Document Design
In Michael J. Klein and Kristi L. Shackelford’s article, “Beyond Black on White: Document Design and Formatting in the Writing Classroom,” they highlight the importance of document design within writing. Writers need to understand that it is not a bad habit to shy away from traditional writing and to implement a new style of writing to develop their understanding of writing. Document design is crucial as it significantly influences how information is presented and perceived. In traditional essay writing, document design is typically minimal compared to other forms of communication. While there might be guidelines for formatting and citation styles, the emphasis is generally on the content and structure of the text. However, since the first week of class, when we were informed to compose blog posts every week, we did not know that we had been using document design during this entire process. In these blog posts, we insert images to illustrate the significance of our post. These blog posts incorporate more usage of document design than traditional writing.
CRAP
Klien and Shackelford help readers follow the guideline of the four key design elements with the acronym CRAP, which translates to—Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity—Contrast emphasizes differences in elements, drawing attention and adding visual interest. Repetition establishes consistency within the multiple designs to create a sense of familiarity. Alignment ensures that elements are visually connected and aligned purposefully. “Proximity is the grouping of elements that have something in common.” These vital principles are essential in creating and understanding how to effectively utilize designs properly in writing.
Multimodal Composing
Moreover, In Melanie Gagich’s article “An Introduction to and Strategies for Multimodal Composing,” she underscores the importance of multimodal composing. She states, “A multimodal text combines various modes of communication. College students now, or even from a few years back (decades or half-decades), understand the severity of understanding writing in digital spaces. With the advancement of technology, students should be able to delve into something that will translate well in the work world rather than just strictly school-based. Of course, Gagich does not note that multimodal composing only relates to social media/ digital posts, but it can be common. However, it can be anything– as long as it meets the requirements, which we discuss in the next section.
How?
Typically, when you are writing, whether formally or informally, you need to establish your rhetorical situations: You need to identify your audience, the message, the author (you), the genre, and the medium to compose a multimodal text. The first three points are self-explanatory, but genre and medium can be somewhat tricky, so I’ll provide a brief explanation of those terms. The medium in your text is where you want your text to be “distributed.” This can be on social media platforms like X, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. It can also be in a newspaper, magazine, or radio. Similarly, the genre is the standard specifics that a platform uses. Gagich states, “If I am creating a website for horror film fans, then the audience would expect the following genre conventions: references, images, and sounds associated with horror films.” So, the medium pertains to the form or channel of communication (radio, painting, film, literature), while genre categorizes content based on shared characteristics, themes, or styles within a specific medium– mystery or horror film, for example. If the text you are composing can successfully convey a purpose and has a medium and genre, then you have created a multimodal text.
Why is it important?
I think multimodal composing is important because it recognizes and accommodates the diverse ways people process information. These different forms of communication, whether images, audio, video, or text, can help appeal to a broader range of audiences. It is also important because students get to enhance their digital literacy skills– in sight of hopefully becoming fluent in digital technology.
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