How to make your texts reader-friendly

Kontext / Contexte

Reading is a key element of education. In both printed and electronic formats, the visual aspect of the text has an impact on readability, comprehension, and overall experience. Readers might face difficulties out of our control (dyslexia, colour blindness, etc.) therefore we focus on what we can change. The layout, font, colours, and illustrations, in our assignments and test handouts, are the key components we can alter to make the overall text more accessible to everyone.

Zielsetzung / Objectifs

Knowledge
Participants understand:
- the design elements of digital and printed text
- the impact of the text design on the readers
- how to use software and design knowledge to create reader-friendlier texts.

Skills
Participants will be able to:
- identify and apply the key elements of good design and use them in their assignments, tests, handouts, and presentations
- create documents in Word and Canva more effectively by utilising the functions of the software
- create documents that are inclusive and reader-friendly.

Attitudes
Participants will:
- confront the assumption that the content is more important than readability
- recognise the challenges others might encounter with reading the text
- give each other constructive feedback on the visual presentation of their text assignments, handouts, and tests.

Inhalt / Contenu

- In the workshop, we will first explore why the formatting and visual aspects of the text are important
- we will discuss aspects of dyslexia and colour blindness and look at good and bad examples of text formatting
- using participants' own texts we will analyse the key strengths and opportunities for improvement considering the basic design principles
- we will use Microsoft Word and Canva and cover their functions to make the formatting easier and more automatic
- participants will then use the knowledge to transform their texts.

*** All participants are expected to have MS Word and Canva teacher accounts and use their laptops or tablets (phones will not be sufficient)! ***

Arbeitsformen / Approche méthodologique

- An in-person workshop where participants explore and discuss the theory
- participants practice theory on specific examples
- participants will learn the advanced usage of tools (Canva, Word) and apply the knowledge to their own materials
- involves everyone with concrete examples.

Referent, Referentin / Formateur, formatrice

Jana Hrivniakova, Master of Economics, Charles University in Prague