Making Your Page Look Inviting | Episode 10 Video Lecture | Business Communication: The Ultimate Guide

hi this is Matt alaniz a business
instructor over at the willow
international center and today we're
going to be reviewing layout
specifically making the pages that we
write look inviting a lot of the past
three weeks we've actually spent looking
at ways that we can improve our written
communication specifically the content
grammar and different texting techniques
associated with that for this week we're
going to look primarily at formatting
the actual page and we obviously want to
make that look inviting so that the
readers will be engaged in and
interested in looking at the documents
that we right now over the course of
this brief lecture here we're going to
cover a couple of different things
specifically related to layout first
we're going to go into briefly what
layout is what it entails we're going to
talk about different typefaces discuss
typesetting and some of the changes in
the guidelines behind typesetting versus
typewriting we're going to discuss block
paragraphing headings and lastly
utilizing bulleted lists and how to do
that there's a couple different ways
there's not necessarily one right way
but if you use one format you have to
use it consistently and we'll go over
what that looks like so let's talk about
layout real quick when I say layout I'm
referring to the overall look of the
page layout is extremely important not
only does it communicate a sense of
professionalism but you're essentially
providing an incentive for the reader to
look at it remember we discussed in
weeks past that people have an
opportunity and they have a ability to
weigh competing interests and in order
to be able to find that your document
most appealing they are going to
consider the layout regardless if you
believe it or not people will
essentially judge your work essentially
by how it appears initially that's why I
always preach the importance of
formatting resumes properties no matter
what the content is people won't be able
to get past the way that it looks a
second that they see it and your resume
has five to ten seconds for the reader
to actually gauge whether or not they're
going to continue even reading that and
you may have good content behind that
resume but it doesn't matter because the
layout house p has to be important is
important to gauge their interest in to
kind of rope them in so to speak in
order to continue to get them to read
so good layout does a couple different
things first of which it encourages
people to read the document that you've
actually written remember that we are
trying to peek people's interest for
trying to encourage them to look at the
document obviously we don't write just
for fun we write to communicate
something next it helps your document
look very professional and will give you
some tools that you can do and implement
right away that can increase the overall
professional look of your document and
the next it helps your readers find
important information now we all know
that what we communicate in some type of
paper or whatever our writing is may not
have equal importance there are certain
things that we want to draw readers
attention to and utilizing good layout
is a way to draw your readers attention
to certain aspects of your writing that
you do want to highlight right what are
the one or two things that if your
reader doesn't remember anything else
that you want them to remember and those
are the things that you highlight and
we'll discuss how so typefaces typefaces
are the different fonts that you use
when composing your your written
documents now before you begin to write
you obviously have to pick how you're
going to write you have to choose the
typeface and we have many many many
different typefaces to choose from years
ago it wasn't like that we had
relatively few so the decision was not
so difficult the good thing is is that
there are a couple industry standards
for typefaces that you can use in order
to make your document and give it a
professional look okay so there are two
types of typefaces or two categories i
should say there are what are called
serif fonts and they were called
sans-serif fonts a serif is essentially
a little mark or dash that appears on
the letter ok and a sans serif does not
have those particular markings that's
what sands actually stands for so what I
have here is a couple of examples this
first column here is written you have
the letters 80 and em and they're
written in times new roman this next
column is written in aerial to very
common industry standards for serif and
sans serif fonts now initially you
probably have already picked up on what
the difference between the two isn't
that these little Mark's that appear on
the base of
the a on the sides and the base of the
tea and on the upper portion and the
base of the letter M you'll notice that
the Arial font is much cleaner very
clean edges there's no markings or
anything like that it's very uncluttered
okay serif fonts are what you will use
for the body of your writing so for text
so we're in composing letters composing
emails you will utilize a serif font
such as Times New Roman sans-serif fonts
are great for head headers and the
reason that they're great for you too
for using in headings is that they're
very clean and if you increase the size
of the font or decrease it it looks the
same if you start to decrease
dramatically this the typeface of a font
from let's say you're going to you know
from 12 points maybe eight or six if
you're utilizing a graph or tables then
because they have the markings in it
throughout the actual characters it
makes them look very cluttered it can
make them difficult to see but with a
sans serif font you don't have that
problem because those same markings
actually don't exist and so what people
predominantly use is your sans-serif
fonts such as Ariel for headings because
they don't have they don't detract from
your ability to do just that now that
we've kind of gone over typefaces a
little bit let's discuss some
differences in type settings a lot of
the standards that we use and a lot of
the guidelines that we follow or
developed when we utilize the typewriter
and there were just things that people
didn't kind of adapt to for lack of a
better term there and there's been a lot
of transition in terms of what's
considered to be the industry standard
or a guideline so to speak for actual
typesetting which is the writing that we
actually use with word processing
software one of the benefits to of word
processing software is it takes a lot of
the difficult things out of using
typewriters we don't have to worry about
spacing between certain letters because
a lot of word processing software is
take care of it we don't have to worry
about ellipses because as long as we
type three dots the word processing
software will take care of it for us so
those are benefits of that that we kind
of take for granted but there's a
a couple of things that we need to be
keenly aware of the first is the
difference between using one versus two
spaces after punctuation now utilizing a
typewriting guideline you would use two
paces after punctuation and the reason
for that is in a typewriter you're
allocating the same space for each
letter regardless of the size of that
letter now word processing software
today obviously formats things
differently depending upon the words
that we write because obviously you need
to allocate more space to certain
letters that are larger just naturally
then you do for some of the other
letters that don't take up as much space
to use like letters like I and L and
different things where it's just you
know one Swit quick movement versus a
letter like em which takes up a little
bit more space so they shouldn't all get
the same space because it makes things
look a little odd so the standard of
utilizing two spaces was developed for
the typewriter because if you're having
one space for each thing and you really
have a difficult time determining
between words the beginning and the end
of the sentence right there's not a
break it looks like one consistent
stream of words just progressing through
your entire page so we use two spaces
for that very reason to break it up to
be a signal to the reader and their eyes
that there was a little bit of white
space and they knew that there was a
break there because of word processing
software the way it is today we don't
need to do that anymore because one
space is sufficient to indicate a break
because each character doesn't get the
same space that originally did utilizing
a typewriter so I encourage you to use
one space it is considered a guideline
right now the Chicago writing style
manual which is you know kind of comes
up with a lot of the different rules and
things that we actually follow which was
developed by typographers does developed
in mind for utilizing one space after
punctuation the next thing that I would
discuss is in the area of underlining
versus italics now one thing I will
mention before I go any further is that
both are considered to be okay
underlining however is utilized more
regularly for headings not necessarily
for throughout the body of the
text if you want to make something stand
out in the body of the text the best
thing to do is utilize italics for that
because italics doesn't stand out as
much doesn't it isn't kind of glaring to
your reader that you're trying to
highlight that but it it sets it apart
just enough that they still can read the
document and draw a little bit of
attention to that without their eyes
being automatically directed towards the
underlying sentence and then ignoring
anything else so to speak so like I said
before both are considered to be okay
but I would reserve underlining for
headings if you are going to use them in
headings which you don't always have to
and utilizing italics for the body of
the actual text now there's one
exception to that and the exception to
that is if you're utilizing a SAN serif
font in italics because if you try this
on your computer right now what will
happen is it's only going to slant the
letters if you write a serif font like
Times New Roman and you change it to
italics it's actually going to change
the configuration of the letters like
the letter A if you notice is going to
be written differently and that's what
we want because that sets it apart so if
you're utilizing aerial which is a sans
serif font and change it to italics the
argument is is that it's not going to be
set apart enough to really make a
difference to really draw the reader's
attention to that because it looks too
similar so if you're utilizing a sans
serif font instead of using italics I
would encourage you to use some type of
underlining which is why you see
underlining in more headings than you do
the body of the text alright the next
recommendation I have here is with
regards to block paragraphing block
paragraphing involves indentation and a
lot of times especially when you were
taught in grammar school that you always
wanted to indent the first paragraph of
your writing this is no longer
considered to be necessary the reason
for it now is because the way that we
write is much different we have bulleted
lists we have headings we have all these
other things that can draw readers
attention and signal that we're on a new
paragraph plus when you tab over it
gives your it gives your page kind of a
clumsy feel to it because you have you
know one indentation here and not in a
bunch of other areas and then one here
and it doesn't look very fluid it's not
appealing to the eye if you were to look
at that so what the recommendation is
now is to not indent the first line of
that paragraph and instead what you do
is signal to the reader that you're
moving on is you add a space between
paragraphs so obviously instead of when
you press ENTER to write a new paragraph
you would add one extra space there to
signal to the reader that you moved on
to a new thought this is also good too
because you always want to incorporate
some white space on your page whenever a
reader looks at something that's just
complete text it's very intimidating and
it's not very encouraging on a reader to
actually go through it so having a
little bit of a break gives a kind of a
rest period for the reader they can kind
of collect themselves somewhat and then
continue on all the while knowing that
you're going to move on to it to a
different thought as well let's discuss
some different types of headings here
that you can use in your writing you can
use multiple headings in writing a lot
of times we think of headings and we
think of the subject line we think of
the subject line and emails and memos
and letters and different things but you
can have multiple headings in the body
of the text obviously if you're not
sending an email you don't need to
include multiple subject lines but in
the body of that email if you're writing
about multiple things there's nothing
wrong with including one header or one
heading and you know preface in what
you're going over in a certain area and
then tabbing down and utilizing a
different heading with different content
because all that does to your reader is
it shows them where you're going it
gives them a road map if you will so
that they know where you're taking them
remember that I as a reader I want to
know where you're going because I have
to make a decision early on do I want to
read through this is this worth my time
those are the questions that I'm asking
myself as I'm reading documents as a
reader so if I can't make that
conclusion fairly fairly soon and if I
continue to read all the while not
grasping what the point is I'm more
inclined to disengage and to not
continue reading so headings is a way of
not only attracting readers to certain
pieces
information but it's also a way of
organizing your document and giving it a
very professional look now one of the
things you can do and this is very
common is utilizing informative readings
informative readings do basically just
what that says that they inform the
reader about something so instead of
putting a simple to word heading maybe
you describe something that the that the
passage is about so maybe one of the
sales have increased fifteen percent
over last year that's information right
that's designed to kind of spark my
interest I know that what I'm going to
read after that heading is related to
sales increasing fifteen percent or if
you have a heading about new government
regulations you know I know that the
document is about government regulation
so to speak specifically what it is so
informative headings should always be
utilized there's a wet there there a way
to catch the reader's attention but also
to inform them early on of what you're
going to be talking about in the body of
your text so they don't have to sift
through it and try to gather what it is
you're trying to communicate next thing
you can do is engaging headings engaging
headings are designed to kind of capture
interest in the reader they're commonly
utilized in newspaper articles if you
were to open up the newspaper and look
at all of the headings you would
probably see headings that have a lot of
questions and things that maybe spark
your curiosity and those are good things
to do particularly when you're trying to
grab the reader's attention you can
utilize engaging headings like I said a
lot of times those involve questions
because obviously when we're asked a
question we want to know what the answer
is we're kind of just inclined to try
and figure that out next is spacing
between headings I know you think this
is trivial but this matters the
conventional thought is that you would
include the same space above the heading
as the same space you have below the
heading but you need to be able to
associate that heading with different
texts so what the recommendation is is
to actually include the heading closer
to the body of text that its associated
with because you want people when they
look at the page to be able to grasp
okay what's associated with what it's a
way to stay organized its
way to have a very professional look on
your document so follow that when you're
spacing your headings and the last thing
involves down versus up style headings
down style versus up style this
difference is pretty minut and
personally I don't really care which one
you use because both are fine and all it
means is capitalizing all of the first
letters of multiple words if you're
utilizing up style headings so this
first example here human relations is
written in a down style heading you see
I've capitalized the h and human
relations I lower cased the are in
relations right there obviously the
second example would be an example of up
style okay so its capital H and capital
R it's up to you you'll see multiple
different varieties in multiple
different writing including business
writing and so I'll leave that up to you
we're whether or not you whether
whichever one you choose the only thing
I will say is make sure that you're
consistent so if you have one heading
that is in down style then use the same
style throughout the but throughout your
paper if you use up style then use the
same style throughout your paper but
don't flip-flop between the two you want
to be consistent in what you choose all
right let's talk about bulleted lists a
bulleted lists are very important and
fairly underutilized and the reason
they're important is there a great way
of communicating more of something more
than one of something if you have a lot
of things to communicate leather than
draw writing a long drawn-out sentence
that's going to be 30 words long and
it's going to be very very disengaging
why not break it up a little bit so
you're communicating the same thing but
making it easier for the reader to grasp
it so some of the things you want to use
bulleted lists for if you have more than
one reason more than one example of
something more than one recommendation
for something more than one conclusion
and more than one step some people ask
well what if I want to use numbers a
numbered list numbered lists are fine
typically I use them if I'm talking
about steps in a process so if it's the
steps to conduct or to perform some kind
of activity I would list that from one
to however many steps they are because
obviously they need to
Oh in sequence to one another it's
important that you do step one before
step two so that's what I would use
numbered lists for other than that I
would stick to bulleted lists as far as
the bullets you can use the conventional
ones and the little circles they're
obviously mine I got a little fancy here
just because I'm tired of looking at
those but the the conventional thought
is that you would use just the standard
formatted bullets and not get too fancy
because you know you're not sure what
your reader is going to like but there
is a standard that you know that
everyone is accustomed to seeing so
you'll want to use anything that's going
to shock someone so let's look at a
couple different types of bulleted lists
here real quick and then we'll conclude
the lecture there are a number of
different ways that you can do this
there are a number of different systems
that you can use for punctuating
bulleted lists and similar for the up
style and down style headings I don't
care which one you use but be consistent
and the one that you choose so let's go
through one for example an example that
I wrote up here is we need the following
items for our next meeting notepads pens
easels and dry erase markers that's
written out in a long sentence form
obviously we can break that up and make
it look much more appealing to a reader
by changing it to a bulleted list so
instead we include we need the following
items for our next meeting and then we
have notepads pens easels and dry Mary's
markers notice that this is basically
the same as the sentence above it the
only difference is one we have bullets
and we're still using an it's the same
exact sentence but in a bullet form this
is one example of something you can do
the next example and the one that I
frequently use which I'm not saying you
have to but it's the one that I
predominantly use is changing it to
where it's we need the following items
for our next meeting and then just
listing computers printers fax machines
no punctuation no and or anything and I
i realized just now i left off notepads
which nothing against notepads but the
reason that i use this is because it's
just easier it's it's less for me i try
to be a little more efficient i suppose
so if i can eliminate commas punctuation
and the word and then i'm going to
certainly do that like I said it's
complete
up to you what you want to choose to use
I'll leave that up to you but if one
thing if you're going to choose one way
use that the same format use that style
the same way throughout the body of your
texts don't flip-flop between the two
because you don't want a lack of
consistency there that'll signal to your
readers that you haven't put enough
thought into developing a consistent
theme in your document which is very
very important so all right that sums up
everything here for today I try to keep
everything to about 20 minutes I
realized I might have gone a little bit
over but not too much