Headlines and decks

[ballparkman]

We have a new, young designer who is very talented. However, he wrote a one-column headline with three decks and then a four-deck subhead. I told him that it's wise to keep the subhead decks shorter than the main heads and to do something like 2 over 1 or 3 over 2 or 4 over 3 instead of 3 over 4. He shrugged and said "my rule is just not to go more than 8 total decks."

It seems I was told to keep the second deck lighter than the first, but I can't be sure.

Any thoughts?

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

I always try to use fewer subhead decks than main head decks. Think it looks better.

 

[IGotQuestions]

the deck generally always has more words than the main head. as long as the main head "looks" bigger and fuller is our rule.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

That sounds
like a very
bad idea
Even for a
youngster
working at
Podunk Press

 

[shotglass]

I won't go over five, and that only on a one-column head. Three main lines, two deck lines.

Will only use three deck lines as one-column, and as a readout under a wider head.

 

[Starman]

 

[SF_Express]

It's hard to believe I haven't written anything but a one-line standalone head (story/column/recap) or a two or three-word hammer head (cover story) in coming up on 10 years.

 

[fishwrapper]

Eight
Total
Decks?
Eat ****!

Look Here
Punk, I'm
Going to
Deck You

 

[pallister]

You often can't say much in a 2-deck, one-column subhead, which makes them pretty worthless. Three-deck subheads with one-column heads are fine. Occassionally, I'll use a four-deck subhead if pertinent information would be left out without doing so. And it doesn't look bad as long as the headline font is signficantly bigger.

 

[I'll never tell]

if everyone's Hell is different, mine will be writing one-column headlines

 

[imjustagirl2]

Our paper puts deckheads on virtually everything. I could count on both hands the number of times I've had a story with no subhead in the two-plus years I've been working here. And they're all (well, 90 percent) 1-column, 3-deck subheads.

 

[SCEditor]

Whenever I think of headlines and decks, I always think of the first page I ever designed, which included a two-column, four-deck headline with the word "thinclad" in it. I had a long ways to go when I started.

 

[Riddick]

if everyone's Hell is different, mine will be writing one-column headlines

speaking of hell, i been having nightmares about trying to make the agate page work and get it out on deadline. is that weird?

 

[BTExpress]

Depends on point size of the decks, too.

Our deck size is 24-point. That's a little large to say anything in just two lines. It also tends to look a little too big under any main head less than 48-point.

 

[HejiraHenry]

if everyone's Hell is different, mine will be writing one-column headlines

speaking of hell, i been having nightmares about trying to make the agate page work and get it out on deadline. is that weird?

No, that's normal.

Do you dream that you'rre doing the agate page nude? That would be weird.

 

[Football_Bat]

We use nut grafs instead of subheads; my limit on those is 3 decks.

 

[fishwrapper]

Depends on point size of the decks, too.

Our deck size is 24-point. That's a little large to say anything in just two lines. It also tends to look a little too big under any main head less than 48-point.

This is the key when dealing with subs. The general rule should be 1/2 the size of the main hed. I think it is a major mistake to have a 24pt sub with a 36pt main. Too much weight. And to have a blanket rule on the sizes of subs is to paint the designer and copy editor into at 12p corner.

 

[alleyallen]

Our paper puts deckheads on virtually everything. I could count on both hands the number of times I've had a story with no subhead in the two-plus years I've been working here. And they're all (well, 90 percent) 1-column, 3-deck subheads.

Same here from my last paper. We had a rail which took up one full column on the left. When you always have that anchor, you have to be a bit more flexible in your layout styles. Subheads or decks allow you to do that. They're not always the best tool, but I preferred to have as many layout options as possible.

 

[North61]

My ME recently had a one column 11 deck hed on the front page- 6 main and 5 subhed. It was the ****ing dumbest thing I've ever seen. The story jumped three paragraphs in and if I remember right, it was some snoozer piece about water pipe maintenance. I need to find a new job.

 

[MacDaddy]

if everyone's Hell is different, mine will be writing one-column headlines

About Marty Schottenheimer.