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These days, a lot of our work is performed digitally, so it makes a lot of sense to create and share all kinds of digital documents. However, you want to ensure that these documents look professional, they reflect your business and expertise. That’s why it’s important to find the right tools and methods you can use for creating digital documents. Here’s what you should know.
Why do you need to have professionally-looking digital documents?
You’ll find that showcasing professional documents will give you a variety of benefits. It’s not just about documents looking nice and being well put together. Instead, you can also use these to:
- Boost the power of your brand, since you can maintain the same identity across multiple platforms.
- It also makes it easier for people to read. A lot of people struggle with reading comprehension, so having nicely-made, easy to understand documents can help more than expected.
- Additionally, professional digital documents will boost engagement, since they help engage the reader and provide a lot of insight.
- You can also use these to establish and boost your overall credibility. You’ll have better formatting, a professional presence, which does matter in the eyes of a customer.
What’s the right tool to help you create great digital documents?
It always depends on the type of document that you’re looking to create. For example, Microsoft Word is ideal if you want to create formal documents with great layouts. LaTeX is suitable for academic/scientific documents that require a lot of precision. Canva Docs combines document formatting with visual design, whereas Notion is very good for interactive content, wikis and internal docs. Then, you also have all-purpose tools like Google Docs that can be a complete suite for many different things.
Also, if you want to generate your own utility bills, you can use a reliable utility bill generator. Such a tool is ideal because it helps you generate your own utility bills in a professional manner. They are very accurate, professionally-made, and you can easily integrate all the relevant info. When you need your utility bills, yet lost them by mistake, such a tool can be a literal game-changer.
Make sure that your typography and fonts are consistent
What really matters when it comes to creating documents is to keep the same fonts and typography. A very good idea is to opt for a font size of 11-12 for body text, and then 16-24 for headers. That way, your content can be much easier to read. Also, avoid all caps, because it might deter people from reading the content.
Speaking of that, you also want to focus a lot on formatting. Mastering the use of white space, alignment and margins can be a very good idea. You want to use 1” margins if you want a clean frame, and start relying on paragraph spacing as the means to separate your ideas. White space can also help, especially if you add it around quotes, images or headings.
Add branding elements to your document
If you want your digital document to look professional, it’s crucial to try and add various branding elements to it. That way, people can identify the document as yours, and it’s just a much easier process to handle. Adding the logo of your brand is an excellent idea. You should also consider using the brand colors, and even the brand fonts, if you have any. Naturally, you also want to use a custom cover page, which is usually great for external documents. Visme and Canva are great tools for branding your content!
Use headings and subheadings
Whenever you create any digital document, it makes a lot of sense to ensure it’s very easy to read. These days, we can encounter very long documents that are extremely hard to read. What you need to do in a situation like this is to add headings and subheadings. Their role is to split the content so it’s much easier to read. That way, it becomes easier to handle and manage your content, without having to deal with any downsides or problems.
Visual aids can help
As we all know, visuals will always grab the attention of any reader. Whenever you read anything, your attention goes towards visuals, be it graphs, screenshots, icons or photos. It’s a good idea to add some of these whenever you can. However, we recommend using those sparingly. If you add too many visual aids, the content might not look professional. But if you choose to add visuals, tools like Lucid Chart, Flaticon or Canva can be a solid option to consider as well.
Start using templates
The role of templates is to give you a starting point when you work with any type of document. A great thing to focus on here is to ensure that you start with a template that does most of the work for you, or at least some. If you start with an empty canvas, it can become much harder to fill it up. But if you have a template, it’s easier to customize it and make the project your own. You can work with templates via Template.net, Microsoft office, but also Envato Elements or Canva.
Add interactive features to the content
If your content is available online, making it interactive can help it stand out. For example, if you cite something, you want to add a hyperlink to the source. Or you can embed videos or forms in order to add supplemental information or evidence to back up your claims. If you have a table of contents, making it clickable can be an excellent idea, and you should definitely consider that.
Export your content in the right format
Depending on the situation, you may have to work with different formats. For example, proposals, regular use documents and resumes can benefit from the PDF files. If you need to focus on real-time collaboration, tools like Notions and Google Docs are the better options. However, if you need editable forms, Word Documents, Excel or Fillable PDF can be the better options. In the case of marketing content, you can use Interactive PDF or ePub.
Always proofread your content
The last thing you want in any professional, digital document is to have any grammar mistakes. Unfortunately, things happen, maybe you rushed to finish the content or there were other causes. Regardless, it’s possible to have some grammar mistakes, so it makes sense to double-check or even triple-check before sending. That’s especially true in the case of business documents, but also any type of document. An error-free document highlights professionalism, and it shows tremendous value, which is certainly something you need to keep in mind.
Conclusion
When you create professional documents, it’s very important to avoid overusing colors and fonts, while also maintaining a sense of consistency with the format and style. Additionally, you want to use the right tools that will help highlight your expertise and professionalism. The faster you implement those things, the easier it will be for your business to grow and expand. That’s why it’s highly recommended to follow the aforementioned ideas and tips, as they can help make your documents appear more professional and trustworthy!
