The Impact of Expressive Newspaper Layout Designs on Nigerian Readers
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Academic Journal Incorporations
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Newspaper readership has witnessed considerable sophistication in recent years following the expressive design elements used by publishers and the eye-tracking visual behaviour adopted by readers. This is contrary to earlier assumptions that newspaper audiences were attentive, receptive, but relatively passive sets of readers assembled in a more or less public setting and paid little attention to how the titles were designed. This paper explores the use of white spaces, colour, and layout design principles of balance, contrast, unity, and proportion to aid page navigation in Nigerian newspapers and the psychological concept of eye tracking during newspaper reading. The Gestalt theory of visual perception and the Uses and Gratification theory serve as its theoretical underpinnings. The finding is that not only have the newspaper publishers adopted colour and other attractive design elements to retain the attention of readers, but readers now pick those titles whose designs appeal to them on the newsstands.
Keywords
audience, colour, design elements, eye tracking, newspaper readership, white spaces