Campbell Chapter 6
How Do I Get Them to Read This?
Campbell discusses the importance of not just creating a sound document but getting people to read your document. The first point she brings up is credibility. People need to believe your advice is going to help them and be accurate. Next she discusses hooking them, not only is it important to have credibility but she brings up the statistic that 70% of what you know about people is based on their appearance (page 206). Readers need to be able to easily tell if the document is clear, easy to read, and concise. Readers want to instantly know if this is going to be worth their time or could they figure it out on their own faster. This brings up the importance of visual appeal. Readers will think that a document is easier if it looks easy to read and clear. Campbell says that there are twenty different design elements: sentence length, paragraph length, line spacing, typestyle, typeface, emphasis, paragraph spacing, justification, indentation, margins, headings, graphics, visual weight, contrast, color, symbols, columns, lists, forms, and white space. She brings up the importance of avoiding visual clutter, which she compared to an attic or garage that no one wants to look at so they shut the door.
Campbell tells the reader that the human brain can only retain seven different items at once but can only clearly distinguish between three of the seven items. That is way the rule of three was created. The rule of three is based on not using more than three different design elements in one document.
Eye movement is an important concept to understand. Campbell talks about the limits that the eye has:
- Takes in approximately forty characters at once.
- Takes in three or more words per second.
- Reads two or more words at one time.
- Moves from top to bottom and left to right, in a zigzag or Z pattern.
That is why short sentences and paragraphs are extremely important in your document. This is also why Campbell recommends chunking your information. Campbell defines chunking as breaking the printed matter down into chunks the reader can deal with easily. Another technique used to help the reader is white space. White space simply refers to the white or non-printed area of your document. It does not however have to be white it is whatever your paper color is. The last point Campbell discusses is being consistent. Being consist in your language, your design, and your overall appearance. She talks about the reader finding his or her rhythm this helps the reader continue reading and understanding.
1 comment:
I'm amazed at the human visual system, and the implications this has for visual communicators like technical communication designers. As a technical communicator, I find it useful to know some of the brain research findings that Campbell relates (e.g. people take in approximately forty characters at once, read multiple words simultaneously, over 3 words per second, and how the eyes travel across a page). At the same time, I do not apply this knowledge in a direct, systematic way, like counting how many characters I have in a text block. I think technical communicators must be able to internalize information such as this in order to refine their own innate understanding of human visual perception based on their own experience, and apply this perspective in their work.
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