Design patterns

When we talk about language, we have names for the different ways in which words combine to make meaning – ‘clause’ or ‘sentence’, for example. We can refer to rules about grammar and guidance about style, and we can talk about rhetorical structures that go back to the ancient Greeks. We don’t have all this with document design.

Design patterns are a response to this problem.² They are a way to describe design ideas in terms of their communicative intent and their effect on readers – not just what they look like.

So, a design pattern called Skimmable headings might start by expressing a problem:

Some documents are very lengthy and visually dense. At a glance, it is hard to get an idea of what they say and to search quickly for specific information.

And a solution:

Provide frequent, highly visible headings that stand out so the reader can move quickly through a document to understand its structure and access its content. There should be one for each clause or paragraph, acting as a layered explanation.

There might be other sections giving guidance about when and how to use the pattern.

And there should be an example:

In practice, design patterns can be hierarchical and intertwined – that is, they can pull in other patterns to achieve their goals, and they can be found with variant forms.

Design patterns were originally the creation of the architect Christopher Alexander,³ who set out to document the range of human needs that architects needed to address when they design buildings and places.

1.Waller, R., Delin, J., & Thomas, M. (2012). Towards a pattern language approach to document description. Discours, 10. https://doi.org/10.4000/discours.8673

Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., & Silverstein, M. (1977). A pattern language: Towns, buildings, construction. Oxford University Press.