Head to head, paper to screen: differences in design

As technology rumbles by in a flurry of dust and money, change is thrust upon all of us. This is clearly visible when we observe the contrast between designing for a traditional print publication, as opposed to the way we would design for an online one. According to DC Reep, the purpose of document design is to "provide readers with the information they need" (2006, p 134). The aim is to both organise your information and capture - and hold - your audience's attention. Designing for any mode requires patience, and a willingness to learn and experiment.

General principles shared by both online and print publication design are balance, consistency, headings and graphic aids such as pictures and colours. The contrasts between the two media modes stem from the way we read them. Reading is our brain's method of decoding and analysing the information our eyes are showing us. It involves and prompts not only decoding and analysis but response, comprehension and critiquing - all in a matter of milliseconds (Walsh 2006, p 25). When we (members of the Western culture) read a print publication, we do so in a linear fashion. We look first to the top left corner and "work our way across and down, going from left to right and back again, until we reach the bottom right corner" (Wheildon 1990, p 8).

An online publication is different, in that we usually 'scan' the screen, rather than 'read' it the conventional way. Our reading path has little or no set direction: we can go where we want to, when we want to, and at the click of a button. Graphic aids are especially helpful in attracting the attention of the reader. When designing an online publication one must keep in mind that the colour scheme should be kind on viewers eyes; as prolonged exposure to a computer screens is a strain on eyes (Parker 2003, p 270).

This is just a brief overview of the design process, and the similarities and differences that exist within that process. However, I believe it is especially important to take stock of the following statements before you begin any form of publication design:

- Universal rules do not exist in the realm of publication design - only suggestions do.

- That "tools and techniques that [work] effectively in one situation won't necessarily work in another" (Parker 1990, p 1)

- Finally, consider your intended audience during all steps of the design process, and tailor it to them.

References

- Parker, RC 1990, 'Beginning observations', Looking good in print: a guide to basic design for desktop publishing, 2nd edn, Ventara Press, Chapel Hill NC, Chapter 1.
- Parker, RC 2003, 'Designing documents for web distribution', Looking good in print, 5th edn, Paraglyph Press, Scottsdale AZ, Chapter 14.

- Reep, DC 2006, 'Document design', Technical writing: principles, strategies and readings, 6th edn, Pearson/Longman, New York, Chapter 6.

- Walsh, M 2006, 'The "textual shift": examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts', Australian journal of language and literacy, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2006.

- Wheildon, C 1990, Communicating or just making pretty shapes, 3rd edn, Newspaper bureau of Australia Ltd, North Sydney.