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.FootnotesSometimes, you need to explain things technical words or phrases or clarify the sources of statistics or comments.You could do this in therun of text, inserting the relevant material in a clause bounded by two commas.But this disrupts the flow of your sentence, and it's only reallybackground information, so it doesn't belong in the main body of your writing.Instead, use footnotes.You add a reference number in your text like this1, then add a numbered footnote at the foot of the page containing therelevant information.Colour-codingColour-coding is an excellent way of dividing a long document into manageable chunks.You could combine colour with a list of contents for aninstant visual reference system in a catalogue or corporate brochure.You see this technique used widely in mail order catalogues.ArrowsIf you want to point someone somewhere, stick an arrow in front of their nose.Flashes, starbursts and marqueesTo highlight important bits of your text, you can put keywords or short phrases into those little graphic elements designers call flashes,starbursts or marquees.Readers tend to go to these first so they are a useful way of communicating your main points quickly.Just make sure your designer uses graphic devices in keeping with your overall style, tone of voice and target reader's expectations.GraphicsWhether you are designing your document yourself, or employing a designer to do it for you, the question of graphics inevitably comes up.Atthe lowest level, you have clipart.At the highest, original photography and illustration.Whatever form of graphic you use, and I do think they area good idea for lightening up the text and adding visual interest, you must ask these questions:What is its purpose? Is it helping my reader understand the text? Is it moving them closer to my commercial goal?Often graphics appear to be there purely as decoration.This is not good enough.Is it a cliché?Too many ads, brochures and websites use images of clocks and cogwheels, cheetahs and chessmen.Too many feature improbably good-looking executives shaking hands or smiling at their computer screens.You can do better than that.Does it have a caption?Captions are attention-grabbers, and are read immediately after looking at the picture itself.They are a great place for a little stealthy selling.Is it immediately clear what the graphic is and what it is doing?If you puzzle your reader you will annoy them.HeadingsWe looked at headline writing in Chapter Ten.Here I want to focus not on what you say but on how you lay it out.The important thing is todecide on a typographical scheme for your headlines and stick to it.A simple scheme might look like this:1 Main heading Univers 20 pt bold2 Section head Univers 16 pt bold3 Sub-section head Univers 12 pt bold italicConsistent schemes create order and therefore help guide people through the text.Whenever your reader finds another H2, they know they arereading a new section.Whenever they see a new H3, they know they are still within the original section, but now getting new facts.Point sizesAs a general rule, you should aim for a point size small enough to allow you to fit a reasonable amount of text on to a page and big enough foryour reader to be able to see it without a magnifying glass.Be wary of designers who return proofs to you with your carefully crafted text reduced to a small block of tiny type on an achingly beautiful whitebackground.They don't have to read the stuff, much less act on it.As a minimum, I would suggest 10 pt Arial and 11 pt Times New Roman, or their visual equivalents if you are using other typefaces.TypefacesFor the purposes of readability, we can focus on a single attribute of typefaces: serifs.Serifs are the little tails at the ends of letters.Serifs do two things.They make it easier to read individual letters and they lead the eye horizontally along the line.Both of these functions aidreadability (or they do in print, but more of that in a moment).Here's the same word in a sans serif typeface ie a typeface without the little tails.Without the serifs to guide the eye along the line, the strong verticals lead the eye downwards, against the natural reading direction.Sans serif typefaces can work very well for headlines, where there are fewer words than in body text.They also work better on the web or inany digital medium, because they are easier to render out of the little square building blocks called pixels that make up on-screen images andtext.They are cleaner and sharper and therefore easier to read.If your house style dictates a sans serif face, don't despair.They aren't impossible to read.It's just that they are harder.You need to be awareof this and perhaps consider the overall effect of your typography.Blocks and barriersIt's not enough to get the headline scheme, the point size and the typeface right.You have to think of the setting of the text overall.You have toavoid things that get in the way of easy reading and understanding.Below are some examples of what I mean [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]