Be Brilliant with Student Loans Material Makeover: basics of effective design MASFAA Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Our purpose: Who are we? We are designers at Nellie Mae. Martha Paradis is the creative director and has been with Nellie Mae for 16 years. Kerry Sainato is the Web production specialist and has been with Nellie Mae for almost three years. To help non-designers learn the basic “dos” and “don’ts” of designing simple, informational pieces.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Do: Do plan your communication around your audience. Know your audience! Example: If you’re writing for students, condense, condense, condense. Students won’t read long paragraphs of information. Highlight key points with bullets. Create an outline and thumbnail sketch of your project before you begin.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Don’t: Over design a publication. Keep it simple. Example: Don’t design a color brochure when a black and white postcard will suffice. Your message can be lost in clutter.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Do: Follow a few simple rules about type. Be consistent when using type. Use two fonts that are distinctive. Using a combination of serif and sans-serif typefaces is a way to use two kinds of distinctive fonts. This is a serif font. (Times New Roman) This is a sans-serif font. (Arial)

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Don’t: Use every font and style that you own. Use readable fonts. Some easy-to-read fonts are: Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Garamond, Verdana (Web). If you must use a “fancy” font, use it as a heading and only use it once. Limit your use of styles. Bold, Italics, Underline: Use these styles sparingly and consistently to highlight your message, or else your message will get lost.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Do: Be consistent with bullets. A bulleted list should contain more than one point. Use the same format and font size for all text and bullets in a list. Inconsistently formatted bullets take away from your message.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Do: Be consistent with bullets. A bulleted list should contain more than one point. Use the same format and font size for all text and bullets in a list. Inconsistently formatted bullets take away from your message.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans vs. Do: Be consistent with tables.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Don’t: Use too much clip art. In general, do not use more than one piece of clip art per message. Too many graphics can distract from your message instead of enhancing it. Remember: Before you mail your financial aid application, make sure you have completed the FAFSA. Example:

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Do: Use well-chosen graphics. If you need a graphic, make sure matches your message. You don’t necessarily need clip art or a picture, other treatments can be used. Use your imagination, but keep it simple!

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Do: Use well-chosen graphics (cont.) Some examples of graphic elements that enhance your message include: Drop caps Screen boxes to draw attention to a specific message Symbol fonts for bullets or section breaks

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Don’t: Be afraid of white space. Don’t fill every empty space with text or graphics. Doing so will make your message cluttered and hard to read. White space can actually make your message stand out more than if it’s surrounded by other elements. Remember, keep it simple.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Do: Size your graphics proportionately. Skewed graphics will make your message look unprofessional and unpolished. In most Microsoft programs (Word, EXCEL, PowerPoint), enlarge a graphic from a corner to keep it proportionate.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Don’t: Change a logo. Logos are copyrighted or trademarked and should not be changed. A logo holds a brand image, and changing it will affect the corporate identity. Get an acceptable version of the logo from the department at your school or company that created it.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Do: Find out if your school or company has a style guide and follow it. Style guides give specific examples about how your school or company uses grammar rules, colors, logos, and other design and communications elements. To get a copy of the style guide at your school or company, check the communications or publications office. Following a style guide will help you uphold your school’s or company’s brand image and how your audience perceives it.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Don’t: Overuse color. A few rules to add impact with color: Use contrasting colors for readability. Note: This information is important Don’t use colors that are difficult to read. Do not use color screened more than 40% with text. Don’t use colored graphics if you are printing in black and white – the print quality will not be as sharp. difficult to read.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Dos for the Web: Use one consistent main source of navigation. Remember that people read differently on the Web – rather than reading left to right, Web users tend to scan for keywords. Condense, condense, condense. It is hard for a reader to read long passages of text on a screen. Make sure your Web pages measure no more than 800x600 pixels. This is the size of an average user’s screen.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Don’ts for the Web: Don’t overanimate Web pages; just because a technology exists, doesn’t mean you should use it. Don’t assume that a color will look the same in print as it does on screen. A Web browser can only pick up 256 different colors. Don’t use large graphics. Large graphics take a long time to load and you’ll lose your audience if it has to wait too long. Don’t lose your audience because there’s no way to get back to your Web site. Always give your audience a way back.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Do: Know your limitations and resources. You might need to outsource a complex piece of design. Your school or company might have resources available through a publications or graphic design department. Use your work-study students – especially for Web projects. Many students are knowledgeable about HTML and Web design. All of the dos and don’ts above are valuable even if you don’t design the piece. You can apply them during the approval process when you outsource a project.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Don’t: Avoid feedback. Feedback is good, especially coming from someone in your target audience. It’s only a design – don’t take it personally!

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Remember: Key points to keep in mind. Getting your message across is the goal of any collateral design. When in doubt choose simplicity. Know your audience. Stay consistent while designing any thing.

Be Brilliant with Student Loans Contact Us: Martha Paradis, Kerry Sainato,