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last.updated 9.14.08

 

Visuals & Document Design

Purpose

Texts, broadly defined, no longer consist of just words. Computer technologies have made it much easier for writers to include various types of visual elements–from color to pictures to graphs–in the different types of texts that writers compose for an array of purposes. Likewise, writers can facilitate their audience's navigation through their text when they control the visual elements through document design principles. By deliberately controlling the overall presentation of the text, writers can enhance the experience of reading their texts.

Discussion I–Visuals & Document Design

  • What questions do you have about using visuals and document design principles?
  • As a class, we will discuss the following concepts.
    • Contrast
    • Proximity
    • Repetition
    • Alignment
    • White Space

Activity I–Applying Document Design Principles

In your assigned groups, you will work together to analyze a web text.

  • Go to Google News or your favorite internet source for news and choose a story that has at least one picture associated with it.
  • Print a copy of the story as it appears on the web page.
  • On a separate sheet of paper or the back of what you printed...
    • describe the writer, the audience and the purpose
    • explain how each principle we discussed at the beginning of the class is (or is not) used in this text
    • explain whether the writer references the picture in the story. If not, explain why it is clear how the picture relates to the story
    • explain how the picture helps to fulfill the purpose of the text
    • explain, after looking at pictures used by other news outlets on the same story, whether you think this is the most effective visual for the purpose of this text. Why is this more or less effective than other stories that use a different image or the same image presented in a different way (different angle, different cropping)?

After twenty minutes, we will discuss each groups's results, and each group will submit their work to the instructor for process credit.

Workshop–Project Group Work

  • Use the rest of the session to meet with your group and pose questions to the instructor.