Good design for screen genre

Document design refers to the physical appearance of a document (Reep, 2006). According to Reep (2006), there are four design principles that we need to take note when designing a document.

• Balance
• Proportion
• Sequence
• Consistency

The layout we used for our slides is simple yet the we pictures we used are attractive. Besides that, reading take effort and not every audience are willing to read the long sentences in the slides. Thus, we try to make our sentences in point form and try to use less word as the chances to attract the readers' attention is higher (Schriver, 1997). We balanced this slide with a picture in the center, and both left and right side of the page with words. There is also a balance of colour in this screen where we used the same colour for the texts, which is white.

Readers do not read only the printed texts in a page, but also 'read' the images (Reep, 2006). Putnis & Petelin (1996) states that the aspect on graphics help to describe and to allow readers to have better understanding of the messages conveyed. Thus, we have put in some related images in the slides so that it will enhance the understanding of audiences on what is this presentation about. Besides, we also balanced the page with more pictures in the left side of the page and more words in the right side of the page.

By using the relevant font size and the emphasis on the main point, it allow readers to differentiate which is the most salient element. In  term of proportion principle, we used different sizes of text to differentiate the contents in the presentation slides. For example, the bigger size of the words represent the title while the smaller size of the text represent the contents. Furthermore, present points in bulleted lists and provide one idea per paragraph are encouraged as it is easier for the readers to absorb and read (Nielson, 1997).

In my opinion, a good document design uses both text and image to bring the right messages to its audience as Schriver (1997) states that, document design deals with texts which include books, posters and others that incorporate words and pictures that help people to achieve their specific goals for different purposes. Overall, it was a good document design. However, I think there is still some improvement can be make by us as the whole presentation slides do not have a consistent margins. Each page of the presentation has its different margins. 

References:

• Nielsen, J 1997, How Users Read on the Web, viewed 19th April 2010, <www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html>
• Putnis, P & Petelim, R 1996, 'Writing to communicate', in Professional communication: principles and applications, Prentice Hall, Sydney, pp. 223-263.
• Reep, Diana C 2006, 'Shp 4: Principles of Document Design', in Technical Writing, 6th edn., Pearson Edu, Inc., New York, p.173-190.
• Schriver, K.A 1997, 'The interplay of words and pictures', Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, p. 361-441, Wiley Computer Pub, New York.