Gestalt’s five document design principles are balance, alignment, grouping, consistency and contrast. These principles are used to help grab the readers’ attention and to make the document easier to read and understand. The bulletin used for this assignment includes some of these principles but not all of them. The following will explain the design principles found in this bulletin and suggest areas where I think they can be improved.                   

 Balance is important because it creates a stable feeling in the text. The bulletin has three columns so the text appears balanced. However, the green line at the bottom of the page is not equally balanced with the large graphic at the top. I think the balance would be more even if the size of the graphic was decreased because it would allow more attention to focus on the actual text of the document and not  be so over powering. The “Message from the CIO” is lost in the clutter of the graphics. An important message such as this should have been placed more appropriately. To create more balance within the bulletin it might be helpful to add a sidebar or margin comments.           

The next design principle is alignment. Images and text in a document should be alligned to show the document’s structure or hierarchy. The bulletin shows a hierarchy by using lists throughout the document. It has a horizontal alignment. To improve the alignment of the bulletin I would allign the graphics and the text that goes with it so it will be easier to read. Again, the top “Message from the CIO” is not aligned with the graphics. Neither complements the other.           

The next design principle is grouping. Grouping seperates the text using headings, rules and borders to make words and images stand out and easier to read. The bulletin does have a few headings but I would also add sub-headings to separate the text. It does a good job on using white space, it is evenly distributed throughout the document. In the banner space at the top I would not have put the red “Special Edition” graphic or “IT Spring Cleaning”. Those two headlines would have been more appropriately grouped over the clothesline graphic.           

   Consistency is the next design principle. It makes documents more accessible. Inconsistent documents are more difficult to read and interpret. The bulletin is consistent in the font for the most part and it uses lists consistently within it. I would add explanations with the graphics to fully explain them and create more consistency. The font in the Message from the CIO is too small and hard to read. An important message such as this should have been placed in the body of the text  set apart by a border. The text of this bulletin is fairly consistent, but I find the headline graphics and text inconsistent.          

The last design principle is contrast. Contrast is used to make text and other features stand out. One should be careful when using contrast because when you have too much contrast it can make the elements compete with each other. The background color and border of the document show contrast and make the text easy to read. Using a green font for the headings and also bolding and italicizing the text creates contrast. Again, this is where the headline has a few problems. There is too much contrast. The text, font sizes, and graphics all compete with one another.