After reviewing the sample newsletter in the Background Text section, you’ll need to develop a layout grid that shows how text and graphics will be aligned. Use layout features in Word, a drawing program, or a page layout program to create consistent columns and margins.

Don’t forget that you’ll need to create more than one grid: The front page of the newsletter should have a large masthead at the top with the title, logo, and other appropriate elements. And when readers open the newsletter, the left and right facing pages normally have slightly different formatting (page numbers on left pages are normally on the left side while those on the right side are on the right, mirroring each other). If you look at this textbook, you’ll notice the same differences.

You’ll also need to create a basic style guide or style sheet that specifies how you’ll handle typography: What font and size for main headings? Body text? Captions for pictures? Should you put text in the top and bottom margins to show page numbers or other information, like the title of the newsletter? How will you handle formatting special features such as the “Letter from the Growers”? You can adapt these things as you work on the text, but you should have a strong starting point.

Also think about what visual design will work best for people in this audience. Work with your PACT chart a little to get a better idea of what things will sway your audience.

As you edit the raw text you’ve been given, think about what stories might work best as the lead story or stories (at the top of page one). And look closely at the text: You’ve been given free rein by the board to revise the text as necessary to make it stronger or make it fit into the newsletter.

Some of the images you’ve been given will have strong connections to some of the stories, but other images are more generic (about farmers’ markets, produce, or farming in general). You don’t need to use all of them, so work at picking the strongest ones for your purposes.