Mario Garcia argues in his column today that, "visual briefs are a sort of magnet for readers to get into those inside pages".



Research conducted by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies has shown how important they are, and that adding a small photo enhances this further.

Garcia goes on to say: "I have taken briefs to a different level, what I call "visual briefs".  Briefs do not need to be limited to short headlines and a few lines of text. As such, I have experimented with the use of a small photograph, usually the size of a small mobile telephone screen, accompanied by a few lines of text. It has been very successful in each case."

Visual briefs are generally one of the first sections read on a newspaper front page.

In India, The Hindu has them on Page One and refer to them as "Snapshots". For The Hindu it is a strategy that they utilise on many other pages in the newspapers.

Source: Garcia Media