one’s own observation and knowledge of the suggestible.”
When a designer, using a number of techniques, highlights one or another material on a page, he uses elements of suggestion, the effectiveness of which increases significantly in conditions of a shortage of visual information (or high-quality visual information). The process of suggestion and design can be of two types: D) the use of a minimum of design tools 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 tools 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 presentation of the material acquires inspiring power ..." 2 .
In order to better imagine the process of perception by the reader of the form, let us dwell on the concept barrier - a combination of various factors that influence the process of perception, have the ability to direct and determine the individual's reactions to what is perceived, and thereby can increase the effectiveness of the impact of the message on the reader 3 .
The design of a newspaper is in a certain sense a barrier, passing through which the message not only does not lose in perception, but also wins. When perceiving the newspaper form, both general erudition, aesthetic preparedness, and the reading experience of people can act as a barrier. With a stable design, the reader spends less energy searching for the right messages, and understanding the line of the newspaper, the logical design brings him a certain satisfaction. In this case, the barrier plays a positive role, it helps to fix the reception setting.
The barriers (“co-factors”) that are associated with and influence newspaper design are the reader's predisposition to perception, group norms, interpersonal contacts, customs and traditions, and national characteristics... There is a known case when English readers at first did not accept a 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 designing the best Russian newspapers. At the same time, it is important to know the ways to overcome the obstacles identified by psychologists and journalism researchers. For example, designers use a small font for a set of texts of secondary importance. But it is precisely such texts that are given to the reader with tension, and he involuntarily concentrates on them. True, the constant use of this technique has led to the fact that the reader already understands that the text typed in non-pareil does not play the main role. Studies have shown that “if the entire text is in bold type, then the reading speed remains unchanged, if it occurs in regular text, it attracts the reader’s attention, slows down the reading speed. If the reader gets used to bold type, then the reading speed increases again.
The larger the line, the more fixations (stops) are made by the reader, the lower the speed of reading "". variegation that interferes with a normal understanding of the meaning of the content and violates the elegance of the appearance of the strip.
A few words about the quality of the print. It is clear that only the maximum optical clarity of the newspaper strips can serve as a directional effect of the design. A bad print makes it difficult to read, causing irritation in the reader, hides the positive aspects of the layout, visual units - contributes to the destruction of the reception setting 2. The concept of readability - one of the conditions for the productivity of reading - is wider than the concept of visibility, “since readability is significantly influenced by such factors 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 reader's vision. Readability is affected not only by the drawing and font size, but also by a number of conditions related to the specifics of the design of printed material, for example, a different ratio of material, location on the page (line length, line spacing, letter spaces, the nature of the 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 private conclusions can be drawn regarding the design of the newspaper:
As the main text font, it is preferable to use a font of the “Latin” group, a serif font (for example, a new newspaper typeface); this rule is also preserved in the transition to smaller fonts - from petite to non-pareil, 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);
Speed of reading (more widely - perception) is promoted by short headings;
In the heading complex, a consistent change of pins is important. Turning to the psychology of perception, we tried to trace
how the design of the newspaper, "recourse" to rational and emotional impulses, contributes to the effect of information impact. Knowing that the final synthesis of impressions from the perception of the visual information of a newspaper arises only as a result of the correlation of all units, it is necessary to move on to considering 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”.
Designing newspaper pages, executive secretaries choose a certain composition system. The vast majority of newspapers adhere to a straight, mixed (combination of vertical and horizontal constructions), asymmetric layout. Traditions and modern trends in the design of the newspaper, the requirements for the prompt release of the issue objectively dictate a simple, reasonable and at the same time informal way of arranging materials.
Most local newspapers in A3 format today choose a six-column layout. Its advantages are obvious: firstly, with a six-column layout and typing on 2 1/4 squares, newspaper space is saved (compared to a set of 2 1/2 squares), and secondly, there are much more options for the compositional placement of materials - layouts are not repeated, which, of course, enlivens newspaper pages, makes them attractive. But a six-column layout in itself does not provide advantages, they must be found. And some designers still “cut” the pages in half, “make pies”, leave no room for dividing lines, frames - b In this case, it is necessary to reduce the width of one of the columns. It turns out that other newspapers, although they are typed in the old way, in 5 columns, have a more attractive appearance. They have their own benefits: increased inter-column spaces allow you to freely maneuver rulers, other typesetting and graphic elements, etc. But - and this must be emphasized - the use of a 2 1/2-square column leads to the fact that readers receive less than 200 lines of newspaper information in each issue ...
The optimal number of columns per page of an A2 newspaper is eight. Rarely do designers choose a nine-column layout, even less often a ten-column layout (at one time, Evening Moscow was designed this way). At the same time, inter-column spaces should not be reduced too much (at least 8 points), and frames should be used very carefully. Otherwise, having won in one (it is possible to build more dynamic compositions), you can lose in another - in readability.
The fact that qualified secretaries carefully vary the formats of typing contributes to the creation of a rhythm on the newspaper page, corresponds to the principles of compositional-graphic modeling, and speeds up the prototyping processes. And yet, it is absolutely necessary to use additional formats in some specific, predetermined cases: when typing especially important editorial materials that go under constant headings and located in a certain place, captions for pictures, "inserts", "removals in the text", conclusions etc. Without all this, the newspaper space looks like a solid gray mass, the readers' eyes get tired, and besides, they 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 means of dynamic architectural solution stripes, ways of grouping materials in order to emphasize their connections and optimize the semantic perception of visual information is and proportion. The eye-pleasing proportions in the newspaper approach the "golden section" and amount to 21:34 (0.61803). More Renaissance artists used golden ratio in the compositions of his paintings, considering it the ideal expression of proportionality. 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, respectively - 34 and 21 (!) ". When creating newspaper graphics, this ratio should also not be violated too clearly. But, relying on traditional proportions, designers should not avoid changing them - a change in proportions, as well as asymmetry techniques, determine the dynamics of the stripes.
The proportions prevailing in the newspaper serve the unity of the composition, and ultimately - the creation of a holistic body of the newspaper. Each specific newspaper has its own favorite proportions (some designers prefer three-column layouts - from top to bottom on the right, others prefer two-column layouts, others wrap materials into 5, 6, 8 columns with a height of 60 petite lines "basement" on the 2nd, 3rd , 4th lanes...). The predetermination of certain proportions determines the stability of the size of publications, sections of the newspaper. Often, editorial offices set an upper limit on the size of publications (in large format newspapers it is approximately 300 typeset lines), which allows maintaining stable proportions and even serves to improve the skill of journalists who seek to express their thoughts in a concise form, in an exact word. If multi-page materials are balanced with notes, short reports, interviews, correspondence, this means that the designer used an effective in terms of semantic visual perception reception - change of proportions.
Both symmetry (asymmetry) and proportion create a certain rhythm in the composition of the newspaper, which serves to organize the movement and stops of the reader's eyes. Rhythm and meter along with the volumetric-spatial structure, scale, proportion, contrast and nuance, symmetry and asymmetry, color, are the most important shaping categories (means of composition). The metric structure of the form implies uniform movement, alternation of identical elements; rhythmic - is the result of a uniform accelerated or slow movement, alternation of elements. “The metric series is characterized by the fact that separate equal parts are placed at the same intervals (a simple series). With its help, rigor and balance are achieved. Compared to a simple series, the rhythmic series is more mobile, more intense, more interesting. It is more alive, it makes it possible further development and 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 which channels (visual, auditory, tactile, etc.) it is perceived with" 2 .
The metrical basis in the newspaper is the columns of text, and the horizontal movement of the eyes is intersected by the vertical one. The distribution of attention on a mosaic newspaper page is, in general, chaotic - the organization of attention is served by design (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, selectivity of reading is specific to readers of periodicals. Rhythm is based on repetition, it is characteristic of all elements of the design of the newspaper. A special place here is occupied by a linear rhythm, which is distinguished not only by repetition, but also by a certain periodicity. In general, rhythmic repetition has a rather complex expression - it is repetition with elements of novelty. Dynamic and static rhythms are distinguished - the first is more often typical for the design of children's, youth, tabloid, the second - for high-quality socio-political newspapers.
The newspaper page is built on contrasts text materials are adjacent to illustrative ones, which, in turn, are divided into line and tone; an informational note is also obligatory in a newspaper, like correspondence and an article (contrast of large and small); journalistic materials are interspersed with statistical, literary and artistic, reference and others; 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 color. In the newspaper, the "dark" parts are large headlines typed in bold (chopped) type, dark pictures, dense text blocks; "gray" parts - separate texts, substrates; "light" - parts of the strip containing a small amount of text ( white space called "air"). Some newspapers prefer a contrasting design, others - a weak contrasting design option.
Contrasts should be used carefully - so that they do not violate the proportions, balance and rhythm on the strip. It is worth, apparently, to think over 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 subject matter and dimensional characteristics; choose one or two main text fonts (and headers too) and one or two additional ones; to fix a certain group of rulers, among which also highlight the main and auxiliary ones; set the size of inter-column spaces between illustrations.
Some people understand newspaper design primarily fontography. There is a reason for that - most newspaper space is occupied by fonts: text and headers, typesetting and drawing. “The font plays not only the role of informing, communication tool, but it is a carrier of aesthetic information. Hence our requirement for the font that, along with readability, it should be beautiful, that the shape of the letters please the eye, give aesthetic pleasure. 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 (screensavers-symbols, photos) will be a visual stimulus, the latter preceding the semantic stimulus, and together they optimize the process of perception as a whole.
The content is primary in relation to the form. This is an axiom. But how, for example, to use fonts in exact dependence on 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” can do little to help the designer. Of course, the font size of the heading is consistent with the value, the importance of the newspaper report, the size, the place where it will be displayed, and the number of columns given under it. In such cases, the practitioner determines the font size by eye. And what about his drawing, inscription?
Certain fonts are characteristic of each time: in the Middle Ages, Gothic type fonts dominated in Western European countries, and Church Slavonic fonts dominated in Russia. Then, from the 15th century in Europe, from the 18th century in Russia, fonts such as antiqua and civil, introduced by Peter I in 1710, began to be used, respectively. The Russian font school was influenced by the fonts developed in French and German type foundries, which led to some convergence of Russian font graphics with Latin. By the beginning of the 90s. of our century, the domestic library of typographic fonts consisted of more than 300 typefaces and contained a full range of fonts intended for typing all types of printed publications (for example, for newspapers, such typefaces as Novaya gazetnaya, Gazetnaya chopped, Gazetnaya Trudovskaya, "Asterisk", "Norma", etc.). With the transition of editorial offices to computer technology for issuing newspapers, the demand for computer fonts has increased. Unfortunately, a lot of Russified type crafts have appeared. “This is done simply: from the catalog of any foreign company the font you like is selected based on the Latin alphabet and drawings of Cyrillic characters are added 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. For greater significance, the name of the font is changed, although in its graphic nature and other features it differs little from the original source” 1 . Naturally, when designing newspapers, professionally designed fonts should be used, which have basic leading with readability taken into account, which provide optimal typing density and normal text perception. These fonts are not only technological and economical, but simply beautiful (their creators, inventing original drawings, scientifically calculating the proportions of letters and signs, relied on the entire experience of type art).
Any typeface has some abstract meaning - relationship to a certain historical period of time, softness, hardness...
But this is largely a subjective view of its nature, suggesting, moreover, in every designer, graphic designer high taste, artistic skill, deep knowledge of the aesthetics of the font. What if they don't have these qualities? What if the constant rush to publish a newspaper spurs you on?
It is more reasonable, 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 value. Since they will be constantly used in a newspaper in a certain context, readers will definitely have an understanding of the commentary meaning of various fonts. The order in the font economy will also serve as the font harmony of the newspaper, will minimize errors in the use of fonts during urgent re-layouts.
Interestingly, designers are often hindered not by the lack of text and heading fonts, but by their ... excess. In an effort to "beautify" newspaper pages, they use the entire "font library". As a result, obsolete and modern, chopped (grotesque) and literary (Latin), excessively large and extremely small fonts can “argue” on the strips.
It is best to use only two or three universal fonts similar in style in headings, 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-heading and assumes the presence of a font schedule. There are two more approaches that designers now tend to abandon: single-type design (setting the entire newspaper in the same typeface using different styles and spellings) and multi-typeface design.
In some newspapers, headlines are typed extremely inexpressively - 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 typed in completely different fonts. Sometimes there is too much "air" to the left and right of the headings. There is no system in the submission of headings: they are typed either in a capital text font, or in a heading font, which competes with the main heading in size (!). Often titles are typed in capital petite. There are errors in the calculation of the heading area, there are many repetitions of words in the titles even on one page. Somewhere it is customary to put captions above the pictures. But after all, this is far from always justified - often the titles are too detached from the beginning of the text. It happens that they cut the text so that its upper part is perceived completely autonomously.
Drawn headlines are rarely seen in local newspapers, which is explained by the limited capabilities of their printing houses, and, apparently, it is difficult to attract good type designers to constant and, most importantly, operational cooperation (besides, today journalists tend to design a newspaper mainly by printing means). Often, drawn headlines, if they appear on the pages, lose in quality compared to clichéd headings. Is it because it happens that random people are engaged in drawing "in number"? Drawn headings should not be neglected (they are especially appropriate in literary and artistic materials; in this case, headings can be accompanied by drawings), but it is still better to refuse them if the editors do not have the opportunity to contact a professional artist.
One type of heading is a rubric. Since the headings differ in topic, genre, time of action, etc., the designer faces the task of graphically revealing their unity. Indeed, groups of headings: "Essay", "Report", "Feuilleton"; "Replica", "Sharp signal"; "At the round table", "Direct line", etc. - are not the same in nature and purpose, but each of the listed titles is nevertheless a specific type of heading.
When a newspaper has a large selection of drawn headings, this is good - even in the absence of photographs and other illustrations, the newspaper pages look quite lively, but, on the other hand, the neighborhood on one page of a large number of different "clichés" (we put this word in quotation marks, since the concept " cliche” is preserved only with “metal” layout) threatens with excessive variegation, and therefore requires caution, special taste when staging illustrations. Yes, not all of our local newspapers can boast of modern and aesthetic, from the point of view of applied graphics, drawn headings. Rather, on the contrary - such headings bear a touch of unreasonable embellishment, 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 the 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 fit a rather voluminous text into the small space of the planned "cliché" without compromising the quality of the font. Perhaps that is why executive secretaries refuse the services of artists, preferring to use typesetting when submitting headings, sometimes supplementing it with small witty symbols. When it becomes possible to increase the size of the "cliche" (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, use photography or photomontage in headings, headlines, posters.
Some designers are fond of "reversals" in drawn headings and headings, but the reverse contrast makes reading difficult, dark "dice" look mournful, clumsy. Still, black characters on a white background are perceived better, more familiar. Drawn headings and screensavers should not be either too concise or too complex in content and set of graphic elements. Signs of medium complexity are most optimally perceived.
The fact that the secretaries carefully vary the formats of typing contributes to the creation of a rhythm on the newspaper page, corresponds to the principles of compositional and graphic modeling, and speeds up the prototyping processes. And yet, it is absolutely necessary to use additional formats in some specific, predetermined cases: when typing especially important editorial materials that go under constant 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 besides, they 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 "type confusion" on the pages. But there are still materials of large volumes, typed in bold type. At the same time, the reader quickly gets tired, moreover, the graphic rhythm of the page on which such material is placed is often disturbed. The "dark" font is mainly used when typing "insets", captions for pictures, for highlighting in the text - by the way, all this, as well as the use of basic and additional fonts in general, should be planned in advance by the secretaries. Speaking about selections in the text, it should be noted that the most effective are “active” - synthetic - selections that combine font and non-font means (increasing or lowering the size, changing the typeface, bolding, writing - italic, spacing, applying kerning, tracking, typing in capital letters, small caps, retraction, increased leading, setting a side ruler, framing, using background substrates, reversing, highlighting). This method is especially often used: "cut-ins" Typed in a non-standard format in an additional bold font, they are taken into a light, most often newspaper, ruler, or all lines of this “frame” are underlined with rulers. At the same time, the designers strive to bring the allocated part of the material closer to the title.
in many newspapers author's signature type in the same font as the main text. Well, since in some newspapers the number of basic and additional fonts reaches three or four, it is obvious that it is difficult to maintain order and system in the design of copyright signatures. It is necessary to unify the submission of signatures and, regardless of what font this or that text has, all author's signatures should be typed in the font of one size and one typeface. Apparently, unification should also affect the supply photo captions, especially the surnames of the authors, who in some newspapers are typed in lowercase petite, and sometimes in non-parel, and for some reason the word “photo” is given in light print, and the author’s surname is in bold. In some cases, it is good to put 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 in the design of large materials, which are divided by internal subheadings, and the initials open each of the parts of the text indicated by these subheadings. When setting the main "heading inside the material, the text must necessarily begin with a" flashlight ", give the reader an extra signal from where to start reading. Drawn" flashlights "can also be used - when writing essays, stories, etc., but do not use them get carried away too much, since an excessive number of drawn initials will create variegation on the strip and thereby complicate the process of perception.
With the introduction computer technology designers began to actively use "outliers in the text"- several sentences expressing main idea publications. Their design is also modeled, the drawing, style and font are determined.
Newspaper ornament, in contrast to ornament - a type of decorative art, in itself does not have an ideological and artistic value, but can actively serve to reveal it. True, it should be noted that he can also have some emotional content ("strict", "light", "cheerful"). At the same time, the connection between newspaper graphics and composition is especially closely traced, which, as you know, can also have different character- dynamic, static ... In general, the entire newspaper ornament should be an ensemble that creates aesthetic image publications that educate the taste of the reader. 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 reveal the meaning of the newspaper content.
The principles that gave rise to the desire to “overcome decorativeness, to consider a newspaper as a harmonious composition of typographic elements are expedient both from an aesthetic and from a production and technical point of view. The elimination of decorativeness shows that designers no longer consider the beauty of a newspaper page as a set of elements that should be imported from outside, but as something that follows from the very nature of the page, from its printing materials. Newspaper graphics are a kind of information. This means that here, too, it is necessary to take into account the factors that lead to the resistance of the audience in the course of a persuasive impact: you cannot oversaturate the newspaper sheet with graphic elements, and the elements themselves with details; logical errors should not be allowed when using graphical tools; reader needs to be taken into account.
The resolution of a kind of conflict "constancy and novelty" confronts the designer when designing each strip, each issue. The designer needs to achieve the individualization of any newspaper issue, finding something new in the design details - for example, in the presentation of the elements of the heading complex; in the design of the material due to its internal structure (“insert”, subtitle, photo intro, 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 extralinguistic means of revealing the meaning of the material even when writing it: accompany the material with accurate, emotional headings and subheadings, the corresponding rubric; break the material into separate semantic pieces, which would be nice to separate with "flashlights"; indicate where you want to emphasize certain parts of the text. And these are just a few of the many techniques for initial drafting of a manuscript. Of course, they should be used only at the "internal requirement" of the material itself. The designer will complete the publishing processing of the manuscript, including it in the system of spatial, font, color and other highlights of his newspaper.
The designer of the newspaper is also its first reader, who repeatedly checks on himself what was conceived and executed. Therefore, the design policy must be clearly understood, first of all, by the responsible secretary himself (only in this case it will be policy), and steadfast adherence to it will certainly give rise to an understanding of the “newspaper line” among readers as well.
The art of designing a newspaper necessarily involves: understanding the idea of a strip (number); selection of certain materials to express this idea; selection of certain compositional and graphic means for its emotional embodiment. When making pages and supervising their layout, it is important to take into account the whole range of constant elements of the newspaper: the title, pages of the issue, text materials and headings for them, illustrations, service details. A newspaper issue is the end product of creativity of journalists, graphic designers and printers. Let's follow how, using the basic design elements and the laws of composition, press designers create a newspaper issue.
header in newspapers, as a rule, it spreads out to 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), the main imprint. The logo is a kind of trademark, trademark publications (it is no coincidence that most of the well-known newspapers - Komsomolskaya Pravda, Moskovsky Komsomolets, Pravda, Izvestia, etc. - not only did not change their names, but also retained their font design, orders, signs). The newspaper title font may influence the choice of primary and secondary headline fonts; the logo is often repeated in a reduced form in the headers and footers of the inner and last pages.
Indication of the year of publication, calendar information, serial number, the price of a separate issue is typed either in one line at the bottom of the title, or placed in a separate block - a "calendar". There are also combinations of breakdown of this data. In general, when laying out a title, designers use all known ways of presenting it - another thing is how it looks on the page, whether it is printed correctly ...
It is bad when the heading takes up too little space, is not striking, when the font of the title does not meet modern aesthetic standards, when the call, imprint and other data are not combined into a complex - they “crumble”, typed in fonts that are not in harmony with each other, when the rulers do not fit in the corners, they are poorly printed, their number is often too large, and therefore they do not fit together ... The area given under the header increases, but not by itself, but due to neighboring elements that designers close to the title. For example, “Obshchaya Gazeta” gives two columns to the right of the title (to its height) for an extended announcement of the “nail” publication of the issue, and under the title, for the entire width of the first page, it places announcements of several materials from internal pages. Considering that the front page is crowned with a catchy multi-line “header” and a “strike” photograph, located directly under the heading, we can conclude that designers, by artificially pushing the boundaries of the heading, strengthen the reader's orientation apparatus.
More recently, the headline of local newspapers was actively mobile, that is, at the discretion of the designers, it moved both horizontally and vertically. Currently, not only the graphics are stabilizing, but also the composition of the title, its location. Today it, as a rule, occupies the upper left corner of the first page, of the other submission options, two are most common: the title is shifted to the right, and some important material is “at the opening”; the title is slightly lowered, 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, not too large and not too small, size of the heading, and use clear, chopped fonts for the title (they are easier to read), while achieving the same style unity of the fonts of the newspaper title and drawn headings.
Designers actively use such permanent elements as rulers. Lines in general have a special emotional impact on a person: “horizontal evokes a feeling of peace, being associated with the horizon line; vertical - conveys the desire to rise; inclined - causes an unstable position; broken line - associated with unbalanced mood, character, some aggressiveness; a wavy line is a flowing line of movement, but at different speeds (depending on the direction: vertical, oblique or horizontal). In addition to movement, it contains a 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 separation and accent means.
Here it is necessary to follow the following rules: separating means should 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, it is difficult to understand the functional purpose of a particular design tool (ultimately, the logical design in in general).
Some newspapers choose light (newspaper) and blunt 2-point rulers as their main ones. Modern tendencies designs are associated with more daring decisions, using frames to highlight individual materials, more “active” in terms of style and size of the rulers, which make it possible to more clearly outline the compositional layout schemes. In other publications, on the contrary, they abuse framing, are fond of using rulers of various patterns - here in almost every issue you can find straight and wavy, welted and quoted, dotted and ornamental rulers. Perhaps this is some kind of design style of newspapers, but nevertheless, separating means must be used systematically. The number of lines, and especially their quality, harmonious combination with each other and with other elements of the newspaper actively influence its appearance.
Similar information.
2.1. Advantages visual form submission of information
Verbal language and verbal categories contain extremely primitive means for constructing space, interpreting it, or doing something with it. This goal is served by the language of images and the system of perceptual actions, with the help of which a person builds an image. surrounding reality and orientate itself in it. This system is called perception. Perception is defined as a holistic image that reflects the unity of the structure and properties of an object. The objects of visual perception are objects, processes and phenomena of the surrounding world, which can be divided and described in terms of space, movement, shape, texture, color, brightness, etc. When perceiving objects, the image more or less fully reflects the object or situation in which there is a person.
Images created on the basis of visual perception have more associative power than words. Perhaps that is why they are perfectly stored in memory. Even after a single viewing of several thousand paintings, observers are able to correctly identify about 90% of them. The visual image is very plastic. This property is manifested in the fact that in terms of the image, a quick transition is possible from a generalized assessment of the situation to detailed analysis its elements. Various kinds of movements of objects reflected in the image, their shifts, rotations, as well as enlargement, reduction, perspective distortions and normalization are possible. This peculiar manipulative ability of the visual system allows us to present the situation both in direct and in reverse perspective. Manipulation of images, their completion are the most important means of productive perception and visual thinking.
Many studies indicate that there are mechanisms in the visual system that ensure the birth of a new image. Thanks to them, a person is able to see the world not only as it really exists, but also as it can (or should) be. This means that visual images are necessary condition, even more than that - an instrument of mental activity. They are more directly related than symbols and speech, with human environment subject reality. An image is not only and not so much a contemplation as a recreation of reality. It, this reality, can be recreated in the form (or close to it) in which the object actually exists. But it is also possible to destroy the object, situation and recreate its new version or variants. On the basis of this image, changed in comparison with reality, a person again turns to objective reality and rebuilds it in his practical activity. it is impossible to prepare a creatively thinking specialist without developing his figurative representation, imagination and thinking. A tangible benefit in this matter is provided by the universal apparatus of projection schematism. One of the most important projection modeling tools used to form spatial representations is geometric interpretation. The objects of interpretation are graphic models in the form of a combination of drawings, diagrams, text, diagrams, etc. Graphic models involve displaying information in the form of a set of means for graphical representation of information: lines, symbols, mnemonic signs used in accordance with the rules for constructing graphic models. When perceiving information in this form, it is necessary to enter a higher dimensional operational space than when perceiving a text. The degree of accuracy when comparing an information object with its model depends on the completeness of information about the projection apparatus, which took place during the modeling. Figure 2.1 shows one of the possible classifications of graphical models. Pictographic model- a graphic model compiled using conditional graphic images (pictograms) denoting objects, actions or events. Ideographic model- a graphic model compiled using ideograms - conventional written signs denoting concepts.
The issue of the effectiveness of the transfer and assimilation of information is one of the main ones for recent decades. The main means of communication in the world at the beginning of the 21st century is the visualization (visual form of transmission) of information. The greatest amount of information (about 80-90%) a person perceives visually. "The dominant importance of the visual system for humans is explained by the fact that it is the most powerful source of information about the outside world, has the greatest range and stereoscopic sensory functions" .
Efficiency, advantage graphic way transmission of information, in comparison with motor or sound (Figure 2.2), lies in the fact that a person’s visual perception of the transmitted information and the creation of a mental image by him occur so quickly that a person perceives this process as “instant”. This explains the effect of simultaneity, or simultaneity, based on the property of human perception of information: created mental images when perceiving information and transmitted graphic models are very close in form.
