The design of a document has a major impact on its credibility and on the credibility of the information. For me, a poorly designed document with an awkward layout will never be chosen over one that has a good design and layout combination. For example, when I Google information to help/assist with homework and I find two web sites that answer the question, I will choose the one that has a better design because I know that the writer of it took his time to make it and refine it, and so it is probably more credible than the other.
Chapter 24 did a good job of informing about design content and the way it refers to how the visual information in a document communicates to readers, but this book does a horrible job with its design content. Reading through this book is like trying to solve a puzzle; I honestly have no clue where the main paragraphs are and the way everything flows together is terrible. Every page in this book is different than the next. Visually there is so much going on in every page that it is hard for me to follow where I am supposed to go and there is no layout telling me where to go next after I finish a section. This is probably the worst arranged textbook I have ever owned.
Chapter 25 does a good job of outlining the four major ideals that aid in making a document’s visuals, design, and textual content work in harmony the best. From our last project we learned that alignment and repetition can help the document to flow better and can establish the framework for how the rest of it will be. Proximity creates a relationship between two things, and in instructions will most likely be important when having a picture with a description next to it. The reader of the instructions will automatically look directly below the picture for its description and at the same time prove the idea behind proximity to be correct. Contrast, or using differences in design elements to prioritize information, will also prove to be important when creating instructions because showing the reader where and when different steps are completed is one of the most important aspects of instructions. Drawing attention to different things on different pages will prove to be very helpful when creating successful instructions because it helps the reader follow the design layout better.
Good design as an indication of credibility
I think it's interesting that you use design as an indication of credibility. I've never thought of it this way before, but as I think about, I think that a good design can make or break the difference in how professional a document seems, which is exactly your point (and doesn't promise good things for the Thomson book, huh?). As I read that more and more people have the same reaction to the book I do, I can't help but wonder why we're using it as our textbook, when design has been such a recurring theme in all of our work thus far.
Kristin
TH
Like you, I was also appalled by the design of the Thomson Handbook and had to wonder why we were using it as our textbook for this class. The information in the book is very intuitive and overall has good information, but it all becomes null because of the design and presentation. I would much rather read the instructor blogs and even peer responses.
Design, Make or Break Creibility
As Joey, the first impression will make or break the credibility. I too look at the way a website or any document is laid out. When it looks like it is well organized, easy to follow, professional, and it took time; I feel if someone is going to spend that much time on publishing information, they are credible.
As for the textbook, Thomson Handbook, I too feel disoriented while reading. With reading and trying to pick out the valuable information is very unappealing to me and I don’t like wasting my time identifying what I need to read.
Zebulon Rouse
Design, mechanics, and ethos
Design and mechanics are substantial elements of ethos. Most of us have received a phising email, and it's often mechanical issues that send up the red flags. This is why it's important for us to pay attention to mechanical issues in our communications—particularly professional and technical writing. Of course we must ensure that documents such as resumes and cover letters are as grammatically flawless as possible, because these documents have to represent us. In instruction sets, errors can lead to a process being performed incorrectly. In some cases this might even cause legal problems.
We also want to think about mechanics in these posts and comments. These are a different genre with different conventions, but we still must consider how we construct ourselves through language—particularly given that the whole of this class, and all of our interactions, take place through written discourse.
Thank you very much
One of the first things I noticed when I opened the book Sunday night was the poor design, and I thought to myself how much better I like reading the instructor blogs and other reading responses. At least with the instructor blogs and reading responses I can correctly navigate through them without loosing my place or trying to figure out where to continue reading. One of the most important keys of a good design in a document is for it to be easily read, and I am glad that I am not the only one who found that this book had a very bad design.
THE DONT'S
I found it important that you talked about the wrong things that people do in writing instructions and how it really does downgrade the product with the customer if the instructions are poorly written, because if people get aggravated with the instructions for a product then they will likely think less of the product. Poor instructions really make people feel like the people who designed the product were not educated enough about the product and that causes people to loose trust in the company.