Design Principles
Design creates meaning. We’d all like to think that readers pore over our messages; the truth is that you’ll be lucky to receive a quick skim. Use the following strategies to ensure that readers receive the main ideas of your messages and know exactly where to go for more detail.
Design for Skimmability
Skimmers look at a document without an agenda.
How to Design for Skimmers: Emphasize the points you most want to communicate so that skimmers can’t help noticing them.
Scanners approach a document with an interest in specific information.
How to Design for Scanners: Create a design that makes it easy for scanners to find what they need from your document.
Readers start at the beginning and read sentence by sentence.
How to Design for Readers: Design a document that rewards their attention with clear, logical formatting.
–Adapted from Document Design: A Guide for Technical Communicators.
Frontload Key Information
Put main ideas first (except when using the indirect approach for conveying negative news or saying no).
Getting the main point of a message, or the bottom line, into the beginning of a message often requires revision.
The drafting process helps you figure out what your main point is, which means that in the first draft it ends up near the end of a message.
Use Whitespace to Separate & Highlight Ideas
Whitespace, or negative space, describes the space in between elements of a document.
Business writing uses short paragraphs, separating ideas with whitespace to help audiences read messages quickly and avoid becoming distracted or overwhelmed by too much information.
Whitespace also benefits understanding. Readers see text or objects that are close together as related. Increase or decrease whitespace between document elements depending on how closely related they are.
You can also use whitespace to emphasize an element of a document. For example, putting extra whitespace around a title helps it stand out.
Make Lists Parallel
Parallel lists aid reader comprehension. Parallelism means that each item in a list follows the same grammatical pattern.
Examples
Instead of this: This book was exciting, well written, and held my interest.
Write this: This book was exciting, well written, and interesting.
Instead of this: She gave her team a negative performance rating because they made too many coding errors, the project expenses exceeded their budget, and they often missed deadlines.
Write this: She gave her team a negative performance rating because they made too many coding errors, exceeded their budget, and missed too many deadlines.
In the first example, each bullet begins with the same verb tense. In the second example, each item in the list is a noun. In both lists, each bulleted item follows a similar grammatical pattern and length.
Examples
The decline in company profit is due to four factors:
- decreased holiday sales
- increased transportation and fuel costs
- increased employee wages
- reduced inventory turnover
Biologists divide vertebrates into five classes:
- Amphibians
- Birds
- Fish
- Mammals
- Reptiles
Add Headings & Subheadings
Headings and subheadings should communicate main ideas, alert readers to topic changes, and make the organization of longer documents clear. In business writing, headings and subheadings can take the place of transitions and topic sentences.
Tips for Writing Useful and Effective Headings
Headings are a list of your main ideas or topics, which means that, like other lists, they should be parallel.
Examples of Parallel Headers In a Single Document
Project 2035 Sustainability Initiatives
Construct New Headquarters with Platinum LEED Certification
Reduce Manufacturing Emissions by Implementing CHP Systems
Expand Solar Installations to Include All South-Central Plants
Complete Electrification of Transportation Fleet
Small-Scale Sustainability Initiatives
Rain Barrels: Collect Runoff and Enable Sustainable Landscape Watering
Motion Sensors: Reduce Electricity Usage by Only Lighting Rooms in Use
Window-Film: Block Solar Heat and Lower Cooling Costs
Headings should provide a road map to your document’s main ideas. Make them specific so that readers understand the main takeaway from each section.
Examples of Summative Headings
- Industry Sources in the Food Truck Sector
- Fourth-Quarter Expense Reports
Sometimes it works best in longer documents to use a broad Level 1 heading with more specific Level 2 headings.
Example of a Header with Subheadings in a Single Document
Relocation Plan
Lease Terms Review: Legal Team
Repair and Cleaning Needs Assessment: Maintenance Staff
Technology Transition Requirements: Tech Ops Team
Vendor Research for Moving Services: Management Team
Relocation Benefits
Positive Environmental Impact: Platinum Leed Certified Building in a Downtown Area
Improved Brand Alignment: Interior and Exterior Design with Client Appeal
Superior Technology Infrastructure: State of the Art Fiber Optic and Electrical Systems
Headings should be closer to the text they label than to other text. Microsoft Word defaults to even spacing above and below headings, or floating headings, which creates visual confusion. Notice how these examples use more whitespace above the heading than below, to make it clear what text the heading labels.
Examples of Headers and Text
Strategies for Developing Friendly Nonverbal Cues
Clowns can modulate posture and facial expressions to present themselves positively…
Summary of FY2025 Safety Recalls
The majority of recalls involved…
In the case where there is both a heading and subheading next to each other, there should be a blank space between the heading and subheading, but no space between the subheading and the text that follows.
Example of Header, Subheadings, and Text
Routing Logistics Including Shipping Deadlines and Freight Terms
Specifying Final Destination Addresses and Critical Delivery Deadlines
Select the specific warehouse dock or office location from the shipping dropdown menu and input…
Defining Incoterms and Financial Liability for Freight Costs
Clearly designate the shipping terms, such as FOB Destination or FOB Shipping Point, to establish…
Use Lists Effectively
Introduce lists so that readers understand the information. Provide context for lists of actions or explain how your list is organized or categorized.
Examples
The following items must be completed by September 3 or the new site launch will have to be delayed:
- add new logo
- set up analytics
- test on multiple browsers
Discontinued Pharmaceuticals
- Bacitracin for Injection
- Cortisone Tablets
- Electrolyte Concentrate
- Posaconazole Oral Suspension
Here are our highest value clients, ordered by distance from our home office, nearest to furthest:
Kohl’s, Menomenee Falls, WI
Walgreens, Deerfield, IL
Target, Minneapolis, MN
Casey’s General Store, Ankeny, IA
Big Lots, Columbus, OH
Cabela’s, Springfield, MO
In the first example, each bullet begins with the same verb tense. In the second example, each item in the list is a noun. In both lists, each bulleted item follows a similar grammatical pattern and length.
Examples
The decline in company profit is due to four factors:
- decreased holiday sales
- increased transportation and fuel costs
- increased employee wages
- reduced inventory turnover
Biologists divide vertebrates into five classes:
- Amphibians
- Birds
- Fish
- Mammals
- Reptiles
Adding bullet points to paragraphs doesn’t create a skimmable document. If you aren’t listing actions or items, use short paragraphs and headings instead.
Create groups of subcategories; put six or fewer items into each subcategory.
Example
Common Types of Textile Fibers
Synthetic
- acrylic
- modacrylic
- nylon
- polyester
Natural
- cotton
- silk
- wool
Numbers: sequence or process
Bullets: order of importance or no particular order
Letters: options or choices
When bulleted or numbered items become lengthy, start with a bolded or italicized key word or phrase to provide readers with concise labels.
Examples
You’ll enjoy a variety of dessert options from our caterers:
- Cakes: chocolate lava cake, carrot cake, and pastel de tres leches
- Ice creams: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and dulce de leche
- Pastries: eclairs, sweet potato pie, treacle tart, and tarte des alpes
- Truffles: cappuccino, black forest, caramel, and champagne white chocolate
Use these editing strategies to polish your work:
- Retype your draft. Print your reports and then open a new document. Retype your report from scratch. When we edit within an existing document, we often hesitate to make big, necessary changes. Retyping frees us up to do a more thorough revising and editing process.
- Read your draft out loud. Reading out loud helps you identify a disconnect between what you want to say and what is actually on the page. Alternatively, have someone else read your draft out loud to you, to give you a different perspective.
- Change how the document looks. When you don’t have time to step away from a long document and can’t get someone else to help you, changing the font size, type, and color can trick your brain into seeing your sentences and paragraphs with a fresh perspective. Go for a dramatic change, like 16-point comic sans in purple. Separating each sentence by hitting return after each one can also help you edit effectively.
- Take time away from the draft. It becomes difficult to see what’s on the page when you’re too close to it. Putting your draft away for a few days or a week will help you experience it as a reader and identify places where you can be clearer or more concise.
If an entire message is a list, then nothing stands out and readers get lost.
Information Hierarchy
Using Graphic Emphasis to Improve Readability
Consider the following choices and think about what they might communicate to readers:
S p a c i n g
Size
Multiple Fonts
Small Caps
Color
Italics
Bold
Bold Italics
Use different visual weights to indicate different levels of importance; in general, bigger, heavier, thicker = more important. Note, as in the example below, that a formatted document ends up being longer than an unformatted document, but is more likely to be understood because it’s more skimmable.
Examples
Level One Heading
Level Two Heading
Level Three Heading
Level One Heading
Level Two Heading
Level Three Heading
- Use bold, italics, and bold-italics sparingly. Reserve them for headings, subheadings, and key details like dates, times, and locations. Overusing bold text and italics (especially in phrases) inhibits readability, so highlight only what’s essential.
- Avoid underlining except for hyperlinks (underlined text can be confused for a hyperlink).
- Hyperlinks should have blue text so they are easy to notice.
Readers generally expect to find important information on the left side or center of a page. They also expect items that relate to one another to be closer to each other than items that don’t relate.
Example of Unformatted Text
Rutrum habitasse vehicula diam tempus elementum ex libero. In congue nulla magna faucibus et efficitur luctus curabitur. Aaccumsan nisi et leo adipiscing netus pellentesque bibendum. Pretium urna taciti curabitur sodales fringilla sagittis. Dictum fermentum tellus est primis dolor habitant varius nisl suscipit.
Efficitur sed feugiat sagittis porttitor hac. Lacus orci velit integer, nunc dictum pulvinar ridiculus neque. Nullam diam libero interdum vivamus vivamus sociosqu ultrices. Pretium dictumst massa himenaeos bibendum nulla ullamcorper quam purus litora. Eleifend risus felis montes arcu penatibus consectetur. Est justo amet varius purus per.
Litora commodo torquent ut. Nascetur ut dictumst viverra interdum dolor sapien finibus. Mauris vulputate eu porta vivamus maximus nostra pulvinar. Dis efficitur magna suspendisse nostra eget ridiculus. Mattis sem ligula ligula lectus nisi donec hac.
Example of Text Formatted to Show Document Hierarchy
Title In Large Font and Title Case
Subtitle
Rutrum habitasse vehicula diam tempus elementum ex libero. In congue nulla magna faucibus et efficitur luctus curabitur.
Level 1 Header Bold and Larger Than Body Text
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Level 2 Header in Bold and Italics
Litora commodo torquent ut. Nascetur ut dictumst viverra interdum dolor sapien finibus. Mauris vulputate eu porta vivamus maximus nostra pulvinar.
Neque parturient nunc fermentum duis vel orci. Phasellus ad consequat nulla felis vulputate potenti eu adipiscing. Himenaeos elementum?
Level 2 Header in Bold and Italics
Dui scelerisque elementum fames sociosqu sagittis luctus. Nisl arcu aliquet convallis magna mollis dignissim. Bibendum consequat leo dictumst non dolor porta.
Sollicitudin bibendum blandit faucibus mauris; ultricies tempor euismod? Convallis nulla risus quis est tortor tempor nunc hendrerit sed.
Adipiscing curabitur tempus phasellus conubia mus ante sem bibendum. Consectetur molestie ligula mus nec cubilia vestibulum dui. Tempus cursus maecenas taciti laoreet nascetur? Litora ullamcorper praesent imperdiet donec; porttitor nulla.
Level 1 Header Bold and Larger Than Body Text
Quam risus litora lobortis. Mus sagittis tempus risus cras habitasse faucibus. Elit morbi magna mattis scelerisque fames convallis natoque condimentum.
Level 2 Header in Bold and Italics
Ex risus diam ipsum maximus velit molestie nascetur. Est cursus tristique per feugiat pretium fermentum.
Malesuada ut class facilisi mauris, convallis fermentum. Viverra erat inceptos eros, leo nascetur lectus. Ultrices hendrerit vehicula ornare nullam velit. Ante in fermentum semper tempor quam ipsum turpis. Suscipit scelerisque hac, per quam lectus phasellus morbi blandit phasellus.
Amet venenatis vulputate curae pretium porttitor vivamus at pretium ultricies. Magna iaculis viverra cubilia lacus nam hac hendrerit fermentum.
Use Block Paragraph Format
Block format is the standard way to format text in business writing:
- Align text with the left margin (left justify)
- Use single space
- Add a line space between paragraphs
- Do not indent paragraphs
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Quis varius quam quisque id. Est ultricies integer quis auctor elit sed vulputate mi. Sagittis orci a scelerisque purus semper eget. Sagittis nisl rhoncus mattis rhoncus urna. Aliquam nulla facilisi cras fermentum odio eu. Eu nisl nunc mi ipsum faucibus vitae. Morbi non arcu risus quis varius quam quisque
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Ut Consequat Semper Viverra Nam
Quis varius quam quisque id. Est ultricies integer quis auctor elit sed vulputate mi. Sagittis orci a scelerisque purus semper eget. Sagittis nisl rhoncus mattis rhoncus urna. Aliquam nulla facilisi cras fermentum odio eu. Eu nisl nunc mi ipsum faucibus vitae. Morbi non arcu risus quis varius quam quisque:
Eget sit amet tellus cras adipiscing enim eu. Pretium nibh ipsum consequat nisl. Malesuada pellentesque elit eget gravida cum sociis natoque penatibus et. Dui ut ornare lectus sit amet. Ut enim blandit volutpat maecenas.
A Cras Semper Auctor Neque
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This guide details strategies for effective workplace communication and approaches for research in professional settings.