Question

Locate an example of poor document design. Maybe there is a document you use at work that is confusing, or perhaps a form you have had to fill out that was visually cluttered or otherwise hard to read (you might want to begin your search at a government website...). Provide a link to the document, attach the document, or post an image of the document in your post so that your classmates can view the document design. In your post, identify at least three ways the document is poorly designed. For example, you might reference use of white space, font size and type, or lack of headings. Explain how the poor document design affects the message and how the audience might interpret the message being communicated based only on the document design. Identify at least three ways to improve the document design of the message and explain how each suggestion can make it more effective.

Answer 1

The old saying goes that you only get one chance to make a first impression and that is so true when marketing to consumers. Utilizing outdated customer document design for your client communications could be costing your company valuable business. Think about updating the look of your company’s documents the same way you would think about updating your wardrobe. You don’t want your clothes stuck in the 80’s forever. Why would you want your documents screaming old-fashioned and out-of-date? Could be time for a fresh new look, an update in technology, and the chance to increase your response rates. Customer document design is more important than ever, with the rise of the younger generation.

Looks do matter. Are all of your company documents in black and white? This may seem like a small detail, but your consumer’s eyes are drawn to color. Think of the reading people do each day. The amount of information consumed seems endless. Without something to set your information apart — color, for instance, to help our brains latch onto important messages — we can easily skip right past the key points.

FSSI’s Color Specialist and Graphic Designer, adds variable color to documents in order to highlight the company’s most important messages. “Color really allows information to pop out at the reader. Billing Due Dates are a good example of where to add variable color to a document. The reader’s eye is able to immediately jump down and find the content they were looking for without having to carefully read the entire document.”

Create a balance within your company’s customer document design. Make sure you include all of the important information but don’t overwhelm your customers with too much text. Customers retain information better when there is white space on the page. Don’t waste valuable space by repeating messages. Simplify. Flush out extraneous information by removing duplicate fields and focus instead on your company’s target messages. Doing so gives you more valuable white space to use for other purposes. Marketing messages, coupons, or even calls to action could be placed into the document’s white space to make full use of the page.

Once you’ve given your company documents a face-lift, don’t forget to make sure you are using the latest technology. FSSI, an outsource printing company with over 30 years of expertise, not only works with clients to update customer document design but to help distribute them to consumers through omnichannel marketing. FSSI stays current with the latest technology and helps integrate all printable documents to the web for easy viewing. This lets companies format documents for print, web, and mobile platforms. Direct Mail is also having a renaissance in marketing. FSSI specializes in Direct Mailand can customize documents to market to consumers as individuals rather than part of a group. Personalized documents and strategic advertising push bigger consumer response rates.

Many companies are just not using their data most effectively. By gathering information on what individual consumers buy, how many events they attend, or which discount codes or coupons they have used in the past business can carefully target information to appeal to their customers’ interests. Imagine how much stronger your message would be if you could generate specific ads/events/coupons that focused on what your customer wanted to see.

FSSI offers valuable document redesign solutions utilizing our document management solution messageStreamOne can make this happen and takes the guess-work out of the customization process for its clients. FSSI uses your company’s consumer data and tracks the response rates of your communications. Your data is also safe with us. FSSI is an SSAE18 Type II secure facility and follow rigid guidelines for data across numerous industries that are driven by compliance regulations.

But here’s the best part. All this customization will help your company save advertising dollars by only sending out messages that apply to certain consumers. Your company’s response rates will naturally increase because people are receiving information that relates directly to their needs and interests. Remember that customization is key — and soon enough your company’s document redesign will speak for itself.

These are the tips or ways on how to design a good document

1. Be objective. Good design is not about your personal preferences. Sure, certain aspects of your personality will show through in anything that you create, but at the end of the day, you're designing your business document with a singular purpose: to communicate an important idea, concept, or story. Your goal is to please the audience reading your publication, not your grade eleven art teacher.

2. Design, don’t decorate. Good design is about making your document easier to read by visually guiding the readers' eyes to the most important information first. Embellishments such as unnecessary flourishes, bullet points that look like emoticons, or serial exclamation marks (!!!!) will distract readers from your main message.

3. Understand your text before you begin. What tone do you need your document to convey? Is the document filled with serious information (i.e.; a critical incident report)? If your document is instructional, how would you lay out the information so that it's easy to follow, step by step? When you understand the intended tone and purpose of the text, it's much easier to find the right style and format for your document.

4. Limit fonts to no more than three different styles. Two is even better than three. Use sans serif fonts for headlines and subheadings, and use serif fonts for body text. An example of a san serif fonts is Arial: it has no 'hooks' on its edges. Serif fonts, such as Times New Roman, have tiny swooshes that reach out from the ends of the letters. Serif fonts make reading longer chunks of text easier on the eyes.

5. Use a simple layout grid. You don’t need a grid made up of hundreds of tiny squares when you begin laying out your document. Instead, divide your page into a 9-square grid, then follow the rule of thirds. By organizing your layout into thirds, rather than halves and quarters, you'll keep yourself from breaking rule number 6.

6. Avoid symmetry at all costs. Symmetrical layout is boring and predictable. Asymmetrical layout based on the golden ratio has been the cornerstone of good design for over 2,400 years. The golden ratio can be found in nature, too, the nautilus shell being one of the most well-known naturally made objects linked to the golden ratio.

7. Finally, use color to unify the entire document. Familiarize yourself with the basic principles of how the color wheel works, then choose simple blocks or sections where you can use a few complementary or harmonious colors (hues). Be careful not to use too many colors though; you want to leave enough white space to give your readers' eyes a break from too much visual stimulation.

Sometimes all you need to overcome your doubts about your graphic design abilities are a few simple guidelines to ensure the intent of your message is fully preserved and not overrun by zany bullets, lopsided layout, and garish colors.