News Design 2025 Exam Flashcards

Exam Information

• The exam will be held on Monday, May 5, 2025, at 16:00 (4:00 PM) in room 6 of the School of Communication.
• A re-sit examination will be held on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at 16:00 (4:00 PM) in a room to be determined (TBD).
• The exam consists of short-answer questions. Answers may require a few words, phrases, a paragraph, or a list of items.
• There will be no multiple-choice or essay-type questions.
• Some questions may require longer answers (up to half a page), involving analysis of elements and layout, and assessment of principles, classifications, and norms based on examples provided in the exam.
• Study materials include PDF documents in the Lecture materials folder of the News Design Aula Virtual ADI, including lecture presentations and summaries/recommendations in the InDesign visual guides (weeks 2, 3, and 5).

Week-by-Week Explanation

1. INTRODUCTION (WEEK 1 – TUESDAY, JANUARY 14)

1.0. Introduction to the subject.

1.1. News design and layout: planning.

• Collecting examples of real publications in a portfolio as a source of design inspiration.
• Definitions of design and layout according to Daryl R. Moen.
• Design as a balance between efficiency and creativity, according to Francesco Franchi.
• Advantages and application of conceptual integrity in design, according to Frederick P. Brooks Jr.:
  • Create a design concept that can be systematically applied.
  • Enable teamwork.
  • Be teachable to others.
• How to systematize the design process, according to Frederick P. Brooks Jr.:
  • Clear steps and milestones in a calendar.
  • Organization and personnel.
  • Communication with a single vocabulary within the team and with interested parties.
  • Teachability to novices.
• Design systems (page 12): not covered this year.

1.2. Professional profiles.

• Tasks and professionals in news design for print (pages 28-43) and professional profiles in digital news media (pages 33-68):
  • Define a professional profile based on their tasks and relationships with other profiles.
  • Describe the tasks of a professional profile based on its name.
• Examples on pages 27, 31, 32, 39-43, 45-46, 58, nor 60-66 are not required for revision.

1.3. General principles of Design.

• Name and define the five general principles of design:
  • Balance
  • Proportion
  • Contrast
  • Unity
  • Focus
• Explain in writing how these principles are applied to the layout and format of design elements in sample pages or images, according to their position, size, shape, style, etc.

1.4. Page architecture.

• Name and explain the two complementary theories for designing page architecture:
  • Gutenberg Diagram and the 10:30 formula by Edmund C. Arnold:
    • Diagonal reading path by default.
    • "Secure" the four corners of a page:
      • Primary Optical Area
      • Terminal Area
      • Strong Fallow Area
      • Weak Fallow Area
  • Center of Visual Impact (CVI) by Mario García:
    • The designer decides where the reader first looks by placing the element with the most visual weight.
    • Establish other points of attention to create a reading path.
• Apply these theories to analyze a page, identifying the four areas of the Gutenberg diagram and the Center of Visual Impact, as well as other points of attention.

2. ELEMENTS (WEEK 2 - TUESDAY, JANUARY 21)

2.1. Formats and proportions.

• Concept of “format”:
  • Dimensions: size specified in a unit of measurement (e.g., cm or mm: width × height).
  • Proportions: width : height aspect ratio at any scale.
• Newspaper formats (pages 10-16 and 20-23) are important to memorize.
• Other formats and proportions (pages 4-9, 17-19, and 24-25) are contextual examples that do not need to be memorized.

2.2. Grids and advertisement integration.

• Grids:
  • Advantages (four).
  • General and specific definition for design.
  • What they standardize:
    • Dimensions
    • Margins
    • Type area
    • Baselines for body text (separated by leading/increment)
    • Columns (number and width, separated by gutters)
    • Grouping of lines into modules to sell advertisements
    • Folios (interior page headers with page number on the exterior side)
• Pages 4-6 summarize the above points, and pages 7-19 demonstrate grid construction and identification in Adobe InDesign.
• Pages 20-27 show columns and baselines on real newspaper examples.
• Advertising:
  • Given a page from print media (newspaper) with an advertisement marked, explain what standards for advertisement integration (pages 33-35) it meets or fails to comply with.
  • Identify the format (classify it) (pages 36-54).
• Skip the rest of the presentation (pages 55-89).

InDesign visual guide (Design20252-1_2-2 _InDesignvisualguide.pdf)

• Reinforces important aspects such as:
  • Elements that make up the grid of a publication.
  • Dimensions in mm of standard formats such as A3 and A4.
  • Page numbers for even pages (2, 4…) on the left vs. page numbers for odd pages (1, 3…) on the right.

2.3. Type. Parts and Features of Characters. Classification in Typefaces and Type Races. Styles, Weights and Variants. Size and Spacing. Setting and Alignment. (WEEK 3 - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4)

• Identify parts of letters (stem, serif, bracket, baseline, x-height, ascenders, and descenders) on a labeled diagram.
• Distinguish between the definitions of typeface/font family and font.
• Classify a headline font into type races:
  • Roman Old Style
  • Roman Transitional
  • Roman Modern
  • Egyptian
  • Grotesque
  • Geometric
  • Humanist
    Justify the answer based on classification criteria (presence/absence of serifs, degree of contrast, and shape of letters).
• Name the styles of a highlighted text fragment:
  • Regular
  • Italics
  • FULL CAPS/UPPERCASE
  • SMALL CAPS
  • Lowercase
  • Sentence case
• Identify positive and negative tracking (adjusting space between all characters) and distinguish it from kerning (setting space between two consecutive characters).
• Determine the optimal measure of characters per line of body text (45-60, according to Fassett's theorem).
• Know the relationship between type size and leading (vertical space between baselines):
  • Headlines: type size should be equal to leading.
  • Body text: type size should be smaller than the leading.
• Identify problems with alignment (left, center, justified), indentations, and hyphenation in headlines and body text:
  • Display elements (e.g., headlines) are not justified.
• It is not necessary to study from page 91 onwards, where explanations were based only on images.

InDesign visual guide (Design20252-3 InDesignvisual_guide.pdf)

• Reinforces concepts and standards:
  • Typefaces, weights, and variants.
  • Relationship between type size (in points) and leading (in points).
  • FULL CAPS and SMALL CAPS.
  • Tracking.
  • Alignment norms (display elements: left or center; body text: justified with the last line to the left).
  • First-line left indent and applicable paragraphs of body text.
  • Hyphenation rules for words at the end of lines.
  • Aligning text frames with the baseline grid (activate for body text where the leading coincides with the baseline grid increment, and the type size is smaller).

Optional Material (Design20252-3_optional _Typefaces in University computers.pdf)

• Not required to study, but useful for seeing examples of typefaces grouped by type race classification (presence/absence of serifs, contrast, and shape of characters).

2.4. Colors, Points, Lines, Shapes and Borders. (WEEK 4 - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11)

• Alberto Cairo on perception: the visual brain detects patterns and differences effortlessly.
• Ellen Lupton on perception: it is a dynamic process driven by action, looking for patterns, determined by our will.
• “The visual cues” (according to neurophysiologists):
  1. Color: objective, comparative, or subjective.
  2. Form: dots, lines, and shapes.
  3. Depth:
     • Learn at least five of the eight covered in class (pages 14-15): size, overlap, contrast, aerial perspective, linear perspective, texture gradient, motion parallax or binocular disparity
  4. Movement: real, apparent, graphic, and implicit.
• Study pages 1-18, including at least five depth items from pages 14-15.
• “The elements of design”:
  • Line
  • Shape
  • Texture
  • Space
  • Size
  • Value
  • Color
• Study the pages with larger heading that introduction each element and subcategories (pages 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31, 33, and 35).
• Skip pages with the list of possibilities for each element (pages 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32, and 34).
• Know the two color systems:
  1. RGB (Red, Green, Blue) or RVA (Rojo, Verde, Azul): additive primary colors for light-based technologies (screens).
  2. CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) or CMAN (Cián, Magenta, Amarillo, Negro): subtractive primary colors for printing technologies (ink on paper).
• Know how to describe color combinations:
  • Harmonious or discordant (strident discordance or disjointed colors).
  • Dominant colors vs. recessive colors.
• Page 42 summarizes the necessary knowledge, and pages 43-55 demonstrate the examples.
• Know how shape influences color perception (page 56):
  * Color in a square = aseptic, clinical.
  * Color in a circle = natural, warm.
• Know that the Pantone color guide is used as a reference for printed color reproduction.
• Color properties:
  • HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value) definitions.
• Discard “Color Associations” (page 60) and the example on pages 61-71.
• Page 72 is a summary of lesson 2.4.

InDesign visual guide (Design20252-4 InDesignvisual_guide.pdf)

• Not necessary to study, as it focuses on program use rather than standards or concepts.

2.5. Graphic and Typographic elements for page layout. (WEEK 4 - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11)

• Know how to name the page elements correctly and precisely, according to this part, when faced with a diagram like the one on pages 4 and 61 or a real page example with arrows and gaps to fill in.
• Explain which characteristics and norms each graphic or typographic element complies with or does not comply with, based on the lecture presentation.
• Master all the contents on this topic.
• Don't forget body text layout (columns, natural copy flow, widow lines and words) and the criteria for white space use (between elements and marking relationships).

InDesign visual guide (Design20252-5 InDesignvisual_guide.pdf)

• Not necessary to study, as it focuses on program use rather than standards or concepts.

2.6. Photographs. (WEEK 5 - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18)

• The diagram on pages 2 and 60 summarizes the topics. Definitions for “photographs” and “illustrations” are contained therein.
• The knowledge of this subject may be tested in an applied way, asking you to analyze examples provided in the exam.
• Identify and explain the function of photographs in the press, the selection criteria, the contrast between multiple photographs, and the relationship between size and complexity.
• Assess the cropping, composition, caption wording, and credit style of a photo with one or more people, according to class standards.
• Identify and explain the four special types of use of photographs in the press:
  • Head shot: small photo of a person’s face.
  • Portrait: larger photo showing personality or character.
  • Stand-alone photo: a photograph with a short headline and a length caption, prioritizing the image over the text.
  • Photo reportage, photo essay, or photo spread: covering a topic with a set of photographs.
• Examples with annotations in green text and class comments help prepare for the exercises. It is not necessary to memorize the content of those examples.

2.7. Illustrations.

• Know the distinction between photographs and illustrations made in the diagram on pages 2 and 60.
• Know the explanations by Yolanda Zappaterra and Mario García about the functions of each kind of image and when one or the other is more useful and suitable (pages 53-57).

InDesign visual guide (Design20252-6 InDesignvisual_guide.pdf)

• The checklist on page 6 contains important instructions:
  • How to prepare an image for printing:
    • Resolution between 200 and 300 dots per inch (dpi).
    • CMYK color mode.
    • Save images next to the InDesign file.
  • Create an image frame and place the image inside, adjusting the size proportionally.
  • The importance of the caption (fill in the lines) and the credit (usually in SMALL CAPS), both placed in a text frame, aligned to the baseline grid.

2.8. Infographics. (WEEK 6 - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25)

Paula Dalla Fontana.pdf (Design20252-8_ Infographics and data visualization)

• Definitions of infographics and data visualization (p.3, summary on p. 25 is enough).
• Infographics vs data visualization: presentation and exploration (p. 5, short version on page 25 is enough).
• Data visualization from a humanistic perspective:
  • Combining the personal ('pathos') and the statistical ('logos') brings stories to life and increases their impact and people’s empathy, avoiding 'psychic numbing', i.e. indifference toward big numbers (e.g. death statistics).
  • The explanation is spread through pages 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25.

Design20252-8.pdf

• Know how to identify and name the parts of an information graphic and how to assess whether they are well or poorly presented.
• Know the classification and sub classifications of types of infographics:
  • Tables
  • Statistical charts:
    • Linear or fever chart
    • Bar chart (horizontal)
    • Column chart (vertical)
    • Circular (sector or pie) chart
    • Pictogram
  • Maps:
    • Statistical
    • Distribution
    • Topographic
    • Section
    • Location
    • Event or route
    • Weather
  • Diagrams (non-statistical infographics that show how something is, how it happens, or how it works).
  • Fact boxes (extract important aspects of a topic or an event).

3. STRATEGY

• This module is not taught in 2025. The contents will be provided in AulaVirtual ADI as an extra but they are not required study for the exam in 2025.