Fundamentals of Document Design

In this course, I cover the principles of document design. This class is for everyone who produces documents, whether it's as part of your job, for clients, as a college student, or in your own personal communications.

If you are a freelance writer, you can even offer document design services as part of your offerings and potentially boost your income.

You can use these principles in print or downloadable pdf documents, such as annual reports, manuscripts, brochures, and white papers. These principles also apply to online content, and can help provide an improved experience for users as they navigate your website.

While it doesn't matter which programs you use to create your documents, if you already have a knowledge of Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Word, then the information that you get from this course will help you get the most out of those programs.

I cover a range of principles and ideas, such as similarity, contrast, unity, alignment, among a few others. I’ll also cover concepts such as font choice, text wrapping, figures and tables, and use of color,

The end result is documents that not only communicate your message, but draw your audience in by being more engaging and attractive.

By the end of this course you’ll be able to:

· Recognize various attributes that contribute to effective and ineffective document design.

· Apply the principles of reader-friendly document design to various written formats.

I’ve included a checklist that you can download and use for any document you create. I also hope that you will actively make edits to one or more of your documents as you proceed through the course.

Hope to see you inside!