Module 7 Writing Assignment

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Chapter 11 Overview:
Designing Print and Online Documents

Goals of document design
Understanding design principles
Planning the design of print and online documents
Designing print documents
Designing print pages

Designing online documents
Designing online pages

You have five goals when designing documents and websites:

to make a good impression on readers
to help readers understand the structure and hierarchy of the information
to help readers find the information they need
to help readers understand the information
to help readers remember the information

Four principles of design help you make choices for your documents and websites:

proximity
alignment
repetition
contrast

Proximity organizes this image:

Source: U.S. Department of State, 2011 <http://future.state.gov>.

Alignment organizes this image:

Source: National Institutes of Health, 2013a: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/ElectronicReceipt/faq_full

.htm#application.

Repetition organizes this image:

Source: Excerpt from A HISTORY OF WESTERN SOCIETY, Eleventh Edition (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014). John P. McKay; Clare Haru Crowston; Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks; Joe Perry, p. 319.

Contrast clarifies this image:

Source: U.S. Department of State, 2013: http://eca.state.gov/impact.

To plan a design, take these two steps:

Analyze your audience and purpose.
Determine your resources.

For multicultural readers,

consider cultural variations in four areas:

paper size
typeface preferences
color preferences
text direction

Determine your resources:

Time. What is your schedule?
Money. Can you afford professional designers, print shops, and online-content developers?
Equipment. Do you have graphics and web software, layout programs, and a color printer?

Consider these four elements

when designing print documents:

size (page size and page count)
paper
bindings
accessing aids

Select one of four

common types of binding:

loose-leaf binders
ring or spiral binders
saddle binding
perfect binding

Consider using six typical accessing aids:

icons
color
dividers and tabs
cross-reference tables
headers and footers
page numbering

Understand how learning

theory relates to page design:

chunking
queuing
filtering

Use two elements

to create your page layout:

page grids
white space

Margins have four purposes:

to limit the amount of information on the page, making the document easier to read and use
to provide space for binding and allow readers to hold the page without covering up the text
to provide a neat frame around the type
to provide space for marginal glosses

A document bound like a book

has these margins:

A multicolumn design

offers three advantages:

Text is easier to read because the lines are shorter.
Columns allow you to fit more information on the page.
Columns enable you to use the principle of repetition to create a visual pattern.

Typography includes seven topics:

typefaces
type families
case
type size

line length
line spacing
justification

Different typefaces

make different impressions:

Two main categories of typefaces

are serif and sans serif:

N N

serif sans serif

serifs

A type family includes many variations:

Case affects readability:

Different functions

call for different type sizes:

footnotes 8- or 9-point type

body text 10-, 11-, or 12-point type

headings 14-point type

indexes 2 points smaller than body text

titles 18 or 24 points

slides 24- to 36-point type

Use line spacing carefully

when designing headings:

Summary

In this example, the writer has skipped a line between the heading and the text that follows it.

Summary

In this example, the writer has not skipped a line. The heading stands out, but not as emphatically.

Summary. This run-in style makes the heading stand out the least.

Use other design features

for clarity and emphasis:

rules
boxes
screens
marginal glosses
pull quotes

These seven principles will help you

design effective online documents:

Use design to emphasize important information.
Create informative headers and footers.
Help readers navigate the document.
Include extra features readers might need.

These seven principles will help you

design effective online documents (cont.):

Help readers connect with others.
Design for readers with disabilities.
Design for multicultural readers.

Follow these three guidelines for emphasizing important information:

Decide what types of information are most essential for your audience.
Give all navigational features clear, informative headings.
Adhere to design principles rigorously.

Follow these five guidelines for

making your site easy to navigate:

Include a site map or index.
Use a table of contents at the top of long pages.
Help readers get back to the top of long pages.
Include a link to the home page on every page.
Include textual navigational links at the bottom of the page.

An example of a typical site map:

Courtesy Micron Technology, Inc.

An example of a typical table of contents:

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, 2013: www.stopfakes.gov/faqs.

Include extra features

your readers might need:

an FAQ page
a search page or engine
resource links
a printable version of your site
a text-only version of your document

—JMR

Help your readers connect with others:

Direct readers to your organization’s discussion boards and blogs, if you have them.
Direct readers to your organization’s social-media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Direct readers to interactive features of your organization’s website.

Consider these three types of disabilities:

vision impairment
hearing impairment
mobility impairment

Follow these three suggestions

when designing for multicultural audiences:

Use common words and short sentences and paragraphs.
Avoid idioms, both verbal and visual, that might be confusing.
If a large percentage of your readers speak a language other than English, consider creating a version of your site in that language.

Follow these four guidelines

for designing a simple site:

Use simple backgrounds.
Use conservative color combinations to increase text legibility.
Avoid decorative graphics.
Use thumbnail graphics.

Follow these three suggestions for

making text easy to read:

Keep the text short.
Chunk information.
Make the text as simple as possible.

Follow these three suggestions for creating

clear, informative links:

Structure your sentences as if there were no links in your text.
Indicate what information the linked page contains.
Use standard colors for text links.

An example of an “About Us” page:

Source: National Institutes of Health, 2014: http://www.nih.gov/about/.

An example of an app designed for

a small screen:

Source: National Gallery of Art, 2013: http://apps.usa.gov/yourart.shtml.