The difference between document formatting and editorial design

There's a significant difference between making a document look better and designing it for a reader.

Formatting generally starts with the document that already exists. The text is placed on pages, fonts and colours are applied, headings are styled and images are positioned.

Editorial design starts somewhere else.

It starts with the content, the audience and the way the information needs to be understood.

Formatting makes a document presentable

Formatting has an important role. Consistent typography, spacing, headings and page numbers can make a document considerably easier to use.

But formatting tends to work within the structure that already exists.

If a report contains 80 pages of dense text, simply changing the font, adding colour and introducing a few graphic elements does not necessarily make the information easier to understand.

The underlying problem remains.

Editorial design considers the whole reading experience

Editorial design looks at how information moves through a publication.

• What does the reader need to understand first?

• Where should a section begin?

• Which information deserves prominence?

• Where does the reader need a visual break?

• Could a complicated explanation be presented as a diagram, table or infographic?

• How should different types of information be distinguished from one another?
  

These decisions create hierarchy and give the reader a route through the content.

Good design starts before the page

This is why editorial design is particularly valuable for reports, recruitment packs, prospectuses and other substantial publications.

The designer is not simply decorating the content. They are helping to organise it visually.

A strong publication should make it immediately apparent what is important, what belongs together and where the reader should go next.

That does not mean removing complexity. It means making complexity easier to navigate.

When the distinction matters

If your organisation has an important document that has become increasingly difficult to manage, the answer may not be a better template.

It may need a different approach to structure, hierarchy and presentation.

The difference is subtle, but significant.

Document formatting makes information presentable. Editorial design makes information work for the reader.