User`s manual

The particular choice depends on the document. New Century Schoolbook would be an excellent
face for a training manual, as the name implies. Palatino, with its chiseled edges, could be
perfect for a prospectus or an annual report.
Choose an eye-catching font for heads.
A main head summarizes an entire page or section. It telegraphs your message to the reader.
Subheads are reference points that pull the reader through the text. To do their job, these heads
must stand out.
The simplest choice is to use the same font family as for text, but in bold or italic, and perhaps
in a larger size.
The clean, geometric lines of sans serif type can make heads stand out even more. Helvetica
bold, for example, is a visually striking, easy-to-read font family that’s excellent for heads. So
is ITC Avant Garde bold, which is the font family used for heads and subheads in this manual.
Be careful when mixing font families.
In general, similar font families don’t work well together. Setting some heads in ITC Avant
Garde and others in Helvetica would almost certainly be a mistake. So would using one serif font
family, such as Times, for text, and another, such as ITC Bookman, for heads.
Use a minimum of font families, sizes, and styles.
It’s best to pick one font for text and one or two sizes of that family or another for heads, and
leave it at that. Too many fonts, especially when you’re new to design, will only result in a
disorganized layout that distracts your reader.
Bold and italic can sometimes be useful in text. The first time you use a term, for example, you
might want to set it off with one or the other. Sometimes a particular style is called for by the
rules of usage. (Book titles, for example, are always set in italic.) But keep style variations to
a minimum.
Styles like outline and shadow sometimes work well in heads, but they don’t have much place in
text, where they interfere with readability and visual balance.
Keep text in charts, graphs, and tables simple.
Charts, graphs, and tables present complicated information in condensed form, so it’s
important that they be as easy to follow as possible.
Helvetica is simple and readable, and its number set is very clear. Helvetica Narrow is
particularly useful because it allows you to condense a large amount of information into a
minimal space without sacrificing readability.
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Document organization
Successful design depends first on organization. Visual flair, while important, is secondary.