Document Design

Document design refers to the visual formatting and layout choices that make a document easy to read, credible, and professional. Appearance is the first thing a reader sees — it sets expectations for credibility before any content is consumed.

How It Appears Per Course

ADMN 233

Covered in “Effective Document Design” (Dr. Glen Farrelly). Directly connected to Step 4 (Polishing) of the WritingProcess.

The 8 Document Design Elements

graph LR
    DD[Document Design] --> T[Titles & Title Pages]
    DD --> H[Headings]
    DD --> F[Font]
    DD --> LS[Line Spacing]
    DD --> M[Margins & Alignment]
    DD --> L[Lists]
    DD --> W[Whitespace]
    DD --> V[Visual Aids]

    F --> F1[Type: serif vs sans-serif]
    F --> F2[Size: 12pt standard]
    F --> F3[Colour: black default]
    F --> F4[Bold / Italics]

    L --> L1[Numbered: ranked / sequential]
    L --> L2[Bulleted: unordered / equal]
    L --> L3[Parallelism required]

    V --> V1[Aesthetic]
    V --> V2[Technical: 72/300 dpi]
    V --> V3[Legal: copyright / credit]
    V --> V4[Design: placement / caption]

Key Rules by Element

Titles

• Length: 2–7 words; rarely more than one line
• Capitalization: Title Case — capitalize major words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns); do NOT capitalize conjunctions, articles, or prepositions under 4 characters
• Format: Bold; slightly larger than body font; no underline (underline = links)
• No wordplay or puns — clarity over cleverness

Headings and Subheadings

• Bold, flush left, own line
• Use decimal numbering (1.1, 1.2) when document has 3+ headings
• No orphaned headings — never leave a heading alone at bottom of a page; force it to the next page
• True headings in Word → Navigation Pane + screen reader accessibility

Font

Element	Guideline
Type	2 font types max; serif (TNR, Garamond) for print; sans-serif (Arial, Verdana) for screen
Size	12pt body; 30–35pt for slides; don’t shrink below 12pt
Colour	Black default; high contrast required; avoid grey-on-white; red = financial error connotation
Bold	Key words, titles — sparingly
Italics	Emphasis (few words only), quotations, newly coined terms
Underline	Web links only — not for emphasis in print
Highlighting	Collaborative drafting only — not in final professional documents
ALL CAPS	Sparingly — abbreviations, advertising; looks rude in body text

Line Spacing

• Single-spaced standard; 1.15 acceptable
• Double-space only if required (academic manuscripts)
• One space between sentences — two spaces is old-fashioned
• Avoid widows (lone word/phrase at top of new page)

Margins and Alignment

Element	Standard
Margins	2.5 cm / 1 inch on all sides; equal left-right and equal top-bottom
Left alignment	Standard for body text (“ragged right” is fine)
Justification	Avoid — creates odd word spacing
Centering	Titles, images, tables only; never body text
Right alignment	Running headers, footer page numbers
Indentation	Out of style; use blank line between paragraphs (block format) instead
Footer content	Page numbers, author, date, copyright; text slightly smaller than body
Footnotes	Avoid — integrate into body or cut

Lists

List type	Use when
Numbered	Rankings, inherent numbering (10 provinces), procedures, easing identification
Bulleted	Unprioritized, unordered items of equal importance

Parallelism is mandatory: every list item must follow the same grammatical pattern (all noun phrases, all verb phrases, or all complete sentences).

Introduce lists with a sentence ending in a colon. Don’t end items with commas or periods (unless complete sentences).

Whitespace

Whitespace = any space without text or graphics (doesn’t have to be white).

• Too little = wall of text; too much = looks like padding
• Use judiciously and consistently
• Improve it: shorter paragraphs, bullet lists, blank lines between paragraphs and before headings, buffer space around visuals

Visual Aids

Use a visual only if it genuinely helps the reader understand better.

Check	Details
Aesthetic	Professional quality; appealing colours; no offensive stereotypes
Technical	≥ 72 dpi for screen; ≥ 300 dpi for print; compress if file size is a problem
Legal	Copyright-free or licensed; always credit source (not crediting = plagiarism); model releases for photos of people
Design	Crucial visuals full-width; small visuals inset; placed near text they support; caption/title on same page

Caption format: 1–2 lines, slightly smaller font than body. Always on the same page as the visual.

Key Points for Exam/Study

• Document design = Step 4 (Polishing) of the 5-step writing process
• Title length: 2–7 words; Title Case capitalization rules (not conjunctions/articles/prepositions under 4 chars)
• Font standard: 12pt body; 30–35pt PowerPoint
• No underline in body text — reserved for web links
• Orphaned headings: always move to next page
• Parallelism in lists: same grammatical structure for every item
• Margins: 2.5 cm / 1 inch standard; no justification
• Whitespace: use judiciously — too little and too much are both problems
• Visual aid resolution: 72 dpi (screen) vs 300 dpi (print)
• Using images without credit = plagiarism

Cross-Course Connections

WritingProcess — document design is the Polishing step (Step 4) of the 5-step framework
CQualities — design supports the Credible C (professional image) and Concise C (whitespace + short paragraphs)
AudienceAnalysis — design choices (reading level, accessibility, font size, inclusive visuals) must reflect the audience