Lecture PowerPoint® Slides

to accompany

Prepared by
Karen Pike, Conestoga College
 MODULE 5

SESSION 8
Designing Documents
Slides and Screens
 Module 5 Learning Objectives

Knowledge of
LO1 The importance of message appearance, layout,
and design
LO2 Essential design principles
LO3 The interdependence of readability and your
credibility

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 Module 5 Learning Objectives

Skills to
LO4 Design documents, presentation slides, and
screens

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 Module 5 Outline
This module covers:
• Why is design important?
• How do I begin to think about good design?
• How do I design documents?
• How do I design emails?
• How do I design presentation slides?
• How do I design Web pages?
• How do I design social media pages?
• How do I know if my design works?
• When should I think about design?

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 Why is design important?
Design is essential to make meaning for readers.
Readers “see” design and layout first. Effective
design puts ideas together visually, making the
content and organization more obvious and easier to
understand.

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 Good message design achieves these
results:
• Saves time and money
• Builds goodwill
• Reduces legal problems
• Looks inviting, friendly, and easy-to-read
• Encourages scanning
• Makes content more obvious and easier to
understand

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 How Do I Begin to Think About
Good Design?
Use PAIBOC analysis to create audience-friendly
design.

When you are considering how best to shape your

message, remember the principle of all good
design: form follows function.

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 PAIBOC
P What are your design purposes? Sales? Marketing or
Promotion? Safety? Readability?

A Use
WhoPAIBOC analysis
will be using to create
your design? Whataudience-friendly
physical, psychological,
design.
and emotional expectations does your audience bring to your
design?
When you are considering how best to shape your
I What information must your design convey? What does your
message, remember the principle of all good
audience already know? What does your audience need to
design: form follows function.
know? How can you use design to meet your audience’s
needs? What design will emphasize the vital information?
What design will make your message most attractive and
accessible to your audience?

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 PAIBOC
B How can you use your design to emphasize reasons or reader
benefits?

O Use
HowPAIBOC analysis
can you use design toto create audience-friendly
de-emphasize or eliminate potential
design.
reader objections?

C When
How willyoutheare considering
context how
of the design best
affect to shape
audience your
response?
What economic,
message, environmental,
remember cultural,ofand
the principle all organizational
good
realities form
design: will influence
followsaudience
function.response to your message?
How can you use design principles to attract and hold
audience interest? If you are designing a presentation, how
will the size of the audience, the time of day, the presentation
room, and lighting affect your design planning?

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 How Do I Design Documents?
To create visually attractive documents:
• Use white space for separation and emphasis.
• Use headings and sub-headings to group points.
• Limit the use of words set in all capitals.
• Use no more than two typefaces in a single
document.
• Choose margins based on the situation and your
audience.

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 White space can be created in several
ways

• Use headings and subheadings.

• Use a mix of paragraph lengths.
• Use tabs or indent tools to vertically align text.
• Use lists.
• Use numbered lists when number or sequence is
important.
• Use bulleted lists when the number and
sequence are not important.

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 Apply parallel structure to headings
and lists
Use parallel structure (similar phrasing) for
headings and lists.

Parallelism means to begin each item on a list with

the same part of speech (verb, adjective, etc.).
This parallel structure meets the reader’s
subconscious expectations, and meeting audience
expectations is the most important aspect of
business writing.

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Apply parallel structure to headings
and lists

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Capitals – Bigger not always better !!

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Serif & San Serif Fonts

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Justification: Left/Right/Fulll

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 How Do I Design Emails?
Keep email design consistent, simple, and
readable.
You can customize your email design, adding
colour, texture and graphics, and highlighting
words; however, choose design elements that
• invite reading,
• reinforce the message content, and
• conform to your organization’s standards.

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How Do I Design Presentation Slides?
Keep slides simple, relevant, and interesting.
• Create slides that reinforce or illustrate your key
ideas.
• Keep design consistent.
• Customize your slides with the company logo as
well as colours, charts, and scanned-in photos and
drawings.
• Emphasize visuals.
• Use audience-relevant photos or illustrations to
keep memorable images in your listeners’ minds.

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 How Do I Design Presentation
Slides? (cont.)
• Use no more than one slide per minute of your
talk
• Keep text to an absolute minimum — three to five
lines at most
• Use bullet-point phrases, action verbs, and
concrete nouns.
• Contrast background and text.
• Use a big font. Not less than 24pt size.

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 How Do I Design Web Pages?
The best Web pages use design principles that
facilitate immediate satisfaction, including easy
navigation.
To design readable Web pages
• Define the purpose of the page and identify your users
• Use proven viewer patterns to decide what you will place
where
• Keep colours, font, and visuals consistent
• Keep your pages “clean and clutter-free”
• Use mobility editors to enable mobile access

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How Do I Design Web Pages?

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How Do I Design Web Pages?

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How Do I Design Social Media Pages?
Design elements always depend on your purpose,
audience and context.
• Choose a colour scheme that reflects your
identity, content, or brand.
• Choose fonts that reinforce your site’s identity.
• Create templates that convey specific content
ideas, and use these consistently.

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 How Do I Know if My Design Works?
Test it!
When testing your design try to:
• Watch someone as they use the document.
• Ask the reader to “think aloud” while using the
document.
• Test out the document on people who may have
trouble with it, i.e. young readers or those with little
experience.

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 When Should I Think About Design?
Think about design at each stage of the writing
process:
• As you plan, apply PAIBOC.
• As you write, incorporate lists and headings.
• Use visuals to convey data clearly.
• Get feedback from others.
• As you revise, check your draft against the
guidelines outlined in this module.

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 Summary
Good document design is essential for meaning.
Business audiences expect information to be easy
to access and easy to understand, and good
design accomplishes both of those goals.

• Effective design begins with planning using

PAIBOC.
• It applies sound design principles.
• The final product should be tested by various
audiences.

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 MODULE 5

END OF MODULE 5
SESSION 8
Designing Documents
Slides and Screens