Examples of newsletters and newsletter formats
Making a newsletter for the first time? Here are real newsletters with notes on what works and what we would change. Use them for ideas on layout, color and reading flow.
Conservation newsletter with a clean layout for complex material
By Tapirs.org | Download PDF
Good use of a front-page color picture of a lovely tapir. This scientific newsletter is well organized and readable. It is a good example of a newsletter with a lot to say using pictures, charts and graphs. Nonetheless, it is not cluttered. It uses simple headers for categories.
However, you can see one readability problem on pages 10 and 11. The page 10 story continues to page 11, where it picks up again in the first column under the photo. This could be a reading flow problem, since the article might just as well pick up in the second column at the top of the page. In print, pages 10 and 11 would sit side by side, so this could be justified. But as a general rule, an article should pick up at the top left of the page. This flow problem could have been solved by moving the top left picture to the right.
Organizational newsletter with superb use of color
inSIGHT by Macular Degeneration Center | See PDF
This lovely four-color, eight-page format uses a good, well-written headline on the cover and uses it effectively in color. Observe that the colors extend all the way to the edge of the paper. This is called a bleed. On paper, the printer actually trims the paper so that there are no margins. A bleed is relatively expensive in print, but costs nothing extra in a PDF.
Note the lovely use of color column backgrounds that bump together on pages 7 and 8. The signature colors of the newsletter, a green and a blue, are nicely chosen, since some colors do not look good when screened. Red, for example, becomes pink. This is a high-design newsletter that leaves sufficient space for content.
Real estate newsletter with graphics and articles
HOUSECALLS by PagesMag.com | See PDF
This newsletter, called Housecalls, is produced by PagesMag.com for our customers. It comes to subscribers as you see here, completely filled in. Our subscribers then use it as a starting point for their own newsletter, changing whatever they wish and adding their own articles and art, or they use it mainly as is. It is a good example of an attractive design that is nonetheless accessible to the non-designer. The block layout inside makes plugging in new articles easy, while allowing room for individual creativity.
A finished newsletter for senior readers
Good News Seniors is our finished monthly newsletter written for seniors: health, activities, recipes, puzzles and nostalgia. Like Housecalls, it arrives complete. Add your own news, change anything you like, and it is ready to print.
Learn more about Good News Seniors | Get a free sample issue
Never start from a blank page
Every month, PagesMag.com gives you articles, images, cartoons and puzzles you can use in your newsletter, with no copyright worries.
