Principles Of Document Design Research Articles

Principles of Document Design

This publication on the principles of document design is the second of a five-part series on document design. This series also covers the document design process, elements of document design, graphic file formats, and brochure and newsletter design.
 Updates previous version:
 Telg, Ricky. 2012. “Principles of Document Design”. EDIS 2012 (7). https://journals.flvc.org/edis/article/view/119919.

Principles of Document Design

Good design does not call attention to itself, but good designers use the principles of document design to make sure their layouts look pleasing and attractive. The principles of document design are balance, proportion, order, contrast, similarity, and unity. This 3-page fact sheet was written by Ricky Telg and published by the UF Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, June 2012. WC128/WC128: Principles of Document Design (ufl.edu)

A survey and analysis of electronic business document standards

No document standard is sufficient for all purposes because the requirements significantly differ among businesses, industries, and geopolitical regions. On the other hand, the ultimate aim of business document interoperability is to exchange business data among partners without any prior agreements related to the document syntax and semantics. Therefore, an important characteristic of a document standard is its ability to adapt to different contexts, its extensibility, and its customization. The UN/CEFACT Core Component Technical Specification (CCTS) is an important landmark in this direction. In this article, we present a survey and an analysis of some of the prominent UN/CEFACT CCTS-based electronic document standards. We describe their document design principles and discuss how they handle customization and extensibility. We address their industry relevance and the recent efforts for their harmonization and convergence. We conclude by mentioning some emerging efforts for the semantic interoperability of different document standards.

Improving the usability of patient information leaflets

Objective This study assesses the usability of three patient information leaflets and attempts to improve them while complying with the current EU regulations. Methods Three original leaflets were tested among 154 potential users. Every participant answered 15 scenario questions for one of the leaflets. The leaflets were subsequently redesigned based on the test results and evidence-based Document Design principles. The revised texts were tested among 164 participants. Results All three original leaflets suffered from usability problems, especially problems related to finding relevant information. On average, only 75% of the topics could be located. Comprehension of the information, once found, was around 90%. The revisions led to better performance. Information was found faster and more successful. Comprehension scores were higher as well. A follow-up study shows that these findings can be generalized over paper formats. Conclusion Although the current EU regulations for patient information leaflets do not guarantee leaflet usability, the leaflets can be improved somewhat within the regulations. However, further research should evaluate the text structure currently imposed on leaflets. Practical implications Information leaflets must be written, or rewritten, according to Document Design principles. Furthermore, they must be user tested in a rigorous way.

Using Desing Principles to Teach Technical Communication

In teaching a technical communication course, I introduced document design principles before discussing traditional verbal rhetoric. A comparison of the writing of two students—a competent writer and a weak one—before and after the design discussion indicates that a basic understanding of design principles helped them improve document macrostructure. They saw the need to involve the audience, to provide an introduction and a forecast, and to organize and highlight information using headings. The design discussion, however, appears to have had little effect on document microstructure. Although more research needs to be conducted to better understand the relationship between verbal and visual rhetoric in technical communication, integrating document design principles early appears to be a promising pedagogical technique.

Evaluating the effects of document design principles

The authors present a model of the process of designing documents. The model can he used as a joh aid for writers and as a framework for testing document design principles. The final step in this model is evaluation — testing how easily readers can understand and use the document. They then describe an audience-centered evaluation in which a traditional bureaucratic document was compared with a shortened,reorganized, and rewritten version. Subjects using the revised document answered more questions correctly, were significantly better in identifying the correct section, took less time to answer questions, and rated the revised document as much easier to use.