Read and Response for April 4th

Response to the First Six Chapters from our Design Book

“The result (from aligning the page) is similar to what happens when you (or your dog) pick up all the dog toys that were strewn around the living room floor and put them all into one toy box (Williams 50).”

I chose this passage because it stood out to me the most after the first six chapters of reading.  I thought it was important because it uses a great analogy that is easy to understand too explain the role and effects of aligning the page.  The passage means that by putting all the text (being the dog toys in the passage) in a specific place on the page (being the toy box) it makes everything unified and easy read.  If the words on a page aren’t somewhat aligned then the page would just look like a big mess.  Creating a specific spot where the words begin and end gives your page order and ties the related text together.  Even when text is aligned it can still be separated by changing proximity of the words.  The purpose of alignment is to tell the reader that all these words belong to a whole.  I thought this passage did a great job at simply explaining the concept to the reader and also did it in a unique fun way.

Why do you think we are studying a book on design in a writing in professions class?

            I think we are studying a book about design in our class because it is important to know how to use simple concepts such as proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast to catch your reader’s attention and to successfully portray your text in the way you are intending to.  Looking at ways to group words together correctly so that your work is as organized and easy to read as possible is important for any writer in any profession.  For me, I feel like a lot of these concepts were introduced to us several years ago and with our technology today we don’t really need to pay attention to some of these concepts because computers do it for us.  However, I think it is good for me being a student to read about these concepts to get a better understanding about why we do the things we do in writing.

How might visual design be important in your profession?

            Visual design might be important in your profession because it each profession the way you design your writing may be different.  In any profession, there will be a standard of writing you must know basic design for writing before you can be a successful writer in your profession.  For example, if your profession involves writing memos then all factors including alignment and proximity of words are keys to a well written memo.  Another example of a profession where design is important is a job where people make flyers and use the concepts of visual design to catch people’s eye when they walk past.  For any profession, having your writings being more visually appealing is never a bad thing and knowing these concepts makes sure you do the things to make sure your work as appealing as possible.  My major is restaurant, hotel, tourism and visual design could be helpful in several things like writing a menu, advertisements for hotels, and anything that is going to be written for your customers.  For designing a menu in a restaurant, a writer uses concepts of alignment, proximity, and contrast to separate different dishes and different types of meals such as appetizers, entrees, etc.