Documentdesign

BASED ON AN ORIGINAL PRESENTATION BY ABIOLA FARINDE

A Brief Review of Document Design

“Technical communication is not meant to express a writer’s creativity or to entertain readers; it is intended to help readers learn or do something.”

(MICHAEL MARKEL, TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION , 7TH ED. P. 7 ).

Basic Elements

• White space• Lists• Indents• Headings• Underlining, Italics, Bold

• Fonts• Visuals

WHITE SPACE

White space is emptyspace on a page. It doesn’t have to be white. White space emphasizes elements on the page by making them stand apart.

• Respect standard margins

• White space should not dominate the page

• Nothing should be crowded together too closely

Effective Use of White Space

Chunking• When you arrange elements on a page

(paragraphs, sections, visuals), decide what goes together best and what can be separate.

• Use grid lines (View>Gridlines) to arrange elements more accurately.

• Consider reading patterns (top to bottom, left to right) in deciding where to place text or graphics.

Indents• Hanging indentation – Hanging

indentation helps the reader see the organization of the passage. Align turnovers (the second and subsequent lines of any item) under the first letter of the first line (not under the bullet!).•Indentations are less attractive when

they are improperly aligned.

Paragraph IndentsThere are two common styles for indicating the start of a paragraph:1. Indent first line—no space needed

between paragraphs2. Block style (no indentation)—

separate paragraphs with a space

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LISTS…

•make information easier to read and are often less intimidating than a lengthy paragraph

• should always be parallel

Making a List• Set off each listed item with a

number (suggests sequence) or bullet (avoids priority).

• Punctuation is not needed after each list item unless the item is a sentence.

• Make lists within a text by using parentheses like this: (1) item one, (2) item two, and (3) item three.

HEADINGS• Introduce the sections of a document• Use levels to indicate the

importance of the text contained in a section

• Are distinguished by size variation, boldface, italics, capitalization, indentation, and white space between heading and text

Underline

• Create “mechanical emphasis”• Should be used sparingly but consistently;

for example, to call attention to a text element such as a heading or subheading

ItalicsBOLDFACE

Fonts and Text Size• Consistency within a document is crucial.• Keep it simple with no more than two fonts or

fonts sizes per document.• Sans serif fonts are often recommended for

headings and serif fonts for text, based on the theory that serif fonts are more readable. (No evidence supports this.)

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Visuals• Graphs, charts, drawings,

photographs, and other visual elements can add interest to a document design.

• In formal writing, visuals should support the main point or argument and should be labeled with a caption.

• Provide sources where appropriate.

Informal Writing• Callouts are those text

boxes used to highlight a quote or fact.

• Color and texture can be used but should not distract from the text.

• Columns are effective for newsletters, brochures, web pages, and periodicals.