Chapter 4: DESIGNING AND FORMATTING

Clear design goes hand in hand with clear writing. Careful selection of formatting elements helps to add visual appeal to attract and engage your reader.

Fonts

• There are two main font types:
  • Serif - with little “tails” on each letter, such as Times New Roman and Bookman Old Style
    
    Sans serif - with no tails, like this line written in Arial
• Use sans serif for titles, and serif for text
• Serif is easier for the eye to follow
• Mixing many fonts in the same document will make it confusing and busy. One or two fonts are sufficient.
  Example: This book is set in Garamond with headings in Arial Rounded MT Bold.

Text Size

• Twelve-point text is neither too big nor too small, and very easy to read.
• Headings should be larger, with major headings the largest.

Capital letters

• Capitalize your letters for emphasis and headings.
• DO NOT CAPITALIZE MORE THAN A FEW WORDS AT A TIME. NO ONE WILL READ THEM.