Graphic design practice embraces a range of cognitive skills, aesthetics and crafts, including typography, visual arts and page layout. Like other forms of design, graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated. It is usually viewed as a superset of technical illustration.
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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.
Samson, Donald C., Jr. STC Proceedings (1993). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Visual Rhetoric
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A compilation of the most frequently asked questions about graphics in electronic catalogs. You will find answers to general as well as to technical questions.
ITEDO Software (2003). Design>Documentation>Graphic Design>Online
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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
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Electronic Reporting of ANSYS Results 
This documents several ways to get ANSYS plots into your reports without getting out of your chair.
Bright Path Solutions (2005). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Editing
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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
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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.
Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2003). (Spanish) Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration
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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
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The Ethics of Electronic Image Manipulation
Desktop-publishing software and hardware have become affordable, powerful, and relatively user-friendly. Consequently, with reasonable investments in time and money, communications professionals can now manipulate photographs and create visual images relatively easily in their publications. However such images may be used in ways that are, aside from legal concerns, not ethical. Technical-communications professionals need to be able to recognize manipulated images and to explore the ethical implications of creating or being asked to use such images.
Adams, Rae and Stephanie S. Babbitt. STC Proceedings (1994). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Ethics
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A woman stands up in a crowded city council meeting and reads the research. 'We recently asked a random sampling of 250 citizens how often they use the new toll road. Five percent say they use it four or more times a week, eight percent say they use it one to three times a week, 12 percent say...' and continues on. The point she would eventually get to, could have been stated in a simple declarative sentence, in half the time, with twice the effect: 'We completed some eye-opening research this week--over one third of the people in the city don't use the new toll road because they can't afford it!' The same is true on paper. Instead of getting mired in statistical detail, you can make your point with a simple, declarative image--an information graphic.
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Knowledge to help prepare professional time elements.
Kubik, Rick. STC Region 7 Proceedings (2002). Design>Information Design>Graphic Design>Charts and Graphs
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Tendemos a considerar al color como un hecho objetivo: rojo es rojo y no puede ser visto de otra forma. Pero eso no es así. El color que percibimos depende de cosas como las palabras de que disponemos en nuestro lenguaje (nuestra cultura) para describirlos, los otros colores que lo rodean y lo que el cerebro espera ver.
Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2003). (Spanish) Design>Graphic Design>Cultural Theory>Color
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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
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Extending the Boundaries of Graphic Communication
This article is more about bridging a communication abyss than creating a communication space. It concerns a system of interactive iconic communication to help people who have lost the power of speech.
Sassoon, Rosemarie. University of Alberta (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Communication
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Each day, thousands of websites lose credibility and all-important return traffic -- not because they're poorly written, constructed, designed, or advertised, but because of: colors that clash colors that camouflage colors that just plain don't work! Attention to color on the web is generally considered the province of web-design professionals -- but those of us who study and teach professional writing are in a prime position to use our knowledge and skills to lead the way toward a more aesthetically-pleasing, and rhetorically-effective, World Wide Web
Clark, Tracy. Purdue University (2003). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Color
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Faceted Metadata for Image Search and Browsing
The authors present a new method of image searching based on conceptual descriptors. This method differs from the traditional methods of image searching that are based on keywords and visual similarity.
Hearst, Marti, Kevin Li, Kirsten Swearingen and Ka-Ping Yee. University of California Berkeley (2003). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Search
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In this tutorial you'll learn how to use layer masks to create the effect of one image gradually fading into another.
Elated (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop
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Here's a couple of super quick frame effects to add a little burst of creativity to otherwise mundane photos.
Snider, Lesa. Planet Photoshop (2006). Design>Graphic Design>Photography>Adobe Photoshop
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When I find a really nice logo, icon or button, I save a copy to file for future inspiration. Here's my collection of logos, with descriptions of why I think each one works. See article on designing logos for guidelines of logo design fundamentals.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2005). Design>Graphic Design>Web Design
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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
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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.
ITEDO Software (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Isometric
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Shows how to find the exact center point of your Photoshop document.
Kloskowski, Matt. Planet Photoshop. Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop
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Finding and Using Art on the Web
So you want to add graphics to your site, but you don't know where to get them? Well—first you have to learn that you can't just take graphics off someone else's site unless you want to go directly to Jail, do not pass go, and do not get $200 (though your Lawyer will get at least that per hour).
Will-Harris, Daniel. Typofile (2003). Design>Web Design>Intellectual Property>Graphic Design
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Flowcharting Processes and Procedures
This discussion offers participants an overview of what process and procedure flowchorting is in the technical communication's universe of charting. The discussion distinguishes between information for “process” verses “procedure” and from other types of information. The discussion presents standards for using basic symbols and assembling them for effective and efficient communication design. The discussion presents various styles and formats for presenting process and procedures flowcharts, along with tools and techniques for creating and using flowcharts.
Urgo, Raymond E. STC Proceedings (1994). Design>Graphic Design>Charts and Graphs
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Form vs. Function: Finding the Balance
In 1896, architect Louis Henri Sullivan said, 'Form ever follows function.' His quote implies not so much the importance of function over form, but rather that the two are intricately intertwined and inseparable. The same idea can be applied to any type of design, be it industrial, web, print or product. The problem is that most designers fail to draw from Sullivan's words. We have all seen them: sites that either lack any evidence of form or fail miserably when it comes to function. I'm not just talking about those cute personal sites found on many free web-hosting sites--extravagant corporate sites are often just as guilty as any of them. While both types of sites have their place on the web, it is important to understand where each of them have failed and why.
Finck, Nick. Digital Web Magazine (1999). Design>Graphic Design
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These Free Powerpoint Templates are a great choice for a wide variety of presentation needs.
Chaw, Brandy. Powered Templates (2006). Presentations>Graphic Design>International>Microsoft PowerPoint
