[Skaven]

I think only left side justified, the strange use of empty pages in the beginning and the overuse of indents and pauses make it most unappealing to me.

Cutting the pages in two columns to give some explanation to figures is odd enough, but is then broken on some pages due to space issues (e.g. page 28).

To me it feels this all was done without care. The content was dropped into some weird style.

Is this written in Word?

[pmiller2]

Doubtful it’s written in Word. The empty pages are because this is a document that’s intended to be printed double sided and bound. Try printing off 10 or 20 pages that way and you’ll see those empty pages serve their purpose.

[jhanschoo]

From the column alignment and page number alignment, it looks to me to be typeset to be double-sided but clipped / stapled. And I agree that most of the decisions work in favor rather than against.

I disagree with ancestor comment that the author "breaks" their figure placement; it's done so that figures can be typeset to take up either text-width or page-width, depending on which is preferable for the figure.

[pmiller2]

I doubt it's designed to be stapled or clipped, because it's a dissertation, but you're absolutely right about the figure placement. I forgot to mention that.

[jacobolus]

The real feature that is throwing you off is the extra wide spacing between lines (leading).

This is just an unfortunate requirement of many academic departments for theses, which can’t be avoided by authors.

If you set the document tighter it would look much better. Otherwise the typography is very careful and deliberate. It was very obviously not produced with Word. Word falls over badly when you try to produce this type of document.

[grovehaw]

The document was created in Adobe InDesign CS2 (4.0.5). This means all the features you find unappealing are the result of conscious decisions. The strange use of empty pages is due to being a print on paper document governed by the strict rules of an academic thesis.

I also think the designer is working in a different tradition to the one you value. I see echoes of the work of Donald Tufte, Jost Hochull and Hans Hagen.

[sidpatil]

> I see echoes of the work of Donald Tufte, Jost Hochull and Hans Hagen.

Do you mean Edward Tufte?

[jamessb]

"Donald Tufte" - I think you mean Donald Knuth and/or Edward Tufte.

[Skaven]

White page 32 with widow and orphan is a tradition?