Designing
Effective Documents
Prepared by Hannah Haas
Introduction

This presentation focuses on the
design concerns in printed business
documents, including reader’s
assumptions; font selection; use of
headings, white space, and bullets;
and text alignment.
Effective documents highlight:
Structure
 Hierarchy
 Order

Effective documents also:
Help readers locate information
 Give readers appropriate visual cues

Readers’ assume:
Top = more important
 Centered = more important
 Bold = more important
 Same font size = as important
 Same color=same type of information

Good fonts are:
Easily readable
 Aesthetically pleasing
 Appropriate for the audience

Which fonts are businessappropriate?
Font 1
 Font 2

Font 3
 Font 4
 Font 5

Use serif fonts for:
Body text
 Documents more than two pages long

Use sans-serif fonts for:
Headings
 Subheadings
 Short documents (1-2 pages)

Which font set will work best
for headings and body text?
Heading
Heading 3
Subheading
Subheading 3
Body
Body 3
Heading 2
Heading 4
Subheading 4
Subheading 2
Body 2
Body 4
How many fonts should you
use in one document?
Use font style to highlight
text:
Italics add emphasis, but slow readers
(use sparingly)
 Bold type shows importance
 Capital letters show emphasis, but are
hard to read (use sparingly)
 Bulleted lists present key concepts
quickly

Which styles of bullets are
business-appropriate?
Bullet style 1
 Bullet style 2
 Bullet style 3
 Bullet style 4
 Bullet style 5

Use white space to:
Frame information
 Break information into units
 Signal section breaks

Which example has used
white space appropriately?
Heading
Body text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text
Heading
Body text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text
Example 2
Heading
Body text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text
Heading
Body text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text
What happens when text
gets separated?
Body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text
body text body text body text body text body text body text body text Body
text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text body text body text Body text
body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text
body text body text body text body text body text body text Body text body
text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text body text Body text body text
body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text
body text body text body text body text body text Body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text Body text body text body text
body text body text body text body text body text body text body t
Heading
Example 2
body text body text.
Heading
Body text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text
Use ragged right for:

Long documents
Body text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text Body
text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text body
text body text body text body text body text Body
text
Use justification for:

Multiple-column
documents
Body text
text body
body text
text body
body text
text body
Body text
text body
body
body text body
text body text
body text body
text body text
body text body
text body text
body text body
text body text
Body text
text body
body text
text body
body text
text body
Body text
text body
body
body text body
text body text
body text body
text body text
body text body
text body text
body text body
text body text
What is wrong with this
example of justified text?
Body text body text body text body text body text
body text body text body text body text body text
body text body text body text body text body text
Body text body text body text body text body text
body text body text body text body text body text
body text body text body text body text body text
body text body text body text body text body text
Body text body text body text body text body text
b
o
d
y
Conclusion

Keeping these tips in mind will help
you design aesthetically pleasing
documents that are easy to read and
easy to re-read.