Columns aren’t just useful to support structures or advertising.
They also help you navigate texts, especially on wider sheets of paper.
Above, you can see an image of the world’s first broadsheet, printed in Amsterdam from 1618-1672, with very densely filled columns.
Because dividing the text into columns not only helps the reader - it also saves paper. And the latter was probably the main reason printers and publishers started using them.
In the 19th century, these gave birth to yet another type of column: a regular written piece by a specific journalist.
Columnists became a fixed feature in newspapers, giving them a way to create customer loyalty and to distinguish themselves from the competition.
And some columns gave birth to new media themselves:
Ladies Home Journal, 1889
“When Cyrus Curtis founded the Tribune and Farmer in 1879, it was a four-page weekly with an annual subscription rate of 50 cents. He introduced a women's column by his wife, Louise Knapp Curtis, and it proved so popular that in 1883, he decided to publish it as a separate monthly supplement, Ladies Journal and Practical Housekeeper, edited by Louise Curtis. With 25,000 subscribers by the end of its first year, it was such a success that Curtis sold Tribune and Farmer to put his energy into the new publication, which became the Ladies' Home Journal.” (Wikipedia)
Columns, starting out as a tool to save paper and increase legibility, gave us great columnists.
And even now, many newspaper and magazine readers turn first towards the page (whether paper or digital) where their favourite columnist resides.
Today, cast a typesetter’s eye on publications.
Look at the use of columns in print.
What do you prefer when you’re reading? How wide should the columns be - and how much space should be left in between?
And if you have a favourite columnist, do share.
Whose column(s) do you love to read? And why?
Share your insights on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #kramerseye.