Building blocks, by design

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Jan, 2001

John Johanek

Careful control of color, fonts, graphics and borders will make sidebars, charts and graphs the building blocks of an inviting layout.

Some in publishing believe sidebars should be banned. There are editors who think sidebars are a flag that the article is poorly written--that the author couldn't integrate the copy into the main story. For some designers, sidebars are the flotsam of an otherwise successful story layout. And it's clear that for far too many magazines, sidebars, charts and graphs are purely a matter of function rather than form.

In reality, the main story should be the star of the show, with sidebars, charts or graphs serving as the supporting cast. Their presence should enhance the star but never overpower it. There are some graphic techniques you can use to get the most from these editorial add-ons--to help assimilate them into the rest of the magazine's design. For starters:

Don't place sidebars and charts at the end of a story

Whether the article has one chart or a dozen, putting a boxed item at the end makes it seem like filler. This is especially true when the story has just one such graphic. In such a case, end placement gives the impression that the story came up short and the item was used simply to fill out the space--similar to the humor items at the end of a Reader's Digest story. Instead, put the sidebar, chart or graph somewhere within the body of the text and, whenever possible, in proximity to the part of the story that refers to it.

Don't create unnecessary hurdles for the reader

When a sidebar, chart or graph is placed in the center of a page, it forces readers to jump over it several times while they read the story, Thus, it becomes an annoyance for readers, slowing them down, breaking their concentration and distracting from the flow. It's much better to place the element against the margins where copy can flow around it in a seamless manner. Sometimes several boxed items can be placed at the outer edges of a spread to "bookend" text, thereby creating graphic interest while maintaining uninterrupted copy flow.

Don't add visuals to support elements that will overshadow main story visuals

Sidebars, charts and graphs inherently command importance. When graphics such as photos or artwork are added (as they often are in sidebars), take care that their size doesn't dominate the story images. This is especially true on carryover pages where photos accompanying the story are typically smaller than those on the opening spread.

Remember, sidebars are secondary story elements. Downsized visuals within the boxed item will help to deliver that message. When sidebar visuals overpower story visuals, the designer is graphically telling the reader that the sidebar (or chart or graph) is more important than the story itself. Rarely should that be the case.

As with most rules, there are exceptions. Photos, color and special effects all have a place in sidebars, charts and graphs--providing the proper situation exists. For some publications, these support elements are the only graphics the story and the designer have to work with. Since they are now the graphic focus of the story, these graphics need to become more visually entertaining. It's from just such a situation that the infographic was developed. Infographics are charts or graphs that take basic statistical data and animate it graphically--with the intention of making it more interesting than the traditionally dry spreadsheet style.

In doing so, more color is common, as is livelier typography and expressive artwork or photos. Infographics can be just the ticket for your layout--providing you have a comfortable budget for graphics. If not, there are alternatives, such as charts and graphs that incorporate a support visual--for example, a photograph of a cooling tower in a chart on nuclear power plant safety.

The variations on this approach are endless--ghost back the cooling tower to serve as a backdrop for the chart; crop or clone the image, creating an extensive sky or foreground area to accommodate the chart information; or silhouette the cooling tower and duplicate it to serve as the vertical bars of the chart, and so on. When combined with colors, typography and size of visuals, the chart or graph can take on various degrees of complexity.

However, designers can get in trouble if the chart or graph becomes too playful when the content has a serious message. It's important to remember that graphic treatment should always be sympathetic to the nature of the story, and colors, fonts and style of artwork all influence that.

Color: Few sidebars, charts or graphs benefit from the use of harsh, raw colors. Unless you're making an intentionally jarring statement, use color in boxed elements the way you would in a feature layout. Find the place you want the reader to go to first and put some color there. Make sure any subsequent color use is less powerful. Use a color palette that's harmonious.

When choosing colors, consult with a color swatch book rather than relying on the color editor on your computer screen. Screen color is seldom accurate and, in fact, is often markedly different from what you see on the monitor.