| You've hired a graphic designer to lay out your | | | | right-pointing arrows. Spaces show up as small |
| newsletter, brochure or report. You have a tight | | | | dots. |
| budget and don't want to incur any extra costs | | | | 3. Create placeholders for logos and imagery |
| for the job. How can you prepare your Word | | | | Rather than spend time sizing and cropping an |
| document to ensure things go smoothly at the | | | | image and/or a logo, simply create a placeholder |
| design studio? | | | | telling the designer that this is where you'd like |
| 1. Don't spend time formatting | | | | something placed. Putting the instructions in square |
| Aside from letting the designer know what should | | | | brackets is a good way to indicate that the |
| be emphasized and what the general hierarchy of | | | | information contained within the brackets is not |
| the information should be, he or she doesn't need | | | | for print. It ensures that the document isn't too |
| you to try to make the document look "pretty". | | | | large and unwieldy, and saves you time at the |
| Adding colour, borders, etc. is just a waste of | | | | front end as well. If there are numerous |
| your time, as it will all disappear when the designer | | | | insertions, it's a good idea to include the name of |
| imports the document into their layout software. | | | | each file. This eliminates confusion at the studio. |
| It's important to note here that you do need to | | | | 4. Insert page breaks |
| separate headings, paragraphs and sections | | | | If you want to let the designer know that certain |
| appropriately so that the designer can see how | | | | information should be on a specific page, there |
| the information should be handled. Remember, | | | | are two ways to do this: first, you can insert a |
| they are designers, not editors, and although my | | | | bracketed instruction; second, you can insert a |
| studio does read through content, a lot don't, and | | | | page break. To do this, simply select , , . |
| designers are not paid to edit. | | | | Inserting multiple paragraph breaks is not only |
| 2. Remove extraneous tabs and spacing | | | | inefficient, it can necessitate you going back over |
| Rather than press the tab button five times to | | | | your document several times during the course |
| get your cursor where you want it, create one | | | | of creating your document to ensure your text is |
| tab and move the tab slider at the top of your | | | | situated where you want it. |
| document window to where it should be. This | | | | 5. Proofread! |
| eliminates the need for the designer to go in and | | | | I can't emphasize enough that you need to check, |
| manually remove all those extra tabs. | | | | double check, and triple check your document |
| As for spaces, NEVER hold down the space bar | | | | before sending it out for layout. Don't rely on the |
| until your cursor is where you want it. The result | | | | spell check because it won't know that you |
| at the design end is that it's a much more lengthy | | | | meant to say "park" and not "pork". Better yet, |
| process to properly format it. All those spaces | | | | have someone who is not familiar with the |
| have to be deleted. Instead, replace the spaces | | | | document read it. |
| with ONE carefully placed tab. | | | | Making text changes after the designer has laid |
| If you're not sure about the formatting you've | | | | everything out is probably the single most |
| input, simply click on the paragraph icon beside the | | | | common cause for author's authorizations (a fee |
| toolbox in your formatting toolbar (it looks a bit | | | | for additional work over and above the quoted |
| like a backwards "P"). It will show you all the | | | | price). |
| invisible keystrokes you've input. Tabs show up as | | | | |