Document Design : From Process to Product in Professional Communication

Introduces students to the basic principles and theories of design, combining practical advice about the design process with a foundation in visual rhetoric and usability.

Document Design introduces students to the basic principles and theories of design, combining practical advice about the design process with a foundation in visual rhetoric and usability. Most books on document design lean toward either theory or practice. This book offers a balanced approach-theoretically informed practice-that introduces a working vocabulary to help students become reflective practitioners, able not only to create effective designs but also to explain why and how they made their design choices. Derek G. Ross and Miles A. Kimball hope to give students the foundation they need to make design decisions in any rhetorical situation. Students will learn to negotiate between the needs of both users and clients to consider the nuances of audience, purpose, and context.

Miles A. Kimball is an independent scholar whose publications have been important in defining the field of technical and professional communication. He is coeditor, with Ross and Hilary Sarat-St. Peter, of the SUNY series, Studies in Technical Communication. Derek G. Ross is the Hargis Professor of Writing Studies in the Master of Technical and Professional Communication Program at Auburn University. He is the editor of Topic-Driven Environmental Rhetoric.