Automatically placing articles in Studio using the AI Layout Automation feature - the concept

The process of placing articles on a layout in a print publication is a time-consuming process, even when a template-based workflow is used. Manually placing each article and adjusting it to make sure that its content fits its place on the layout is a repetitive task that takes up a lot of time.

The AI Layout Automation feature in Studio greatly improves this process by analyzing the available space on the pages of a layout — based on preconfigured blueprints and article shapes and taking already placed articles and advertisements into account — and providing suggestions on how and where the available articles and their images can best be placed to fill the pages.

Adjustments to these suggestions can then be made, and when satisfied with the result, the command can be given to have all articles automatically placed.

The end result is a layout with articles placed on it, identical to how this would be done manually, but now done much more quickly and much more efficiently. All that is left to do is some final copyfit tweaking.

This feature is mainly designed for newspapers but can also be used in magazines for pages with a newspaper-like layout structure.

As with any automation, making this work involves a specific setup of the system, rules to follow, and new terminologies and concepts to get familiar with.

This article describes the concepts that are used.

Note: For the process of automatically placing articles this way, see Automatically placing articles in Studio using the AI Layout Automation feature.

Summary

In short, the following concepts are used:

• A blueprint is used for defining how the page should look in terms of its composition: should it have a lead story at the top with a secondary story and filler stories below it, or should it have secondary, third stories and an advertisement in specific places, and so on. Dozens of blueprints can and will be created, covering many possible combinations.

• Within a blueprint, Article Shapes define the shape of the placed article: both in its actual shape (a square or rectangle), and the content it contains (text only, or a combination of text, images, and quotes).

The combination of these concepts results in many more possible combinations than can manually be created or managed.

All concepts are explained in detail below.

Blueprints

A blueprint defines the composition of the area on a page in which articles are placed: how specific types of articles (leads, secondaries, third stories, and fillers) and advertisements are distributed within that area.

The area that is covered by the blueprint is the area within the margins of the page, as indicated by the area in light blue in the image below:

A blueprint is set up for a specific page grid: the number of columns and rows that are defined for a layout. It can therefore only be used for pages that are set up for that specific grid.

Blueprints also contain constants such as gutters, and optionally dividing lines.

Within a blueprint, the area in which an article can be placed can be configured in such a way that it gives the Layout Automation feature different options to fill it: either fill it completely with one story, or use two stories where one takes up 3/4 of the space and one 1/4, or use two stories that take up the space equally, and so on. This is typically done for fillers to give the Layout Automation feature many options to fill that space.

Dozens of blueprints can and will be created, covering many possible combinations.

Examples: Example 1:  A blueprint for placing a lead story, a secondary story and a filler story. The numbers (1, 3:1, 2:2) in the filler story indicate that it can be filled by using either one article or by two articles: one taking up 3/4 of the space and the other 1/4, or both articles taking up the space equally). Dividing lines between the articles are shown in red. Example 2: A blueprint for placing two third stories, a secondary story, and an advertisement. Dividing lines between the articles are shown in red.

Article Shapes

Within a blueprint, an Article Shape defines the shape of the article. It is typically linked to the type of content: the lead story, secondary and third stories, and filler stories.

Each story will have a particular shape, based on the design of the page (as in: Category or Brand) and in terms of its actual shape and its internal shape:

• Actual shape. A shape will always be a square or a rectangle (either vertical or horizontal). Other shapes such as L-shapes are not supported.
• Internal shape. The content within a shape. It can be:
• An article containing only text
• An article containing text in combination with one or more images and/or quotes

Within a Brand, hundreds of Article Shapes could exist.

Examples: Shape 1: Rectangular, horizontal, only text, spanning 4 columns and 2 rows. Shape 2: Rectangular, vertical, text with one image, spanning 4 columns and 5 rows. ...and so on.

Planned versus actual number of characters

Info: This feature requires Studio 11.205 or higher.

When the content for a publication is planned, it is often the case that an article about a certain topic has not been written yet or is not yet finalized.

To give the Layout Automation feature an idea of the size of such an unfinished article, a 'planned number of characters' can be defined for it. This is done in the page planning application and can also be manually set in the properties of the article. This number is then used as a provisional article size when the article is used when filling a layout.

When at some point the actual number of characters is known, the planned number of characters can be reset (to zero) which makes the Layout Automation feature use the actual number of characters.

References to the planned and actual number of characters are shown in the 'Characters' column of the Layout Automation dialog and in the Properties panel for an article. See Automatically placing articles in Studio using the AI Layout Automation feature.

Genres

Info: This feature is optional and requires Studio 11.205 or higher.

Article Shapes (see above) are organized per Brand, Category, and Story type. In some scenarios, an additional level is required, typically related to the way a Story is styled.

Example: Within a particular Article Shape, a Story might need to be styled differently than the general styling for that Category and/or Story type.

To make this possible, a Genre can optionally be set for an article. This is done in the Properties panel for that article. When the system is set up for using Genres, it also is shown as a column in the Layout Automation dialog. See Automatically placing articles in Studio using the AI Layout Automation feature.

Base layout templates

The content that the Layout Automation feature needs is derived from layouts referred to as 'base layouts'. One of these base layouts is used as a foundation to base all templates on for all layouts used in production. It includes all components needed for the Layout Automation feature, such as the correct page size and margins, paragraph and character styles, and so on.

When creating a new production layout therefore on which articles are placed using the Layout Automation feature, it should be based on a template that is created from such a layout. Your system administrator will have prepared this for you.

For a single brand, there can be one or multiple base layout templates depending on production needs.

For exact details, check with your system administrator.

The PLA InDesign layer

When the Layout Automation places content on a layout, it does this on a dedicated layer named the 'PLA InDesign layer'. When this layer does not yet exist, it is created automatically. The layer should not be used for other purposes.

Revisions

• 12 February 2026: Added section 'The PLA InDesign layer.
• 17 December 2025: Updated section 'base layouts' by adjusting the number of templates for a single brand.
• 16 December 2025: Added section 'base layouts'.