White Paper Design

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White Paper Design

• CRAP and Beyond

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Contrast . . .
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Repetition . . .
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Alignment . . .
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Proximity . . .
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Examples . . .
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Examples . . .
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Examples . . .
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Examples . . .
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Examples . . .
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Examples . . .

• Check out the proximity
• Use of spacing to group related information
• Use of headings to clearly demarcate
  sections/spacing

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White Paper (Sub)Headings . . .

• Multiple and well-labeled access points are
  crucial for a White Paper. (scannability)
• The Colon Something Catchy, then Something
  Informative (talking heads).
• Keep On Truckin? The Future of Fossil Fuels
• Grand Theft Soul The Effects of Violent Video
  Games
• No, Im Frank The Consequences of Identity Theft

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Talking Heads . . . Principles

• Talking heads provide the reader with detailed
  information (vs. "generic headings" that tell the
  reader very little).
• The idea of talking heads is to give the reader
  as much help as possible.
• The trick to creating talking heads is to make
  them informative without making them too long!
  (For example, a two-line heading is probably too
  long.)
• The more information you add to the heading, the
  longer it will beso talking heads are bound to
  be longer. But a heading that is too long will
  not have as much impact as a concise one.

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Talking Heads . . . Examples
Perform the Stand Alone Test To see if your
reports headings are effective, scan them. Can
you understand the main argument of the report
and figure out the main conclusions and findings?
If so, then your headings are working well as
visual summarizing devices to help the reader.
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Summary Text Boxes. . .

• Redundancy
• Highlight the key points of the adjacent body
  text to allow for multiple access points.
• Accuracy
• Be thorough in how you select information.
• Avoid simply cutting and pasting.
• By writing a separate summary, you can frame more
  information in a more tailored fashion.
• Responsibility
• Imagine a reader reading only the summary text
  boxes. What would they take away?
• Be responsible to this type of reader give them
  important information as well.

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Summary Text Boxes Format
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Caption Writing . . .

• As with the title, captions are important, though
  small, chunks of text with tremendous framing
  power.
• They direct the reader to important features.
• They give the reader an interpretative mechanism
  (i.e., what should I do with this picture? What
  do I take away from this chart?) with which to
  view the image, the chart, or the graph.

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Caption Writing Finding or Looting

• Look how the caption directs the eye and gives
  you a way of interpreting the image, its meaning
  and implications.
• Top caption reads "A young man walks through
  chest deep floodwater after looting a grocery
  store in New Orleans...
• The bottom caption reads "Two residents wade
  through chest-deep water after finding bread and
  soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane
  Katrina came through the area in New Orleans..."

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Charts . . .
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Cover Page . . .

• Title
• Instructional, original, catchy (think of using
  the colon)
• Graphic
• Catchy, instructional, relevant
• Establish Design
• Repetitive Elements, colors, logo, etc.

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Figures and Pictures . . .

• Clearly labeled
• Captioned (instructional)
• In physical proximity to explanation (in text)
• Clearly referred to in text
• Consistency of labeling and reference
• Function as an AID to the text (help your
  audience understand the text)
• Not just random, somewhat related pictures

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Figures/Pictures . . . Examples