34

policy brief
Informational document, appears in a
policy brochure for planning profession-
als, guidelines similar to a magazine

Pictures and quotes from different offi-

cials frame the brief description of the
policy brief in the center of the page.
The pictures and quotes are numbered
correspondingly.
Without the explicit numbers the design
follows Gestalt principles. Like items
are similarly sized. The design could be
improved by removing the numbers and
grouping quotes with corresponding im-
ages.
(Lipton, Practical Guide to Information
Design, 15-17)

Life Designed
Conventions In Everyday Documents
Carl Kunda
album booklet with lyrics
Informational document, presents infor-
mation about the musicians and songs

The supra-textual design elements of the

insert are its most striking feature. Spa-
tially the page size must conform to the
shape and size of the case. The document
is bound like a book instead of unfolding
into a larger document so each page acts
as a discrete unit.
The textual rhetorical design elements
include titles, song length, and produc-
tion notes with consistent font sizes and
weights. The song in the box has no
lyrics but maintains the other rhetorical
elements.
(Kostelnick, Supra-Textual Design, 12-
25)
 contrived/quarterly 35

airline ticket
Informational and identification, legal
and institutional guidelines

The airline ticket has several purposes. It

concert flyer
Informational and promotional docu-
ment, guidelines are loose but must
appeal to the target audience
contains information for the airline about
where the passenger sits, and the 2 high-
lighted above refers to the order in which
passengers may board the plane.
The ticket also provides information to
the passenger; the location of the air-
plane based on the gate printed on the
ticket. The artefactual structure of the
ticket leads to certain items being re-
peated once the ticket is separated during

Information design Location check-in. The 2 is not part of the stub

of tickets relies on small mul-
because the seating has already occurred
tiple design convention, each location
evaluates both the is presented with identical information. and is no longer relevant.
(Waller, Making Connections, 5)
aesthetic and prac- (Tufte, Envisioning Information, 67)
tical visual devices
used in documents. In these selected examples a single design
convention is explored. The examples display clear instances
of design that make the document more accessible, attractive,
or effective at delivering information.

pay slip
Payment form, legal and institutional
guidelines

The light grey horizontal lines enforce

the implied grid behind the numbers. The
columns are organized by this implicit
grid despite a lack of horizontal lines.
(Tufte, Envisioning Information, 55-56)