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.

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 (see also Dividers below).

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: for example to 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.

Blueprint partitions

When the blueprint is to be filled with one or more specials, advertisements, and / or fillers, the defined area can be further partitioned to give the Layout Automation service the freedom to fill it in different ways. For example:

• By using one placement that takes up the full space.
• By using two placements where one takes up 3/4 of the space, and the other one the remaining 1/4.
• By using two placements that take up the space equally.

These placements could be only fillers, only specials, or only advertisements, or any combination of these three, depending on the selection made in the Blueprint editor for the partitioned area.

For more information about blueprints, see Setting up blueprints for the AI Layout Automation feature in Studio.

Dividers

A divider is an area that visually separates neighboring placements, either horizontally or vertically.

This area could be:

• An empty space*
• A graphic
• A combination of an empty space* and a graphic

* The empty space is created in the form of a fender.

Dividers are created and used in one of the following ways:

• Dividers for a lead, secondary, or third story are part of the structure layout for a blueprint. When the blueprint is used, the defined dividers are also used.
• Dividers for fillers, specials, and advertisements are part of a base article that is placed on a dedicated structure base layout. The divider is automatically placed based on pre-defined rules.

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.

Blueprints per Category

When defining a blueprint, it may be that it is used in a specific Category only, and should not be used for other Categories.

Example: A blueprint may be specific for Category 'Sport', and not for Category 'Finance'. Or, a blueprint may be applicable for all Categories, except Category 'Human'.

To facilitate this, blueprints can be configured to be used for specific Categories only. They are then excluded for all other Categories. When no configuration is set up for a blueprint, all Categories are included by default.

Page grids

Blueprints are based on a specific page grid.

Recommended is to use a grid as small as possible with a maximum of 5 columns by 8 rows. A small deviation from this is permitted, but a dense grid (anything higher than 10) could potentially negatively affect performance.

The use of multiple grids within the same Brand is currently not supported.

Note: Using multiple grids would also mean that dedicated blueprints and Article Shapes for each grid would need to be created and managed which makes the process more complex.

Story types versus Article Shapes

In the Layout Automation feature, story types (such as lead, secondary, filler, and so on) are directly related to Article Shapes.

Part of the setup process is to tag articles in existing layouts as a lead story, a secondary story, and so on.

The Layout Automation service then derives the Article Shape from the article that is tagged and then associates that shape as a shape to use when having to place a story of that type.

Note though that this is an intention: a story tagged as a secondary story could still be filled by the Layout Automation service into a shape that was tagged as a third story, based on all other fitting aspects.

Planned versus actual number of characters

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 (outdated).

Genres

Article Shapes (see above) and layouts are organized per Brand, Category, and Story type.

In some scenarios, an Article Shape with a combination of a Brand, Category, and Story type needs to be styled differently than other Article Shapes that have that same combination.

This requires an additional level of differentiation.

For this purpose, Genres have been introduced.

The following types exist:

• Article Genres: Used for differentiating Article Shapes based on their story type.
• Layout Genres: (Requires Studio 11.224 or higher) Used for differentiating layouts based on where in the publication they are positioned such as a front page, interior, or a supplement.

Using one or both types, Article Shapes can be styled as needed based on where they are placed.

To make this work, a Genre should be set as a property for an article or a layout.

When the system is set up for using Genres, it also is shown for articles 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.

Specials

Info: This feature is optional and requires Studio 11.215 or higher.

Articles such as weekly columns and weather reports typically have a pre-reserved place on a page. Within the Layout Automation concept, such articles are referred to as 'specials'.

To make an article a 'special', it is manually placed on the layout before the layout is opened in the Layout Automation dialog. This article can either be a regular article or an InDesign Article.

The Layout Automation recognizes the placed article as a special and uses a suitable blueprint (in which the area that the article occupies is defined and marked as a special) to fill the rest of the (empty) space. The already placed article is left in place.

Placement Presets

Info: This feature is optional and requires Studio 11.216 or higher.

When the AI Layout Automation is used, it might be that certain aspects of what should be placed and how it should be placed need to be given more or less weight. This can be done through so-called 'Placement Presets'.

Multiple presets can be defined by the system administrator, each one prioritizing one or more aspects to let the algorithm focus on copyfitting, the placement of images, a balanced placement, and so on.

Each preset is given a distinctive name and users will choose the one they want to use from a list in the Layout Automation dialog.

The following parameters can be defined for each preset:

• How much of the page area should be filled.
• The number of objects that should be placed.
• The priority that filling the page should be given.
• How well an object should fit in an Article Shape, based on image count, quote count, body size, and so on.
• Whether or not blueprints should be reused on multiple layouts.
• How much importance should be given to the page number specified in the 'Page nr (Aim)' field.

The use of this feature is optional; when no presets are defined, the list in the Layout Automation dialog does not appear and a default set of parameters is used.

For more information, see:

• Managing Placement Presets to control how the AI Layout Automation algorithm in Studio fills pages
• Automatically placing articles in Studio using the AI Layout Automation feature

InDesign Snippets

During the preparation phase, articles in existing layouts are tagged to indicate their shape and type (lead, secondary, third, or filler story). By doing this, a collection of possible article shapes is created from which the Layout Automation service can choose to fit all articles on a page.
 

The information about the shape of the article and its content is stored as an InDesign Snippet.

When the Layout Automation service decides to use the article shape, the snippet is placed on the layout and will contain the original content of the article that was tagged. This content is subsequently cleared and replaced by the content of the article that is placed.

WoodWing Cloud

The Layout Automation functionality resides in WoodWing Cloud and the definitions such as those of blueprints and Article Shapes for a Brand are also stored on WoodWing Cloud.

Studio Server therefore needs to be connected to WoodWing Cloud.

Layout structure

Apart from articles and adverts, additional objects are likely to be placed on the page such as dividing lines between the articles. Such objects are referred to as the layout structure (also known as 'page constants' or 'page ornaments') on dedicated layouts.

Article length

The length of an article in number of words and characters is that of all article components that are marked as a 'body' component. It is not the number of words and characters of all components.

Which article components are treated as 'body' components is determined during the configuration.

Base layouts

The content that the Layout Automation feature needs is derived from layouts referred to as 'base layouts'. The following layouts exist:

• A base layout. This general layout is used for the following:

1. As a foundation for all templates for all layouts used in production. It includes all components needed for the Layout Automation feature.
2. As the layout from which to generate Article Shapes.

• A base layout template. A layout template created from a base layout. When a new production layout is created on which articles are placed using the Layout Automation feature, it should be based on a template that is created from such a layout.

• A structure base layout. This layout contains dividers between articles. It is created from a base layout in which these dividers are added. A separate layout is created for each divider variation used for a blueprint.

Using base layouts as source files makes it easier and more efficient to configure and manage blueprints and Article Shapes.

For more information, see Creating base layouts and base articles for the AI Layout Automation feature in Studio.

Fenders

Fenders are objects on a layout that keep reserved space (such as that for a divider between articles) clear from having articles placed on it.

When the Layout Automation detects that part of an article overlaps the space that a fender takes up, it automatically resizes the article by slightly squeezing the frames of the article.

For more information, see Creating fenders for the AI Layout Automation feature in Studio.

Revisions

• 1 September 2026: Added section 'Blueprint partitions'.
• 1 September 2026: Added section 'Dividers'.