Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Visual Methods of Communicating Structure, Relationship, and Flow

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.

Chart Junk? How Pictures May Help Make Graphs Better

New research shows that highly embellished graphs and charts may actually help people understand data more effectively than traditional graphs.

Spatial Descriptions by Children

Drawing a map is cognitively challenging. It requires you to do some abstract visualization.

In Which a Concept Model Makes Me Giddy

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.

A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

An interactive presentation of a variety of visualization techniques used by graphic designers, technical illustrators and document designers to convey information.

Four Ideas to Organize Your Technical Document Images and Screen Shots

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.

Applying Techniques of Textual Reuse to Graphics Using SVG and XML

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.

Creating Perspective Shadows

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!

Drawing a C-47 Skytrain

In the following tutorials you will be learning how to use a series of points in space to create an illustration. The work will be based on creating a WWII aircraft, the C-47 Skytrain.

Constructing the Bicycle in Isometric

This bicycle drawing will be constructed over an orthographic primitive. The scale will be 1 to 1 and you will be able to work in all three axes using the primitive for placement.

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.

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).

Three-Dimensional Illustration for Technical Communicators

You don't need to be a skilled illustrator to create effective 3-D graphics. Three-dimensional illustration allows the technical communicator to respond quickly to project changes and create imagery appropriate for most publications or multimedia. Burns' article shows the benefits of 3-D artwork and its potential for technical communicators.

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.

Effective Technical Graphics

This presentation examines ineffective technical graphics with problems in simplicity, orientation, and scale. It identifies principles of effective graphic communication that could prevent such problems, and clarifies objectives and techniques in designing editing and preparing technical graphics for printed documents and briefing materials. Graphics principles illustrated by transparencies include avoiding clutter, orienting properly, controlling scales, checking the content, and avoiding extraneous graphics. message, and that the table title or figure caption focuses clearly on the subject of the graphic.

Infographics: Being and Doing (Part II)

Organizing the available information and coming up with a plan for presenting it is the first and probably the most difficult stage in designing any infographic.

Seven Things You Should Know About Data Visualization

Data visualization is the graphical representation of information. Information technology combines the principles of visualization with powerful applications and large data sets to create sophisticated images and animations. Representing large amounts of disparate information in a visual form often allows you to see patterns that would otherwise be buried in vast, unconnected data sets. Data visualizations offer one way to harness infrastructure to find hidden trends and correlations that can lead to important discoveries. Visual literacy is an increasingly important skill, and data visualizations are another channel for students to develop their ability to process information visually.

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.

Airbrush Tutorial: Basic Painting Technique

Airbrush is a much less forgiving endeavor than digital illustration. The first use of the airbrush started in the 1890s and was accomplished by blowing air through a tube with your mouth. With airbrush there is no command>undo. Mistakes are costly as they usually result in the need to do a separate piece of work as a patch or fix and have a printer strip it into the main image.

Basic Photoshop Painting Techniques for Technical Illustrations

In this demonstration we will be approaching the entire illustration process in much the same way as was done before Photoshop or any other computer graphics programs where created. In the non-digital world, you would start with an inked line drawing on illustration board.

Photoshop Ghosting Tips, Tricks and Techniques for Technical Illustrations

A "Ghosted", "Phantom View", "Transparent", or "See Through" technical illustration is one that renders the exterior skin of an object transparent in order to see the interior workings. This Photoshop tutorial will cover the basic techniques used to render a ghosted technical illustration using the airbrush technique.

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.

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.

Technical Illustration, from Hand Drawings to Computer Art

Technical illustration ranges from hand-drawn artwork to complex computer imagery. It extends from instructional materials intended for the general public to complex technical engineering drawings intended for other engineers. This article, with a timeline, chronicles the evolution of technical illustration. Descriptions of illustration basics are included along with an introduction to ISO/S1000D/W3C standards and practices.

The Association of Medical Illustrators

The professional objectives of the AMI are to promote the study and advancement of medical illustration and allied fields of visual communication, and to promote understanding and cooperation with the medical profession and related health science professions. Its members are primarily artists who create material designed to facilitate the recording and dissemination of medical and bioscientific knowledge through visual communication media. Members are involved not only in the creation of such material, but also serve in consultant, advisory, educational and administrative capacities in all aspects of bioscientific communications and related areas of visual education.

Guild of Natural Science Illustrators

The GNSI is a non-profit organization that sets high professional standards, provides opportunities for professional and scholarly development, encourages and assists member networking, and promotes itself to potential clients and the general public.

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.

Gears: A Simple Procedure to Create a Complex Shape

Drawing gears is now very simple using CorelDraw.

A SolidWorks to CorelDraw

How to open SolidWorks technical illustration DXF files in CorelDraw.

Using AutoCAD Drawings in CorelDraw

Sometimes there are problems importing AutoCAD files. The following gives a few tips on correcting such problems.

Designorati: Illustration

Site covering both traditional and digital illustration.

Guidelines on Graphics Usage

Illustrations and technical graphics are essential to any technical documentation. They assist users' understanding by simplifying complex content through clear, understandable and effective information. A primary objective of technical documentation is to ensure that users use products effectively and safely. Graphics and illustrations assist in accomplishing this objective. Striking the right balance between text and graphics enables documentation to be effective support to product use. This article recommends a few guidelines and best practices to adopt when working with illustrations and graphics in technical documents.

The Guide to Effective Illustration: Images for Presentation and Publication

An important part of modern communication is the use of images, both with oral presentations and in publications, to convey the essence of the author's message. As the methods of preparing, transmitting, and presenting images proliferate, we are all challenged to make the best use possible of each imaging technology.

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.

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.

Cleaning up the Mesh!

It's the subtle transitions in color that give the illusion of three dimensions in two-dimensional artwork. Gradients are used to simulate light hitting a curved or angular surface. The gradual blending from one color to another is the key. Linear and radial gradients can be used effectively to show flat and rounded shapes, but Illustrator's gradient meshes are best for creating complex shapes.

Scientific and Technical Illustrations, Text, and the Idea of Audience

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.

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.

Wigner Distribution Representation and Analysis of Audio Signals: An Illustrated Tutorial Review

The Wigner distribution provides a visual display of quantitative information about how a signal’s energy is distributed in both time and frequency. Through its low-order moments the Wigner distribution embodies the fundamentally important concepts of both Fourier analysis and time-domain analysis. Signal energy is distributed in such a way that specific frequencies are localized in time by the group delay time (from classical filter theory) and at specific instants in time the frequency is given by the instantaneous frequency (from classical modulation theory). The energy spectrum (energy per frequency) and instantaneous power (energy per time) are specified by the zero-order moments of the distribution. The net positive volume of the Wigner distribution is numerically equal to the signal’s total energy. While the theoretical underpinnings of the Wigner distribution are mathematically elegant and do merit in-depth study, a substantial amount of practical insight, understanding and interpretive skill can be gained by carefully examining a wide variety of computed Wigner distributions such as those of the audio signals presented in this brief report.

Presenting Quantitative Information Effectively

Many of the graphical constructions we see in the media and learned in school have severe perceptual problems. Newer and better methods are available based on research and experimentation in human perception. However, these newer methods are often hidden in the scientific literature. Software packages for graphical displays can add to the problem since their defaults often emphasize their technological know-how rather than the accurate display of data. In addition, graphic designers and artists are not necessarily trained in statistics. Recognizing that these problems exist is the key to solving them. The references provide guidance for effective data displays.

What Is Technical Illustration?

In basic terms, technical illustration employs a balance of informative graphics, text, and embedded data or intelligence to compose pictorial views that visually communicate and clarify critical product information.

Don't Fool with Graphs

Most technical writers use much more care in choosing words than in presenting numbers. The writer who presents numbers poorly loses credibility. Poorly presented numbers also cause reader misunderstanding that leads to poor decisions.

Don't Fool with Graphs, Part II

Using evenly spaced tick marks to represent different time intervals is a common error which has been repeated several times in recent STC publications and presentations.

Figures

General guidelines for illustrative figures in technical reports.

Planning and Editing Tables and Charts

Reviewing and suggesting changes to tables and charts are important responsibilities of editors. Improvements a knowledgeable editor might suggest include the following: revising table titles, selecting the best table design, converting landscape to portrait orientation, adopting a more effective style, choosing the right chart form, and guarding against misleading charts. Editors who have had little training or experience in this area will benefit from attending specific courses and studying the texts listed in the bibliography.

Bring Data to Life: Art and Information Can Complement Each Other

Using Photoshop, Illustrator, and Freehand to create better charts, graphs, technical diagrams.

"What Is What" Images

Use preferably a drawing, not a photo! Photos most often include too many irrelevant details. The arrow lines are often more difficult to see on a photo.

Doing Illustrations: A Question of Accuracy and Fairness

Does the illustration I'm creating, or using, depict that person's race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, abilities, etc. accurately?

Illustration — AIGA | the professional association for design

Illustration lies in a no man's land, somewhere between fine art and clip art. Though illustration remains a powerful and versatile communication tool, it often plays a lonely role in the graphic arts. Illustrators operate from isolated studios, ignorant of the concerns of designers, who in turn are oblivious to the needs of illustrators. These articles explore the evolving role illustration plays in today's publishing environment.

El Genoma en tu Pantalla

El proyecto genoma humano (PGH) genera un volumen de información inabordable sin el uso de medios sofisticados para su tratamiento. La visualización de información tiene aquí un gran campo de aplicación.

Graphics and Web Design Based on Edward Tufte's Principles

This is an outline of Edward Tufte's pioneering work on the use of graphics to display quantitative information. It mainly consists of text and ideas taken from his three books on the subject along with some additional material of my own. This page is in text only format: in order to understand the concepts you need to read the books because the concepts cannot really be grasped without the illustrations, and current video monitor technology is too low in resolution to do them justice. His work has been described as 'a visual Strunk and White.'

Illustrators Unite!

An under-the-hood look at Illustrator's versatile unite filter.

Basic Principles Of Perspective Drawing

Any good technical illustration starts with well-executed line art. If you are working from any type of reference other than a CAD output in the desired angle, you will need to have a strong fundamental understanding of the principles of perspective drawing.

A Brief History Of Technical Illustration

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

Cruise Ship Illustration Tutorial

This project presented many unique challenges. The actual ship was still in Germany being completed when I started the project. There was no photography or CAD reference to work from, only the paper blueprint you see below. In order to have the brochures completed by the time the ship went into service, the final illustration had to be finished in under two months.

Draw and Order

If you create technical art in Illustrator, check out these tips - in fact, check them out even if you don't.

Glossary Of Technical Illustration Terms

A concise reference guide to technical illustration terms.

Graphic Artists Guild

The Graphic Artists Guild is a national union of illustrators, designers, web creators, production artists, surface designers and other creatives who have come together to pursue common goals, share their experience, raise industry standards, and improve the ability of visual creators to achieve satisfying and rewarding careers.

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.

The Society of Illustrators

To promote and stimulate interest in the art of illustration, past, present and future, and to give impetus generally toward high ideals in the art by means of exhibitions, lectures, educational programs, social intercourse, and in such other ways as may seem advisable.

Two-Point Perspective

In this lesson we are going to create a 2 Point Perspective view drawing of our subject working from plan and elevation view reference.

Hot Shots

The elusive screen, captured at last.

Images of Science

Photoshop gets involved with rhinos, criminals, ancient math, and the microscope.

Recommendations for Charts and Graphics

The Recommendations for Chart and Graphic comprise guidelines for the use of charts, graphics, images, colors and text.

Perspective Illustrations in CorelDraw

There is space for non-specialist technical communicators to provide attractive and relevant artwork.

Reglas Para Estropear un Gráfico

Los buenos gráficos son los que no se notan, los que soportan y enseñan los datos sin interferir con ellos. Repasamos algunas de las reglas para hacer mal un gráfico.

Texto, Tablas y Gráficos

No siempre un gráfico es el elemento más ilustrativo. Las frases escritas, las tablas y los gráficos tienen su propio lugar en el discurso de la construcción de la claridad y el entendimiento.

La Edad de Oro de la Visualización

Después de repasar la semana pasada los inicios de la visualización en este artículo veremos el arranque de los gráficos modernos, la edad de oro de la creatividad gráfica y los avances previos al actual momento de explosión creativa.

Entrevista a Jacques Bertin

Jacques Bertin es una de las figuras fundamentales de la visualización de Información dado que fue el primero en articular una teoría coherente y razonada para el análisis de la representación cuantitativa en forma gráfica. En este artículo contesta a nuestras preguntas.

Presentaciones Conceptuales

Las presentaciones tienden a ser más visuales y menos textuales. Convertir cada concepto en una imagen es el reto y, a la vez, la solución.

Visualización de Información

InfoVis.net es un proyecto dedicado a la Visualización de la Información, entendida como el proceso de interiorización del conocimiento mediante la percepción de información, preferentemente (pero no sólo) de forma visual. A veces se confunde la Visualización de la Información con el Diseño de Información. Este último es parte de aquella.

Applicability of CGM Versus SVG for Technical Graphics

As certain traditional technical and engineering applications become established on the Web, they bring with them information resources that mix text and data with significant technical graphics components. Technical graphics for such applications as aircraft maintenance manuals are characterized by high volume and complexity, stringent fidelity and interoperability constraints, and long life cycle. W3C has two standards for Web based graphics, WebCGM and SVG. WebCGM was specifically standardized for technical applications. SVG has much broader applicability. In a nutshell, the usual formula is 'WebCGM for Web-based technical graphics, SVG for graphic arts and creative graphics.' Still, the questions continue to arise. why there are two formats, and isn't it possible to use the one for the other application? When one takes a careful and detailed look at the two formats, in the context of the particular requirements of technical illustration, then specific differences emerge. This session will present such a comparison, from both the theoretical, functional perspective, as well a practical real-world (implemenations and interoperability) perspective. The comparison is based on an ongoing study that has been conducted within the CGM Open consortium and the Graphics Working Group of the Air Transport Association.

Interactive Non-Photorealistic Technical Illustration

Current interactive modeling systems allow users to view models in wireframe or Phong-shaded images. However, the wireframe is based on the model's parameterization, and a model's features may get lost in a nest of lines. Alone, a fully rendered image may not provide enough useful information about the structure or model features. Human technical illustrators follow certain visual conventions that are unlike Phong-shaded or wireframe renderings, and the drawings they produce are subjectively superior to conventional computer renderings. This thesis explores lighting, shading, and line illustration conventions used by technical illustrators. These conventions are implemented in a modeling system to create a new method of displaying and viewing complex NURBS models. In particular, silhouettes and edge lines are drawn in a manner similar to pen-and-ink drawings, and a shading algorithm is used that is similar to ink-wash or air-brush renderings for areas inside the silhouettes. This shading has a low intensity variation so that the black silhouettes remain visually distinct, and it has a cool-to-warm hue transition to help accent surface orientation. Applying these illustration methods produces images that are closer to human-drawn illustrations than is provided by traditional computer graphics approaches.

A Non-Photorealistic Lighting Model For Automatic Technical Illustration

Phong-shaded 3D imagery does not provide geometric information of the same richness as human-drawn technical illustrations. A non-photorealistic lighting model is presented that attempts to narrow this gap. The model is based on practice in traditional technical illustration, where the lighting model uses both luminance and changes in hue to indicate surface orientation, reserving extreme lights and darks for edge lines and highlights. The lighting model allows shading to occur only in mid-tones so that edge lines and highlights remain visually prominent. In addition, we show how this lighting model is modified when portraying models of metal objects. These illustration methods give a clearer picture of shape, structure, and material composition than traditional computer graphics methods.

Distance Measurement in Perspective

In isometric, it is possible to work directly with measurements only on the main axes. Here you can learn what you have to do if you need a measure beyond the main axes.

Filleted Corners

The illustration of a cube with filleted corners follows specific rules. Therefore, you must account for certain considerations when you depict such a cube. Get to know more about these filleted corners and learn how to build such a cube correctly.

Problem - File Size

Using existing data is a good way of reaching your target fast and efficiently. The following notes should help with implementing your current data.

Vectorization of Raster Data

There are various solutions available which allow the vectorization of raster data, such as scanned design drawings or manually created technical illustrations. What kind of problems can occur with vectorization?

Accentuation in Technical Illustration

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.

Bézier Curves

Computer graphics programs offer you a variety of different tools and functions for your work as illustrators. One function that is provided by all graphics programs is the so-called Bézier curve.

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.

Cutaway Illustrations

The cutaway perspective is fundamentally a three dimensional sectional view.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Perspective Models in Technical Illustration

Various perspective models are used in technical illustration. Each of these models offers specific advantages. In the following section, you will learn background information on these models and learn their proper application.

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.

Thick and Thin Lines

The use of thick and thin lines is an important stylistic device in 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?

Inside Technical Illustration: The Information Portal for Technical Illustration

The Information Portal for Technical Illustration provides free information on graphics formats, illustration tips and tricks, and a gallery, in 5 languages.

You Are Here: Maps 101

Maps are one of the most basic (and informative) infographics. The simple map. A rectangle with a few lines, some labels, and an X can impart what it would take hundreds of words to describe. Lee McCormack offers an insightful look into how to create a simple but informative infographic —the map.

Cleaner, Sharper GIF, JPEG and PNG Images

Optimize your GIFs, JPEGs, and PNGs with this handy guide. Tom explains these file formats, and gives tips to improve their appearance on your site.

Digital Photography for the Web

Like digital photography? Here's a look at tools and tricks you can use to create great photos for your site.

Why Illustrations Aid Understanding

A small collection of illustrations is provided to show some of the diverse ways illustration may aid understanding. The display of parts and assemblies often relies on techniques such as explosions and canonical views to communicate the global structure and relations of a system that may have hidden pieces. Book illustrations exemplify specific visions of described situations and allow readers to save memory and summarily review potentially complex descriptions. Visual proofs abstract from details and embody reliable metatheories that provide semantic guarantees for inferences. And conceptual illustrations when effective rely the logical method of universal generalization to help viewers grasp general ideas.

Society for News Design

The Society for News Design (formerly the Society of Newspaper Design) is an international professional organization with more than 2,600 members in the United States, Canada and more than 50 other countries, divided into the 19 regions shown below.

3D: A Better Way to Produce High Quality?

Going three-dimensional in graphics has many advantages – at least in theory. Everyone knows how tired you will become of the same graphic element, however nicely drawn, when used over and over. Someone at the department has taken the time to get good reference-material and draws an airplane, a train or something else rather complicated, and of course the drawing gets stored for further use. The next time you need such an illustration you simply copy-paste the element into the new graphic.

Antialiasing Examples from Real Applications

Different graphical software applications have different abilities at antialiasing: some software is very good at it, while other software is not. Here are some examples for comparison.

Antialiasing Explained

Antialiasing is a method of representing perfect, continuous vectors on imperfect, discontinuous display devices so that they look as perfect as possible.

The Assault on Arafat's Compound

An illustrative diagram to complement a news story from April 2002.

The Eagle Has Landed

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.

Graphics Gallery

A collection of technical illustrations submitted and collected by professional technical illustrators.

Information Graphics

A blog of information about information graphics.

Nixlog

The infographics weblog is a running collection of links to infographics found on the web through my own research and the submissions of many individuals.

Technical and Infographics

A collection of dozens of online resources for technical illustration and infographics.

Customizing Clipart

Like many of you, I come from a training background. Like many of you, we’re experts in group facilitation, engaging our learners, and creating instructionally sound materials. Yet, many trainers are not graphic artists nor do we have a score of graphic artists helping us create our training presentations. As a result, our training presentations often may not adequately represent the professionalism and quality that we’ve built into our training.

The Pursuit of Efficient Technical Illustration

In recent years new technology and ideas have presented technical illustrators with opportunities to increase the efficiency of their illustrations. This paper describes initiatives at Canadair, now part of the Bombardier Aerospace Group - North America, to increase the efficiency of technical illustration. It examines the impact on production, visual communication, and personnel and looks at some future opportunities. The objective at Canadair is to reduce production times while increasing the clarity of illustrations. Since the fundamental purpose of an illustration is to convey technical information we expect all new methods to aid visual communication as well as productivity.

Interactive Technical Illustration

A rendering is an abstraction that favors, preserves, or even emphasizes some qualities while sacrificing, suppressing, or omitting other characteristics that are not the focus of attention. Most computer graphics rendering activities have been concerned with photorealism, i.e., trying to emulate an image that looks like a high-quality photograph. This laudable goal is useful and appropriate in many applications, but not in technical illustration where elucidation of structure and technical information is the preeminent motivation. This calls for a different kind of abstraction in which technical communication is central, but art and appearance are still essential instruments toward this end. Work that has been done on computer generated technical illustrations has focused on static images, and has not included all of the techniques used to hand draw technical illustrations. A paradigm for the display of technical illustrations in a dynamic environment is presented. This display environment includes all of the benefits of computer generated technical illustrations, such as a clearer picture of shape, structure, and material composition than traditional computer graphics methods. It also includes the three-dimensional interactive strength of modern display systems. This is accomplished by using new algorithms for real time drawing of silhouette curves, algorithms which solve a number of the problems inherent in previous methods. We incorporate current non-photorealistic lighting methods, and augment them with new shadowing algorithms based on accepted techniques used by artists and studies carried out in human perception.

Technical Illustration FAQ

A list of Frequently Asked Questions (along with answers) about technical illustration.

Technical Illustration

A directory of online resources in technical illustration.

The Challenges of Technical Illustration for Customer Documentation in the High Tech Environment

As emerging computer technology and new graphics software packages allow for the creation of illustration and design by individuals without formal training, traditional illustrators from the “pen and pencil” era are continually challenged to compete in the industry. Choosing a career path in the technical documentation field presents a unique set of challenges for the technical illustrator and designer. This paper identijes the role of a technical illustrator and the tools and skills required for success in a high tech environment.

Graphics and Tables

One of the nice things about technical writing courses is that most of the papers have graphics in them — or at least they should. A lot of professional, technical writing contains graphics — drawings, diagrams, photographs, illustrations of all sorts, tables, pie charts, bar charts, line graphs, flow charts, and so on. Once you get the hang of putting graphics like these into your writing, you should consider yourself obligated to use graphics whenever the situation naturally would call for them. Unlike what you might fear, producing graphics is not such a terrible task — in fact, it can be fun. You don't have to be a professional graphics artist or technical draftsperson to produce graphics for your technical writing. There are ways to produce professional-looking graphics with tape, scissors, white-out, and a decent photocopying machine.

Technical and Scientific Illustrations: From Pen to Computer

A brief look at the 19th Century David M. Greene collection of engineering textbooks at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute reveals how illustrations (1) conveyed messages to a specific audience, (2) addressed a subject, and (3) were designed for specific viewing contexts. The technology of computer-aided drawing has reestablished the importance of visual language in scientific documents.

Technical Illustration And The Video Camera

A video camera is an excellent tool for preparing technical illustrations and procedures. A video tape of a procedure provides chronological information. It provides visual images that can be used as the basis for technical illustrations. Visual images and details are recorded permanently so that they are not forgotten. The research information can be passed on to another author. A case study illustrates how a video tape can be used to document a procedure and produce electronic illustrations.

Choosing the Right Graph

When it comes to graphing data, most professionals show little method or creativity. They typically limit themselves to a small repertoire of graph types and select from it on the basis of habit, if not sheer ease of production. Similarly, the many books on graphing devote much attention to graphical integrity and readability, but little or none to graph selection. We developed a methodology to help engineers, scientists, and managers choose the “right graph” on the basis of three criteria: the structure of the data set in terms of number and type of variables, the intended use of the graph, and the research question or intended message. The first and third criteria allow one to construct an effective two-entry selection table.

Good, Fast and Cheap: Producing Computer-Generated Isometrics from Engineering Drawings

It is possible to produce a computer-generated isometric illustration of sufficient quality for most applications directly from a scanned engineering drawing. The process described in this article uses Corel Trace and Corel Draw, but it can be adapted to suit other drawing or CAD programs, and it can generate sophisticated isometric illustrations.

Information Graphics at the Boston Globe: From Concept to Execution

Over the past decade, information graphics have become an increasingly important part of newspaper coverage. While graphics have traditionally played a supporting role to content determined by reporters and editors, some newspapers take a more aggressive approach in reporting and creating information graphics. At the Boston Globe, a conscious effort has been made to encourage artists to report the material for their graphics, and to seek greater collaboration with reporters, editors, and photographers. In our best efforts, this allows us to discuss how to bring words, diagrams, illustrations, and photographs together in evocative information packages. The Globe's specialized beats include four reporters who work on health-related issues full time. Because our eight-person graphics department is responsible for nearly all diagrams, charts, and graphics in the newspaper, it is difficult for us to match a reporter's expertise in any one area.

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.