Design for a Purpose

• Setting a tone. One of the most powerful tools writers have for accomplishing their purpose is establishing an emotional context for their readers. You can set a tone by using a particular color scheme, such as bright, cheerful hues, or by selecting photographs or drawings with a strong emotional impact.
• Helping readers understand a point. Design your document so that your main and supporting points are clear and easy to understand. Headings or pull quotes can call your readers’ attention to important ideas and information. To introduce a main point, you might use a contrasting font or color to signal the importance of the information. To highlight a definition or an example, you might enclose it inside a border or place the passage in a pull quote. You can also help readers understand a point by using illustrations.
• Convincing readers to accept a point. The key to convincing readers is providing them with appropriate, relevant evidence. Drawing on the principles of emphasis and placement, you can use illustrations, marginal glosses, pull quotes, and bulleted lists to call attention to that evidence.
• Clarifying complex concepts. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. Rather than attempting to explain a complex concept using text alone, add an illustration. A well-chosen, well-placed photograph, flowchart, diagram, or table can define a complex concept such as photosynthesis in far less space, and in many cases far more effectively, than a long passage of text can. You can also clarify the key elements of a complex concept with bulleted and numbered lists.

Using images to create an emotional impact