Chapter 8 of Houp/Pearsall/Tebeaux's Reporting Technical Information, 9th ed. (New York: Allyn & Bacon, 1997), presents concepts for document design. Accompanying the textbook, this chapter of the online instructor manual provides the following:
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- Understand and use an effective process for designing documents.
- Know how to use a grid to plan the design of page elements.
- Know some standards for margins, line space, line length, and justification of margins.
- Know some standards for type sizes and typefaces (fonts), highlighting, capitalization, and color.
- Understand the basic principles of heading design.
One of the exciting things about teaching technical writing is that we get to address document design issues. Strongly consider getting your students to use headings, lists, special notices, tables, and graphics in writing projects for your course. For many of your students, exposure to these topics will be very fresh and exciting—it will give them some great tools for creating professional-looking documents.You should be aware that turning your students loose on document design can create some headaches for you as teacher. Having to critique each student's unique heading design can add immensely to your review time. Instead, consider establishing a standard "house" style for headings, as well as other document design elements such as lists, notices (warnings), tables, graphics, and the like. Such standardization does not stifle students' creativity; few have ever used headings or other document design elements anyway. They need to start with a standard and become aware of the design variables before they can begin designing on their own. Also, a standardized document design mirrors what happens in corporate and organizational writing: professionals are expected to use a design that is standard to their organization or profession. Having students use a standard design makes them much more aware of the design variables—capitalization, bold, italics, underlining, type size, typeface, horizontal spacing, vertical spacing, relationship to body text.
As instructor, you can hand out "spec" sheets detailing your requirements for headings (similar to the one shown in the following pages), lists, and other document design elements.
Having a standard document design in your class can also help keep students from getting obsessed with surface features of their writing projects, getting carried away with fonts and type sizes and special effects.
Some of your students will not have the level of sophistication with word-processing software necessary for some of these design features. They may not know how to adjust margins or line spacing or create numbered lists. Few of your students will know how to use "styles," that feature on most word-processing software that defines, for example, a set of headings to use throughout a document. Consider having a "field trip" to the computer lab where your novice computer users can catch up and where everyone can see how to use styles as a way of increasing productivity and consistency within documents.
Here are some ideas for exploring document design that you can use in class or in a computer lab:
- Give the initial quiz. Try giving the quiz at the beginning of your unit on document design. It's a nice springboard into discussion of key aspects of this chapter. When students have completed the quiz, go through the answers with them as a group.
- Demonstrate word-processing techniques. Take your class to a computer lab and ensure that they know how to perform the techniques discussed in chapter 8. Margins, tabs, headers or footers, and page numbers are often difficult—find a way to introduce them to these techniques in their preferred software. While you have the class in the lab, try showing them how to use "styles." For example, show them how to design a set of headings with special font, type size, and other characteristics. Also, spend some time ensuring that they have adequate control over the various types of vertical lists.
- Analyze the redesign work in textbook exercise 1. In full class session or in teams, have your students compare the original and the two revised memos in exercise 1. Have them compare the two revisions and list the differences. This exercise might be a good opportunity for students to write an in-class memo summarizing the changes, comparing the merits of the two revisions, or both.
- Redesign the memo in textbook exercise 2. You might want to do this one with the whole class and save textbook exercise 3 for out-of-class or team work. Get students to find ways to introduce headings, lists, highlighting, as well as other design principles discussed in chapter 8.
- Redesign the memo in textbook exercise 3. If you do the redesign work in exercise 2 with your class, exercise 3 will be a good one for independent or team work outside of class. More so than individual work, team work is a good way to show students the range of possibilities. If possible, have your students arrange a "gallery" of their design work, let them consider each other's approaches, and decide on awards (best of show, most original, most unusual...).
- "Un-design" text for formatting exercises. Get your students to take out the headings, lists, and other document-design elements from excerpts about the length of textbook exercise 2 or 3. Have students bring both the unformatted and formatted versions to class, exchange unformatted versions with each other, and then do the same kind of exercise as in the preceding items.
- Review highlighting and other special typography. In technical writing, highlighting can become a problem. Computer manuals, for example, often use a complex, overly elaborate system of highlighting—specifically, bold, italics, underscores, alternate fonts, caps, and even color. Consider having your students find text with heavy use of highlighting, analyze it to determine the highlighting rules that are being applied, evaluate the effectiveness of the highlighting scheme, and, if possible, recommend some simpler scheme.
The following links show you some examples of the kinds of writing discussed in this chapter. These examples are "annotated": explanatory notes are linked to specific points in the examples so that you can see the relation to the concepts discussed in the chapter. You'll need a browser that supports frames, however.
Here are some discussion questions related to this chapter:Understanding the Basics of Document Design (pages 189-196)
- In what ways does document design as a way of planning written materials differ from traditional academic essay writing?
- What kinds of document design choices would be helpful for elderly readers? For those who skim? For those who study a text?
Designing Effective Pages and Screens (pages 196-206)
- Compare the memo on page 201 with the revision on page 202.
- What effect does the design have for different kinds of reading, learning, and review?
- How can document design reflect the reading habits of its audience?
Choosing a Readable Type (pages 206-215)
Helping Readers Locate Information (pages 215-226)
- What different kinds of type style do you consider appropriate for a text? For a public information brochure? For a memo? For a poster?
- Why is too much of any design element—too many fonts, too much white space, all capital letters—confusing for readers?
- How would you organize and design a 25-page reference brochure describing university resources and facilities for new students?
- What elements of pages size, binding, fonts, type sizes, and margins would make the brochure easy to use and to read?
- What effect would this ease of use have on readers unfamiliar with the subject?
The following are some suggestions for journal entries related to this chapter:Understanding the Basics of Document Design (pages 189-196)
- In what ways do you use a textbook?
- What design elements make a text easy to use? For what kinds of study and use?
- What design features make the text appealing and attractive? Is this important to you?
Designing Effective Pages and Screens (pages 196-206)
- What kinds of page format do you find easiest to read? Why?
- In what kinds of documents?
Choosing a Readable Type (pages 206-215)
- What type styles and sizes do you find easiest to read?
- Which type styles and sizes do you consider appropriate for leisure reading? For study?
Helping Readers Locate Information (pages 215-226)
- What are the design features that make your favorite reference book easy to use?
- What single design feature do you find most helpful? Least helpful?
Here are some ideas for writing projects related to chapter 8, including ideas for collaborative projects:
- Write a memo on textbook exercise 1. Have your students write a memo on the redesign work done in exercise 1 (see workshop activity 3 above). They can compare the changes incorporated into the first revision and into the second revision; they can compare and evaluate the two revisions.
To turn this into a collaborative project, suggest that student teams organize themselves into these roles:
- Manager. Plans meetings, locates a report for discussion, distributes copies to team members, assigns roles, establishes a timetable for activities.
- Facilitator. Conducts a meeting in which team members discuss their responses to the report's redesign relative to its audience.
- Team Members. Review the report, take notes on its design relative to its purpose and audience, take part in the meeting, serve as reviewers of the editor's draft.
- Scribe. Takes notes on the discussion.
- Editor. Drafts and then revises the report.
- Write a revision of textbook exercise 2 and an explanatory memo. Have your students redesign the memo in exercise 2 and then write a memo explaining what they did and why. (See workshop activity 4.)
To turn this into a collaborative project, suggest that student teams organize themselves into these roles:
- Manager. Plans meetings, locates a report for discussion, distributes copies to team members, assigns roles, establishes a timetable for activities.
- Facilitator. Conducts a meeting in which team members discuss their revision suggestions for the report.
- Team Members. Review the report, take notes on its design relative to its purpose and audience, take part in the meeting, serve as reviewers of the editor's draft.
- Scribe. Takes notes on the discussion.
- Editor. Drafts and then revises the report.
- Write a revision of textbook exercise 3 and an explanatory memo. Do the same with exercise 3. Actually, consider using exercise 2 for in-class work and saving exercise 3 for out-of-class individual or team work. (See workshop activity 5.)
To turn this into a collaborative project, suggest that student teams organize themselves into these roles:
- Manager. Plans meetings, locates a report for discussion, distributes copies to team members, assigns roles, establishes a timetable for activities.
- Facilitator. Conducts a meeting in which team members discuss their revision suggestions for the report.
- Team Members. Review the report, take notes on its design relative to its purpose and audience, take part in the meeting, serve as reviewers of the editor's draft.
- Scribe. Takes notes on the discussion.
- Editor. Drafts and then revises the report.
- Write a memo on the document design of a technical manual. Consider having your students do workshop activity 7 as a writing exercise. While item 7 focuses on highlighting, you can open this exercise up to other document-design features such as headings, line spacing, line length, fonts, and margins. Obviously, not every group of students will be right for this much focus on document design, but some will be very keen on it—especially your technical communication majors.
To turn this into a collaborative project, suggest that student teams organize themselves into these roles:
- Manager. Plans meetings, locates a manual for discussion, makes it available to team members, assigns roles, establishes a timetable for activities.
- Facilitator. Conducts a meeting in which team members discuss their comments about the manual's use of document design.
- Team Members. Review the manual, take notes on its design relative to its purpose and audience, take part in the meeting, serve as reviewers of the editor's draft.
- Scribe. Takes notes on the discussion.
- Editor. Drafts and then revises the report.
Team Spirit A Taxing Problem Big Talk Negative Impressions
The following point summaries focus on key points in this chapter of Houp/Pearsall/Tebeaux's Reporting Technical Information:
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DOCUMENT DESIGN BASICS |
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EFFECTIVE PAGE AND SCREEN DESIGN |
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READABLE TYPE |
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HELPING READERS LOCATE INFORMATION |
Create useful headings: |
DOCUMENT DESIGN OVERVIEW |
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