The Original Document
The original document that I chose for the document redesign assignment was a flyer for a community meeting. The flyer has a number of problems that lead it to be hard to understand and inefficient as a document. Using Williams' rules of redesign, it has problems with proximity, repetition, contrast and alignment. Each line of text is equidistant from the others, not using the rule of proximity to imply a relationship between certain texts. There are some attempts at repetition with the use of one font in the header and one font through the body, but the use of different colors of font distracts from the visual concept of repetition. Also, there is one large image and the rule of repetition isn't used with this or any logos. There is some contrast with the use of bold text in the heading, but there is a lot of white space with no big contrast to draw the eye in. Finally, probably the biggest problem is the alignment of the page. Although they did try an off-center column, they used centered alignment throughout the document making it look boring and tired. Also, the alignment traps white space between the text and the image.
The Re-design
For the re-design of this flyer, I started by re-arranging the content into a proper proximity to create an intellectual relationship between groups of text. I grouped the details of the meeting--the "who" and "where"--together under subheadings and listed the contact information and sponsoring groups at the bottom of the flyer. I moved the most important information--who is conducting the forum and what the forum is about--to the top of the document so that they are the first thing read by the viewer. I changed the alignment on the whole document to left-adjusted to strong, clean lines for the eye to follow throughout the text. I also aligned the right side of the image with the right side of the border and the left side to the left side of the text, making it appear organized. I used the idea of repetition with the multiple lines in the border and the repetition of the colors in the border and in the image. Also, I used two speech bubbles and symmetry in the two columns to create a type of visual repetition. Finally, I used contrast by increasing the size and bolding the important text such as in the header and in the speech bubbles. I also used contrast with the border and the image, allowing the color to contrast with the white space.
The most important improvement that the redesign has made on the original flyer is making the content of the flyer easier to understand. Unlike in the original flyer, in the re-designed flyer the who, what, when, and where of the event are clearly indicated using William's suggested techniques. Also, I've created more visual interest in the flyer by adding the border that complements the new image and the speech bubbles to make the topics of the meeting stand out. This makes the flyer more likely to stand out if it were to put up among a barrage of other flyers.