Welcome
This website explores business documents from different historical periods, as well as business documents of today. These documents are analysed and explained to show both how these forms of communication have changed and how they have stayed the same.
For each of four different time periods, four documents are presented:
- A business document from that time period,
- a modern business document of the same type,
- an analysis of the two documents,
- and a new document which updates the old document into a new format.
There are a few terms used in the analyses that may be unfamiliar to you. A definitions page is provided for this purpose. Also, for quick reference, ocurrences of these words will be accompanied with a brief definition, which may be viewed by holding your mouse pointer over the word.
What we learned, you can learn
This project showed us many different aspects of document design through time, and each document had its own lessons to teach. Overall, the greatest lessons to be learned are what has changed through time compared to what has not. Technological advancements, new forms of media, trends, and design research all result in document changes. In the end, however, messages must still be conveyed clearly, and the basic ways in which the human brain notices information have not changed.
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Any copyrighted content on this site (original documents) is reproduced under the Fair Use guidelines for educational use. All materials reproduced on this site are credited to their original source.