Document Design: Basics and Typography Technical Communication, DAHMEN.

Document Design: Basics and Typography

Technical Communication, DAHMEN

Aspects of Document Design Font/typography Color Graphics Layout Paper/media White space Symbols Size

Terms for Typography

Font—all sizes of a one type (originally just caps and lowercase)

Family—all fonts belonging to a group (Arial, Arial Black, Arial Narrow)

Weight—amount of vertical thickness (Extra Light, Light, Book, Medium, Semi-bold, Bold, Extra Bold and Black)

Kerning—adjusting space between letters (AV or To)

Tracking—adjusting space among words on a line

Additional Terms

Pica-1/6 of an inch Point-1/12 of a Pica, 1/72 of an inch Ascenders & Descenders Serif and Sans serif and Display fonts

Underline Bold

Larger Type Symbols ♠

Use of white space

Visual Cues for Text

Boxes

Rules for Typeface

Use fonts of just 1 typeface If you mix them, be consistent (headings vs.

body text, e.g.) Use italics, bold, and underline sparingly Choose 10-12 points for body text Make heading 2 points larger Double space between headings and body Larger type for slides

The ‘Rule of Three’

« Between one section of text and another try to limit your changes to no more than three… »

ExampleHeading 1: Arial Black, 15 Point, Green,

Left aligned

Heading 2: Arial, 13 pt, Red, left alignedor

Heading 2: Arial, 13 pt, italics, Green, Left-aligned

NOTHeading 2: Brush Script, 13 pt, underlined,

red, left aligned

Aspects of Contrast using Type Size Weight Form Direction Color

Using SIZE

can you believe I got

MARRIED?

Using Weight

Make a DifferenceJoin now!

Color

FLORENCEScarl

et

FLORENCEScarl

et

ScarletFLORENCE

FLORENCEScarl

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Williams, Robin. The Non-Designer’s Design Book. (Berkeley CA: PeachPit Press, 2004) 164.

Rule for Headings

Use them often Keep them short Use consistent format Use them as aspect of design

What do Headings do for us?

Orients reader Indicates importance of information Allow navigation Helps create tables of contents Makes reading/scanning easier

Aspects of Page Layout

Define a visual hierarchy Keep in mind the natural direction of the eye Create areas of emphasis (text emphasis

should match rhetorical emphasis) Use white space and margins Use lists, tables, boxes, columns Use consistent layout across pages

Principles of Text Blocking

Information serving the same purpose should look the same

Position determines importance Empty space emphasizes text

Pitfalls to Avoid (slide 1) inappropriate column and margin spacing

(size margins and space between columns proportionately)

trapped white space or holes in publications with neither graphics nor text

overstuffed pages (tiny type, lots of fonts and too many graphics)

headlines that are too small to stand out from the rest of the text or that are so large that the text fades into the background altogether

Pitfalls to Avoid (slide 2)

floating elements (headings or pictures with equal amounts of white space around them so that they are not connected to any text or caption)

copy-filled pages (short documents, like pamphlets or presentation slides with too much text)

inconsistent design for similar elements widows and orphans

(source: Roger Parker's Looking Good in Print, Ventana Press, 1993)

What do style sheets/guides do? Consistent ‘look’ of document Protects company/organization’s ‘image’ Keeps consistent terminology Unifies aspects of writing (punctuation,

capitalization, spelling) Manage use of logos and symbols

Web Sites

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/glossary/ch1.htm

http://www.redsun.com/type/