Visual Hierarchy and Grids in Newspaper Design

Design has come a long way in terms of visual hierarchy, grids and typography since the times of commonplace letterpress. This can be seen clearly in examples of newspapers throughout history, from the plain black ink and simply practical typefaces to newspapers like 'i' (A Portuguese daily newspaper), winner of the 2010 'Best of News Design' award by the Society of News Design.

'i' is bright and engaging, using lots of illustrations, vivid blocks of colour, interesting typefaces and innovative design. Features, that were not a viable option for daily newspapers in the past because of the constraints inherit in mass-produced daily letterpress.

White space is also utilised, especially around headings, which previously would have been seen as a waste of space. Supporting images and info graphics are also a key difference in all newspapers today from that of newspapers in the past. In fact the only thing that seems to be in common are the use of narrow columns of text to make up the main content of articles.

Take a look at some more cool modern newspaper designs here.