A Conversation with Tyler Woerner : Desktop Publishing for Dummies

In today’s business environment business owners and managers often find themselves behind the computer creating flyers, newsletters, web pages, and various other marketing collateral. For those that can color inside the lines these opportunities are an exciting way to show off your artistic and creative side. For others they can be frustrating moments staring at a blank computer screen. Either way the following design principles can help add some life to your next project.

Emphasis: Highlighting one item on the page will invite the readers to read the rest. Pick an image or title that will stand out from the rest of the page elements. Making all the type bold weakens the emphasis that bold type should have. Resist the temptation.

White Space: Often people feel like their job isn’t done if there is empty space on the page.  However, white space can be the result of a well balanced and easy to read layout. Much like a room filled with furniture still has open space to walk and move around, your layout should have white space for your eye to roam from one element to the next.

Repetition: Each sentence or bullet point should not be treated as a unique piece. Make your layout more cohesive by repeating the same font choice, color, and size where appropriate. If you are using clipart and images, repeat the same style and size there as well. The consistency will make it more pleasant to read.

Contrast: Choosing contrasting color values is a great way to add emphasis to a layout as well as make it more pleasant to read. For longer text areas try to use dark text on a light background and use colors that complement one another when adding them to a page. A good way to tell if you are using an appropriate amount of contrast is to print your layout in black and white.


Tyler Woerner is the Creative Director and Founder of Pixelbrush Studios. Tyler and his talented team designed Upper Lafayette’s current website. Upper Lafayette is proud to host Tyler as a contributing editor. For more information please visit  pixelbrushstudios.com