What elements can you use to help readers follow the structure and flow of information in a long report?
Let’s look at a topic that deals with, oddly enough, how we look at designs. Once you understand how the human eye processes these, you’ll find yourself better able to arrange your elements more effectively. Show
Content in any digital page layout will follow a specific hierarchy. Headers appear above body text. Menus go at the top, bottom, left, or right of the screen (or any combination of these). Designers try to organize content so that they present the highest priority content on any given page first. Then, they deliver the rest of the content from highest to lowest priority. “Hierarchy” is simply a nicer way of saying organized from most to least important. We also use “hierarchy” to show relationships (where relationships exist) between content blocks. Users define the visual hierarchy of a website or app. The item that first grabs the eye’s attention is at the top of the hierarchy. Each item that next draws attention is subordinate to the one before it. Hierarchy PrincipleAuthor/Copyright holder: Digital Markketing. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY 2.0 The human eye perceives information visually rather than as blocks of data. Unlike computers, we’re at the mercy of our eyes’ natural tendencies. The reading material we likely encountered as young children featured many pictures and larger print. Whether these were comics, coloring books, or story books, we could take in what was going on because we perceived the illustrations and interpreted the sequence of events alongside the easy-to-read text. The way we perceive information is affected by several factors that contribute to how we rank the hierarchy of the content within the layout. Jones (2011) showed that the factors that affect hierarchy include:
“Eye-Catching Designs Need Psychology" Reports from Copenhagen confirm that more designers, especially web designers, are appreciating the need to engage users more directly. Reaching back into their art school days while working a little psychology into the mix seems to do the trick. Hierarchy PatternsThere are common patterns for hierarchy both on the printed page and for the digital page. These patterns are based on the movements that our eyes tend to make when presented with a fresh
page. English, for example, is read from left to right. English readers have a set scanning pattern when facing a page of text. Arabic readers have a different pattern. Why? It’s because Arabic is read from right to left. It’s important to understand how your audience processes information before adopting a hierarchy pattern. As this lesson is in English, we’ve included two common left-to-right patterns here: Z PatternIn websites with a low level of text content (e.g., websites that act as small advertisements for a business or a product rather than delivering volumes of information), the Z pattern of eye scanning is common. The user sees the “text-lite” page and scans from the top left to top right, then glances down through the content (following a diagonal) to the bottom left, before moving to the bottom right. You can make use of this pattern by ensuring that you include the most important information along the Z pattern this eye movement follows. You’ll have four points joined by three lines going in a Z-shape. F PatternDesigners usually apply the F pattern on websites that include text-heavy content and/or video content. With the F pattern, users begin by scanning left to right along the top, but then scan down the left side of the page, looking for visual clues to the information they seek. When they find such a clue, they scan from left to right. They repeat this process until they reach the end of the page. This scanning pattern often produces a heat map that looks like the letter “F”, as shown in the image at the top of this article. It’s perfectly possible to use both Z and F pattern pages on the same website. For example, you might have a very clean homepage that utilizes the Z pattern; however, when the user delves deeper into the site, you might present much more data and use an F pattern instead. The Take AwayHierarchies give us order to make sense of a design easily. We want to prioritize headers and menus according to how we know what our users want and what we want them to do. We process information visually, perceiving elements in the order in which the designer has emphasized them according to:
In the Western World, we read designs according to two common hierarchical patterns: The Z Pattern — In designs without much text, our eye starts scanning from top left to top right, then diagonally down to bottom left, stopping at the bottom right. The F Pattern — In designs with more text, we scan across the top, from left to right, then down the left, searching for clues to what we want to know. On finding one, we’ll scan across to the right. You have your user’s eye to guarantee that you can include these factors to make more effective designs. Keep all of these in mind as you plan. Your best effort might involve using them all, including a fusion of the Z and F patterns. Remember that you’re designing for your users. What are they using, and how might they want to see it online? Where To Learn MoreCourse: The Ultimate Guide to
Visual Perception and Design Jones, B. (2011) Understanding Visual Hierarchy in Web Design.Web Design Tuts Plus. http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/understandi... Bank, C. (2015).“Understanding Web UI Visual Hierarchy” Bradley, S. (2015). “Design Principles: Dominance, Focal Points And Hierarchy” Cao, J. (2015). “The 5 Pillars of visual hierarchy in Web design”. The Next Web/TNW. Which of the following allows readers to follow the structure of the document?headings/links enable readers to follow structure of document, pick up on key points of your message from headings and subheadings. use hyperlinks with online reports for readers to navigate. words or phrases that tie together ideas and show how one thought is related to another.
Which of the following can be used to show readers you are well informed and have strong arguments?Which of the following can be used to show readers you are well informed and have strong arguments? Cite sources.
What information should be included in the introduction of a formal report?Introduction or Background information The purpose of the introduction is to prepare the reader for the body of the report by giving a clear statement of the background and objectives of the report, elaborate as to why the work is significant, and provide historical context regarding the work.
When you design a business report you should bear in mind which of the following?When you design a business report, you should bear in mind which of the following? Some readers will not have enough time to ponder everything in the document. People will read the document in various ways. The document should be easy to navigate.
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