Chapter 18 | Understanding Design Principals

Understanding design principals is necessary to craft a well-designed paper.  Unfortunately, being that we are writing an academic paper, the extent to which we can use various design principals is going to be pretty limited.  This doesn’t mean that design can’t be a part of our paper, as long at it is still in MLA format, some main principals to consider would be:

• Balance – making sure all the elements of your paper are properly aligned
• Emphasis- using strategic fonts, sizing and color to make your headings and subheadings stand out.  In a non MLA format piece, you could also use emphasis to call attention to a specific quote or topic.
• Placement – well placed elements such as page numbers
• Repetition – keeping your paper easy to navigate by having page numbers and elements in the same place throughout all pages
• Consistency – keeping all design of elements consistent throughout all page

Having a well-designed paper will help readers understand the organization of your document, locate information and recognize the various functions to the different aspects of your paper.

Given that my topic is play, you would think a bold bright “fun” design would be called for.  However, I think this is misguided and perpetrates the misconceptions of play.  I want my reader to take play seriously, so a serious yet light tone will be objective.