Everyone wants to be acknowledge by others yet at the same time often afraid to encode wrong message and concern about the content more than anything else. This is why people often ignoring about its appearance. According to Reep, Diana (2006), "Readers do not read only the printed words on a page , they also read the visual presentation".
Reep (2006) writing on document design and showing the important principles on how to create a good design. In order, how to apply the design principles; I am going to use my first assignment on powerpoint presentation slides to be the example. Through this we can find out if there are errors or not and find a way to further improve the whole documents.
The first principle- Balance
According to Reep (2006) balance page balance refers to having comparable visual "weight" on both sides of a page or on opposing pages in a longer document. One large section of a page can be balanced by two smaller sections.
Figure 1:
Looking into figure 1. we can see one large section right in the middle (Grey color) and two smaller sections which is on the top (White color) and right at the bottom (Dark Green color). the 3 elements show the page is divided accordingly and therefore it is balance.
Second principle - Proportion
Proportion in a page is looking into the size, the placement of the text, graphic aids and also format elements on the page. Reep(2006)
Figure 2
Looking at figure 2. The size of the text in the content is equal and only the heading size is bigger to help the readers to know the subject. supported by Reep (2006), "Each design feature should be the size that is helpful to the reader and appropriate to the subject". The placement of the text is align and slide is using the format elements, which is Bolding the
text accordingly to emphasize the main points.
Third Principle - Sequence
According to Diana Reep (2006), it is focuses on the arrangement of the design features where readers are often see the best order first.
Figure 3
Looking at figure 3 and 1.
The slide's sequence is present where it is placed from the most important which is showin
g the most important first and to the second important and so on.
Fourth principle - Consistency
Presenting similar features in a similar style
Focuses on:
1. Margin - keep the same margin
2. typeface - Using same font size and style of type of headings and information.
3. Indentations - the same style of paragraphs, quotations and lists.
Figure 4
looking at the figure 4. the same size font, background, and arrangements. It is showing the consistency of the slides are helpful to the readers.
In conclusions, after going through the four principles, we are now able to create a good design for powerpoint slides and this principles can be applied into many different aspect of genre. We are not only able to send across the message, also retain the message in the audiences' mind and understanding.
References
Reep, D. C.( 2006), ‘Chapter 6: Document design’ in Technical writing: Principles, strategies and readings, 6th ed., Pearson-Longman, New York
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