Five ways to improve how your ideas look in print
Since Gutenberg commercialized the technology of movable type in the 15th Century, many thousands of skilled technicians and artists have contributed to the development of standard practices that define what makes for readability. Don't confuse readability with aesthetic appeal. Readability is how easily your eyes can transform typeset characters into something your mind can evaluate as an idea.
Here are some practices you can use to make the documents you send to the printer readable:
1) Use shorter lines
Look at any printed book and you'll see that there are about twelve words on a line. In a newspaper, the type will be smaller and the number of words fewer. Too many words in a line makes it hard for the reader's eye to keep its place and find the start of the next line.The typographer's rule of thumb is that column-width should be somewhere around 1½–2 × the alphabet-width of the font in the size you're using. But you don't have to count characters. Just shorten lines so your document looks like something you'd see in a book or magazine and yours will be a lot more readable than most of the other stuff that comes out of the same office printer :-)
The reason most office documents contain more than 15 words in a line is that office practices derive from the days of typing pools, when constant-width fonts like Courier were the standard. Using courier, a typist would get about 10 words to a line on office paper. However, computers default to, and people prefer, variable-width (proportional) fonts like Times New Roman. These fonts were designed to pack a lot of words into a multi-column newspaper layout. When you're using a proportional font, you're not typing, you're typesetting.
2) Don't double space
You just don't need that much interlinear space with proportional fonts. Admittedly some books, particularly crime and detective novels, use a lot of space between lines. But I think that has more to do with justifying the price of the book than with readability. If your writing is as compelling as Elmore Leonard's, go ahead and double space. Otherwise, don't.Don't type two spaces after a period (full stop) either. Unless you're using a typewriter font. It doesn't look right.
3) Use more white space
You're probably not going to want to fuss with a 2-column layout, so shorten the lines by using wider margins.4) Use more white space
Fonts like this one, lacking serifs, give the eye fewer cues by which to be recognized. So they need a little more air. Word processing programs take this into account by default, but try adding a bit more space between lines.5) Use typographic characters
Microsoft Word has “smart quotes” which look nicer than "dagger quotes" (the kind typewriters have). Admittedly, this can be a pain. But typing Alt-Ctrl+Num- (in MS Word) to make a long—em—dash really does look a lot more like printing than two hyphens, which is two negative :-) Ctrl+Num- gives you a shorter (en) dash. Typesetters use these to signify a range, e.g., 10–20, as opposed to 10-20. This Wikipedia article has some good references on typography.— BGM
About Us and 2-Minute Explainers
Business Information Graphics is a company run by MBAs and writers. We started the business because we saw a niche for a boutique firm providing a combination of strong B2B editorial services and multimedia. We like what we do: it's one interesting story after another. We like talking with people in sales and marketing, and we like the challenge of distilling what they tell us into a two minute message.Efficient and effective B2B communications since 1986
Business Information Graphics was founded in 1986 to provide editorial and graphic services for business-to-business communications. The founders, Bruce McKenzie and Lorna Pautzke, had both held a variety of marketing and communications positions at the world's largest paper company, International Paper. Persuaded that nearly all the marketing communication firms calling on them were more interested in creating award-winning graphic design than they were in producing effective day-to-day marketing communication, they formed Business Information Graphics to focus on producing marketing materials that would win customers for clients.Marketing Communication for IT
Most of our clients are in Information Technology, so there's always something new to write about. But (it seems to us, anyway) when IT companies write about themselves, it comes out sounding pretty bland. We came up with the idea of 2-Minute Explainers[link to 2me] in the course of researching prospects for our business - we often found that, after spending ten or fifteen minutes poring over company's website, we still had only a vague idea what was being sold and why a person would buy it. 2-Minute Explainers solve that problem nicelyDesktop publishing for B2B
Another interest was desktop publishing, which was just getting started with the introduction of the PostScript-powered Apple LaserWriter. The company bought its first copy of PowerPoint (at a New York Macintosh Users Group fair) before Microsoft bought PowerPoint (it was published by ForeThought of Sunnyvale, CA). We took on just about any project that required editorial, design and desktop publishing skills-from rewriting and formatting the strategic plan of a telecom logistics company to writing a book on desktop publishing for Hammermill Paper Company. We also created brochures, newsletters, executive presentations, packaging, videos-all the normal corporate and marketing communication items. When computer-based multimedia started becoming feasible for B2B communication (we were among the first authorized Macromedia developers, having started out with MacroMind VideoWorks), we began to focus more on multimedia, which takes advantage of Bruce McKenzie's radio-TV background and knack for writing things that sound good when spoken out loud. We created a number of interactive presentations for trade shows and new product introductions-kiosks and stand-up presentations, as well as the accompanying literature.Flash animations that make sense
As broadband Internet connections became the norm, we naturally gravitated to Flash, though we never liked those "Skip Intro" productions that so many businesses seemed to think were the ne plus ultra of a high-tech home page. We began packaging B2B value propositions as 2-Minute Explainers® in 2003. Originally just a shorthand way of describing our general approach to multimedia, the idea has become both a business process and an actual "product." The process (which requires that we get a thorough understanding of a company and product) often leads to other engagements. After all, once you've distilled something into two minutes of lucid prose and snappy graphics, it's not difficult to repurpose what you've done as a brochure, sellsheet or a set of web pages.Team
Bruce McKenzie writes and produces multimedia productions, brochures, books, articles, and videos. He is the author of The Hammermill Guide to Desktop Publishing in Business, as well as articles in various new media publications. He was a market development manager and creative services director at International Paper where he managed product development and advertising for the 2-billion fine papers business. He produced the first coast-to-coast cable broadcast of a video corporate annual report. He produced a number of award-winning corporate videos, including "The Price," an antitrust docudrama which was named best industrial video of the year at the Chicago Film Festival, and has been used in the antitrust education programs of many Fortune 500 companies. He holds master's degrees in broadcast journalism and business administration.
Lorna Pautzke looks at B-2-B business presentations with the discerning and skeptical eye of an industrial marketer and product manager, which she was, at International Paper, before helping to start up Business Information Graphics. Lorna developed pricing and service policies in a multimillion-dollar segment of IP's fine papers business. An MBA, with a concentration in marketing and market research, she sets and enforces high standards for research, editorial, and creative quality. She directs all aspects of production, from the definition of expectations and expected costs to on-time and on-budget delivery of the end product. She directs the activities of subcontractors and manages the costs to be sure that projects meet expectations and come in on time and on budget.
Anthony Coccia Director of Art & Animation, creates the original art and animation at Business Information Graphics. A graduate of the University of the Arts, in graphic design, he also attended the prestigious Yale Summer Program in Graphic Design in Brissago, Switzerland. There, he received instruction from such design leaders as Paul Rand and Armin Hofmann. Before joining the company, he worked in the creative department of Novartis Pharmaceuticals. At Business Information Graphics, Anthony's knack for animation was ideal for the emerging multimedia revolution. His motion graphics have captivated thousands in such venues as trade shows, online, and corporate films.