Humble advice from a graduate on document designing

In writing any document design, I believe the important aspect is not so much of how great it looks, but more of whether the design is appropriate and acceptable by different societies and cultures.

I realised I used mostly Schriver and Penman's theories. That's because I agree with them that in any document, we need to look at the audience's needs, habits and expectations (Penman 1998, p. 10). Documents make so much more sense when they fulfil these three things.

But overall, the most important thing about being a document designer, whether for blogs, magazines, newspapers, or advertisements, is being ethical and making conscientious decisions. Watch how you word sentences and make sure they are appropriate to the audience you are targeting. It doesn't hurt to put some thought and research before starting work on the design.

So, until next time, good luck in document designing! Have fun while you're at it!


Reference:

Penman, R 1998, 'Document structures and readers' habits', Communication News, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 1, 10-11.