CATEGORIZING DOCUMENT TYPES FOR ENHANCING THE QUALITY OF DOCUMENT DESIGN

Abstract

Documents are surrounding us anytime anywhere. The accuracy and the appropriateness of information representation direct what people think and how people (re)act. The process of design thinking will provide document design problem-solving and the possibilities of innovative thinking. Classifying documents helps designers to define the document types for efficiently and effectively communicate with users. This study analyzes 54 representative samples with the KJ Method. Five document types were concluded, including indicative document, retrieving document, dialogical document, feedback document and expository document. The results show that the distribution of documents in the same type has the tendency to aggregate, indicating that document type has cause-effect relation with interactivity and readability. It thus suggests designers to pay attention to the intrinsic factors and the external representation of a design.