http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Graphic-Design/Technical-Illustration A listing of the most recently indexed works about Articles and Graphic Design and Technical Illustration in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Graphic-Design/Technical-Illustration http://tc.eserver.org/35645.html http://tc.eserver.org/35645.html Many of us are more comfortable communicating in words than in pictures. For example, user assistance writers are by nature and training writers, so they understand words and are adept at using word processing and publishing tools. Writers use lexicentric tools not only for creating and delivering content, but also as cognitive tools—that is, tools that help them think more clearly and efficiently. Thus, a user assistance writer might create a user-task matrix or take advantage of a word processor’s outline view when creating or evaluating a document’s structure. http://tc.eserver.org/34951.html http://tc.eserver.org/34951.html Drawing a map is cognitively challenging. It requires you to do some abstract visualization. http://tc.eserver.org/34567.html http://tc.eserver.org/34567.html Concept models aren't for everyone. When I show fellow designers these artifacts, I sometimes get "You show that to clients?" Like any deliverable, there's a time and a place for concept models. If you're anything like me, however, you think visually. Even if your models don't see the light of day, a good model can help you get a better grip on the problem, or lay some groundwork for your designs. http://tc.eserver.org/34019.html http://tc.eserver.org/34019.html Most technical writers would include at least a few images to illustrate a point, or screen shots that accompany the description of a certain step-by-step procedure, etc. Organizing such images can really become a problem, especially when you have dozens and hundreds of them. Finding, editing, and importing them can quickly become a logistical nightmare, especially when a technical writer is working under a deadline pressure. Here are four ideas to organize and name your images for higher productivity. http://tc.eserver.org/33756.html http://tc.eserver.org/33756.html Structured data techniques are typically applied to text-based data. Technologies like SGML and XML have allowed text-based publishing to constrain and control the creation of text-based information, increasing the usefulness, accuracy, and reuse of information. http://tc.eserver.org/33545.html http://tc.eserver.org/33545.html Perspective—it’s one of the first things you learn about in any art class. The basic idea is that it’s the way your eye actually sees something, represented on a flat surface such as paper or a monitor. A simple example is drawing a group of objects: You represent an object in the distance by making it smaller, while making objects close to the viewer larger—make sense? In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to create perspective shadows in Adobe Photoshop CS3. The result is dynamic, but the technique is a breeze! http://tc.eserver.org/31768.html http://tc.eserver.org/31768.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/30868.html http://tc.eserver.org/30868.html 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). http://tc.eserver.org/30547.html http://tc.eserver.org/30547.html '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. http://tc.eserver.org/29528.html http://tc.eserver.org/29528.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/29052.html http://tc.eserver.org/29052.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/28891.html http://tc.eserver.org/28891.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/28227.html http://tc.eserver.org/28227.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/25612.html http://tc.eserver.org/25612.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/25618.html http://tc.eserver.org/25618.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/24262.html http://tc.eserver.org/24262.html Explains some of the terminology used to describe graphics and explains the roles graphic designers play in the production of technical art. http://tc.eserver.org/23537.html http://tc.eserver.org/23537.html General guidelines for illustrative figures in technical reports. http://tc.eserver.org/21923.html http://tc.eserver.org/21923.html A history of technical illustration, from the classics to the present. http://tc.eserver.org/21924.html http://tc.eserver.org/21924.html This chart shows a range of illustration style options and an approximation of the cost for each of those options. http://tc.eserver.org/21452.html http://tc.eserver.org/21452.html There are various ways to accentuate a specific part in its installation position. However in order to keep the printing cost as low as possible, it is recommended to opt for stylistic devices that are all in black and white. http://tc.eserver.org/21453.html http://tc.eserver.org/21453.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/21445.html http://tc.eserver.org/21445.html The cutaway perspective is fundamentally a three dimensional sectional view. http://tc.eserver.org/21446.html http://tc.eserver.org/21446.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/21451.html http://tc.eserver.org/21451.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/21443.html http://tc.eserver.org/21443.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/21447.html http://tc.eserver.org/21447.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/21449.html http://tc.eserver.org/21449.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/21437.html http://tc.eserver.org/21437.html The use of thick and thin lines is an important stylistic device in Technical Illustration. http://tc.eserver.org/21438.html http://tc.eserver.org/21438.html Is it not simply a graphic representation like any other? How does it differ from a technical drawing? http://tc.eserver.org/20666.html http://tc.eserver.org/20666.html To prevent the infographic artists from getting bored somebody invented the web ... But we still think like we do work for printed papers. I won't suggest that we should concentrate on entertainment, but there's a lot we can learn from game-design. http://tc.eserver.org/10357.html http://tc.eserver.org/10357.html 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.