Table 4 Primary care physician preferences for the design of printed educational materials

Length

 - One to two pages, maximum

 - Short paragraphs or bullet points and point form sentences*

Layout

 - Numbered clusters preferred over paragraphs

 - Two columns preferred versus one column, when appropriate

 - Single sided pages preferred by some physicians to make it easier to post materials on the wall or on bulletin boards

 - Bolded and detailed headings that explain the content of the following section facilitate finding the right information and help physicians decide if they are interested in that section*

Simple design

 - Simple designs attract the user to the PEM*

 - Limited sections, graphs, and images*

 - Use of white space*

 - Limited color schemes that are neither too bright and overwhelming nor too light and pale*

 - Clear division between sections with the use of headings*

Visibility and accessibility of topic

 - Topic and title should be bolded and clear*

 - Bolded topic and title help the reader decide if the content is relevant and of interest*

Key messages and highlighting of key points

 - Main messages outlined at the top of the PEM*

 - Clearly outlined goals*

 - Key information highlighted to stand out from the rest of the text*

 - Over-highlighting can reduce the effect of emphasizing main points

Text density and busyness

 - Overly busy materials may be discouraging to the reader*

 - Busyness can be reduced with use of white space, good organization of content, spacing between lines and paragraphs, bullet points, flow-charts, numbering, and a structured layout*

 - Too much text can reduce information recall*

 - Text-heavy PEMs reduce information retrieval and make it more difficult to scan for information*

 - Too much information on a PEM makes it hard to use in practice*

 - Electronic materials are more difficult to read on small screens if text-heavy

Use of bullets and point form

 - Bullets and point form are preferred over paragraphs and full sentences as they facilitate quick reading*

 - FAQs (including the answers) work best in point form

Color

 - Color is preferred and can be used to organize text*

 - Color can draw the eye and attract the reader to the PEM*

 - Color PEMs should print and photocopy well in black and white

 - Color can influence credibility and too much color can reduce the perception of credibility*

 - Too much color or colors that are too bright can compete with text and be distracting*

 - Color coding can be used to match text to tables or charts*

Font size

 - Small print discourages reading (ideal size can be determined through cyclical usability testing)*

 - Larger print should be prioritized over ample white space*

Logos and developing organization’s name

 - Logos should be used to show who has developed the materials

 - Use of logos can increase the perception of credibility

 - Logos are best placed at the top of materials, should be used sparsely, and need to be recognizable

 - Unrecognizable logos should be paired with the name of the organization

Templates and common formats

 - Use of recurring formats across materials by the same organization facilitates navigation of the PEM*

Use of graphics, images, or other visuals

 - Graphics should be labeled, be referenced in text, and use legends when appropriate*

 - Small images can be used to draw attention to an important area such as conclusions or clinical implications*

Tables

 - Should not contain difficult to interpret numerical results such as risk ratios and odds ratios*

 - Use large font to make tables easy to read*

 - Use white space to make tables attractive and less intimidating*

Specificity

 - Content should be specific enough to use in practice and not require looking up further information*

 - Conclusions and key messages need to be very specific*

 - Vague comments should be avoided*