A production schedule should be worked backwards from the deadline for delivery, taking into account the schedules of other people involved, such as suppliers and printers. Make certain you allow for several stages of proofing, and remember to keep frequent back-up copies of your work.
2.3 Designing within your capabilities
The design of a text must cater for the content: if there are three levels of heading, the design must cater for them; if there are likely to be illustrations and captions, they must be catered for; and so on.
However, the design must be geared to what you can do with your software – it’s no good planning a multi-column document if you don’t have the soft-
7
Section 2 Planning and checking
2.1 Choosing a binding method will depend on the kind of document you are producing (what it will be used for, its length) and your budget. Some alternatives to office stapling or ring binding are plastic comb binding, wire spiral binding (more expensive but more durable than plastic), saddle stitching (used for this booklet), or perfect binding.
Saddle stitching should only be used for documents of up to 64 pages, and you need at least 32 pages for perfect binding.
Double-check with your binders that you have allowed a wide enough back margin for the binding method you have chosen. plastic comb binding perfect binding wire spiral binding busdocpages_quark 4/6/02 9:18 pm Page 7
8 Designing Business Documents ware to produce one (see Section 2.4 Matching software to document preparation tasks). And at the other extreme, you should avoid the temptation to design documents that show off the different facilities of your software, such as text running around illustrations, just because you have them – they may not be appropriate to your document.
2.4 Matching software to document preparation tasks
There are three different classes of desktop publishing software: word-processing, drawing, and page make-up software.
You will probably use word-processing software for correspondence, and page make-up software for the more complex layout of a report: before page make-up, you should still use word-processing software to finalize the text, so that you are not distracted by problems of page layout when trying to concentrate on writing.
Your choice of software may depend on the nature of your document. If your report is simple, you may
Should provide tools that help you work with text (such as routines to search the whole text for particular words or letter combinations and spelling checkers that allow you to create your own dictionaries of acceptable spellings). Word-processing software mainly for originating text.
Drawing software for originating drawings, charts, and diagrams; can be good for tables. Page make-up software for assembling the different elements of documents (text and illustrations) into pages.
Should include a wide range of tools for drawing different kinds of shapes, lines, and curves, and for moving them about on the page, either singly or as groups.
Should take text and illustrations from word-processing and drawing software into different fields on the page (such as main and subsidiary columns); should allow fine adjustments to the typography of the text and the sizing and positioning of illustrations. busdocpages_quark 4/6/02 9:18 pm Page 8 only need a word processor. If you are preparing a poster or chart that combines pictures with small amounts of text, it may make sense to type your text directly into page make-up software. A complex table may be best treated like a drawing, and produced with drawing software, which allows you to move the different elements relatively easily.
If you are combining software, check carefully for compatibility: make sure your page make-up software will take in text and illustrations from your word-processing and drawing software.
2.5 Testing out your design work
Remember you are producing paper documents, so be sure to test out your design work on paper, rather than just looking at it on your computer screen, where its appearance will be very different.
The appearance of documents will alter considerably with changes in resolution. For example, type and rules have sharper definition at higher resolution, and the contrast between bold and plain text is more distinct (see Section 14 Technology and type).
So if your document is to be typeset, rather than laser-printed, ask your typesetters to produce a sample page, so you can see how it looks at high resolution.

Remember, too, that your readers will be using documents they can hold, with pages they can flick through, rather than the flat pages you produce, or look at on screen. So make up sample documents that match the look and feel of final copies. These should help you check things such as whether there is a wide enough back margin for binding (see
Section 6.2 Margins), whether page numbers and running heads will be clearly visible, and so on.
Whenever you can, try to get people who might use your document to comment on its design, as well as making judgements yourself.
2.6 Checking
You should check the text of your document as often as possible. If you have been working on a text for some time, it is a good idea to have someone else proofread it, as you can easily overlook errors in a text you are accustomed to.
When you have finalized the page-layout of a report, print out all the pages and stick them together so that they resemble the finished document. The
Section 2 Planning and checking 9
Year Men Women
1970 103 78
1980 119 85
1990 98 99
Year Men Women
1970 103 78
1980 119 85
1990 98 99
Type and rules output at 300 dpi.
Type and rules output at 2540 lpi.
2.2 The relative weights of bold and light type, and the apparent thickness of rules, depends on the resolution of your output.
(Rule is the printer’s term for a line, to avoid confusion when referring to a line of type). busdocpages_quark 4/6/02 9:18 pm Page 9
10 Designing Business Documents following list should jog your memory for things to check: • Is the text correct? Is spelling, punctuation, and use of the ‘house-style’ consistent? (See Section 5.2
Aspects of typographic style). Don’t forget to check headings, captions, footnotes, text in illustrations, running heads, contents lists, and indexes, as well as the main text.
• Have the correct headings been given for the text?
And the correct running heads? Do the headings in the text match the headings given in the contents list? And are the page numbers in the contents list correct? Is the numbering system for parts, chapters, sections, and subsections consistent?
• Is the content of the illustrations correct? Are they the right size, the right way around, has the correct part of the illustration been used? Do the illustrations match the captions? Is the numbering of illustrations correct?
• Are the cross-references within the text and between text and illustrations correct?
• Are the page numbers in the index correct