Tracy's blog 13: document design and technical marketing documents

Technical marketing documents are produced with specific attention paid to document design.  Writers and designers make a series of key decisions related to the product, the manufacturer, target audiences, availability of resources used to produce the document, and the document’s point of distribution.

An especially beginner-friendly resource for creating effective technical marketing documents is Robin Williams’ book The Non-Designer’s Design Book (now in its second edition). This book, which retails for $19.95 is very user-friendly in content and engaging in tone – she has fun with design, and she wants all of us to have fun with it, too, even if we don’t necessarily get things right the first time. This book, like anything we’ve looked at associated with this project, emphasizes the writing situation and the audience. With that in mind, here are Robin Williams’ four components of document design:

· Contrast

· Repetition

· Alignment

· Proximity

Contrast: Involves items on the page that are different from each other. Items that are identical are OK. Items that are “similar” are not; they lack connection to one another, and they also compete with each other.

Repetition: Repeating items communicates identity, consistency, and importance.

Alignment: Items should have a visual connection with other items. Don’t place items just to get them onto the page, or to “scatter” items across the page. Alignment communicates relationships between items; it also organizes items in ways that make the overall document more accessible to readers.

Proximity: Items placed near each other need to have some sort of relationship or connection between them. Proximity is another method of organization.

Document design is key in technical marketing documents, since information must not only be gathered and compiled, but it must also be presented.

Placement of text within a brochure is especially critical. Columns need to orient themselves within each panel so that when the document is folded, the crease runs along – not within – columns.

Typography is another important text-oriented element in document design. There are four general categories of typefaces: serif (Times New Roman), sans serif (Arial, Helvetica), script, and decorative. Serif typefaces, or fonts, are usually used for body copy; the stems, or serifs, on each letter help “propel” readers from one letter to the next in a word, so that we in a sense “glide” through individual words and groups of words – making glancing at a document easy and convenient. Sans serif typefaces generally are used for headlines and subheads; they are more bold in appearance than serif-based fonts. But Arial has also caught on for body copy in web-based documents because it looks “modern.” Script fonts and decorative fonts are used for special occasions, and for that reason they must be chosen with great care. Use them only for headlines, since their ornamented style makes them more difficult to read if used for anything beyond small increments of text.

Size and weight are important, too, since we use these criteria to measure text. In terms of size, we work with “points,” instead of inches. One inch equals 72 points. For a flyer, headlines range from 42 to 72 points. Subheads range from 24 to 36 points. And body copy ranges from 10 points to 18 points. For a brochure, the values are adjusted due to each panel visually representing a “separate” document. A 48-point headline would overwhelm a brochure panel, and it would stretch over several lines. But a 24-36 point headline in a brochure would be just fine. Subheads? 14-18 point. Body copy? 9-12 point. In terms of weight, we have regular, italics, boldface, and underlined. Boldface emphasizes text, italics de-emphasize it. Avoid underlines; they’re too reminiscent of the typewriter and they tend to “obscure” the words above them!

Another important consideration: placement of the manufacturer’s logo, which must be present within the document. If the document is meant to emphasize the manufacturer, the logo should be placed in a prominent location. If the document is meant to emphasize the product or the target audience, the logo should be placed somewhere considerably less prominent – such as the back panel of a brochure, or in the bottom right corner of a flyer.

Color. Color is much more than simply “window dressing”! Color communicates identity – identity regarding the product, identity regarding the manufacturer, identity regarding the target audience. In terms of document design, it’s important to keep in mind what various colors “mean” – but it’s also important to keep in mind that some colors are more effective in technical marketing documents than others. Colors like blue and green are almost always good bets; they’re friendly, soothing, and very printer-friendly. Colors like yellow, orange, and brown sometimes carry negative connotations – “too ugly,” “too boring,” “too gaudy,” “too ordinary.” However, these colors can be especially effective when implemented for specific products: household appliances, home improvement products, and the like.

What about black, white, and gray? Some technical marketing writers and designers steer clear of these colors because they perceive such colors as not as readily able to take advantage of the “variety” that desktop publishing software and peripherals offer at reasonable prices. But these colors can actually be effectively implemented if used to create a timeless, creativity-oriented mood. Finally, what about red? It’s not as often used – not because of any negative connotations as much as red is not as print-friendly or screen-friendly than other colors. In print, it overwhelms other parts of the document. On screen, it’s hard on the eyes.

Layout/design

As you begin to sketch out your sample document, there are a number of items that you should consider:

• The amount of information that needs to be presented
• The types of documents that "fit" your product type.  Vehicles are usually presented in booklets, due to the need for detailed text-based information, as well as several different kinds of visuals.  Household appliances and home improvement products are more often presented in flyers or larger brochures.  Computers and electronics are often presented with brochures, but can also be presented in flyers and booklets.  They're occasionally presented in postcards and other smaller documents.  Pharmaceutical products offer the most variety in document types -- they're just as likely to be presented in large posters as they are in small postcards.
• The text/image ratio suitable for your product.  Vehicles tend to have a high percentage of images, while machines have more text.  Avoid ratios of 50/50, since the eye will be unable to focus on any one specific item.  Also, avoid ratios higher than 80/20, as the "lesser" item will be too difficult to see.
• Successful documents use a grid-style approach, rather than having text and images scattered randomly across the page.  Grids emphasize relationships between items, as well as levels of importance.
• Placement of information:  I would recommend designing the front page or cover first, and then placing product specifications.  Let the rest of the information fall in around those items.
• Tables are especially effective for placing text and images next to each other, as well as for placing titles and section titles with body copy and/or images.