Topic: What not to do in design

This material covers week 3 of the course.

Note that this material is subject to ongoing refinements and updates!

Overview

This theme covers what NOT to do in design and introduces a layout that "works every time".

Outer boundaries and margins. Be generous with margins.
Columns. Use column guides.
Visual + cutline. The cutline should go somewhere around the centre of the page, depending on the image(s) used.
Headline should always go underneath the cutline.
Copy (ie., main text content) should go into your columns.
Tags (contact info, usually) should always go in the bottom— preferably bottom-right (Hagen & Golombisky, 2017, p. 22).

A useful video on the works-every-time layout from the textbook authors:

Use margins (negative space) to frame the design, protecting it from surrounding visual material.
At the top of the WET layout, the visual serves as the entry and focal point for the eye.
In a WET layout, it's best to pair two complementary fonts. Opt for an engaging font for the headline and a readable one for the body text. Then, use either of these fonts for the caption or tags.
In the WET layout, captions or cutlines usually appear right below their respective photos or visuals.
Ensure that type columns are taller than 2 inches but shorter than 10–12 inches.
Headlines are the second most crucial visual element in a WET layout. Use a large font size for the headline to guide the eye from the visual to the body text. Select an eye-catching font for the headline that aligns with the layout’s tone. Allow the headline text to indicate where to divide a lengthy headline into multiple lines.