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

Electronic Image Manipulation - Technological Advances and Ethical Considerations  

Electronic imaging has enabled the desktop publisher to capture and manipulate images to produce documents that are both attractive and cost-effective. In addition to making basic corrections such as balancing colors and improving highlight and shadow detail, the desktop publisher can retouch photographs and other artwork to repair damaged areas, eliminate distracting elements, or alter composition. However, the ease of manipulation has, in some cases, overshadowed the many ethical issues that desktop publishers need to consider. Integrity of the image, ownership of artwork, and copyright laws are some of the issues that desktop publishers must confront.

Adams, Rae and Stephanie S. Babbitt. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Ethics

Empirical Proof for Presenting Screen Captures in Software Documentation    

None of the previous studies on screen captures addressed the functions in the framework. There was no empirical research on any of the four functions of screen captures. This article presents our research on these functions. Each section starts with a brief explanation of the function. Next, we illustrate the screen capture designs used to test the function. The remainder of each section explains the setup and results of the empirical study. The article ends with some general conclusions about the functions of screen captures.

Gellevij, Mark and Hans Van Der Meij. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Documentation>Graphic Design>Screen Captures

Review: Envisioning Science: The Design and Craft of the Science Image  

As an accomplished photographer of science and engineering research, Felice Frankel knows how to capture her readers' attention—her exquisite images in Envisioning science communicate their amazing power, by her design, and ultimately 'teach us to see' science in a different way. We are witnesses to the excitement of discovery represented in such images as cadmium selenide nanocrystals, self-assembled polyhedra, yeast colonies, and mouse embryo lungs, thereby illustrating the book's educational value.

Winn, Wendy. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Reviews>Graphic Design>Scientific Communication

Exploded Illustrations

As the term implies, the exploded view shows an assembly with its components blown out from the main body, but still remaining in relative order along their respective centrelines.

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

Figures

General guidelines for illustrative figures in technical reports.

Young, V.L. and K.J. Sampson. Ohio University (2004). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Charts and Graphs

Gaining Insight and Inspiration from Veteran Designers

As a designer, there are days when it's tempting to just churn out something that looks nice, without any thought given to the creative process. To keep a fresh outlook on our work and maintain a true sense of purpose, we have to keep up our educational process. A designer should never lose his or her passion for learning.

Farrugia, Ruth. Creative Latitude (2005). Articles>Graphic Design>Mentoring

Get the Most Out of Your Color  

Color can play an important role in technical documentation.

Copresco (1999). Articles>Document Design>Graphic Design>Color

Getting Design Done

Here's how to apply the principles of a well-known productivity system to your creative process. The resulting creative habits can boost your design skills while they reduce stress and free your mind to tackle big problems.

Robinson, D. Keith. Creative Pro (2007). Articles>Graphic Design>Methods

Getting Started with Graphics for an Enriching User Experience

Good web design does not necessarily mean good use of colors and layouts, but it does transcend beyond it. Design elements like color, font, size, frame, etc. play an important role nonetheless, but what is more important is that how it affects the aesthetic sensibilities of the users. The warmth and the feel of the web site, or in another words, the texture of the web site is a crucial area to turn our attention to. By texture of the web site what it means is the subtleties of the surface of the web site. Varied aspects as discussed in this article, when sensibly used -- and in combination with good deign skills aimed at creating intuitive appeal -- are of definite help of when it comes to developing engaging graphics on your web site.

Rahbre Azam. Amateur Writerz (2008). Articles>User Experience>Technical Writing>Graphic Design

Graphic Design vs. Usability

When the philosophy of the 'skin interface' is applied to other applications, it becomes problematic. There is nothing wrong with that concept as long as it is clear that it only works with highly specialized applications such as Winamp. It is even culturally expected in the Winamp community that skins will be created and made available.

Spillers, Frank. Demystifying Usability (2004). Articles>Usability>Graphic Design

Graphic Designer Needs a Web CMS

While you can create very powerful content management solutions with most open-source packages -- they have a much steeper learning curve than you experienced with HTML or Flash.

Byrne, Tony. CMSworks (2004). Articles>Content Management>Graphic Design

Review: Graphic Designer's Digital Printing and Prepress Handbook  

The Graphic Designer's Digital Printing and Prepress Handbook is not a beginner's manual. Sidles does not walk you step-by-step through the basics of trapping or scanning. Instead, hers is an approach that expands on the knowledge of the graphic design professional. I think her aim is to help you become someone who easily knows how to avoid buying paper that will curl or using overprinted type that is illegible. Sidles, with her print production experience, seems to care about sharing the wisdom she has acquired through decades of haps and mishaps—no small benefit.

Blount Brodersen, Carolyn. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Prepress>Graphic Design

Graphics Don't Appear or Won't Print

Objects in the drawing layer are visible in Page Layout (Print Layout) view and Print Preview but not in Normal view. Interestingly, a frame is a sort of hybrid object that can appear to float (and text can be wrapped around it), but it is actually inline and can be viewed (though not in position) in Normal view.

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

Graphs on Steroids  

A hypothetical example to help technical communicators think through ethical issues in the workplace.

Bryan, John G. Intercom (2003). Articles>Graphic Design>Ethics>Charts and Graphs

Review: Half the Truth and Something Like the Truth

As an art director, I'm an avowed secret handshake guy from way back. They teach it to us in design school when they make us swear on a stack of Pantone color selectors and old type specimen books that we'll never reveal the secrets of the design world, especially to editors and writers (word people). Early reviews of Type & Layout have been ecstatic, so I had wondered whether someone had finally sold the secret handshake to the enemy. I shouldn't have worried. This is not really a design book, and it is not a book that most designers are going to care for. What worries me is that nondesigners won't know that.

Fleshman, Steven D. Editorial Eye, The (1995). Articles>Reviews>Graphic Design

A Higher Standard

Electronic Publishing magazine discusses the current activities related to standards development in the graphic arts. If you've been wanting to understand more, this is a great article to give you a background on standards development.

McDowell, David Q. PennWell (2003). Articles>Graphic Design>Standards

How To Capture a Screen Shot of your Desktop or the Active Window in Windows

Have you ever pressed the PrtScn (print screen) key on your Windows keyboard and wondered why it was there since it never seemed to do anything? Well, it does do something! It copies an image of your screen onto the "clipboard," ready to paste into any graphics program. These steps show you how to use it along with Windows' standard image editor, Microsoft Paint, to save an image of your screen.

Chastain, Sue. About.com (2005). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Screen Captures

How to Use Images to Convey Themes  

Advances in technology have democratized the process of illustrating documents such as brochures, reports, and websites. With digital cameras, scanners, and a wide variety of stock illustrations available, technical communicators need not rely on graphic designers to choose images for their documents. However, conveying a theme or concept through a series of images can be a difficult task, and literature says little about choosing images to convey a theme. This paper synthesizes results of available literature and looks to theories of visual rhetoric to fill in the gaps regarding images and themes. Results of a survey show that readers of more easily identify themes when connections between words and images are clear

Willerton, Russell. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Identical Twins?

For the same reason a doctor uses different types of scissors or scalpels for specific cases, or a handyman carries different types of screwdrivers, a smart designer will have the tools that are necessary to complete any design task that might arise. In many ways Photoshop and Illustrator seem to be exactly alike, but they aren't.

Golding, Mordy. Illustrator World (2005). Articles>Graphic Design>Software

Integrating Graphics with Text  

A teacher at the University of Memphis, Albers describes a two-tiered assignment he developed to help students address problems they encounter when trying to integrate text and graphics.

Albers, Michael J. Intercom (2000). Articles>Rhetoric>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

An Introduction to Visualisation

Visualising things makes them tangible and brings them into shareable form. Visualisation brings ideas to life and helps understanding. Visualisation techniques help elicit, communicate and analyse ideas and concepts.

Joe, Phillip. Design Council (2005). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Visual Rhetoric

Is Design Political?

Politics is commonly thought of as the activities of political organizations--from which the majority of designers (if not majority of people) feel disassociated. But there is a missed opportunity here: at base, politics is about values, and design is nothing if not a means of embodying values.

Winhall, Jennie. uiGarden (2006). Articles>Graphic Design>Cultural Theory>Politics

JPEG Tutorial

This page presents a brief description of how JPEG compresses images. JPEG, unlike other formats like PPM, PGM, and GIF, is a lossy compression technique; this means visual information is lost permanently. The key to making JPEG work is choosing what data to throw away.

Society for Imaging Science and Technology, The. Articles>Graphic Design>Standards