Design

Of all topics discussed in the last week, I would say the one I found most interesting was the detailed section on design beginning with page 253.  I never really thought about how many design elements there are and how to use them correctly.  I knew the basics and not much else.  We also talked about proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast extensively in class.

Obviously, most of the objects presented about design seem true.  Proximity is used to group related items together.  Alignment presents relationships among the items.  Repetition develops patterns.  Contrast separates items.  In fact, the definition of contrast is described as, "The state of being strikingly different from something else, typically something in juxtaposition or close association."  Clearly just an understanding of the word is all that a person would need to know in order to derive what contrast is in a technical document.

However, something so basic can still be carried out incorrectly; leading to some horrifically formatted documents that are painful to read.  I often get mailings which are typed in all capital letters, which is clearly not efficient and takes longer to read.  I also receive mailings that start off at 10-point font then quickly drop off to 4-point font when describing fees.  Combined with the use of asterisks and footnotes, these are nearly impossible to read.

Overall, the argument was constructed quite logically.  I really don't know how someone can disagree with what contrast does or how proximity groups things together.  The book also had examples of just about everything to convey its points.  It was very effective for what it was attempting to do.