Suggest a text layout that feels bold, formal, luxurious and different

Question

Hello. I am trying to format a report and trying to make it look:
* formal
* emphasized and being important
* formal but not stiff (in fact, the report is about not to be stiff).
I am thinking I could do so by:
Using emphasized and very big font size for titles, like in the foreword
http://www.zhangweiwu.name/till0906/200806-foreword.pdf (see last 2 pages)
Using large page margin at the bottom and outside, like in "summary"
http://www.zhangweiwu.name/till0906/200806-summary.pdf (see last 2 pages)
Using a single red line to add variants to the text layout and use a border
to include list of actions suggested:
http://www.zhangweiwu.name/till0906/200806-goals-and-tasks.pdf (see last 2 pages)
I am pretty new to design layouts. My question:
a. how do you feel about these layouts and do they present what I want to present?
b. how can I improve these layouts to better reach the goal (feels bold, formal, luxurious and different, which is exactly the feel of the report text itself)? Especially the single red line I added wishing to add variants, looks not good to me because it looks as if the final publication was not properly cut;
Note that I can only use 2 colors (red and black) and only one typeface, for other technical reasons.
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

My only advice is to lower the bottom margins and add some text leading to loosen it up a bit. You might consider a thicker red line with a screen of 30 - 40%, depending on audience ( i.e., if mostly male, leave it 100% red ). A bolder rule line will make the entire document feel stronger ( you could also leave the fine rule of 100% red and add a thicker screened rule attached to the bottom of the thin rule, thus creating a bolder overall rule while maintaining the existing thin rule ). I'd experiment with different thicknesses. But, overall I like your use of white space. You just need to balance it. Add some air to your drop caps. I cannot comment on your font because I am not familiar with your language. I think if you are making a statement of flexible strength, the bold font will suffice. I'd take a look at F.L., R.R. instead of justified format just to see if that loosens it up further.