6 Design Distractions

Everyone who sits down to prepare a document for their Printer has a vision of what they want to convey to their audience, whether it be customers or patrons. Elements that distract from clearly portraying that vision need to be corrected.

We get files in many formats, but no matter what program was used to create the document, we see the same problems over and over. Unfortunately, these items reflect poorly on the creators and their organizations. Some elements make them look unprofessional, some are distracting, but most are both.

1. Distorted Graphics (Extremely distracting and unprofessional - especially if someone is paying you to do the layout).
   
   Observation: It seems some people loved the House of Mirrors at the local fair, because that is how their pictures look - tall and skinny or short and fat. It appears that the authors who do this first type all of their articles, then put in the pictures to fill up all the space.
   
   Correction: Put in the pictures 1st - then flow the text around them. Programs such as Microsoft Publisher, Adobe InDesign, and Quark Express all have excellent text wrapping features. You can even curve text around the contours of the graphic.
   
   
2. Ragged Edged Lists
   
   Observation: Does it ever appear that the paper is distorted when it really isn't? Instead of tabbing, the author typed periods to space to the other side of the page. But since type is proportional, each line ends at a different spot.
   
   Correction: Use the right tab with a leader.
   
   
3. Borders / In-Document Spacing
   
   Observation: Borders are all over the place - we will do a separate blog on this soon! The most distracting infraction is that the author isn't consistent in each section of the document - as in a brochure. The 2 outer panels have large margins and the middle panel has none. A system problem is that the margins may automatically adjust to the author's printer, which is usually an inkjet and requires about 1/2" or more - but printers have equipment that can print to 1/4" or 3/8". (Let's not even talk about printing to the edge in this posting.)
   
   Correction: Print it out and fold or cut the document the way you want it to turn out. Never rely solely on the on-screen version. If your printer won't print to the margin you want to use, allow it to cut off and then mark a line. I know it's low tech - but draw out (story board) your layout and then physically measure it.



4. Low Resolution Graphics
   
   Observation: Almost always the problem is that the authors use web graphics, and then, to make matters worse, try to enlarge them. On screen graphics are low resolution - only 72 to 90 dpi. Printing requires anywhere from 200 to 1200+ dpi, depending on the printing process and what quality the author wants to produce. (dpi is dots per inch and is the number of pixels in 1 square inch).
   
   Correction: Try to get the original graphic and be sure to embed it in the file (do not link). Also, do not enlarge a graphic - it keeps the pixes packed together. If you have a 72 dpi graphic and enlarge it, it may end up a 12 dpi graphic! Conversely if you have a 72 dpi picture and make it smaller, you are "packing in" those pixels and the dpi increases.
   


5. Caps and Underlining
   
   Observation: Authors use all caps or underlining for emphasis, or sometimes everything is in caps. When we all (yes I'm dating myself) had typewriters, this is what you did. But now we have colors, italics, and a bazillion fonts! Also, underlining is now associated with links - its an on-line world after all.
   
   Correction: Be creative - use other formatting tactics - but don't go overboard.
   


6. Use Of Everything Imaginable.
   
   Observation: Nothing is more distracting than every line or word being in a different color, or font, or size....etc. It's like the author cannot make a decision, so just uses everything! Nothing stands out and the reader is not sure what to look at.
   
   Correction: I believe that less is more. Stick to 2 or 3 fonts and use colors for emphasis.
   

If you have any questions or observations, lets discuss them in future blogs.

It's Personal!

I don't remember much from English class - after all it was a long time ago. One thing I do remember is when to use an apostrophe.

I have lost track of the times that I have seen an apostrophe when someone was simply using a plural...like "the turkey's were lucky to escape the hatchet!"

It drives me absolutely crazy! It changes the whole meaning of the sentence, or it makes the sentence so confusing that I have forgotten what the point was.

"Apostrophes for Dummies" says:
Apostrophes are those little curved marks you see hanging from certain letters. They look harmless enough, so why do even well educated people throw them where they don't belong and leave them out where they're needed? ...

For a little guidance, Wikihow tells us:
Avoid using an apostrophe to indicate a plural. The incorrect use of an apostrophe to form the plural is called the greengrocer's apostrophe, since grocers are often the worst (or at least the most visible) offenders. If you have more than one apple, then write apples, not apple's. If you cannot replace the word with "his," "her," or "their" and if it isn't a contraction, then an apostrophe should not be used

So please, the next time you feel like hanging that little curved mark, ask yourself "who owns it?"...make it personal!

Having said all that...I just don't understand those its, its' & it's!

Paper Paper everywhere

As a printer, I see a lot of different kinds of paper, and I love it! Maybe it's just me, but when I receive something in the mail, I respond more favorably to a better quality of paper.

Of course if it is TOO good, and they are soliciting donations, then I have a negative reaction, but I am also leery of something that looks too unprofessional.

Good quality paper from a business shouts success to me. It tells me they are a quality organization that has a true vision of their goals. However, knowing paper, if it is the very most expensive of paper, I don't figure I can afford their services!

On the other hand, something sent to me on a cheap copy paper screams "amateur" to me. I usually steer clear of these companies because they appear to be doing everything "on the cheap" so I feel they might do my job the same way. Of course this is also a marketing opportunity for me.

Non-profits have a much more difficult time. They must walk a tightrope of looking professional and not appearing too slick. They need a piece that is attractive enough to receive at least a glance, but not so fancy that the receiver feels they are wastrels. Again, something on cheap paper that looks like it has been copied for the 100th time (your know...crooked, running off the edge, skewed...) scares me. This piece ends up in the trash can immediately.

Great seeing Gene

My cousin Gene stopped to see us in Texas on his way home to Arkansas from a vacation in the Dominican Republic. This was his decompression time from his recent Iraq tour - he was there right before he went to Wisconsin to see his sister Toni & his Dad.

Oh my...I started to write about Gene and how great it was to see him, and to whine about him not being able to stay a little longer...but then I saw how much he has traveled in the last year and a half.

But I was even more amazed at how small this world had gotten! Or so we thought. Right after my grandmother died, some of my cousins & I went through her diaries. These weren't long sheets full of all her thoughts for that day, but more a list of highlights - maybe one or two items per day, like Tony plowed field, or Gerry went to Kenosha. The latter seemed to be the theme of her years of highlight lists.

She had kept this info since the 1940s and it was full of my family members jumping in a car and going someplace. They visited all the states that bordered Wisconsin, as well as driving out to Maryland to see my Mom and me and to Alaska to see an aunt stationed there. It was like every weekend someone went somewhere!

And I can remember some of this travel with my mom. I remember she had a 195? Cadillac - all black. My Mom, Grandmother, Great Aunt and youngest uncle all piled in that Caddy and headed from Wisconsin to Arizona where an Aunt lived.

We travelled Route 66 - which is all there was then - for a large part of the way. And here's a WOW moment from that time. While we were on Route 66 going through Oklahoma, a bridge builder turned cattleman had recently finished building a house for his wife and step-son, a young boy of about 10 or 11. This house, and his 360 acres, fronted Route 66.

Yup...that young boy is my husband today! I wonder if I waved as we went by?? I wasn't even in school yet though, so I was probably more worried about Grandma's handkerchief that I lost out the window somewhere!

Bob & I met in Maryland, married, moved to Hawaii, and then retired from the Navy to Texas.

Enough of my travel log...and enough of my huh! moments.