A layout designer starts to sketch how the front page will look. Say it with pictures. An online archive of staff photos is also used. An artist would have researched the locations in the story and checked to see if a map created earlier could be adapted. Making a map from scratch involves tracing, scanning, sizing, and coloring -as well as setting and positioning type.
Artists create charts, special headlines, and illustrations, too.
All the news that fits. Page designers sit at computers with big, 21-inch screens. Colors in the digital images are adjusted so they will print accurately. Printing plants near Boston, Chicago, and Redwood City, Calif., receive the digital files from Prepress. As the Monitor is in full color, four printing plates are needed to print each four-page signature.