What Makes and Breaks a Good Document?

.

THE creative mind often questions itself as to what is considered a good document. A document that is not only flawless in terms of its layout and art directions but also able to effectively disseminate the intended messages to its target audience and beyond.
.
So what constitutes a good document design?
.
According to Reep (2006), a good document often incorporates the four design principles of balance, proportion, sequence, and consistency. This notion is echoed by the many other experts in document designing. For instance, Putnis & Petelin (1996) also discusses about the many strategies in maintaining a recognisable flow of information while creating a balance between visuals and texts when designing a particular document. Kress & van Leeuwen (2006) too touches of the subject by listing the three main considerations in document design, namely the informational value, salience and framing.
.
Design Principles at Work.
.

In order to better illustrates how these design principles are incorporated in publications, the powerpoint slides of a group and individual presentation will be used as examples..

.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

.

At first glance, both the group slide (Fig. 1) and the individual presentation slide (Fig. 2) look similar to one another. However, a more discerning audience will notice the discrepancies in these two slides. First, let's talk about their similarities. Both slides have clean and uncluttered layout as well as visible text and fonts with those in the group slide ragged to the left as required by Singer (2002). You also might want to take note of how the headings "Introduction" are placed at the top-left corner of the slides. This placement is coherent to the Western reading convention from left-to-right as mentioned by Kress & van Leeuwen (2006) when discussing informational value..
.
Further observation reveals that the second slides (Fig. 2) is much more effective in capturing the readers' attention (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) as its white background made sure that the written texts are salience in comparison to the brownish background used in the first slide (Fig. 1) because colors should be chosen to reinforce the message and supports usability (Reep, 2006). Not only that, the subheadings for the second slides are bolded, ensuring that the gist of the slide popped out to its intended readers. However, both slides committed the carnal mistake of not including any visual aid to reinforce its texts. As stated by Walsh (2006), images offer unique aspects that words alone cannot satisfy. Schriver (1997) even went to the extend of listing down the five ways of integrating pictures and prose.
.

Both presentations then rectified this my adding visual aids in their subsequent slides as shown below in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4.

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

There is also a need to look into the technical writing in document design as Rothman (2005) opines that technical writing serves a specific purpose and any attempt to alter this style of writing will risk the lost vital information. In regards to Fig. 5, the terminologies in designing had been simplified to aid with audience understanding, however this also caused the lost of the most genuine meaning of the text, making it less effective. On the other hand, in Fig. 6, the appropriate terminologies are still visible and made obvious by the " " sign.

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Conclusively, a good document is define by its ability to grab and maintain a reader's attention, long enough to convey its messages. A good design also incorporates the various principles as mentioned above.

References

Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 2006, Reading images: the grammar of visual design, Routledge, New York.

Putnis, P & Petelin, R 1996, ‘Chapter 7: writing to communicate’, in Professional Communication: Principles and Applications, Prentice Hall, Sydney, p. 223-263.

Reep, DC 2006, ‘Chapter 4: principles of document design’, in Technical Writing, 6th edn, Pearson Edu Inc, New York, p. 173-190.

Rothman, S 2005, What makes good scientific and technical writing?, Associated Content, viewed 24 April 2009, <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9447/error>.

Schriver, KA 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub., New York.

Singer, D 2002, Ten steps to good document design, University of Alabama, viewed 24 April 2009, <http://www.uah.edu/colleges/liberal/english/shared/doc_des_singer.htm>.

Walsh, M 2006, “‘Textual shift’: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts,” Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol.29, no.1, p.24-37.

The Creative Mind

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." -Albert Einstein.

Taken from remoralicious.deviantart.com

THE creative mind is like a boundless nest of critical analysis, ingenious innovation and sometimes, the culmination of pure insanity.

Metaphorically, it is nothing less than a hyperactive child with multiple imaginary playmates at one time.

Likewise, this blog is nothing more than mere musings of that particular child.

This is the creative mind.

Here, we shall explore the practical and theoretical framework of good designs with the help of various readings such as Kress & van Leeuwen, Walsh and Schriver just to name a few, as well as delving deeper into the wacky ideas and concepts behind effective publications and document designs.

This is the temple for devotees of creativity, from professional document designers to students who were once oblivious to the wonderful complexity that makes a document so much more enticing for its readers.

The journey starts here. The journey of a creative mind.