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Why design?
The purpose of design is to help convey your message. Good design should enhance the
message, not detract from it. Good design helps the reader understand the text.
General design guidelines
Know the purpose of the
publication
What is your message? What do you want your message to accomplish?
Know your audience
Who is your audience? What do you know about them? How can you appeal to this reader to
encourage her to read your publication? How old is your reader? How much education does
your reader have? Will shorter words and sentences appeal to this reader?
Be consistent
Readers like to know what to expect. It is important that your pages are consistent in
margins, fonts, colors, and design elements. It is also important that your publication,
if published on a regular basis, has an identifiable look. Think of the magazines and
newspapers that you read. Can you quickly identify them at the newsstand by their
appearance?
Use organization
Good organization helps your reader understand your message. Poor organization will
discourage your reader and may hinder them from getting your message.
Use a good balance of text and
graphics
It is important to balance your text with enough graphics to prevent boredom but not so
many that the graphics detract from your message. Consider the effect of color, special
text, borders, and white space when trying to prevent a text-intensive layout.
Consider the cost of the
publication
What is your budget for producing your publication? Can you afford four-color or spot
color? What type of paper will be used? Who will reproduce it? How will it be distributed?
How does quality paper relate to the purpose and impact of your publication?
Developing your design
First step: sketch it!
To create an effective layout, you must plan and sketch your page design. Remember that
there are three elements on every page: text, graphics, and white
space. Consider how each is to be used to convey your message.
Use thumbnails. A thumbnail is a rough sketch of a page's
layout. It indicates all elements--text, graphics, margins, columns.
Using your desktop publishing software, create a page dummy
or mockup if you have a complicated design or must get approval for your layout.
Second step: make decisions on
type
Remember that your type is one of the three main elements of the page. When choosing
your type, remember each of the following guidelines:
- Choose type that will match the message of your publication.
- Limit the number of typefaces and type styles in your publication.
There are seven categories of typefaces: oldstyle, modern,
slab serif, sans serif, fringe, script, and decorative. Do
not use more than three type groups in your publication. Avoid combining two typefaces
from the same type group.
Oldstyle: Very readable; great
choice for long, readable text. Always have serifs. Only slight difference between thick
and thin portions of each letter. Characterized by warm, graceful appearance. Invisible;
character forms don't interrupt communication.
Modern: Reflected change in times. Based on form rather
than handwriting. Dramatic difference between thick and thin portions of the letter.
Always have serifs, but serifs are thin.Elegant, but more severe. Not as readable
as oldstyle; avoid for body copy. Good for headlines, subheads, caption overlines,
nameplates, logos, display ads.
Slab serif: Serifs are very thick slabs. Indicates stong,
no nonsense message. Avoid in body text or captions. Avoid all caps. Good for logos, ads,
special publications.
Sans serif: Absence of serifs. Typically have large
x-height. Clean, neat, smooth appearance. Avoid for body text. Excellent for headlines and
display.
Script/Cursives: Characterized by resemblance to
handwriting. Difficult to read; avoid for body, captions, or all caps. Use sparingly.
Scripts appear to be connected; cursives do not.
Fringe: Identifiable and distorted. Personal typefaces.
Decorative: Very noticeable. Can add pizzazz to your
publication; overuse will destroy effectiveness.
- Pay attention to the dynamic relationship between different
typefaces appearing on the same page. This relationship can
be concordant, conflicting, or contrasting.
Concordant relationships occur when
you use only one type family. This keeps the page harmonious. The page is quiet--certainly
not lively.
Conflicting relationships occur when
you use typefaces that are similar. The typefaces are neither the same nor different.
There is no contrast to attract our attention and set text apart. The similarities result
in conflict.
Contrasting relationships occur when
you use typefaces that are are clearly distinct. The typefaces help create an excitement
that will attract the reader's attention.
- Choose readable type. It is important
that extended amounts of text be easy for the reader to read. Studies show that serif typefaces are better for extensive
amounts of text.
Extended amounts of text should be easy
to read. Readable type is invisible. Letterforms
shouldn't be noticed. If a reader stops reading to notice features of your type, you have
reduced readability.
Extended amounts of text should be serif.
Extended amounts of text should be lowercase. Lowercase
letters have shape; uppercase letters give words the same square shape. Remember that
readers read quickly because they recognize the shape of letters. If you use all caps, you
have taken away the shape of words.
Readable type uses appropriate spacing between letters and words.
Readers read in phrases; letters and words that are too close or too far apart hinders the
reader. Look at the example below. Which spacing would you prefer to read for extended
periods?
Readable type uses appropriate line length and justification.
Lines that are too long cause problems in finding the beginning of the next line. It makes
scanning difficult. Lines that are too short break up our phrases and cause us to restart
too often. To determine the line length to use, double your
point size and use a line not longer than that in picas.
Example: 12 point type x 2 gives us 24 picas for our line length
6 picas = 1 inch 24 picas divided by 6 picas per inch
gives us a 4-inch line
Readable type uses appropriate leading--or space between
lines. Leading that is too tight makes it difficult for the reader to separate the words
and phrases and difficult to find the beginning of the line.
Remember that some typefaces, by their nature, are more difficult to read. Extra bold,
extra light, script, and italic faces are more difficult to read than normal weight and
roman text.
- Choose legible type. Legible type is
instantly recognizable. Text needs to be instantly recognizable when you expect that the
reader will be scanning the page, reading a sign, or skimming a catalog. Think of road
signs. All are designed to be read quickly--all are legible. Sans
serif typefaces are typically considered to be more readable
when there is just a small amount of text. Which example below is more readable for the
driver?
Legible type usually is sans serif with distinguishable
characters and an average x-height. Notice the examples below. Typefaces that have
a large x-height make it difficult to distinguish the h from the n.
Likewise, a typeface with a short descender makes the reader take an extra look at the
word. Notice how difficult it is to read the j in joke.
Legible type usually is regular or medium weight (bold when
appropriate). Notice the examples below. Typefaces that have a large x-height make
it difficult to distinguish the h from the n. Likewise, a typeface with
a short descender makes the reader take an extra l
Legible type avoids all caps or mixing caps and lowercase.
- Choose the correct size of font.
For body text: Choose a serif typeface, size 9-12 points for
best readability.
For headlines: Choose a sans
serif typeface, at least 14 points. Bold and left-aligned is often use; consider centering
only if text is justified. Use both upper- and lowercase letters to give your words
shape. Pay special attention when breaking a two-line headline.
Third step: make decisions about
paper and pages
- 8.5 x 11 is the most common and the most economical choice for
paper. Type of publication and your budget determine page
size.
- Page orientation: These cannot
be mixed.
Portrait: Tall, vertical orientation. Most common; most comfortable to read. Uses
fewer, more narrow columns. Used for reports, letters, newsletters
Landscape: Wide, horizontal orientation. Allows
more, wider columns. Typically used for brochures.
- Facing pages or spread: Two pages
that face each other. Must design to convey unity, even if the pages contain
information about different topics. Make sure text or graphics touches all four corner of
a page or facing pages.
- Choose a focal point, or center of interest, on the page. Remember that people read left to right, top to bottom. Readers glance
first at headlines, then photos, captions, and other graphic elements. They read last.
Guide their eyes to the focal point by creating a center of interest.
Avoid drawing the reader's eye to the lower right corner. This encourages the reader to
leave the page before it's been read.
Fourth step: make decisions about
white space
White space is non-printed
space and is often
thought of as a graphic element because it can direct attention to text and graphics.
White space is important for effective design. White space is determined by your margins,
the number of columns, and the line length.
Margins frame your text and graphics and create a
feeling of space. The available space on the page, the binding, the column width/height,
the type of publication all affect margins.
Columns can make a page easier to read and help
utilize white space. Usually a page will contain between one and six columns, depending
upon type of publication, type size, white space, graphic size, heading placement. Column
number and width does not have to be consistent among the pages of your document. Columns
can run from the top to the bottom of the page--or may extend for only a portion of the
page.
Gutters or alleys, the space between columns, separate
the columns. The size of the gutter is determined by the width of the column. Justified
text may require larger gutters than left aligned text.
Rules, horizontal or vertical lines, may
be used to separate columns. When using a rule, enough space must be left in the gutter to
have white space on either side of the rule. Usually, justified column text does not have
rules. The even right line of text created with justification is enough to clearly define
the column.
Single column documents: Simplest; economical. Good for
presenting unbroken text. Utilize strong headings, rules, bullets, scholar margins,
graphics to prevent monotony.
Two-column documents: Offer more flexibility; appears more
polished. Good for brochures and catalogs.
Three-column documents: Most readable because comfortable to the
eye to scan. For better readability due to narrower columns, consider smaller type size
and left alignment.
Four-column documents: Best number to use in a document with
several short articles. Allows space to be used economically.
In developing newspaper or
yearbook layouts, 10-12 columns may be used on a page. This allows for a great deal of
flexibility in determining the layout.
Fifth step: make decisions about
your document settings
- Choose a measurement system. You have
a choice of measurement systems--inches, picas, ciceros, millimeters. Pica measurements
are used to develop our yearbook.
- Set up master pages. Master pages contain text and graphics
that will appear on every page of your publication. Master
pages help you create consistency in your publication and save you time and effort.
- Use gridlines, nonprinting horizontal and vertical lines, to place text and
graphics precisely on your page. Gridlines can help you maintain consistency, determine an
orderly placement of text and graphics, and maintain balance on your page. In PageMaker
the gridlines can act as a magnet and snap or pull the text or graphic to the nearest
line.
- Import your text and graphics. When
importing text, be careful not to leave widows, the first line of a paragraph left at the bottom of a page, or orphans, the last line of a paragraph carried
over to the top of the next page. Also, be careful not to leave a subhead at the
bottom of the page, separated from the text that follows it.
- Format your text.
- Print a sample copy. Refine and revise.
Eliminate rivers of white space--large spaces between words that run through your document like a river.
Kern--adjust the space
between pairs of letters--any characters that need adjustment.
- Print your final copy.
Last updated
December 15, 2002
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