Great content is more than compelling words on a page. There are a lot of things that go creating content that your audience wants to read and forward, but one of the most critical factors is design.
While I think most marketers agree that design is important, especially for things like websites and eBooks, I have often found that this is overlooked with white papers. People often consider these documents to be more academic so they think that design isn't important (clients tell me we don't need to engage with a designer, and I see countless examples of poorly designed papers).
I'm a firm believer that white paper design is critical, so when Jonathan Kantor sent me his new book, Crafting White Paper 2.0, I was looking forward to getting some more ideas on how design can be improved. As the subtitle of the book states, the book is about "designing information for today's time and attention-challenged business reader."
I absolutely agree with the premise of Jonathan's book: readers are inundated with information, and white papers need to be designed so they can be easily digested.
Kantor identifies six key elements to include in your white paper to make them easier to consume:
- Executive summaries
- Concluding summaries
- Callouts
- Graphics
- Bullet list
- Shaded text boxes
I think all of these elements are great additions to any white paper, and if you are looking for ideas on how to incorporate any of these items, Jonathan has a chapter devoted to each. It's a handy reference.
One key theme running throughout White Paper 2.0 was the idea to keep it simple. While you start to include these items in your white paper, it can be easy to get carried away and highlight too much information. If you have too many design elements competing for attention, the reader won't know where to look.
Here are just a few of the suggestions Jonathan provides to keep the design in check:
- Think about the 3:1 ratio for graphics in white papers: one graphic for every three pages.
- Instead of having esoteric business graphics that readers can't understand without explanatory information, use things like charts, simple workflows and screenshots (Jonathan provides ideas on how to develop and use each of these).
- Shaded boxes are fantastic at drawing a reader's attention, but use them sparingly; only use them once or twice within a white paper.
To help put things in perspective, you need to keep in mind how your reader will be reading your white paper. Early in the book, Jonathan talks about how layered approach with today's business reader. Instead of readers reading a document from start to finish, he suggests they approach it in three stages:
- Skimming
- Preliminary reading
- Comprehensive reading and recommendations
While I have thought about how readers skim and the importance of having these key elements tell a story, I hadn't thought about this middle stage that Jonathan terms preliminary reading. During this stage, when readers delve into a paper in more detail, they often look at the text around these graphic elements first before reading the whole paper. This is something I will think about for future projects.
If you haven't considered design to be an important component of your white paper, Jonathan provides some compelling ideas of why and how to do this in his book. And, even if you are convinced that you need to be cognizant of your white paper design, this book provides some useful tips on how what to consider. It's a resource I will certainly return to.
And, as a sidenote, if you are looking for some white paper ideas (who doesn't like a bit of inspiration?), Jonathan provides a weekly round-up of white papers in his blog, The White Paper Pundit. Earlier this year, he posted a "best of" list that is a nice resource.
I'd love your thoughts: what other things do you think are important to help a reader understand the key points in a white paper?
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About the author: Michele Linn is a B2B content strategist who helps companies create content and think through how their B2B prospects will consume it (from registration to promotion). You can follow her on Twitter or read more of her posts on Savvy B2B.
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