Lessons From a Well-Formatted White Paper?
November 28th, 2006, by Michael Stelzner
Do first impressions matter? Do you judge a book by its cover?
These are interesting questions that deserve thoughtful consideration.
I would like to draw your attention to a recent white paper I read while working on a project. Its title is: The Internet Comes of Age for the Recruitment Industry (click to see PDF).
This white paper uses a few very interesting formatting features:
- A clean title page
- A intro page with a large graphic
- An oversized opening paragraph
- Double spaced type
- Page separators with customer quotes
- Subtle use of color
Please note the image in this post. This was of most interest to me. In a few places in the document, the entire page was colored blue and a compelling quote from an expert or customer was plastered on the page. I have never seen this done before.
I would love your feedback on the overall formatting of this paper and the use of these divider pages as shown above. What are your thoughts?
If you're new here, be sure to signup for my newsletter and join 20,000 others. Thanks for visiting!
Receive email updates when new articles are posted.>> Related Articles on This Blog
November 28th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Nicely done - and full-page pull quotes are a nice touch - but I still find the heavily leaded text a little grey.
I think more than a single subhead per page would have helped.
Still, this is a stellar effort in a field where a lot of what’s published seems expressly designed to discourage readers.
November 28th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Hey Tom;
I think it is very nicely formatted.
However, I think this kind of work is beyond the ability of most writers.
Would you agree?
Mike
November 28th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
Thank you for bringing this piece to our attention. I love the idea of having industry luminaries featured in such a dramatic way. I also like the idea of starting sections with oversized paragraphs — reminds me of Esquire Magazine. Formatting is the issue. How much added cost — would you imagine — does this design work add to the cost of the piece?
November 28th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Britton;
I would think someone who is savvy in Microsoft could implement many of the items seen in this sample.
Some things Word cannot do include page bleeds (meaning the color bleeds to the edge).
Mike
November 28th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Beautifully formatted - elegant, nice use of the dark blue, attractive white space. Looks serious yet elegant.
I’m less convinced about the success of the divider pages and the intros however.
While the full-page bleed and large text for the divider pages is attractive, I find their use disrupts the flow of the paper. A pull quote embedded in the copy, as would normally be the case, serves to enhance readability by varying the layout and illustrating with a quote a point made in the text. But the lack of direct context for the full-page quotes, while highlighting the quote itself (also important, of course) does the main text a disservice.
As for the intros, while they are attractive, I found their placement confusing. Are they picture captions, abstracts, summaries, introductions or the first paragraphs of the actual paper? How should they be read? As part of the paper’s argument or as sidebars to it?
If a white paper is designed to clearly state an argument, I think the design should support that argument, not get in the way of it.
Just some thoughts from an old-fashioned editor.
November 29th, 2006 at 12:27 am
I like it! It’s very innovative. The use of blue and the font choice reminds me of IBM (don’t know if this was on purpose).
The only downside of this design is the stark contrast between the blue pull quotes and the plain white pages with basic text paragraphs. I would have broken up that monotony with some visual enhancements such as bullets, callouts or subheads.
November 29th, 2006 at 11:20 am
Hi Simon - Good point about the disruptive nature of this full page with the pull-quote. It is an interesting touch however and did not stop me from moving forward in the document.
Jonathan - I agree about the use of bullets. However, what is interesting is that this paper is rather light on copy but it looks beefy. There is really only about 7 pages of double spaced content that has been spread over 11 pages.
November 29th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Hi, Michael,
I love this look, too. It may be a little tricky for writers who have zero design experience, but basic design skills and InDesign or MS Publisher should make it a success. I’m definitely going to save this one as an example to inspire me when I’m trying to make my stuff pretty! Thanks for highlighting it.
Kristen
November 30th, 2006 at 10:23 am
Hi Michael,
Personally, as a white paper consumer, I expect professional formatting. Just reading words will not keep my attention. I am enticed by a nicely formatted document!
I found a site that sells white paper templates. I got 3 .dot files for $20. The templates are nice but the good thing is that you can copy the style/format and edit to match your own color scheme. Here’s the link: http://www.mysoftwaretemplates.com/templates/White-Paper-Template.shtml
Actually, this is quite timely as I was going to ask you about the subject of formatting for the College Course I’m putting together. I wondered how many white paper writers use any kind of graphic design firm to polish off the paper vs. doing it yourself?
Terri
December 1st, 2006 at 8:00 am
Kristen - Glad you liked that example. Thanks for stopping by!
Terri - Is this Terri from Washington? I think your college bookstore ordered 10 copies of my book. Let me know if you buy those templates and how they are.
To answer you question about formatting. My experience is that most white paper writers DO NOT use graphics designers. Anyone else care to comment??
Mike
December 1st, 2006 at 9:04 am
I use a graphic designer, and believe its an important attribute in a good white paper.
It’s no different than using an editor. In order to produce a quality product you have to recognize your own limitations and use outside resources to suppliment those deficiencies.
If editors have become an accepted standard practice, then why not use graphic designers?
December 1st, 2006 at 9:54 am
Hi Michael,
Yep, Terri from WA. I did already purchase the 3 templates. You can follow the link above to see examples of what they look like. If nothing else, it gives you some good formatting ideas. Personally, I think the actual templates are too bold.
Jonathan,
I agree with you but wasn’t sure what others did. I suspect in-house writers have templates already created by a design firm. I wondered how many freelancers polished off their work by sending it to a designer.
Terri
December 1st, 2006 at 2:00 pm
I agree with Jonathan. Most may not use designers, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t. It’s the difference between a $12 chicken entree at a casual dining restaurant and a $35 coq or poulet entree at a fine dining establishment: presentation and perceived value.
Kristen
December 5th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
the recent example something for me to shoot for. For now getting started with putting a basic paper together. Any basic formatting advice from anyone, a format you’ve started with or had success with. I’m talking font style and size, page margins and line spacing, color…thanks. DB
January 26th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Mike:
I’d be curious to know if you ever talked to the company who distributed this white paper. What kind of feedback did they receive? Did they see a substantial difference in the results it generated for them as compared to earlier papers with (maybe) more conventional designs?
January 27th, 2007 at 7:20 am
Hey Whitney - Nice to hear from you! Actually, I found this paper while researching for another paper. I never did contact them. However, a ton more people have looked at it now
- Mike