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Document Design

During the semester, we'll be reading several chapters and articles that deal with document design, which is one of the most important skills you will learn in this class. Why is document design so important? Because even the clearest, most succinct writing in the world won't be read unless the document is designed to take into account reader preferences and needs. In our increasingly complex world, technical documents are roadmaps to action and problem solving, allowing us to achieve our goals using the technological artifacts our society has created.

Though the task of document design begain in the age of print, many of the concepts used to design paper-based documents can be employed in the design of electronic documents such as PDFs and websites. For this reason, many people have suggested a number of other terms for this type of design, such as "information design" and "communication design." However, Karen Schriver, in her book Dynamics in Document Design, prefers the phrase in her title because it suggests the acts of writing and designing—a synthesis, if you will, of the language and visual arts.

And that is much of what this course is about—synthesizing writing and visual design to create technical information products.

Document design resources

The following links provide you with basic information about document design, layout, typography, and visuals. Some are academic research, others are tutorials or explanations. Explore and see what you can find.