Computer Skills
Beginner
60 mins
Teacher/Student led
Learning Goals
Learning Outcomes
+80 XP
What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC or iPad/Tablet

Make It Look Like You Meant It — Layout & Design

Learn practical design techniques to transform a proposal from homework into a professional document. You'll apply layout, headers, images, tables, and lists to make your work look intentional and serious.

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    1 - Introduction

    Illustration for Introduction

    Welcome

    Two documents can say exactly the same thing and land completely differently. One gets read, taken seriously, and acted on; the other gets skimmed in ten seconds and forgotten. Today you'll learn the design moves that make the difference, and apply them to the proposal you wrote last week, so your Something Real stops looking like homework and starts looking like something a parent, teacher, or committee would actually back.

    By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

    • Change page layout (margins) to suit your content
    • Add a header, footer, and page numbers so every page looks official
    • Insert and position an image that supports your writing
    • Use bullet and numbered lists where they help the reader scan
    • Use print preview to catch problems before you submit
    • Produce {{code:04_polished_proposal}}, a visibly redesigned version of your draft

    Warm-up

    Picture two posters on a notice board in your school: one for a TY bake sale, one for a club relaunch. Both have the same amount of text. One catches your eye and you stop to read; the other you walk past. What did the good one probably do that the other didn't? (No writing, just hold the answer in your head. We're about to name those exact moves.)

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +5 XP

    2 - Key Concepts

    Design isn't decoration. Every move in this table exists to make your reader's job easier, so they actually get to the idea you're pitching.

    ConceptWhy it mattersExample
    Page layout — margins, orientation (portrait/landscape), and paper sizeMargins decide how much room your content has. Too wide wastes space; too narrow looks cramped.A one-page proposal with a small image reads better in portrait with narrow margins so everything fits above the page break
    Header and footer — small repeated blocks at the top and bottom of every pagePuts your project title, name, and page number on every page — so a reader who picks up page 2 still knows what they're holding.A header reading "TY Gaeltacht Trip Proposal — Aoife Ní Chonaill" with "Page 1 of 2" in the footer
    Images — photos, icons, or shapes placed inside a documentA relevant image gives the reader something to anchor on and breaks up walls of text; an irrelevant one distracts.A photo of the Cliffs of Moher in a proposal for a Geography field trip, so the reader pictures the destination immediately
    Tables — a grid of rows and columns for structured informationTwo columns read ten times faster than the same numbers buried inside a paragraph.A budget table: rows for Venue, Printing, Food; columns for Estimated cost and Actual cost
    Bullet and numbered lists — short items stacked on their own linesReaders scan lists; they skip dense prose. Numbered implies order (steps); bulleted does not (items).A bulleted "What we need" list; a numbered "What happens on the day" list in order
    Print preview — the view that shows what the document will look like when printed or submittedCatches problems you don't see while editing: broken page breaks, orphaned headings, images that wrapped text badly.—

    A note on taste — less is more

    Every technique above only helps if it genuinely makes the document easier to read. Four fonts, three images, a rainbow of colours, and a table for everything is worse than a plain document. The rule: add a design move only if you can answer "what does the reader get from this?" in one sentence.

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +10 XP

    3 - Step-by-step Task — Redesign Your Proposal

    You'll make a duplicate of your earlier proposal draft, rename it {{code:04_polished_proposal}}, and apply design techniques to it. The original draft stays untouched so the before/after comparison lands in your portfolio.

    Pace yourself with the Core 4. Get these done first and you already have a proper win:
    1. Narrow margins
    2. Header with project title and your name
    3. Footer with page number
    4. One relevant image (resized)

    After the Core 4, keep going into the Polish 3: a table, a bullet list where one belongs, and a print preview check. If you run out of time here, don't stress — you'll continue straight into Independent Practice and finish there.

    +15 XP

    4 - Common Issues

    Common Issues

    IssueSolution
    My image is huge and has pushed all the text onto page 2Click the image once, then drag a corner handle inward (not a side handle, which distorts it). Aim for about the width of two or three lines of text sitting beside it.
    The header appears on every page but I only want it on page 1Word Online: click inside the header so the Header & Footer tab appears, then tick {{btn:Different first page}}. The header on page 1 is now independent — leave the page 2 header empty.
    Google Docs: click inside the header, then click the {{btn:Options}} button that appears at the right of the header, choose {{menu:Options -> Header format}}, tick {{btn:Different first page}}, and click {{btn:Apply}}. Now the page 1 header is separate — leave the header on page 2 onwards empty.
    My table columns are different widths and it looks messyClick anywhere in the table, then use the Table menu / Table Tools and look for {{btn:Distribute columns evenly}}. You can also drag the column borders manually.
    Print preview shows a heading alone at the bottom of page 1 with its content starting on page 2Click just before the heading and press {{kbd:Ctrl+Enter}} (Windows/Chromebook) or {{kbd:Cmd+Enter}} (Mac) to force a page break, so the heading and its content stay together.
    +10 XP

    5 - Independent Practice — Polish and Finish

    Independent Practice

    Your goal: Finish the redesign of your proposal so a parent, teacher, or committee picking it up would take it seriously enough to read — and so the upgrade from your earlier draft is obvious at a glance.
    Time: ~20 minutes
    Task: Open your {{code:04_polished_proposal}} from {{code:Digital_Portfolio}} and keep refining it using the techniques from the step-by-step — margins, header with project title and page numbers, at least one relevant image, a table where structured information belongs, and bullet lists where the reader needs to scan. If you didn't finish every technique in the step-by-step, start with whatever you missed (usually the table or bullets) and then polish from there. Pick each design move because it genuinely helps your Something Real project, not to tick a box. Keep {{code:03_proposal_draft}} untouched in the same folder so the before/after sits clearly in your portfolio.
    Success criteria:
    • The before/after upgrade is visible at a glance — the polished version clearly looks like more professional work than the draft
    • Every page carries the project title and a page number, and no heading is stranded alone at the bottom of a page in print preview
    • Each image, table, and list in the document earns its place — you could say in one sentence what the reader gets from it
    • Both {{code:03_proposal_draft}} and {{code:04_polished_proposal}} exist side by side in your {{code:Digital_Portfolio}} folder
    +15 XP

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