Topic:

Layout and design

This topic page includes introductory information, a list of readings, and questions to guide your
reading and prepare you for class discussion; it may also include an individual or group
assignment, which may or may not be graded.

Introduction
As you prepare formal reports in this course, you should consider document layout and design as
an important element of your communications. As you assess the effectiveness of the
communications and communications efforts of others for your final project, layout and design
should be one focus of your analysis.

The readings in this topic sheet are brief, but there are several reading questions that require you
to make comparisons, we will discuss design issues in class, and you are required to write a forum
post with a brief analysis of a design.

Readings for this topic

Read the following entries in Alred, Brusaw and Oliu (2015; ABO):
layout and design

Read Sevillas Page Design: Directing the Readers Eye, available on T-Square.

Reading questions

Compare and contrast the design principles that ABO highlights and those that Sevilla
highlights. Are these lists similar or quite different from each other? Can you speculate
why?
Sevilla lists emphasis as her first principle. Which of ABOs principles most closely
resembles it in substance?
Consider the role that repetition plays in ABOs and Sevillas treatment of layout and
design. Restate in your own words what the value of repetition is.
Make sure you know what the difference between left-justified and full-justified text
margins are. Explain in your own words the key benefits of each.
ABO explains the difference between serif and sans-serif fonts. Which do they say is easier
to read? Which do they say is preferable for headings and which for body text?
ABO talks (p. 316) about ways of visualizing page layouts, calling them thumbnail
sketches, mock-ups, and dummies; Sevilla refers to them as grids; and finally, some
folks call them wireframes. Note that wireframing a document that will be printed (if at
all) on 8.5x11 paper is profoundly different than wireframing a website, especially one
with responsive design. Check out the approach described by Balsamiq, a provider of
software tools for doing website and mobile app wireframing:
http://support.balsamiq.com/customer/portal/articles/615901
ABO talks briefly about white space (p. 315). It seems to play a much more significant role
in Sevillas treatment of design. Can you speculate why? Do the ABO book and the Sevilla
articles themselves make good use of white space?

2015 Brian N. Larson

Topic: Interviewing for information

Page 1

In Microsoft Word, select File/New from Template and navigate around the various Word
templates. Choose one of the proposal templates. Be prepared to discuss with your group
members whether its a good design for your group-project report.

Classroom activities for this topic

Come to class prepared to discuss the layout and design of these two fact sheets regarding
cockroaches in terms of the principles discussed in the readings. Dont worry about the
verbal content of the fact sheets (though their subject matter and contexts of use might
suggest certain constraints on design).
o EPA, Cockroaches and schools, http://www2.epa.gov/managing-pests-
schools/cockroaches-and-schools
o California Department of Pesticide Regulation, Cockroaches,
http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/pestmgt/pubs/cockroaches_factsheet.pdf
Post a brief analysis/evaluation of the layout and design of one of the cockroach fact sheets
to T-Square. Choose the layout principles in ABO or in Sevilla and briefly assess whether
the layout and design is consistent with those principles.

Assignments for this topic

None. (You will use skills addressed in this topic in upcoming assignments.)

Works cited
None.

2015 Brian N. Larson

Topic: Interviewing for information

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