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Page Document Design

• EDU1472

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Objectives

• Outline basic principles for page design
• Suggest enhancements to basic design
• Identify problems in page design
• Discuss key issues in document design
• Suggest techniques for document preparation

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Fundamentals

• Body text
• Essential component of the page
• Reason for existence
• Other elements
• Heads, bylines, quotes, illustrations, etc
• Relate to body text
• Make body text more easily accessible
• Start with body text
• Add components to support overall design

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Publication - Purpose to Form

• What is the purpose of the publication?
• Who is the intended audience?
• What information should it include?
• What image or impression should it project?
• What limitations are there on time, format or
  materials?

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Function

• Persuasion - advertisement, invitation, poster
• Identification - business card, stationery
• Information - brochure, program, fact sheet
• Information periodicals - magazine, newsletter
• Response generating - application, order form,
  survey
• Reference - calendar, directory, schedule,
  timetable

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Form 1

• Appropriateness relevance
• Support the message
• Proportion
• Relative size related to importance

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Form 2

• Direction
• Upper left to lower right flow of text
• Logical progression

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Form 3

• Consistency
• Page to page issue to issue

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Form 4

• Contrast colour
• Contrast juxtaposition of dissimilar elements
• Colour variation in light dark
• Restraint
• Avoid over use of effects

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Other considerations

• Binding method
• staple - corner, top or side
• punched - rings or spiral/comb
• perfect (glued) bound
• stitched
• Quantity of text
• few pages or many?
• may need to be broken up into sections
• special requirements of equations etc

• Illustrations
• few or many?
• text or images dominant?
• Typeface
• proportion and balance
• readability is the criterion

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The basic page

• Page size
• Metric standards
• A series - A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6
• A4 is 297 mm by 210 mm
• B series
• B4 is 354 mm by 250 mm
• Page orientation
• Portrait Landscape

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Space on the page

• Margins must accommodate binding
• Narrow top margins seem oppressive
• Deep top margins seem less aggressive
• Use margins to give text a special look
• Margins create contrast set off text
• Consistent from page to page

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Live matter area

• Traditions conventions
• Technical reports typically single column
• More accessible structures may be possible
• Magazines typically multi-column
• Variations are used to highlight content
• No absolutes - criterion is accessibility
• Design on an underlying grid

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Heads or Titles

• Describe the topic in the text
• Title designates the subject of a formal document
• Headline implies an attempt to attract attention
• Short self contained units
• Emphasised
• Bold face or different type sizes
• 'ALL CAPS', 'Up And Down Style' or 'Down style'
• Attention and readability are criteria
• Centred may be more difficult to read
• No '.' at end of heads

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Placing heads

• Need to be noticed
• read top left to bottom right
• No more than 4 lines
• Tighten leading to concentrate effect
• At least 3 lines of text below a head at the foot
  or above a head at the top of a page

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Runarounds

• Body text can be set to "runaround obstacles"
• Illustrations
• Pull quotes
• Headings
• Cautions
• May create sections of narrow columns prone to
  "rivers"
• Should avoid text interrupted by headings

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Embellishments

• Initial letters
• Stick-up, drop, hanging
• Pull quotes or breakouts
• Use decorative effects or boxing
• Position in margins or use runarounds
• Decks, blurbs
• Explanatory material set smaller than the title
  but larger than or distinct from the body text
• Artwork
• Size according to importance
• Position according to purpose

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Fundamental issues

• Documents
• Exist for a purpose
• Have an intended audience
• Attempt to convey an image
• Are constrained by available resources
• Must be prepared in limited time
• A successful document is one which effectively
  communicates its intended message

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Components

• Combine for a unified document
• Copy
• Artwork
• Type
• Face(s), size(s)
• Paper stock
• Size, weight, finish, colour
• Ink colour
• Format
• Page size orientation
• Binding

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'Features' to avoid

• Rivers of white
• Tombstone heads
• Floating heads
• Buried heads
• Whispering heads
• Jumping horizons
• Widows orphans
• Busy layouts
• Claustrophobic layouts

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Simple folds of A4
A5 booklet
Gate folds
Half quarter
Third
Concertina
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Imposition

• Placement of page images for reproduction such
  that, after folding and trimming, pages of type
  are correctly sequenced for binding in a document

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AppleWorks techniques

• WP or DR documents may be used
• WP consider using columns as grid
• DR use master page for working guides
• Use frames for text to allow free placement
• Text frames may be
• Linked
• Rotated
• Elements may be
• Grouped
• Locked