Page Design and Elements

1. Page Design and Elements Visuals to Aid Comprehension

2. Overview • Page Design • Design Principles • Design Elements • Headings • Text • White Space • Graphics and Visual Aids • Headers and Footers • Physical Features of Paper

3. Overview • Page Design • Design Principles • Design Elements • Headings • Text • White Space • Graphics and Visual Aids • Headers and Footers • Physical Features of Paper

4. Page Design • Helps readers understand information • Indicates hierarchy of ideas and concepts • Helps readers locate information • Emphasizes the most important content • Encourages readers to feel good about a communication and its subject matter • Appeals to right-brained user’s • Invites the eye

5. Overview • Page Design • Design Principles • Design Elements • Headings • Text • White Space • Graphics and Visual Aids • Headers and Footers • Physical Features of Paper

6. Design Principles • Consider your reader and purpose • Align related visual elements with one another • Use contrast to establish hierarchy and focus • Use proximity to group related elements • Use repetition to unify your communication visually • Select font types that are easy to read • Design for ease of use and attractiveness

7. Overview • Page Design • Design Principles • Design Elements • Headings • Text • White Space • Graphics and Visual Aids • Headers and Footers • Physical Features of Paper

8. Design Elements

9. Overview • Page Design • Design Principles • Design Elements • Headings • Text • White Space • Graphics and Visual Aids • Headers and Footers • Physical Features of Paper

10. Headings • Are the titles and subtitles you insert into the text to indicate the topic and purpose of the paragraphs • Provide an overview of the document/section • Indicate the logic of the documents • Indicate the topic of the upcoming section • Enable readers to read selectively • Provide breaks and white space in dense text • Keep readers focused • Keep the writer focused and organized

11. Designing Headings • Use no more than four levels of headings • Make headings bold and avoid all caps • Consistently distinguish heading level by proportionate point size, indentation, font type (italics), capitalization, and other graphic elements • Use sans serif fonts such as Helvetica, Optima, or Arial • Make the phrasing of headings accurate and descriptive • Make headings grammatically parallel • Use an appropriate number of headings • Use task-oriented headings in instructions • Avoid lone headings or stacked headings • Do not use headings as lead-ins to lists, figures, or tables • Adjust paragraph spacing above and below headings

12. Level 1 Heading Level 2 Heading Sample: Headings

13. Overview • Page Design • Design Principles • Design Elements • Headings • Text • White Space • Graphics and Visual Aids • Headers and Footers • Physical Features of Paper

14. General Guidelines for Text • Generally use 9-11 point size for body text, depending on the dimensions and purpose of your document (for user’s guides around 9 pt) • Use serif fonts such as Times New Roman, Garamond, or Palatino • Single space body text • Indent text line to create a column of white space on the right-hand side • Adjust paragraph spacing above and below paragraphs and text elements • Do not shift text margins with heading margins

15. Lists: Bulleted and Numbered • Bulleted lists emphasize two or more items where order is not crucial • Some bullet lists have labels with a term in bold followed by a description or definition • Numbered lists have items that are in a required order, chronological process, or that must be referred to by number • Numbered lists usually indicate a step-by-step process that must be completed in a specific, sequential order • Lists add emphasis, increase readability, and add white space

16. Numbered List Bulleted List Sample: Bulleted and Numbered Lists

17. Guidelines for Lists • Use the right type of list (number or bullet) • Include a lead-in sentence ending with a colon • Check the grammatical connection between list items and lead-ins • Avoid using too many lists or creating lists with too many items • Don’t use lists with only one item • Use standard punctuation and capitalization on list items • Adjust spacing between list items for readability • Make the phrasing of list items parallel • Avoid lead articles on list items • Correctly align list items and nested list items • Include a bullet list at the end of the Overview or Introduction that lists and explains all your H1s in your guide • If additional information/definitions follow the item, add a period after the item in bold, and add the extra text in unbold on the same line

18. Steps • Begin each step with a verb in command form (omit “you”) • Bold the command sentence • Put additional information, notes, explanation about each step is in unbold text on the same line or on the very next line • Include only one action per step (unless two actions must be completed simultaneously)

19. Overview • Page Design • Design Principles • Design Elements • Headings • Text • White Space • Graphics and Visual Aids • Headers and Footers • Physical Features of Paper

20. White Space • Is defined as any space on the page where there is no text • Adds visual clarity to the document • Is created by defining the space along the: • margins, between lines, paragraphs, indentation, lead-ins & bullet text, bullets and the adjoining bulleted-text, etc. • Is created through the Styles and Formatting option in the Format Menu of MS-Word

21. Heading & Paragraph Text Spacing Left Margin Spacing Right Margin Spacing Lead-in & Bullet Text Spacing Bullet Spacing Bullet and Bullet Text Spacing Paragraph Spacing White Space White Space – Sample

22. Overview • Page Design • Design Principles • Design Elements • Headings • Text • White Space • Graphics and Visual Aids • Headers and Footers • Physical Features of Paper

23. Notes, Warnings, and Tips • Notices are special emphasis techniques for text • Search the text for situations that match the situations for your notices • Place notices with the text to which they apply • Present high-severity notices at the beginning of a document • Align notices with the text to which they apply • Consolidate multiple notices when possible • Use notice types consistently • The types of notices are: • Danger: for situations where serious injury or fatality could occur • Warning: for situations where minor injury could occur • Caution: for situations where damage to equipment or data could occur • Note: for situations where information needs to be emphasized, for exceptions, special points, hints, and tips

24. Guidelines for Notices • While writing warnings and danger notices, consider including: • Conditions • Actions to avoid or to take • Consequences • Recovery

25. Sample: Tips Box

26. Tables, Graphs, and Charts • Tables are rows and columns of numbers, words, or symbols • Graphs show changes in data over time • Charts are graphical representation of data in the form of bar and pie charts, in general • Use lists, charts, flowcharts, tables, diagrams, and graphics to clarify and organize information • Always introduce bullet lists and graphics with a sentence followed by a colon (:)

27. Types of Illustrations • Photographs • Drawings • Flowcharts and other conceptual drawings • Diagrams and schematics

28. Overview • Page Design • Design Principles • Design Elements • Headings • Text • White Space • Graphics and Visual Aids • Headers and Footers • Physical Features of Paper

29. Headers and Footers • Include a footer on all pages except the cover page and table of contents page • Footers should be of the same font type you use for your headings • Footer usually consists of three items: your name, the title of your guide, and the date

30. Header Footer Headers and Footers: Sample

31. Overview • Page Design • Design Principles • Design Elements • Headings • Text • White Space • Graphics and Visual Aids • Headers and Footers • Physical Features of Paper

32. Physical Features of Paper • Readers usually prefer manuals that are compact and manageable, such as 7 x 9 • Use a paper that is thick enough so that text and graphics do not bleed through when you print on both sides • A paper with a slight gloss can look very professional • For binding, use coil, saddle stitch, or staples covered carefully by high quality tape • See course reader for specifics on paper and production of the guide