Our Basic Newspaper Advertising Sales Course

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Ad Layout: Keying Art

Now, repeat the process with any artwork that needs to be included in the ad, including the logo. Do this the same way, by getting another blank sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper, writing the word "art" on the top of the page, and attaching the various art elements to the sheet, marking them with individual numbers instead of letters to differentiate it from the copy.

Most likely, most of this art will be digital, but the concept is the same. Make sure you write each image filename in the proper place in the layout.

If in this day and age your advertisers give you a printed piece instead, you've got to be careful not to hurt the artwork while attaching it to the sheet or keying it up. Use a glue stick or even tape to attach it to the art sheet, however, make sure that you don't tape over any piece of art that you want to appear in the ad, even if it's the clear "invisible" tape.

The problem is that the scanner might focus on the tape instead of the artwork below it, resulting in a blurry image. And if you use a glue stick instead, just use enough to keep the art in place.

Also, be very careful not write, or allow your advertiser to make any markings directly on the artwork. One common way to inadvertently destroy the artwork, and to frustrate to no end the production people, is to draw a circle around the artwork that partially passes through it, or put a staple through part of the artwork.

But, odds are, you'll be getting all this electronically and this won't be an issue.

If you're submitting this digitally, I like to create a folder where I place the layout, the copy sheet, and then place a folder in there labeled "images" where I put all my art.

If you're still doing this with paper materials, once you've finished attaching all the copy to the copy sheet, all the art to the art sheet, and keying it up to the layout sheet, you'll be paper-clipping it all to an ad reservation form (which we'll talk about later) and sending it through the proper channels.

Next: Other things about art