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 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… »

Example Heading 1: Arial Black, 15 Point, Green, Left aligned Heading 2: Arial, 13 pt, Red, left aligned or Heading 2: Arial, 13 pt, italics, Green, Left- aligned NOT Heading 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 Difference Join now!

Color FLORENCE Scarlet

FLORENCE Scarlet

FLORENCE

Scarlet 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

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