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

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

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

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

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

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

Labeling in Illustrations

In technical illustrations, labeling is often needed to denominate specific parts. Here, it is important to remember certain details that can really make a difference. This is especially true if the file is to be converted at a later time.

ITEDO Software. Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Less is More...

The numerous stylistic devices in Technical Illustration allow you to visualize technical coherences. An important, but very often underestimated, method in Technical Illustration is the omission of lines, which often helps to display the desired information more clearly.

ITEDO Software. Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Isometric

A Matter of Perspective

When working with technical illustrations, you must consider perspective. The following article will provide you with some useful information on working with both parallel and true perspective.

ITEDO Software (2002). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Isometric

Medical Tables, Graphics and Photographs: How They Work    

An examination of a random sample of four medical journals--The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine--reveals that one-fifth of the space of articles in medical science is devoted to an average of three tables and three flow charts, graphs, or photographs. Given these figures, the absence of discussion of visuals in the literature on medical communication may seem puzzling. But the puzzle is easily solved: our basic education gives us a coherent vocabulary for talking about prose, but no coherent vocabulary for talking about tables and visuals. Once we have this vocabulary in hand, we make another step in the direction of an explanation of the nature of communication in the medical sciences. We may note that understanding the meaning of a medical article is not just a consequence of understanding its texts; it is a consequence of understanding all its meaningful components working together--verbal, tabular, visual.

Gross, Alan G. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Biomedical

Pricing and Types of Technical Illustration

This chart shows a range of illustration style options and an approximation of the cost for each of those options.

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

Proposal Flowchart Excellence: Ten Rules for Scoring on Top  

'Flowcharts-- UGH!' That's a too-typical reader reaction when faced with the average flowchart. It underscores the author's challenge when trying to develop this potentially powerful tool. For conveying process, there is no better means. In proposals, however, where the flowchart must also serve as a sales tool, its optimum form is not always clear. This paper provides some guidelines, such as: Ensuring your flow is a process of merit. Letting goals dictate form. Organizing for readability. Focusing on action. Using simple, standard visuals. Illuminating features. And obviating responsiveness... To reap the winning rewards.

Green, R. Dennis. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Charts and Graphs

Representing Content and Data in Wireframes

Visio practically groaned as I opened the wireframes for my current project, which were in something like the twentieth revision. It was the usual story--poorly defined requirements and business rules--and my project folder was fast becoming the poster child for Feature Creep Flu.

Brown, Dan. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Spatial Representation in Two Dimensions: The Why and How of Projection

The perspective representation, which is also referred to as stereogram, is used when an object needs to be reproduced in a particularly descriptive and plastic way. In contrast to the technical drawing, which is defined in DIN 6 (ISO 5456-2) and divides the object into several independent views, the technical illustration combines all three sides of a workpiece in one representation. These advantages become especially evident, when the possibilities of digital photography cannot be applied for technical reasons. This happens, for example, when the object to be depicted is still in development and does not exist, yet.

ITEDO Software (2001). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Technical Illustration Custom Fills

Custom made fills can be of significant value to technical illustrators. This article shows many custom fills and how they can be applied. There is also a free download of over 50 custom fills.

Broz and Dian (2006). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Ten Tips for Talking to Artists  

Explains some of the terminology used to describe graphics and explains the roles graphic designers play in the production of technical art.

Lyons, Chopeta C. Intercom (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Technical Illustration>Graphic Design

Thick and Thin Lines

The use of thick and thin lines is an important stylistic device in Technical Illustration.

ITEDO Software (1998). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Visualizing Information: An Overview of This Special Issue    

The guest editors offer a brief history of visualization, discuss the present state of the art, and explore the possibilities and challenges that lie ahead. They then discuss the contents of this special issue in terms of the trends in visualization theory and research. They conclude by observing that technical communicators must respond to the challenges presented in the content of this issue, both by using the methods presented and by performing the further research the authors call for. Additionally, researchers must incorporate the results of inquiry in the related fields.

Gribbons, William M. and Arthur G. Elser. Technical Communication Online (1998). Articles>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric>Technical Illustration

What Exactly is a Technical Illustration?

Is it not simply a graphic representation like any other? How does it differ from a technical drawing?

ITEDO Software (2001). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

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