Presentation Transcript

1. Chapter 11:

   Designing Successful Documents
2. Get to the Point! A well designed document will: Visually catch the readers eye Be Easily Disseminated Be Memorable It should not be: Filled with paragraphs of text Lacking visual clues Too complex Use Typographical Aids to Assist Understanding
3. What to look for…. What are some of types of Typographical Aids? Bullets Boldface Type Lists Headings/Subheadings “Chunking” Creating smaller paragraphs for chunks of info that is easier to digest Info. must be Visually Organized
4. Effective Design Good Qualities: Visually appealing Logically organized Clear Accessible Varied Relevant Bad Qualities: Crowded Disorganized Hard to follow Difficult to read Boring, repetitious Inconsistent
5. Desktop Publishing…. What are the benefits? Check bullets p. 523 Type-many different styles of typefaces Examples Templates Office Templates Must have Microsoft Office 2010 or newer to use these templates Is it Ethical to use a Template in the Business World?
6. Desktop Publishing (cont.) Graphics Add excitement to report Have to be used relative to purpose of report…what does this mean? Examples: Drawing tools Icons Clip art Stock photos and art
7. The Basics of Designing Print Documents Page Layout Typography Heads and Subheads Graphics Color Table 7.3 Departmental Percentage Increase
8. Page Layout Text and White Space must work together on a page White Space: open areas on the page—free of text and visuals Not enough White Space-confusing, distracting Too much White Space-simplistic, or lacking info. Margins: Used to “frame” the document Usually 1 to 1.5 inches Prevent the document from looking cluttered
9. Page Layout (cont.) Line Length: Limit the line to 10-14 words Long lines are difficult to read and tax the eye Short lines signal incomplete ideas or superficial work Columns: Can be multi column or single column Multi column: Newsletters, magazines No column: Memos, letters
10. Typography What is Typography? Fonts , font size, font styles, justification, lists and captions Font: Legible Attractive Functional Appropriate for your message Complementary with accompanying graphics Serif: cross lines at ends of some letters Sans serif: without the cross lines at ends
11. Typography (cont.) Font Size: Unlimited and measured by points 72 points to the inch, bigger the number larger the type. Use specific size for specific purpose: letter= never in 6 or 8 pt.—too small, or no larger than 12 pt. Look at p. 531 for examples of what size and style font to use for different applications. Font Styles: include-Roman, Boldface, italics, underlining, and Small Caps
12. Typography (cont.) Justification: Also called alignment—see examples on p. 532 of text. Is one easier to read than the others? When would you use each style? Lists and Captions: help to organize and identify important points in the text
13. Heads and Subheads They are brief descriptive phrases that signal starting points or major divisions in your document. They are a type of road sign that helps readers navigate through the document Heads: divide or chunk the document into major parts Heads and subheads attract attention and quickly inform They help to prioritize information
14. Heads and Subheads (cont.) How to write Heads and Subheads: Can’t be done quickly—they must be mapped out Best to work from an Outline of what the document will cover Every major section will require a Head And each subdivision of that Head will require a Subhead. By looking at the Table of Contents of your document the reader will know at a glance how you have divided your work (pp. 703): This example is what your Formal Report/White Paper will look like for this class!!!
15. How to Format Heads and Subheads Refer to Figure 11.2 (pps. 519-521) for an example of proper use of Heads and Subheads… To signal divisions of information, you need to use White Space effectively Use 2 additional spaces above and below a Head to set it off from the previous section Be consistent in how you print each Head Center each head or align it flush with the left margin Use larger type size for Heads and Subheads—see example on p. 533
16. How to Format Headings and Subheadings (cont.) Make sure to differentiate between Heads and Subheads: USE ALL CAPTIAL LETTERS Initial Capital Letters Boldface Italics If using color printer—consider a different color for the major Heads Never end a page with a Head Always have at least 2 lines of text on the bottom of the page after a Head.
17. Heads and Subheads MUST be Grammatically Parallel What does Grammatically Parallel mean? Look at poorly written example on pp. 533-534 compare to revised on p. 534 Notice parallelism of figure 11.2 (p. 520) Poor: Identifying your Purpose Audience Analysis The Importance of Outlines Prepare a Draft How to Revise your Work Improved: Identify your Purpose Analyze your Audience Write an Outline Prepare a Draft Revise your Work
18. How to Make Heads Functional Be concise: Don’t use vague, one word titles Don’t overuse Heads: There is a fine line of how many Heads to use Look at Figure 11.2 (pp. 519-521) again…helps put info into chunks about watching cholesterol levels. Make sure the Heads and Subheads match your table of contents
19. Graphics Include the following: Boxes: isolate or highlight text or visuals Rules: either vertical or horizontal Used for separating columns of text or separating sections introduced by subheads Letterhead and Logo:usually is a combination of graphic and text to represent the company
20. Color Most effective attention grabbing technique Can also help you organize information and enhance readability Need to estimate how the color will look on a page Must be contrasted from background color Use no more than 2-3 colors on a page unless there are photos, illustrations, or graphics. Use bright colors sparingly—can overwhelm the eye Watch your choices –avoid lt. blue for text, or yellow text on light background
21. For your next assignment… You must consider these facts before creating your document. For our purposes this applies to our next major Assignment: Flyer/Brochure Before you begin the assignment you will need to : Know what you are designing Know for whom you are designing Know how you will design
22. Here is what you need to consider for the next assignment Who is your target audience? What is the purpose of your document? How will your document be reproduced? How will it be distributed? How much will it cost?
23. Brochure/Flyer Assignment Overview of Instructions Site for list of Campus Student Organizations: Campus Organizations I will post examples to our General Files Drop Box of what I would consider: ‘A’ Quality Work Day next class—do not formally meet Due for Peer Review 1 week from today: Bring in 2 hard copies of Memo and Brochure/Flyer