Key learning points

(Source: www.w3.org)

With the emergence of the multimodal text, document designer has also evolved in tandem with the revolution of technology. Hence, as we moved from the heavily written text (monomodal) to the multimodal texts era, a new level of literacy is constructed.

In other words, today's communication requires document designer to be aware that 'written part is only part of the message, and no longer the dominant part' as suggested by Walsh (2006).

Whether we are writing or designing, there is a need to completely comprehend on the following:-

(i) social or cultural context of the individual reader

(ii) socio-cultural context of the text production

(iii) genre and purpose of the text

(iv) interest and purpose of the reader

(v) immediate situation in which the text is being read at any particular moment

In essence, always bear in mind what is the purpose of the document, who are intended audience, and in what context are the document design in.

References

Schriver, KA 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub., NY.

Walsh, M 2006, ‘Textual shift: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts,’ Australian journal of language and literacy, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 24-37.