Resources e-letter 12:3 - June 2012
The June issue celebrates the uploading of the one hundredth item to be added to the website. Article A29, A basic guide to paper and print, provides a beginner's guide to how to communicate well in the printed medium.
One hundred not out!
The latest Article to be added to the site is the 100th item in the Resources section.
- There are now 29 Articles, 66 Training Notes and 5 items in the Health-checks section.
- The first Article and the first Training Notes were uploaded to the site in January 2001 and items have been added regularly ever since.
- Each of the 100 items is checked, updated and, if necessary, rewritten or given additional material at least once every two years.
- In summer 2010 a new Comment facility was added when the site was redesigned: once you have registered on the site you can add comments on all 100 items (please do!).
- All 100 items are available for downloading or printing out (up to 30 copies) without payment.
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Circulation of this e-letter has risen, with minimal promotion, from under 50 in the early years to almost 1,500 today.
NEW: A basic guide to paper and print
Helping you to communicate well
This practical article, just uploaded this weekend, deals with items that any church communicator or administrator works with day by day. There is rather more to how you lay print onto paper than many people realise. This is a beginner’s guide which should help you get your messages across effectively.
The look of the product
This covers paper shape, quality and look, plus print quality and font options. If you want a simple explanation as to whether your sans-serif font should be right justified on a sheet of 100 gsm paper, and help to know whether any of this matters or not, here is a straightforward explanation and advice.
Laying out the print
This part of the article covers margins, columns, font size, headers and footers, and vertical spacing. Many church publications run lines of print that are too long for the font size being used, and compound the error by including paragraphs of several sentences.
Special features of interest
By now you will know how to make any printed document look tidy – but this might make it boring. So here is advice on how to add interest through emphases, boxes, visuals, indents and breaking grids, with a postscript on tpyos.
Article A29, A basic guide to paper and print, is now available in the Articles listing of the Resources section of the website. As always you are welcome to download it and/or print up to 30 copies without charge. Why not study it in a Communications group?
More on paper and print
If you would like more on this topic, try the following (A for Articles, TN for Training Notes):
A2 Watch your image! Visual design for churches
A9 A church members’ newsletter An idea for a new publication
A21 The use of print in outreach Rethinking your church’s practice
A22 Job applications in Christian ministry Part A: Preparation
TN22 Appoint a church photographer!
TN45 Are you sure it’s minutes you need?
TN63 How not to write a newsletter
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