Transcript Chapter 8 - English 345–Business Writing

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McGraw-Hill/Irwin
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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.
2.
3.
4.
Use white space
Use headings
Limit words in all capital letters
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
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
sizes
 Font size
 Varied
 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
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
1
2
8-16
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.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Determine your objectives
Identify your target audiences
Identify central selling point
Choose image you want to project
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
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
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
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

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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