Post on 13-Jan-2016
Report Design
• if audience is motivated (ie forced) to read, they can be as ugly as necessary—design can aid readability and legibility
• if not (usually the case) then design needs to invite reading, attract reader to explore
Design Criteria
• present information clearly• must invite reading, be interesting
enough to engage reader’s attention
• has to appeal to its market, appropriateness, fitness
How do we achieve this?
What do we have to work with?
1) Hierarchy
What it’s for:
- establish order of most importance to least
- convey a difference in kinds of information
1) Hierarchy
How to apply it:- essentially control eye movement on page
Use of:- size - placement- colour/contrast - white space- font - indentation
Size
easy
- big is more dominant
- but in text blocks, can disrupt flow
Size
contrast (colour)
font
placement
white space
indentation
typeface choice, size, weight
leading, line length
alignment
Final
2) The Grid
• the structure of the newsletter (bones)
• determines placement of text and images
• 2 column, three column, 2 1/2 column, etc.
Examples
2-column Grid
• simple• quick to layout (few design
decisions)• static, hard to make it look inviting• best for in-house, low budget
productions
2 column
2 column
3-column Grid
• simple, but better• more to play with, but still risk
static layouts• slower to layout
3 column
3 column
4 and 5-column Grid
• much better, more flexible for layouts• forces creative and asymmetric use
of space• much harder to work with--many
design decisions• best for infrequent issues where
design and layout interest are more important than speed of production
4 column
5 column
5 column
2 1/2 column
3) Special elements
• graphics– photos– illustrations
• sidebars• pull quotes• captions• features
Special elements
• can add interest to pages most dramatically
• can invite reading into dense pages with pull quotes
• unify elements with runningheads, rules• can separate elements with boxes,
screens• add info with sidebars• photography.