Pages white paper template

When you produce content, you ideally want readers to share your assets with others. White papers, as the Demand Gen Report found, are actually the most likely type of content to be shared with colleagues. While a white paper may not immediately strike you as a shareable asset, a well-crafted white paper can spread like wildfire on social media or within professional circles and increase your brand awareness.

Having a white paper template is going to make the creative process that much easier. And once you find a couple preferred templates, the process will be even more streamlined, allowing you to consistently produce high-quality white paper content. Who is reading your white paper? More importantly, who are the readers you want to be reading your white paper? As with any other content type, white papers need a target audience. Before doing any writing, your team needs to define the ideal reader and their motivations.

Your target audience may be C-suite executives, department heads or procurement decision-makers. In any case, have a concrete definition of your audience in hand before doing anything else. A high-quality white paper will deliver on these expectations. Your marketing team will need to roll up their sleeves and do some original research to speak knowledgeably about the topic. This may entail internal interviews with your product leads or other subject matter experts.

At a minimum it means collecting an array of sources to back up your white paper. White paper conclusions give you a chance to make an impact on readers.

They have invested their time, and by the end expect a close that summarizes everything neatly and provides them with key takeaways. CTAs need to be clear, specific and relevant to the white paper. The white paper design you choose will have a major effect on how the content is received. White papers can absolutely be creative documents, not just droll pages of chunky text. At the least, incorporate your brand color scheme into the white paper format. But also consider adding:. Design elements will not only help break up the copy, but also reinforce key takeaways you want to impress upon readers.

First off, decide on the file type for your white paper. PDF is likely the most common file format, but Word docs may also work. If you format your white paper in HTML5 or Adobe InDesign, however, you can add interactive design elements that bring your content to life.

Always be sure to build out a landing page and a form for your white paper to collect lead information. Templates can help accelerate your creative process. The above government white paper templates can be used by a government to communicate complex social, political, and economic issues to an audience. Governments can distribute healthcare white papers to communicate crucial healthcare policy changes to residents in an easy-to-read and accessible format.

Its straightforward table of contents and simple design elements keep the focus on the text. You can create a functional table of contents by adding hyperlinks to individual chapters and sections. Along with the option to add a URL, you can select pages within the eBook. When you download your design, download it as an Interactive PDF. This white paper template, from the cover page onwards highlights the cybersecurity topic it is focused on—phishing scams—by using a hook icon.

The cover also introduces a circle motif that is used throughout this technical white paper, to give it a cohesive design and summarize information. Pro Tip: Do you work in a boring industry? A well-designed whitepaper can give you an unfair advantage when it comes to making technical information easy to understand and positioning the value of your business. Good policy white paper examples include a brief description of the scope of a problem or issue to be discussed, alongside recommendations.

Policy papers also include data to give context to issues. A common problem that marketers and consultants face when creating white papers is finding a way to make the data engaging and easy to understand.

While everyone on your team is busy creating boring Word documents, you can be the creative genius that uses charts and pictograms to create visually engaging white papers. We have a guide to picking what types of charts to use that can help you there. You could use a line graph to show revenue growth over time. Or you could use pie charts to show parts of a whole, like in policy white paper examples such as this. Pro Tip: With our online graph maker, you can create charts and graphs that are more creative and engaging than standard Excel charts.

Pictograms are also a creative and effective way to visualize statistical data. Take a look at how pictograms are used in technology white paper examples like the below.

They act as visual aids to showcase key statistics and changes as it relates to the IT sector. They say variety is the spice of life—the same can be said of whitepapers! This business white paper design, for example, combines both bar graphs and pie charts. Research white paper examples usually include reported facts and data aimed at educating readers around a particular topic. Research white papers are also written to help readers understand and address specific problems.

To improve brand recognition, you need to have consistent branding across all marketing collateral. This not only helps your marketing efforts but also helps you maintain consistency in your internal and external comms. Be sure to incorporate your logo , brand color palettes, and fonts into your white paper design.

Then, you can easily apply them to your designs with one click. No designer needed:. Try thinking of creative opportunities to incorporate your branding. This white paper design, for instance, extends the use of its signature color beyond standard headers and icons. It actually applies a transparent color overlay to the images, adding an additional punch of color and reinforcing its brand palette in an unexpected way.

Pro Tip: Need help with creating your own brand-style guide? Our guide on brand guidelines will help you create brand collateral that will dictate the look and feel of your brand and in the process, help you stand out from the herd. Human resources white papers tackle issues around employment, management, employee retention and churn. HR white papers can also be used to attract potential employees by showcasing the company culture and ethos. Well, guess what—it works great for white paper design as well!

Pull particularly impactful and persuasive quotes and make them stand out from the rest of the text using big, bold fonts. Company white paper examples like this one use a bright orange font to help their featured quotes stand out. One of the primary purposes of a white paper is to visually communicate information in an engaging way.

But many businesses end up creating something that reads like a college textbook. No one wants to read that…just ask any college student. When designing your white paper, look for opportunities to make the text easier to scan with visuals.

An easy way to bring attention to important points is to place an icon beside the text. Government white paper examples like the one below are text-heavy. But the icons help direct the eye to each section header and break up the text.

This marketing white paper layout uses icons to punctuate the headers and add a dash of personality to reinforce its fun and lively color palette. A visual motif is a visual element that is repeated throughout your design. To pick a motif for your white paper design, think of some themes reflected in your white paper. Is your white paper about social media engagement? A white paper topic that is focused on establishing a sprint process could use a race track motif instead. Hiring strategy white paper examples like the below use a leaf motif.

Plants reflect the theme of growth associated with recruitment. Or you can also use a simple shape motif throughout your white paper design. This approach is more subtle but can still lend to a cohesive and well-thought-out white paper design. Think: what kind of flow do I want my report to have? Where can I use visuals to emphasize certain points?

Where can I illustrate an idea? A common mistake novice designers make is to cram too much text into a page, rather than breaking up the text and giving it space to breathe. Images give the eyes a rest and help to reinforce information. Visual headers are also a great way to break up expanses of text while still having the visuals serve a purpose yay for purposeful design! You can create your own illustrations using icons—they can make for some fun and quirky headers, like in workplace tech white paper examples.

You can do this by creating a glossary for your white paper. Think of it as a map that outlines exactly what your white paper will cover. In bright white paper examples like the one below, you can see how the designers used a bold color to bring attention to the glossary.

This ensures that it will be seen by a reader, and actually used to navigate the content. Try using a full-page color fill like in this white paper example for your glossary.

Otherwise, readers may miss it when quickly flipping through the pages. When writing a white paper, you can also section off important pieces of information using tables and boxes. In the white paper examples below, the designers used a table to organize key points and takeaways from each main section:.

Breaking up lengths of text with boxes will help make your white paper easier to read:. You can create a hierarchy by using a different font or color for your headers and sub-headers. This also helps give your page design more variety. In this example, they use different fonts and colors for each level of header.

This helps make the distinction between main and sub-headers more noticeable. The primary goal of your white paper should be to educate readers. But you also want to strike a balance between being informative and entertaining.

If there is a central point that you want readers to remember, you may want to dedicate an entire page to that one point and an accompanying image to help drive the message home.

Pages like this should be used sparingly. That being said, they can deliver some real impact to readers. Unlike one-page reports where you have to fit a lot of information into a small space, white papers allow for more freedom to spread the information out. That will allow you to create page designs with plenty of white space. In the design world, white space is the empty space around design elements on the page. Leaving some room for your text and images to breathe will help your design look less cluttered.

Check out how this example uses plenty of white space on nearly every page. The result is an organized and modern white paper design. Dividing your page into columns is a good way to organize your information and save space on the page. Structure — The ideal and standard structure is a complete inclusions of the previously listed elements.

The elements above are not technically everything but it should at least have the table of contents, executive summary, introduction, solution, and conclusion among others. Format — The most ideal format should be finalized in a PDF file format. Other formatting concerns, such as indention, spacing, and text orientation, should also be taken note of. A single mistake might only mess up everything and all the efforts would only be put to waste. Observing different white papers would tell you that its authors are careful in crafting one.

To avoid running out of comprehensive information on what you aim to currently write on a white paper, always weigh the pros and cons about the topic that you choose. Even simple white paper templates have the simplest yet informative topics ideal for white papers. A mediocre write-up will only make your readers notice how poorly made your white paper is.

Avoid leaving sub-topics and headings unexplained. Do stick with your objectives. Stick with your objectives throughout your write paper. See to it that every element is directly relevant to the objectives of your paper.

This greatly applies on your writing style and in the tone of how you write your white paper. You might want to utilize ledger paper templates in your data presentation section to promote professionalism in your output. As an aspiring author or proponent who wishes to write a white paper, these helpful reminder on what to do and not do could be a big help as you progress with your writing.

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