DOCUMENT DESIGN

WHAT’S WRONG HERE?

A document’s design should consider its audience.

A document’s design should be appropriate for its audience.

WHAT’S WRONG

HERE?

A document’s design should be appropriate for its purpose.

A document’s design should reinforce its content.

QUESTION:

What design suggestions would you have for an author writing the following document:

YOU CAN DO IT A Basic Computer Manual for Senior

Citizens with Little to No Computer Experience

QUESTION:

What design ideas would you have for an author working on the the following document?

COMPUTER TOTS

Basic Computer Operations for Kindergarten and First Grade

EVALUATING DESIGN

According to Rew in your “Editing for Writers” textbook (p. 333), you can evaluate document design with the following six questions:

EVALUATING DESIGN

How effective is the design of the whole document?

How easy is the document to read?

Can the reader find information easily?

Can the reader understand the text easily?

Will the reader be able to retain and retrieve information?

For instructions/manuals, can the reader use the document to perform a task?

CONSIDER THESE QUESTIONS…

…as you discuss your experiences with the sample Web sites provided for the seminar preparation.

First, let’s discuss the White House.gov site.

If you reviewed that site, share your reactions with your classmates.

WHITEHOUSE.GOV

QUESTIONS:

What did you think of the site’s design?

How well did it meet the criteria described in the six questions?

What works on the site?

What would you change to improve the site’s design?

ED.GOV SITE

QUESTIONS:

What did you think of the site’s design?

How well did it meet the criteria described in the six questions?

What works on the site?

What would you change to improve the site’s design?

IRS.GOV SITE

QUESTIONS:

What did you think of the site’s design?

How well did it meet the criteria described in the six questions?

What works on the site?

What would you change to improve the site’s design?

USPS SITE

QUESTIONS:

What did you think of the site’s design?

How well did it meet the criteria described in the six questions?

What works on the site?

What would you change to improve the site’s design?

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

UNITY

Items on the page should look like they belong there.

Items on the page should look like they belong together.

You can create unity through proximity (putting items close together), similarity (same color or shape), and placement (on subsequent pages, put similar items in same place on each page.

PROXIMITY

Both images at left contain three rows; each row contains three arrows. So why do they look so different?

It's not the background color, or the color of the arrows. It's the distance between the arrows.The closer together visual elements are, the more likely we are to see them as a group or a pattern. That's a principle called proximity.

Proximity in the arrows on the image at bottom left make them look like a unit, like they belong together. Even though they are different colors, the proximity makes them appear to be a unit.

SIMILARITY

The images at left have equal numbers of circles and squares, yet the white squares on the bottom image are much more visible.

When all the elements are the same color, as they are in Image 2, the pattern is much harder to see.

In the first image, the gray squares and circles are so much alike that we tend to perceive them as one cohesive unit.

Similarity is at work here. The principle of similarity explains that we tend to group together those visual elements that are similar in size, shape, color, and direction. This can help us add unity to a page.

BALANCE

Symmetrical balance – when both sides appear equal in the elements used, as in the example below.

BALANCE

Asymmetrical – an informal method of

balance when not all elements on

one side of the page are equal to the

other side, yet the

elements are still

balanced.

EMPHASIS

Subhead 1

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Subhead 2

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Use of bold or larger fonts, boxes, colors can help provide emphasis to let the reader know what items are most important in the document.

SEQUENCE

Subheads, text placement, proximity, graphics, white space, and other layout decisions can help readers determine what order or sequence they should follow in reading the document.

ANY QUESTIONS?