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Chapter 8 Designing Documents   Design Importance   Designs and Conventions   Levels of Design   Page Design Guidelines   Designing Brochures   Designing Web Pages   Usability Testing

Why Design Matters  Saves time and money  Reduces legal problems  Builds goodwill  Looks inviting, friendly, easy to read  Grouping ideas shows structure 8-3

Design: Part of Writing  Think about design at each step  As you plan, think about audience  Skilled or busy?  Read straight through or skip around?  As you write, use lists, headings  Use visuals to convey numerical data clearly  Get feedback from your audience  As you revise, check the design guidelines that follow 8-4

Design and Conventions  Vary widely by audience, geographic area, industry, or department  Change over time  Violating is risky  Presents incorrect interpretations  Signals author is unreliable or unknowledgeable 8-5

Levels of Design  Intra—individual letters and words  Inter—blocks of text  Extra—graphics that go with the text  Supra—entire document 8-6

Page Design Guidelines 1.Use white space 2.Use headings 3.Limit words in all capital letters 4.Use no more than two fonts per document 8-7

Page Design Guidelines, continued… 5.Justify margins selectively 6.Put key items at top left or bottom right 7.Use a grid for graphic unity 8.Use highlighting, decorative devices, and color in moderation 8-8

Use White Space  White Space—empty space on the page  Makes message easier to read  To create white space, use  Headings  Mix of paragraph lengths  Lists of parallel items (same form)  Bullets or numbers when order is exact XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 8-9

Use Headings  Headings—words, phrases, or short sentences  Group points; divide document  Show organization  Help audience; save audience’s time  Make page look interesting 8-10

Use Headings  To create headings  Make each specific  Keep headings parallel  Make sure they cover all material until next heading 8-11

Limit Words in All Capital Letters  Words in all capitals  Lose their unique shapes  Have same rectangular shape  Lack ascenders and descenders  Causes reader to slow down  Causes more reading errors people PEOPLE 8-12

Use No More Than Two Fonts  Fonts—unified styles of type  Serif font – letters have feet  Easy to read; used for paragraphs  Ex: New Courier, Times Roman  Sans serif font – letters lack feet  Harder to read; used for headings, tables  Ex: Arial, Tahoma, Univers 8-13

Use No More Than Two Fonts, continued…  Most documents use just one font  Create emphasis by using  Bold  Italics  Varied sizes  Font size  12-point ideal for most business documents  Headings may be larger 8-14

Justify Margins Selectively  Full justification—text even at left and right margin  Want formal look  Want to use fewest pages  Ragged right margin—text even on left, uneven on right  Want informal look  Use very short lines  Want to revise selected pages XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX XX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX 8-15

Put Key Items at Top Left and Lower Right Quadrants  Reader’s eye moves in Z pattern  Starts at upper left corner of page  Reads to the right and down  Quadrants in order of importance  Top left  Bottom right  Bottom left  Top right

Use a Grid for Graphic Unity  Grid—2 or 3 imaginary columns on page; may be subdivided  All elements lined up in columns  Creates pleasing symmetry  Unifies long documents 8-17

Use Decorative Devices in Moderation  Use decorative devices sparingly  Add interest/emphasis with dingbats, clip art      Use color for main headings, not details In North America, red usually means danger 8-18

Designing Brochures Use this process to create effective brochures 1.Determine your objectives 2.Identify your target audiences 3.Identify central selling point 4.Choose image you want to project 5.Identify objections; brainstorm ways to deal with them 8-19

Designing Brochures, continued… 6.Draft text to see how much space it takes 7.Select visuals to accompany text 8.Experiment with different papers and layouts 9.Make every choice a conscious one  Color – Font – Layout – Paper 10.Polish prose and graphics 8-20

Brochure Design Principles  Put central selling point on cover  Use a visual that tells a story  Use grid to align elements  Repeat graphics; use contrasting sizes, shapes  Use color effectively 8-21

Brochure Design Principles, continued…  Make text look appealing  Use no more than two fonts  Avoid italic type and underlining  Use small tab indents  Insert plenty of white space  Use ragged right margin  Don’t put vital points on back of reply coupon 8-22

Designing Web Pages: Text  Help surfing audience learn about Web page sponsor  Offer contents list, link to each part  Make clear what audience will get if they click a link  Put most important info at top of page  Start with important words 8-23

Designing Web Pages: Visuals  Use white or light background  Keep graphics small  Provide visual variety  Unify pages; show sponsor on each  Include link to homepage on every page 8-24

Designing Web Pages: Visuals, continued…  Use little animation; let audience control its use  If page includes sound, put off button where users can see it at once Visit Xenogene, a Web design company. Thumbnails show sample Web page designs 8-25

Designing Web Pages Common Web page design mistakes  Audiences cannot read text  Content that doesn’t answers questions  Difficult navigation and search tools  Complex and lengthy forms  Bugs, typos, or corrupted data  Outdated content 8-26

Usability Tests  Watch someone use document to do a task  Ask user to think aloud during task  Interrupt at key points to find out what user thinks  Ask user to describe thought process afterwards  Ask user to put + and - signs in margins to show likes and dislikes 8-27