Accurate Image Manipulation for Desktop Publishing

Devoted to the best possible quality in the desktop publishing workflow. This calls for accurate calibration and correct choice for the working space.

AIM for DTP. Articles>Graphic Design>Document Design>Color

The Awesome Power of Visualization 2: Death and Taxes 2007

Visuals that provide insights come from 1) a deep understanding of the goal / objectives 2) from thinking beyond what standard trend lines or stacked bar graphs can provide. Something non-normal to grab attention and yet communicate insights (sort of already contain recommendations and action items and not just data).

Kaushik, Avinash. Occam's Razor (2007). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Log Analysis

Be Prepared: Fill the Gaps in Your Photoshop Know-How

It's next to impossible for one person to know the ins and outs of every single facet of Photoshop. With that in mind, we present three video tutorials to plug a variety of holes in your Photoshop knowledge.

Perkins, Chad. Creative Pro (2007). Articles>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Beatrice Santiccioli: Specializing in Color

A visual designer discusses why Swatch, watercolors and cooking can inspire the design of color. Louise Sandhaus draws out how Beatrice Santiccioli came to be the Queen of Color.

Sandhaus, Louise. AIGA (2005). Articles>Graphic Design>Interviewing

Review: Beautiful Evidence    

Beautiful Evidence is Edward Tufte's fourth and latest book and both follows and diverges from the directions established with The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (Tufte, 1983), Envisioning Information (Tufte, 1990), and Visual Explanations (Tufte, 1997). Visual Display examined pictures of numbers, Envisioning explored pictures of nouns, and Visual Explanations addressed pictures of verbs. Beautiful Evidence foregoes the 'pictures of' approach and instead establishes the role of evidence as the foundation of reasoning. In some ways, this latest book might have been better positioned as the first book because of its efforts to explain interplays of understanding and reasoning.

Penrose, John M. JBC (2007). Articles>Reviews>Graphic Design>Usability

Beyond Graphic

Today's graphic designer has moved beyond graphic. The term 'graphic' fails to accurately describe our profession to the business community and the public. We should consider replacing it with a more relevant, accurate description of what we do today. Why?

Saldanha, Errol. Creative Latitude (2004). Articles>Graphic Design

The Big Picture on Monitors

The analog format of the CRT is challenged by the digital capabilities of the LCD monitor.

Hawver, Mark. Digital Output (2003). Articles>Graphic Design>Prepress>Color

Review: Book of Probes

Combine the probing thoughts of media culture sage Marshall McLuhan with the visual insights of design guru David Carson and the result is the quintessential coffee table book for anyone that works with technology and design. The Book of Probes is an intentional chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter experiment to combine the ideas of McLuhan with the images of Carson in thought provoking ways.

MacLaughlin, Steve. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Articles>Reviews>Graphic Design

A Brief History Of Technical Illustration

A history of technical illustration, from the classics to the present.

Hulsey, Kevin. Kevin Hulsey Illustration. Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>History

Can Designers Save the World (and Should They Try?)

Designers are clearly more self-conscious about their social role today than they have been at any time in the last 20 years, yet the lack of substance of the critics who have come to the fore, and the issues on which it is chosen to take a stand, reflect a political agenda that is set elsewhere. There are many areas of life in which designers can make a real difference, but we need to look first at why they are taking themselves so seriously in the noughties.

Macdonald, Nico. uiGarden (2006). Articles>Graphic Design>Cultural Theory>Politics

Communication Through Imagery    

The field of technical communication focuses on the ability of the author to gather information, interpret it, and then present the necessary items to the reader in a clear and concise manner. This article serves to briefly outline several of the key factors involved when deciding how to include imagery in technical materials.

Higgins, Phillip. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>TC>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Review: The Complete Guide to Digital Graphic Design  

Bob Gordon and Maggie Gordon, authors of The Complete Guide to Digital Graphic Design, reinforce effective design principles by creating a text that visually inspires and instructs. With its vibrant colors and captivating images, the book demonstrates the capabilities of graphic design through instructive images and text. Each page provides a snapshot into the creativity and power of graphic design.

Craft, Tiffany. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Reviews>Graphic Design

Creating Appropriate Graphics for Business Situations    

Charts and graphs are ubiquitous in business documents, and most students in my business communication courses are well aware that they need to be able to create many different types of data representation. Most of them have had a great deal of experience working with spreadsheet applications, and they know how to manipulate data and present it in the various forms permitted by their software.

Katz, Susan M. Business Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric>Charts and Graphs

Creation of Polylines

Sometimes it becomes necessary to create polylines that follow a certain path as a string of short segments. Here's a little trick that easily helps to solve this task.

ITEDO Software. Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Critiquing the Culture of Computer Graphing Practices    

This paper is a critique of current approaches to the development of computer graphing and graph visualization programs. Developers of these programs model the user as an individual problem solver who is reliant on perceptual skills to create and interpret graphed information. Such a model of graphing is ill-suited to meet the complex needs of real users, a supposition that is supported by work in two major areas of graphing theory and research: the sociology of science and the educational research of mathematics and scientific students. These areas have not been traditionally cited when planning computer graphing or visualization programs or when assessing their usability. A review of the literature in these fields reveals that an over-reliance on a user's perceptual skills is unlikely to result in successful graph practices.

Brasseur, Lee. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Charts and Graphs

Cutaway Illustrations

The cutaway perspective is fundamentally a three dimensional sectional view.

Lightfoot, Peter. ITEDO Software (2002). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Dealing with Images in Content Management Systems, Part 1

Most web-based content management systems offer a variety of tools to help contributors enter text. When it comes to graphics, content contributors are usually expected to provide web-ready images to the system. This means that either editorial users needs to know about image optimisation and web image formats, or additional staff are required to make web-ready images out of raw materials. This article demonstrates a technical solution to this problem.

Crane, Tom. Code Project, The (2006). Articles>Content Management>Graphic Design>ASP

Design is Function  

Good design, like good writing or editing, cart make or break a technical publication. Even if you know little about design us a discipline, as a technical communicator you employ it in every publication you produce. If technical communicstion is indeed the art that bridges the gap between people and technology, then understanding the function of design us an inherent element of communication is paramount. Design seeks 10 translate perceptions, goals, and desires through the manipulation of images and language. Design inspires understanding, is both an art and a science, and is good business. Design matters! The purpose of our presentation is to explore the relationship between design until technical communication and heighten the level of consciousness of the function of design.

DuBose, Mary E. and Deborah L. Baxley. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Digital Photography: Communication, Identity, Memory    

Taking photographs seems no longer primarily an act of memory intended to safeguard a family's pictorial heritage, but is increasingly becoming a tool for an individual's identity formation and communication. Digital cameras, cameraphones, photoblogs and other multipurpose devices are used to promote the use of images as the preferred idiom of a new generation of users. The aim of this article is to explore how technical changes (digitization) combined with growing insights in cognitive science and socio-cultural transformations have affected personal photography. The increased manipulation of photographic images may suit the individual's need for continuous self-remodelling and instant communication and bonding. However, that same manipulability may also lessen our grip on our images' future repurposing and reframing. Memory is not eradicated from digital multipurpose tools. Instead, the function of memory reappears in the networked, distributed nature of digital photographs, as most images are sent over the internet and stored in virtual space.

van Dijck, Jose. Visual Communication (2008). Articles>Graphic Design>Photography>Visual Rhetoric

Dither Scatterplots with XSLT and SVG

Use XSLT and SVG to offset points in X-Y scatterplots so they do not plot on top of each other.

O'Reilly and Associates (2005). Articles>Graphic Design>XML>SVG

Documenting Networks

Documenting networks is playing less with words, and more with diagrams. It also requires an engineering mind, an ability to think out-of-box, and creative mind. Technical writers can rise to a new scale and expand their skill sets if they are able to document networks.

EDITsphere (2007). Articles>Documentation>Intranets>Graphic Design

The Draw Layer: A Metaphysical Space (And How to Bring It Back Down to Earth)

Word's draw layer is a metaphysical space where floating objects reside. It really isn't a layer, since floating objects can be sent behind the text layer or brought out in front of it. Either way, they continue to reside in the draw layer.

Rado, Dave and Bill Coan. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Graphic Design>Software>Microsoft Word

Review: Easy Web Graphics  

Easy Web Graphics would be a good choice for novice or intermediate users of Microsoft FrontPage and Microsoft Photo Editor who want to make better use of those products.

Hudak-David, Ginny. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Reviews>Graphic Design>Web Design