Visuals
Photographs
Using photographs in your document can add interest as well as credibility. A “mug shot”—a headshot photo—of a regular columnist or VIP creates a more personal relationship with the reader. You must be careful of the quality of the photographs you use, especially when the piece is to be reproduced on the copier. The copier tends to darken images and bring out all the “bad” qualities, such as graininess from a low resolution. Special software can be used to tweak a photograph and make it better for printing. This software also can be used to remove elements from a photograph, such as power lines, “bad” hair, and the glare on eyeglasses as a result of using the flash on the camera. Photographs can be scanned for use in documents. When using a digital camera to take photographs to be used in printed material, make sure the resolution is set to high and quality is set to best. (These terms may vary with the type of camera you have. Check your camera’s documentation and use the settings that give you the best quality and the highest resolution. Note that with these settings the photograph will take up more space on the card/disk used for storage.)
Unfortunately, photographs also can contain extraneous matter—too much background, an unidentifiable person at the end of the line, etc. You can use the crop tool in your software to get rid of this unwanted matter.
Illustrations
Often referred to as clip art, illustrations can add pizzazz to your document. When selecting illustrations for your document, try to have them all one style. For example, you wouldn’t want to mix a woodcut style with a ’50s style.
If you find clip art that has most of what you want but also some unwanted elements, you can often change it.
Information graphics
This group is comprised of charts and data tables. Charts quickly communicate comparisons, relationships, and trends. If you are going to use numbers then add an “equivalent to” statement: 45,000 people dying in car accidents each year is “equivalent to” a full DC10 crashing every day for a year. The first step in choosing the appropriate type of chart is to define its purpose and identify the most effective chart to present that concept.
Pie chart
Pie charts display part-to-whole relationships. There should be no more than eight slices per pie. If you have more consider using an “other” slice and then do a pie of that slice.
Bar chart
Column (vertical) and bar (horizontal) charts compare one or more items over time. Use six or less columns per chart. It is also a good idea to include grid lines to make them easier to read.
Line chart
Line charts show trends. Don’t use more than four or five lines per chart. Too many lines make the chart too difficult to read.
Data tables
These can be indispensable for providing complex numerical data as well as textual information. When designing tables try to avoid the obvious double lines all around with single lines inside. Go for something that provides a little more visual variety.