Blair Founders Festival Flyer
full document

One of the main problems with this document is how much the reader has to fight to find information. The flyer is attempting to inform Blair residents about the upcoming festival. However, because there are so many elements fighting for the reader's attention, Blairians are more likely to toss the flyer than take the time to read it.

The most salient element on the page is the heading: 'Attention all Blair Residents', which is set in a black box in a script typeface. Following closely behind is the heading 'What Can You Do?'. The two headings are very much in competition with each other and do not work together to form a cohesive document--they do not act together as two elements trying to support a cohesive unit.

Another problem for the reader is the ever-changing typeface. The headings are a combination of script, sans serif and serif typefaces. The body copy appears in both a serif and sans serif typeface. The body copy should appear in only a serif typeface, like the default choice Times New Roman, because there are long lines of text to read.

Another problem for the reader is the inability to quickly find what should be one of the most important elements of this document: the date. The date is found directly below the first heading leaving no white space to distinguish it as a separate item. The date should be in a larger typeface with more white space to distinguish it from surrounding items.

Alignment is also a key issue in this document. The items on the left side of the page are all aligned well. However, the elements along the right side and along the bottom are not. The date goes beyond both the heading above it and the body copy below it simply because there is no room for it to be aligned properly with these elements. In addition, the boxes on the bottom of the page are not aligned. When items are aligned they create a more cohesive unit. Not only do the typefaces not work to make this document cohesive, the alignment problems work against the cohesiveness of the document making it harder for the reader to navigate the content.

In addition, this document does not make good use of white space. The items are all crammed together on the document so the reader is left guessing which items go with what and struggling to distinguish between them. For example, there is no space left around the boxes to distinguish them as separate elements. As previously mentioned, the date is very tight against the first heading leaving no space to distinguish it as a separate and important element.

The material and colour choices of this document were good decisions. Because the flyers had to be easily distributed to all Blair residents by the mail person, the document could not be too large or cumbersome. However, the document needed to be able to stand out from the regular daily mail. The bright orange colour choice helps to distinguish this document from the regular mail.