Try to use standard fonts rather than decorative fonts to avoid platform compatibility problems and to give you practice making relatively plain text do interesting things. Use color only if your client has a budget. Note Williams advice in basic design, and observe the many examples in Beach. The nameplate should be emblematic of both your publication and the organization. It should reflect the style and feel of the organization.
Nameplates are crucial and often require considerable revision and experimentation.
Be sure to bring both a hard copy printout and disk copy to class. Fill out the grid questionnaire as best you can and try to determine how you will build pages. And in PageMaker, begin creating the basic grid for your pages. Use dummy text to simulate how text will appear. Write a few sample headlines for prospective stories.