Headines
Headlines reflect the topic
Primary and secondary headlines are essential communication elements on all spreads. Headlines help create a design for the section, tell readers what the story is about and entice people to read the story.
The main story on each spread should have both a primary and secondary headline. The main headline doesn’t have to contain a verb, especially if it features a clever twist, such as a pun or words that rhyme.
Primary vs. secondary
The secondary headline should contain a verb and should be similar to a short one- or two-sentence story summary. It should not repeat words or ideas from the main headline.
Place the secondary headline so that it either leads the reader into the primary headline or out of the primary and into the story.
Writing headlines
The main headline is usually two to three times larger in size than the secondary. If you use 48-point type for the primary, the secondary headline could be 24-, 18- or 14-point type.
Use words and ideas that connect the reader to the idea of the story. If the page features a story on a marching band, the headline might be “Marching Orders” or “Putting Their Best Feet Forward.”
To further explain the primary headline, add a secondary headline to summarize the story: “Band takes top honors in state competition.”
Headlines serve as ‘teasers’ for stories
Note that the main headline teases and the secondary highlights the story’s main theme. Neither headline repeats words nor roots of words. Both provide entry points that invite readers to explore the story.
Write straight-forward headlines for serious stories, and lighter and wittier headlines for human interest stories.
Avoid using label headlines, such as “Marching Band” or names of clubs or teams. Instead, write primary headlines that connect with the dominant photo.
Primary headline connects with images; secondary headline leads readers into story
Parts of a headline
• Primary headline: Story title set in large type; makes a verbal-visual connection with dominant photo
• Secondary: One or two sentences set in smaller, contrasting type placed to lead the reader into the primary or out of the primary and into the copy.
Headline details
• Clever, clear and creative
• Usually placed above copy; sometimes placed to the story’s side or under the story
• Work as a “team” with copy; avoid placing headline on one page and copy on another. Design headline and copy as one unit.
• Lead reader into the story
• Consist of primary and secondary components
ˆ Creatively designed
• Make a verbal-visual connection with dominant photo and story angle
Intrigue readers with well-written
Union Grove High School • McDonough, GA
Writing • 24 Powerful
Intrigue readers with well-written
Headines
Headlines reflect the topic
One way to create a main headline is to find a verbal-visual link between the dominant photo and the story.
A story on the band might have a dominant photo of the horn section, and the main headline could be “Tooting Their Own Horns,” “Brass Acts” or “Horning In.”
The secondary headline could follow with “Marching band takes top awards at state competition.”
Avoid words that are obvious, as in “Swimmers make a splash” or “Wrestlers hit the mats.”
Phrases such as “make a splash” and “hit the mats” immediately signal overkill. Readers may not be analytical editors, but they wince or groan internally when they recognize a headline as overdone.
Headline Writing Guidelines
Style
• Main headlines are one, two, three words or more, but not complete sentences
• Use action-packed verbs
• Emphasize the positive
• Replace and with a comma unless it doesn’t make sense or hurts the rhythm
• Eliminate unnecessary words
• Use single quote marks instead of double quote marks
• Avoid using “a,” “an” and “the” in main headlines
• Use only well-known abbreviations and acronyms
• Keep parts of verbs together on the same line
• Keep preposition and object on the same line
• Include a subject and predicate in secondary headlines
• Spell out numbers 1-10 and use numerals for numbers 11 and above
• Spell numbers that begin sentences
Voice
• Use present tense and active voice for primary headline; use past tense when it makes sense in secondary headlines
• Use future tense when referring to events that will happen in the future
Avoid these in headlines
• Repeating words or their roots from the main headline to the secondary
• Using the past tense in primary headline
• Using names of individuals, organizations, teams or the word “student”
• Using periods at the end or in abbreviations; U.S.A. is one exception
• Hyphenating words or phrases at the end of a line
• Crossing the page gutter with words
• Using abbreviated words
• Splitting verb phrases in a headline of two or more lines
• Splitting a preposition from its object or an adjective from the word it modifies
• Including the name of the school, the mascot, the team, the class or the club
• Using “a,” “an,” or “the” in secondary headlines
• Using “label” headlines, such as “Cheerleaders,” “Football” or “Choir”
• Including the writer’s opinion
• Avoid using all-caps, as they are more difficult to read than sentence style
Writing • 25 Powerful
Intrigue readers with well-written
Headines
Secondary headline
• Leads reader into or out of the primary headline and into the story
• Provides greater detail about the story
• Brings specifics to the headline
• Intrigues reader, causing him to spend time with the story
• Becomes part of the headline design
• Set in smaller type, 14- to 18-point
Although their uniforms have been worn in previous years, team members take pride in knowing they are…
in Heroes Hand-me-downs
Primary headline
• Grabs reader’s attention in one or two words
• Written in large, heavy type
• Designed in conjunction with secondary headline(s)
• Makes verbal-visual connection with the dominant photo
Writing • 26 Powerful
Types of eye-catching
Headines
Onomatopoeia
Words that imitate the sound they describe
Ka-boom!
Lightning strikes a little too close when it hits a truck as the driver travels down I-35
Long& short
to terriers, Judy
rescues pets after
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From Dachshunds
Johnson
Joplin tornado
Antonyms Words having opposite meanings of it
Headines
Play on words
“Sticking Together” connects with subject featured in dominant photo.
Rhyming words
“Guard the Yard” connects with dominant photo.
Familiar phrase with pun
“Blood, Sweat and Cheers” includes a play on words connecting with the spread’s topic.
Creative punctuation
Clever word placement creates an exclamation point, emphasizing the topic.
Types of eye-catching
Virgin Valley High School
Union Grove High School
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Elmwood Middle School
Writing • 28
Powerful
Intrigue readers with well-written
Headines
Taking headlines to a new level
Less effective More effective Magazine Sales Drive Drive Driving Sales, Doing Good
Our Friend, the Computer Leading the Way through Technology
Girls’ Tennis No ‘Love’ Lost Marching Band Takes Honors Marching to Victory
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Writing • 29 Powerful
