Presentation for University of Idaho's English 309 (Rhetorical Style)

1. Information Design
for White Papers

2. #1 rule of document design:
UNDERSTAND YOUR READERS
• They’re busy.
• They don’t care about you or your ideas
(or even if they do, they won’t
necessarily take the time to read
something that looks difficult.
• They will skim.
AND DESIGN ACCORDINGLY

3. GENERAL STRATEGIES
• Create a clear visual hierarchy.
• Chunk into bite-size pieces – use white
space.
• Use meaningful headings.
• Use clear topic sentences to facilitate
skimming.
• Be as concise as possible while still being
persuasive.

4. CLEAR VISUAL HIERARCHY
Visual hierarchy is the order in which the eye perceives
information. The eye should be drawn to the most important
information first, or else the reader will be confused.

5. POOR
VISUAL
HIERARCHY

6. ontrast
epetition
lignment
roximity
C
A
R
P
eadings
ccess
ypography
pace
H
T
A
S

7. Create contrast with…
• color (hue, saturation).
• size
• typeface
CONTRAST – BE BOLD

8. Rule of Three: Colors

9. Repeat colors, headings/subheading types,
words to create clear visual hierarchy.
REPETITION

10. ALIGNMENT
Strong alignments guide the reader’s eye.

12. PRO TIP 1: Don’t center everything.

13. PRO TIP 2: Use a grid to design (and
the rule of thirds).

14. PROXIMITY
Group related ideas together to uphold reader expectations.

15. Someone failed to consider proximity…

16. HEADINGS
Promote easy navigation (follow CRAP principles for
headings).

17. ACCESS
Help readers easily find and understand important info.
• Might use bullets and dashes, depending on the document
(typically not white papers).
• Use graphics (like tables and charts) where appropriate.

18. TYPOGRAPHY
Rule of thumb: no more than two typefaces in a single
document.

19. SPACE
Use “white space” to improve legibility and reading comprehension, and
to draw attention to particular design elements or important information.

20. Sample redesign

21. Examples: White Paper Title Page
***note the use of CRAP HATS in each example

22. White paper design, cont.

23. WORD tools for
document design…
• Header/footer
• Tables
• Shapes
• Text boxes
• Columns
• Insert photos/text wrap