Being accessible and having good design without a doubt go hand in hand. No matter what sort of media you are creating, it is important to consider both the visual appeal of your piece as well as making sure that it is easy to read, understand, and use. No “good” design should limit the accessibility of a piece, nor should it be assumed that an accessible design should be “boring”.
In general, I believe that print and digital texts both follow the same basic principles when it comes to design. Concepts such as choosing the right fonts, drawing the viewer’s eye to the most important part of the page, and increasing readability can be applied to any print or digital document. However, there are a few differences between these types of media. Digital documents are usually more flexible than print documents because they have the ability to direct people to new places in the document through hyperlinks, and to include videos or interactive features. Print documents have a greater challenge when it comes to grabbing the reader’s attention while maintaining clarity. Print documents do not have the benefit of being interactive.
For both digital and print media, accessibility and design are tremendously important. A bland, unappealing document will never be read even if great efforts were made it make it accessible because it will never catch the reader’s attention. On the other hand, just making a document stand out will not keep the reader’s attention if the document is unorganized and hard to follow. Therefore, when designing documents it is important to meet both of these criteria.
One design aspect that can be very important is color. Color can be used in a way that it adds to the piece, but it can certainly also detract from it. When used correctly, color can cause some parts of the document to “pop”, and draw the reader to those sections. Color can also be used to portray the mood of the piece, or different sections of the document. However, color should not be added only for the sake of adding color. Every addition of color should have a specific purpose. Otherwise, the document can become cluttered and difficult to follow.
So how do you actually go about balancing accessibility and good design? I believe that finding this balance is not something you can usually do on the first try. As was evident in the piece by Park, sometimes it takes many re-writes of a document to get it to look and read exactly the way you want it to. I am sure that with experience the process becomes quicker, but I still doubt even the most experienced people can design an optimal document on the very first try. One thing that could help with this is laying out ideas on a piece of paper before actually starting any writing. Having an idea of the overall look and feel of what you want your document to be before you go into the details can be very helpful. Afterwards, it never hurts to have other people read it over and give constructive feedback. Eventually, the whole piece will come together.
I was struck by the use of “re-writes” when talking about design in the below:
“As was evident in the piece by Park, sometimes it takes many re-writes of a document to get it to look and read exactly the way you want it to. I am sure that with experience the process becomes quicker, but I still doubt even the most experienced people can design an optimal document on the very first try. ”
Do you think this statement also applies to writing just as much as design? How so? How are design and writing similar processes or not? I could go either way on this, but I think it is an interesting question. What do you think?
I can strongly relate to your comments about color. I can’t tell you how many articles I have become uninterested in because they are either too bland or have way too much going on. Also, I don’t know if you have ever felt this way, but when I read an article that has too much going on, it makes me question the quality and integrity of the content. Some thoughts that often run through my mind during this situation are “What are they trying to hide in this piece?” and/or “How valid is this information?”. I just naturally get rubbed the wrong way when pieces are not well thought out in this area.
Furthermore, I also agree with your thoughts (which are also Park’s thoughts) on how redesigning is almost always required because few if any hit their target/goal the first go around. I have personal experience at work with this notion of redesigning things several times. My boss is big on the concept of “How are we going to tell this story” with our presentations and documents to various audiences. Often times, the version number of the document will go up to 15 or more trying to get colors schemes and layouts just right as well as the perfect amount of content per slide or page. Redesigning definitely happens in the “real world.” Overall, I enjoyed your blog post and great thoughts on the readings!