DOCUMENT DESIGN

In the era of technology, there are several forms of a document to communicate with its readers such as printed texts, PowerPoint slides and so on. Therefore, the combination of such diversities and integration of both visual and linguistic feature is crucial for document designers to introduce successful products in the dynamic field of Publications.

As stated by Putnis Peter and Petelin Roslyn (1996), good writing has to be “readable” to the readers with a set of quality such as: interesting, legible, aesthetically attractive... Moreover, it also needs to give opportunities for its readers participating because they will bring their unique experience to the document, argued by Karen Schriver (2997). Therefore, writers have to put themselves at the positions of readers to know who they are, for examples experts or students, what they need, how they access the information... so that various strategies can be planned for each type of readers. Additionally, according to Reep Diana (2006), a flexibility of using a huge range of graphic aids, for instance diagrams, bar charts, pie charts, photographs; and format elements such as written cues, white space, color, typographic devices in the material could be appreciated to help readers understand more effectively.

Specifically, applying to PowerPoint slides, there are many criteria can be used to evaluate whether they are good presentations. First of all, a presentation has to be easy to read with standard typefaces like Times New Roman or Arial in a sufficient size. Second, it should contain only essential information and uses key phrase instead of sentences. Third, the simpler the background, the nicer the slide; so an efficient background used with a contrasting color of the text will give readers a pleasant feeling when they look at the screen. Fourth, a combination of photos, charts and graphs and even embedding digitized videos with text, will add variety and explain about the topic which are presented better. Finally, using transitions and animations will keep audiences interested in the presentation.

Just look at the slide for an example:

It is too wordy. The better way is using the key terms so that these can help presenters focus on what they going to talk and also help audiences stay on track with their presentation. Furthermore, the dark background is not encouraged because it gives audiences an unpleasant feeling when they want to get the information from the screen. In addition, the pictures chosen to produce in a slide are important as well. In the following picture, a presenter did not concern about the content in the flowchart which is “offensive” considered by some audiences.

Generally, a comprehension of what the audiences’ expectations are and how the documents can satisfy them basing on the fundamental theories is chief for writers/designers to produce a quality documents publicly.

Reference list:

1. Karen Schriver, 1997, “chapter 6: The interplay of words and pictures”, in Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub, New York, p.361-441.
2. Putnis, Peter and Petelin, Roslyn, 1996, Professional communication : principles and applications, Prentice Hall.
3. Reep, Diana C. 2006, ‘Chapter 6: Document Design,’ in Technical writing : principles, strategies, and readings, 6th ed., Pearson/ Longman, New York, p.133-172.
4. Wendy Russell, 10 Tips for Creating Successful Business Presentations, About.com, viewed 8 April 2011, http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpointinbusiness/tp/bus_pres_tips.htm
5. Zane L Marquez , 2010, How to Make a Good PowerPoint Presentation, May 18, viewed 8 April 2011, http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Make-a-Good-PowerPoint-Presentation&id=4313178.