Document design refers to the physical appearance of a document, whether it’s online or on paper. A document that consists of entire pages covered in text, with narrow margins and very little formatting, can send a reader fleeing. Is the page in the image below one you would look forward to reading?

Figure 1. All text; no design. (Image: UbikwitusThey CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Technical writing is usually concerned with providing information, giving instructions about how to accomplish a task, or persuading a reader to take an action. Document design is important not only to appearance, but also to the functionality of the document. Design elements contribute directly to how effectively the document achieves the writer’s goals and can have a significant impact on whether the content gets read.

Good document design is both science and art. The particular design of a document—use of fonts, page layout, color scheme, alignment, and more—is the result of a series of choices made by the designer. The goal is to make your document reader-friendly—easy to scan, search, and read. Whether you’re writing a memo on new safety policies at work, producing a newsletter for your community group, or creating content to market the new app you’ve just created, familiarity with a few basic elements of document design can improve your ability to communicate with your readers.

You already engage in some basic document design practices. When you format an academic essay, you center the title and regularly break text into to paragraphs to signal a shift in topic. You may be creating blogs, social media posts, Web pages, or PowerPoint slides with photos, graphics, animations, or videos. It can be argued that complex strings of emojis in text messages constitute elements of design: the images are placed for the purpose of enhancing the content.

Image by Magic Creative from Pixabay. Pixabay license: free for commercial use; no attribution required.

This chapter explores some fundamental design concepts that can be useful as you revise and shape your text, whether in print or electronic form.