The Key to Readability

David Carson and Raygun aside, publications rely on their readability for success. Smashing Magazine's collection of outstanding newspaper designs offers a peek into what makes a paper readable.

As it turns out, there are some essential commonalities to the selections:

• White space rules: With text-heavy presentations, it becomes necessary to give the eye room to move and absorb all it's taking in. White space not only helps relieve the eye, but leads it across the page and can even build hierarchy.
• Strong graphic placement: The most successful examples in this collection treat each graphic as part of a larger whole, rather than slapping images into the layout willy-nilly.
• Heavy reliance on grids: It shouldn't surprise anyone that a well-designed grid will keep elements properly proportioned, related, and ordered.

These elements help guide the reader through the meaning of each individual article, while creating an organic movement through the entire newspaper. It's a nice collection.

[via Drawn]