So, you think that communication is all about words, right? What do we care about visual design?

Well, think about this - when you get dressed in the morning, do you try to choose clothes that are appropriate for your job and for creating the kind of impression you want to create? You wouldn’t wear a nice suit to the gym or your workout clothes to the office. It wouldn’t “Look right”.

In the world of information overload, your documents need to look right as well, or they may get put aside until the busy reader has more time -- which may never happen!

Here are three simple suggestions to make you documents “look right”.

White space - You want your documents to look like they're going to be easy to read. One way to do that is to make sure there's plenty of white space. That's the space between the lines, between the headings and the lines, between the columns when that's appropriate, and around any graphics on the page. Some research indicates that a page with 50% white space is the most readable and inviting.

Headings - Headings and subheadings are important for two reasons: They help the reader find specific topics and pieces of information in the text, and they show the reader how you organized the text. Research shows that readers can remember texts with headings better and more accurately than text without headings. The headings act to create an outline with "slots" where the reader can file the information in the document in long-term memory.

Line Length - Optimal line length for reading speed is 3 1/2 to 5 inches. That's why newspapers and magazines are written in columns. However, business reports are traditional done in one column across the full width of the page -- 6-6 1/2 inches, although that is changing. One option frequently used is to have a narrow column on the left with headings and short summary sentences, with the body of the text on the right - something like the common 2-frame layout of many Web pages.

			Better Documents So, you think that communication is all about words, right? What do we care about visual design? Well, think about this - when you get dressed in the morning, do you try to choose clothes that are appropriate for your job and for creating the kind of impression you want to create? You wouldn’t wear a nice suit to the gym or your workout clothes to the office. It wouldn’t “Look right”. In the world of information overload, your documents need to look right as well, or they may get put aside until the busy reader has more time -- which may never happen! Here are three simple suggestions to make you documents “look right”. White space - You want your documents to look like they're going to be easy to read. One way to do that is to make sure there's plenty of white space. That's the space between the lines, between the headings and the lines, between the columns when that's appropriate, and around any graphics on the page. Some research indicates that a page with 50% white space is the most readable and inviting. Headings - Headings and subheadings are important for two reasons: They help the reader find specific topics and pieces of information in the text, and they show the reader how you organized the text. Research shows that readers can remember texts with headings better and more accurately than text without headings. The headings act to create an outline with "slots" where the reader can file the information in the document in long-term memory. Line Length - Optimal line length for reading speed is 3 1/2 to 5 inches. That's why newspapers and magazines are written in columns. However, business reports are traditional done in one column across the full width of the page -- 6-6 1/2 inches, although that is changing. One option frequently used is to have a narrow column on the left with headings and short summary sentences, with the body of the text on the right - something like the common 2-frame layout of many Web pages.