In the digital age, readers increasingly form a judgement about a text based on its visual appeal. So it is worthwhile to understand some basic design principles.
These are useful when you're formatting everyday documents. But they'll also help you work more effectively with a graphic designer on published texts.
The main design elements to consider fall into 3 groups:
- typography
- page layout
- formatting and graphics.
Typography
Style your text to maximise legibility
The first step to consider is the font you will use and how to format the type. The key is to maximise legibility and reading ease. Think about elements such as:
| Font choice | There are 2 broad groups of fonts: - Serif fonts vary in thickness and have ‘caps’ and ‘feet’ to help hold the eye on a line. They were developed mainly for reading from a physical page.
- Sans serif fonts have more uniform thickness and are larger and thicker than serif fonts of the same size. They are common for reading on a screen.
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| Legibility for low vision | There is much debate about whether serif or sans serif fonts are best for people with low vision. Either one can work, so long as it is large enough and has good contrast between the type and background colours. |
Capital letters | Minimise capital letters because they take up more space and reduce reading speed. In particular, don’t use ALL CAPS FORMATTING, which also looks like shouting. And prefer sentence case in headings, where generally only the first word is capitalised. |
Emphasis | When you need to emphasise a word or short phrase, use bold rather than italics, underlining or upper case. Bold is the most legible option, particularly for text on a screen. See Formatting for details on the exceptions. |
| Justification | The justification options for a text are to align: - left (ragged right margin)
- fully (neat alignment on both margins)
- centre (ragged left and right margins)
- right (ragged left margin).
While full justification is neatest in appearance and aids reading, it can create wavy white lines on a page between words that are unevenly spaced. This means it is often safest to left align text. Avoid centre alignment, and reserve right alignment for elements in tables. |
See other entries in our Formatting section for more details on many of these elements.
Page layout
Set up your page with clear headings and white space
When readers encounter a page, their first impression is influenced by the density of the text. If they are hit by a ‘wall of words’, they will form a negative view. If there is plenty of white space and headings to break up the text, they will be more motivated to read. Consider elements such as:
Page margins
and grid | Unless you are using a set template, you can consider a range of layouts, including the page size, margins and text grid. A single block of text on an A4 page is the most common. But a 2- or 3-column format might work well. |
| White space | White or negative space allows your text to ‘breathe’ and gives readers some visual relief. For a hard copy page, make sure you have adequate margins around the text. Comfortable spacing between lines will be at least 2 points higher than the font size, and space between paragraphs can be up to a line. In a text that will be read on screen, such as a web page, you may not have margins to add white space. So keep your paragraphs short with regular headings in between. You might also need more space between paragraphs. |
Headings | Headings help to add white space on the page. They are also important to signpost your content and help readers navigate the structure. It’s important to build a strong visual hierarchy so readers can distinguish main headings from subheadings. You can do this with font size, bolding and colour, but avoid using all caps or italics. |
Paragraph
length | Ideal paragraph length has shortened in recent years as the internet shifts our reading habits towards skimming and scanning. For a print document, keep your paragraphs to 2 or 3 sentences on average, and 4 sentences at most. This will usually be about 3–4 lines, depending on your page dimensions and sentence length. Try not to venture too far outside the broader range of 2–5 lines. For the web, your paragraphs should be shorter. Stick to 1 or 2 sentences on average, and 3 sentences at most. This will be around 2–3 lines, again depending on screen size and sentence length. You can range between 1 and 4 lines. Note that these guidelines relate to general workplace writing and might be a little restrictive for academia, where more discursive texts abound.
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Numbering | If you are going to number parts of a text, do so at the top levels of the information hierarchy to signpost the main structure: Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and so on. In complex documents, digital numbering at 2 levels can work well: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and so on. But numbering beyond this level becomes too complex. And avoid paragraph numbering unless you are writing a document such as a contract. |
Formatting and graphics
Add visual elements such as lists, tables and icons if they support your content
Whether you are writing a short memo or a web page, you should consider adding some visual elements. This does not mean adding design just to pretty up a page. Make sure any visuals help to convey the content. Consider elements such as:
Lists | Vertical lists with bullets or numbers can help to break up dense paragraphs, and they add extra white space on a page. Lists work best for a single, run-on sentence or a short series of stand-alone sentences of up to 5-7 items. Avoid formatting whole paragraphs and pages in bullets or having complex lists within lists. |
Tables and graphs | Tables and graphs are useful for displaying complex numerical data and showing the relationship between variables. Tables can also be useful for summarising processes or a series of events. Remember to add alt text to tables and graphics so they’re also accessible to people using screen reading software.
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| Icons | Icons are becoming increasingly popular, especially in informational documents such as fact sheets and brochures. Icons add visual interest and can help to clarify the type of content you are conveying. But don't use them just to add a visual element, and make sure they will be clear for your intended readers. |
