Fluent Essays

600 words Due 09/19/21 @ 11:59 PM EST Your employers will want you to produce completed, well edited documents in a timely fashion, and they will judge you by the quality of your work.  Your word processor contains a number of templates for such applications as letters, memos, faxes, résumés, and other business documents. Evaluate one of these templates. Is it clear and professional looking? Does it present a design that will be effective for all users or only for some? What changes would you make to the template to improve it? Present your findings, and attach a copy of the template. Do the same for both Excel and PowerPoint. Please include all of the assignment items in a single document. *Below I have attached PDF samples* Page 1 (Name Deleted) IS-365 Dr. Carswell 2/11/2017 Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint Templates MICROSOFT WORD: RESUME TEMPLATE The first template to examine will be Microsoft Word’s “Resume (Color)” Template. It is a very clean, straightforward template that does not stray into overcomplexity or become visually confusing to seem creative or unique – rather, it is appropriate, and thoroughly detailed. This template features a header which highlights the name of the individual, immediately followed by the person’s address, city, ZIP code, telephone number, and email. The name, however, is featured much more prominently in large text. What follows is the Objective, a well-organized Education section in which various details regarding degrees and schools can be found. An article of Business Insider, however, argues that “Objectives” are unnecessary in resumes, and should be replaced with something more akin to an executive summary of your skills. (Giang, 2013) Regardless, this section allows alteration and is a good start for any type of introduction. In addition, the author Vivian Giang, also made note of the importance of whitespace to highlight important elements, a clean professional style without excessive colors, and an overall well-structured document. (Giang, 2013) The separation of the “Skills & Abilities” section from the “Experience” section is a very important distinction, which allows whoever uses this template to highlight skills he or she may have learned elsewhere, or abilities which he or she is quite adept at. The Experience section allows for a more straightforward listing of the jobs’ titles and descriptions, which the hiring company would be interested in. Page 2 MICROSOFT POWERPOINT: BUSINESS CONTRAST PRESENTATION (WIDESCREEN) The second template, a Microsoft PowerPoint Template, is simple, clean, but with enough of a background to remain striking without getting in the way. I believe PowerPoint presentation templates should be relatively clean (without too many flash colors, excessive backgrounds, or otherwise confusing elements), but that they should also have an element of engaging visuals, something that complements the content within the slides themselves. Often, PowerPoint presentations are either too bland, or too cluttered. This template, however, works well to visually complement graphs, text, and other visual elements. The background image is a greyscale fade, therefore allowing the colors of the graph to remain the focal point of the viewers’ eyes, with their prominent colors. The surrounding visuals on the edge provide the slide with almost a border of sorts. While appealing visuals in presentations are highly subjective, I do believe this strikes a balance between professional and clean, and modern and intriguing. Thus, I believe this template is suited for both home/university presentations as well as most professional business environments. Page 3 MICROSOFT EXCEL: BUSINESS EXPENSE REPORT Finally, Microsoft Excel’s “Business Expense Report” template is ideal for businesses (likely small businesses, or a department within a larger organization) to easily insert expense information within a simple, clean report. Each header, of course, can be altered to fit the needs and expenses of the business using it, and it features crucial business information at the top of the document. It also provides room for various rates, dates, and those who prepared and approved the document. While I believe larger organizations would use far more complex templates, this could be used effectively by small businesses and even everyday users for their own expenses – albeit with minor altering. Page 4 Bibliography Giang, V. (2013, November 17). 19 Reasons Why This Is An Excellent Resume. Retrieved from Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-this-is-an-excellent-resume-2013-11 N a m e d e l e t e d | 1 Module 3 Writing Assignment Pictured to the left is my chosen Word template: Polished Resume, Designed by MOO. This is a professional resume example with a flair of color and design, created by an exterior design company and licensed out by Word for use in templates. For the most part, I find this resume to be, overall, well designed. Headers are appropriately clear and easily designated by line width and color, and as the Figure 1 Polished Resume, Designed by MOO (Word) audience of a resume is likely to skim through many resumes at any given time, seeing these key points at a distance is more important than in other documents (Markel, 2015). According to the document’s description, ribbon colors can be easily changed to match the needs of the user; in some industries, especially those that are design- oriented, color can certainly be a good way to make one’s resume stand out, but in others, it may be less than preferred or seem unprofessional (Smith, 2014). As such, the ability to customize color schemes is a boon; I would likely prefer a more subdued blue for the purposes of a resume, as it adds a pop of color without appearing too ostentatious or unprofessional. As it stands now, the color scheme could be interpreted as being a bit garish if presented in the wrong industry. Another interesting point in this resume template is found at the bottom of the template: the links. There are four headings for four links at the bottom: email, Twitter, phone and LinkedIn. Providing a wealth of contact information to the prospective employer is a must, and the addition of specific sections for these links is an interesting choice (Smith, 2014). Personally, I tend to prefer having contact information up near the name so that it is immediately associated with the owner of the resume; while I think it is important to have these links somewhere in the template, space on a resume is at a premium, so perhaps these artistic interpretations might be better suited in headers, footers or up in the name ribbon (Jarvis, n.d.). N a m e d e l e t e d | 2 The second template that I examined was on Excel and called the “Inventory list with reorder highlighting”. Excel presents a greater level of complexity when compared to PowerPoint or Word templates, as Excel, by its very nature, includes a lot more variables and can serve many more functions than its other counterparts. The inventory list could serve several functions for several companies, both large and small, and it can be expanded to serve larger lists more efficiently. This list is capable of highlighting items to reorder, if required, and can cross out discontinued items from the order list. While the template is clean and simple with good spacing to prevent eye-clutter, I feel as though the distinction between reorder items and regular items—light orange and light blue respectively— should be more defined for the sake of improving that all-important clarity aspect of the document (Markel, 2015). As it stands now, especially from a distance, the faded colors present on the template now are not that easily distinct—or at least not for me—and I think that the overall look of the template could be improved if the difference between them was more noticeable. Figure 2 Inventory list with reorder hig hlighting (Excel) Figure 3 Triple circuit lines presentation (widescreen) (PowerPoint) N a m e d e l e t e d | 3 The final template is one from PowerPoint by the name of “triple circuit lines presentation”. PowerPoint offers the greatest level of customization and design ability of the three analyzed mediums, and in that sense, it can also offer the greatest margin of error and difficulty of use, especially in a professional format (Lane, n.d.). One important thing to note is that this theme is designed for a widescreen format, so if the user required something in a different aspect ratio, he or she could encounter distortion problems or may need to consider another template. Right away, one can notice the contrast between the white lettering and the dark background; it is bold and stands out, and in many ways, the design is sharp and clean. The angular edges frame the contour of the text and imagery that will be stored within, keeping the viewer’s eye within the frame and on target. The color palette is soft, subtle and does not cause eye strain, and the darker neutral colors are suitable for a more professional environment (Lane, n.d.). For the most part, this presentation template can serve many needs, but in some professional environments, a more plain presentation may be preferred or even required. This presentation also does not allow for easy, clean integration of one’s logo, which may be a deficit in business environments. Some issues may arise in the finer details of the presentation; on one of the slides, a graph is presented to match the style of the overall PowerPoint, but the graph is difficult to read and could be easily misinterpreted. Choosing another graph design or style would probably be preferable for the sake of clarity rather than prettiness. Other issues with PowerPoints in general can often be a result of user over-design or error, and while the presentation template itself is adaptable to the needs of the user, it is up to the user to maintain its inoffensiveness and style (Lane, n.d.). In the end, that is the very nature of these templates; while they all provide excellent starting points, it is up to the user to adapt the template to their needs without compromising the document’s clarity or inoffensiveness. N a m e d e l e t e d | 4 Bibliography Jarvis, A. (n.d.). Simple Microsoft Word tricks to improve your resume. Retrieved from Ladders: https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/simple-microsoft-word-tricks-to- improveresume/ Lane, R. (n.d.). Combining colors in PowerPoint - mistakes to avoid. Retrieved from Microsoft Office Support: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Combining-Colors-in- PowerPoint-%E2%80%93-Mistakes-to-Avoid-555e1689-85a7-4b2e-aa89-db5270528852 Markel, M. (2015). Technical communication. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. Smith, J. (2014, April 2). 12 ways to make your resume stand out. Retrieved from Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/12-ways-to-make-your-resume-stand-out-20144