Formatting Copy

Think about this... 

When communicating verbally most people will utilise (and vary) the following elements to make their speech interesting:
  • Volume (how loudly or softly they speak)
  • Speed (how quickly or slowly they speak)
  • Vocabulary (the words that they use)
  • Personality (the emotions they convey in their voice).
When communicating with the written word, you can also utilise a number of elements that will help make your writing more interesting:

  • Fonts
    Make sure you use a black font on a white background– anything else is difficult to read.  Do not use an overly a fancy font.  Generally, Serif fonts are used for print and Sans-serif fonts are used for computer screens.  The most common Serif font is Times New Roman.  Common Sans-serif fonts are Arial and Verdana.
     
  • Emphasis
    Use bold, italics, underlines and font colours for emphasis but use them sparingly.  You can also use different font sizes for headers.  Tables and borders can be used to frame specific sections of text that you want to emphasise.  Always use emphasis to drive-home your critical points.
     
  • Lots of White space
    Use lots of white space – this makes everything easier to read, is more attractive to view and considerably less over-whelming.
     
  • Vary Paragraph Lengths
    Vary the length of your paragraphs – this helps keep things interesting.
     
  • Don’t Justify or Centre Text
    Don’t justify text – it makes it harder to read. Large amounts of centre aligned text are even worse! Make your copy easy to read and just use basic left aligned text.
     
  • Graphics
    Only include a graphic or illustration if it is relevant and supports what you are talking about.  Graphics for the sake of graphics are a waste of time.