Document Design Principles - Repetition
Based off of the paragraph above, on a multipage document it is relatively easy to see the necessity of having repetition throughout the document. The repetition provides validity to the reader that the document is whole. Looking through the Hearl Maxwell archives, repetition is seen throughout the multipage documents. There are typically three big challenges with multipage documents which include “maintaining unity, making a lot of type inviting, and providing navigational signs to keep readers from getting lost,” (Hagen 82). Reading through a contract with the United Mine Workers of America is a prime example of a multipage document that needs repetition. The repetition can be as easy as the start of each article with the word "Article" followed by a number. The problem with this repetition is it doesn’t help break up the text to make it more user friendly. Looking at the page, there is multiple words and paragraphs but not a lot of space breaking up those paragraphs. This leads to one of the three challenges of making the text tempting for the average person to read. The text itself shows repetition in the form used to write in, which would be classified as professional rhetoric.
The Constitution and Laws by the Kansas State Federation of Labor is a multipage document that follows the laws of repetition both in the form of professional rhetoric because it is a professional document for the workers of the coal mines in Kansas but also follows the repetition throughout the document. The document itself breaks the text up into inviting paragraphs for the the mine workers to read. Each article is broken up by repetition by the title of the article, all capital letters and same larger font followed by the section number of the article identified at the beginning of each paragraph.
But how can the repetition be seen in the form of letters? The letters tend to be a single page document. There is repetition seen in the header of the letter. The main focal point stands out but the lesser information seen in the header all formats to the same type font and the same placement. The body of the text uses the same format all the way through with a nice salutation and closing to wish the reader well. The type of the body of the format is the same throughout which shows a form of repetition.
Can repetition be seen between letters? Yes. There is a repetition taught in how to formally address and write letters. The header goes at the top of the page, who the letter and the date comes followed by the greeting and the body of the letter. At the end of the letter is a closing remark followed by the signature. All formal letters receive this same treatment which is a form of repetition seen between letters. Repetition follows closely with the alignment of a letter. Most documents contain one or more of these document design characteristics and most documents contain multiple elements. While alignment doesn’t have to be the next element to consider, the next element to discuss will be alignment.