Tips and Suggestions

• Learn how to use white space effectively. White space is space intentionally left blank. Why? Because text needs room to breathe. When text is crowded to the edge of pages, it leaves the reader feeling cramped and crowded. (see this example)
• People are more likely to read narrower text. It is easier on the eyes. Conversely, text that extend across the whole screen look boring. Various ways: blockquote, table, sidebars.
• Many novices tend to think that every item has to be set off from every other item with a box around it or rules. This creates cluttered designs. The solution is to use boxes and rules sparingly and use white space and artwork more often to separate things. (They also suggest that we stop trying to cram as much on a page as possible, and use more pages whenever we can.)
• According to most professionals, the biggest failure of novice desktop users is the failure to proofread. They say the desktop publisher should avoid proofreading their own copy becayse we're too familiar with it and we'll miss glaring mistakes. Proofing words backward, by beginning at the end of an article and reading one word at a time was suggested. This eliminates comprehension and forces you to read only one word at a time for spelling.
• Just because you may have 500 fonts on your computer, doesn't mean you have to use them all. Limit each publication to just a few typefaces to avoid clutter. Less is more, and many professionals say two typefaces are best per document.
• Use centering sparingly. Do no center large blocks of body text because it is hard to read.
  (an example)
• Do not center bulleted items. Keep them left aligned to aid in quickly scanning the information.
  (an example)
• Never use underlining — use Italics instead. In the old days a typewriter couldn't do italics, so you had to underline. Today there’s no excuse for using underlining. So when you want to emphasize something, or it’s a title of a magazine, book etc. use Italics.
  For instance, don't you feel like clicking this?
• Avoid using a great deal of reverse type. Reverse adds tremendous "weight" to a page and will grab all the attention on that page. Ask yourself if this idea really deserves that much attention?
• Don’t type in all caps. For one-line headings, all caps may be okay. However, for lengthier text, typing in all caps come across as shouting. Plus, it’s hard to read.
• Learn to use em dash and stop using two hyphens (—). In InDesign, an em dash is achieved by pressing [Alt]+ [Shift] + - simultaneously.
• Add images with careful thought. The images you choose should complement your text. And just like other elements of good design, use clip art in moderation.