Scientific and Technical Illustrations, Text, and the Idea of Audience
http://www.stc.org/confproceed/1998/PDFs/00160.PDF

Rubens, Philip
STC Proceedings
1998

Abstract:

Although authoring agencies typically devote considerable effort to creating text for specific audiences and purposes, non-textual elements are often created trivially. Yet, many design theories could be successfully applied to the creation of transactional non-textual information. This paper offers an overview for and references to major theorists; it also serves as the theoretical basis for a presentation that emphasizes pragmatic applications of these principles in the design of non-textual information for specific audiences and purposes.