Document Design

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Document Design

• Agricultural Communications

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Introduction

• Getting people to understand your written message
  is more than just putting words on paper. The
  message also has to look appealing.
• When you read training manuals or advertisements,
  you see some type of visual, such as photographs
  or graphics.

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Newsletters

• Newsletters
• Collection of stories
• Easy way to keep members informed
• Sent on a regular basis

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Newsletter

• When looking at other newsletters consider the
  following
• How big the headlines are
• How easy is it to read
• How crowed the pages appear
• How colorful the newsletter is
• How photographs and graphics are used

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Newsletters

• Tips
• Write to be read quickly
• 100-600 words
• 4 page contains around 2,000 words
• Write accurate information
• People like recognition
• Put the best stories first
• Use bigger heading and visual elements for inside
  stories

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Tips, Cont.

• Use document design principles
• Text
• 10 pt for Normal Text
• 18 for Headlines
• Color
• Graphics
• White space
• Visual
• Balance

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Newsletters

• Newsletters come in many styles and forms. They
  can have both a formal and an informal tone.
• They fall into three categories
• Bullet Sheet
• One page front back
• Newsletter
• 4 8 pages with
• Short articles
• Mega letter
• Magazine 8-16 pages
• Longer articles

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Examples of Columns
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• Newsletter Job Sheet

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Document design

• The process of choosing how to present all
  document elements, so your message is clear and
  effective.
• When a document is well designed, readers
  understand the information more quickly and
  easily.

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Terms

• Thumbnail
• Unity
• Order
• Balance
• Symmetrical Balance
• Asymmetrical Balance
• Line
• Texture Pattern

• Color
• Typography
• Shape Space
• Proportion
• Size and Scale
• Rhythm Movement
• Contrast
• Proximity Repetition

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Basic Principles of Design

• The following is a brief overview of the
  principles of design. Although they are discussed
  separately, they are really interconnected.
  Rarely will you use only one principle at a time.

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Unity
Variety
The control of variety
Necessary to create visual interest balancing
visual contrasts combining unusual elements
The Crayola logo shows the unity among the
different products that have a variety of visual
contrasts.
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Alignment
Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily.
Every element should have some consciously
designed visual connection with another element
on the page. This creates a clean, fresh, and
intentional look.
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Alignment
Find two (or more) elements that are aligned on
the design. How does the alignment of the
elements create a sense of organization in the
design?
Unity is an important concept in design. To
make all of the elements on the page appear to be
unified, interconnected and interrelated, there
needs to be some visual tie between the separate
elements. Even if they are far apart on the page,
they can appear connected or related simply by
their placement on the page.
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Balance

• Is the act of comparing or estimating two
• things, one against the other, and the
• contrast between
• Empty space (white space) and filled space
• Text and images
• Color and no colors and different colors
• Textures against flat colors

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Balance
Symmetric elements appear to be a mirror image
Asymmetric the art of creating balance using
uneven numbers, sizes, or kinds of elements
The visual distribution of elements
The above mosaic shows the tiles in a symmetrical
balance.
The artwork above shows an asymmetric balance of
different shapes and sizes.
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This SmartArt graphic shows the hierarchy and
dominance of information presented, as well as
the emphasis on the elements being defined.
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Line
The moving path of a point
Lines of type can take the form of any
configuration of a drawn line. This shape poem,
type is used in a linear way to create the image
of a football.
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Texture Pattern
Texture refers to the quality and characteristic
of a surface Pattern a decorative design
The bricks shown at right replicate actual
texture but function as visual texture. The
bricks are arranged using their direction to
create a pattern.
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Color
Heightens the emotional and psychological
dimensions of any visual image
Color can help create emphasis, as it does on the
above advertisement for a Museum and Gallery
Month. Without the addition of color, the
advertisement could be easily ignored and would
be boring to look at.
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Typography
Can function as shape, texture, point and
line Word forms must communicate a verbal
message as well as function effectively as
graphic elements
These examples of typography present a verbal
message as well as function effectively as
graphic elements of fire and snow.
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Shape Space
Shape a figure or form Space an area
activated by other elements
The example shows a relationship between the
shapes of the design and the configuration of the
space around the shapes.
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Size Scale
Size the physical dimensions of an element or
format Scale size comparisons used to create
variety and emphasis in a design and help
establish visual hierarchy
By looking at the sizes of both the monkey and
Alcatraz Island in the background, it is apparent
they are not to scale with each other. The
monkey appears to be larger than Alcatraz, which
is not the case.
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Proportion
The large giraffe in the picture below is not
proportional to the landscape shown, while the
smaller giraffe shows proportion to the
background.
Refers to the size relationships
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Rhythm Movement
Rhythm the choreography of graphic design
Movement the resulting choreography from
rhythm
In the picture above, the alternating occurrence
of form and space shows rhythm. This rhythm
gives shape to the movement and dictates the
arrangement of each colored line.
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Contrast
Used to create an interest on the page and to aid
in the organization of information
Can be used typeface, thickness, colors, shapes,
sizes and space
The top half of the example to the right shows
good color contrast, while the bottom half lacks
bold contrast
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Question To which design elements
has the designer added contrast from the first
version to the second?
Think about type, line thickness, dark and light
areas, shapes, sizes, proportion, etc.
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Proximity Repetition
Proximity the position and space given to the
placement of elements
Repetition follows a regular pattern
The proximity placement of the 9 rectangles in
the example to the left establish visual
continuity and aesthetic harmony. Proximity
groupings can create repetition. The elements
repeated vary in color.
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Process

• Steps
• Consider the purpose
• Help determine the content and design
• Determine your audience
• What are your readers characteristics?
• Match document to audience characteristics
• Young, old, and educated
• Develop a content outline
• Includes main topics
• Helps with the length

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Process

• Write the content
• Fliers are short
• Newsletters are long
• Design the document
• Create a sketch Thumbnail
• Helps with the layout and designing process
• Print the document
• Save in PDF Print
• Professional printing

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Getting Started - Design

• Putting your thoughts together may be difficult,
  but the following tips will help with the process
• Learn from good examples
• Look at magazines, brochures, advertisement
• Study for effective designs
• Keep it simple
• Usually the best for design
• Design should enhance the message
• Not to be complicated

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Getting Started - Design

• Select appropriate visuals
• Must support the text
• Needs to clarify your message
• High resolution
• Layout the document
• Fun part
• Piecing it all together
• Follow principles of design
• Balance, proportion, order, contrast, similarity,
  and unity

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Document Design

• Visual Elements of a Page
• Text
• Headings and titles
• Graphics
• Simple separators like
• lines and boxes
• Headers and footers
• White space

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White Space A Design Element

• Use white space to set off important or
  different items
• figures and tables (including titles)
• titles
• headings and (some) subheadings
• Follow conventions for margins and line spacing.

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Design of Headings

• Indicate level of heading (major heading,
  subheading, etc.).
• Be consistent with design of each level.
• Consider making differences more prominent than
  you might at first think.

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Use size and position to differentiate
Title

• Heading Level One
• Heading level two
• Heading level three. Might be run on with text.
  If you use numbering, do not use bullets.
• Be consistent with capitalization.

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Use numbering to differentiate

• Heading One
• 1.1 Heading Two
• 1.1.1 Heading Three
• You dont have to use different size or other
• differentiation as well, but you may.
• Try not to use more than a three-point system.
• e.g., 3.1.2

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Text

• Can be boldfaced, italicized or underlined.
• Should be used to draw readers attention.
• Italicized quotes, short phrases
• Use serif type and Microsoft sans serif type for
  story text.

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Bullets

• Use for lists within paragraphs.
• Use bullets carefully dont overuse.
• Use when all elements in list are equally
  important and have no special rank, sequence or
  significance.
• Consider using when listed items are long (more
  than one line) but are not prioritized.

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Designing PagesA few Tips

• Use same design for all pages that contain same
  kinds of information.
• Use limited variety of easy-to-read typefaces.
• Ragged right margin is slightly easier to read
  for long documents than are fully justified
  margins.
• ALL CAPS ARE HARD TO READ--USE SPARINGLY.

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Style Sheet Checklist

• Page Numbering
• Where on page?
• What font/type?
• Different for different sections?
• Tables and Figures
• Integrated with text??
• Where do labels go??
• References
• Citations in parentheses in text?
• Reference list goes where?
• Abbreviations, Acronyms, Equations
• Include glossary? Where?
• Acronyms spelled out where?

• Document
• Paper and covers
• Single-sided?
• Margins
• Sections
• Start on right-facing pages?
• Use line or other graphic device?
• Headings and Subheadings
• Position
• Font size characteristics
• Main Text
• Font
• Paragraph indentation?
• Line spacing