Along With the Guidelines for Page and

¶ … along with the guidelines for page and visual design discussed in chapter 8. Looking Back In order to properly evaluate the sample pages provided, it is important to look back at chapter 8. Chapter 8 explains the four levels of design. The four levels of design are demonstrated through analysis by visual communications expert Charles Kostelnick. In the chapter he analyzes four levels of design that offer a way to categorize and organize design choices. Organization is key in properly developing and implementing concepts.

Without cohesion and congruent thinking, an idea will not have sufficient clarity. As described in chapter 8: design levels offer an organized approach in which to plan and contemplate over design decisions. Design decisions are often formulated when making documents, visuals, and presentations. They're also useful in analyzing documents encountered in a business setting/professional setting. A great way as mentioned by Kienzler (2010), to acquire new concepts and ideas for documents is to analyze the design elements in successful documents.

Utilizing others' successful structure and methods provides good direction for one's own approaches. The four levels of design as described by Kostelnick's four levels: Intra-Design choices for individual letters and words Inter-Design choices for blocks of text. Inter-level design choices include Extra -- Design choices for graphics that go with the text. Extra-level design Supra -- Design choices for entire documents (Locker & Kienzler, 2010, p.220-221). Guidelines Guidelines for page and visual design first include white space. White space is the empty space on the page.

Allowing white space in between text makes material easier to read by enabling the reader to focus on the material that it separates. A second guideline is use of headings. Headings consist of words, short phrases, sentences that bring together points as well as separate documents into sections. Since the human brain can only process 5-9 bits of information at any given time for short-term memory, headings allow better absorption of data by making large amounts of data easier to remember.

The other guidelines include limiting the use of words set in all capital letters, justification of margins, placement of important elements, unification of graphic elements, use of decorative devices such as highlighters, and using no more than two fonts. These guidelines allow for a visually streamlined representation. It also provides readers with easier access to the information, making it faster to assimilate (VanHuss, Forde, & Woo, 2004, p. 38) Evaluation In "A Special Report: Living Healthy," there is use of color at the bottom of the two pages.

The heading is large and helps the reader understand quickly what the topic is, preparing he/she for the content of the document. The document is separated in three columns, allowing for better reading of each paragraph and also quick reference. There is suitable white in between the columns and beneath the heading to separate everything. There are three different texts sizes to differentiate the content. When applying the design steps, it appears the use of color in the bottom seems to serve no purpose.

The separation of the content helps in containing important information separately and neatly, but the design aspect is confusing towards the end with the small sized text at the bottom below the big boxes of green. The.