Popular with magazines, summaries have made a great entrance into newspapers and other printed matter. The well-written ones do not repeat what the headline says. Instead, they flesh out the story, to give scanners and those who might not otherwise read the text, an idea of what the story is about.

Typographically, summaries should be set in a minimum of 12 points, and should offer contrast to the headline. A very light headline, might use a bold summary, and vice versa.

Avoid using very long summaries. One column summaries should not exceed 8-10 lines. Summaries spread over two columns should be a maximum of six lines. Summaries should not appear as an impassable block of text. Instead, they are extensions of the headline, another point of entry to tempt the reader.

Source: Ifra, published with the permission of Mario Garcia, President/Chief Executive Officer, Garcia Media, www.garcia-media.com