Chapter Eighteen

            Chapter eighteen focused on understanding design principles. Design principles include balance, emphasis, placement, repetition, and consistency. These different principles can be implemented to best allow a writer to accomplish their goals; however they must be restricted and not allowed to be exceedingly complex. Keeping a level of simplicity allows better understanding of the document. Readers’ understanding is the main goal of good design. A well-organized design that allows the reader to move smoothly, understanding the location of different ideas and information. It also helps the reader better understand the goals of the document. What genre the document is also helps dictate the design. Readers expect adherence to basic styles already set in a genre, and by using those designs, the reader will better understand the content. In choosing design elements, the main ones consist of fonts, line spacing, and alignment. The layout of the document dictates the positions of the different elements, like page numbers, columns, and headers. Using colors, shading, borders and rules can allow a document to look better and also make them have easier to understand organization. In addition, illustrations, such as graphs, tables, and photographs, can allow a more appealing and better understood document. But when using illustrations, they should be positioned near the text they are referencing.