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.

ITEDO Software (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Program with SVG

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML format that describes scale-independent graphics, with good support in free software and commercial tools. In this installment, David introduces scripting and animation with SVG, and touches on manipulating SVG through DOM. Because SVG is XML, it lends itself to transformation and/or generation with any of the tools and libraries you might use for XML generally.

Mertz, David. IBM (2005). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>SVG

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

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.

Jackson, Martin. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Putting Graphics Online: Avoiding the Pitfalls  

Online information is becoming more the norm today than paper-based materials with online Help a standard with most products and the proliferation of the Internet and intranets. However, putting graphics online can be one of your biggest headaches in an online project. This paper will introduce some of the issues you will encounter when putting graphic information online and make suggestions on how to solve them.

Cooper, Charles and Ann Rockley. STC Proceedings (1997). Design>Graphic Design>Documentation

Questions for Designers

Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion wrote about 'Telling Questions' prospective design employers may ask the job applicant. Some of the questions are obvious -- others not so. So, we teamed up with Anne-Marie to find out if YOU can correctly answer these Questions for Designers.

Concepcion, Anne-Marie. Design, Typography and Graphics (2006). Careers>Interviewing>Graphic Design

Quick Mask Mode Using Adobe Photoshop

Quick mask mode is a powerful means of selection in Photoshop. It is a selection based on the masking of the desired portion of an image. It is used for minute and accurate selections.

DevShed (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Quickly Change a Color

Use an Adjustment Layer to easily change a color in your photo, and then quickly change it back if things don’t work out.

Cross, Dave. Planet Photoshop (2006). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Random Image Rotation

Readers return to sites that appear fresh and new on each visit. On a news site, magazine, or blog, stories or headlines will be updated frequently. But how can static sites keep that fresh feeling? Dan Benjamin’s free image randomizer may do the trick, and you needn’t be a programmer to install it.

Benjamin, Dan. List Apart, A (2003). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>DHTML

The Raymond Davis Scholarship

This scholarship is granted by the society to a student or students of photographic or imaging science or engineering for use in continuing their studies as graduate or undergraduate students. This grant is made for academic study or research in the theory or practice of image formation by radient energy.

Society for Imaging Science and Technology, The. Academic>Scholarships>Graphic Design

Recommendations for Charts and Graphics

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

SAP Design Guild (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Charts and Graphs

The Red Queen Color Theory

The search for compelling color is a struggle. As in fashion, success at one time and place is no help at any other.

Stein, Bob. Digital Web Magazine (2001). Design>Graphic Design>User Interface>Color

Reflections in Water

Here's one way to create reflections in water. (The basic steps can be adapted to work with any image.)

Duggan, Sean. Mac Design Magazine (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Reflections on an Icon Development Process: Managing Design  

Software organizations are increasingly willing to hire consultants in technical communication for projects in visual design. This paper examines ten factors critical to successfully managing icon development, based on experience in two different companies, Practical issues -defining the scope of the problem, recruiting the contractor and reviewers, writing the contract, deciding where the contractor should work, validating the images -- require attention to make your partnership with a consultant work.

Gould, Emilie W. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Graphic Design>Programming

Reflections on an Icon Development Process: Negotiating Design Issues  

Technical communicators with visual design skills increasingly are called upon to help design of the 'look and feel' of software interfaces, including icons and toolbar buttons. Several practitioners in technical communication have developed useful guides for developing icons and toolbar buttons. Unfortunately, sometimes the application of these guidelines is complicated by issues that arise within the contexts of specific software development environments. This paper briefly reviews research and guidelines. It then reviews issues that might arise during the development process and guidelines for negotiating them based on the author’s experiences developing icons at two different software firms.

Hunt, Kevin. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Graphic Design>Rhetoric>Visual Rhetoric

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.

Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2002). (Spanish) Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Charts and Graphs

Removing Things in Perspective

Before Photoshop CS2's introduction of the Vanishing Point filter, cloning away things in perspective was one of the hardest removal tasks of all. Luckily, this incredibly cool filter not only simplifies removing things in perspective, it actually makes it fun. In fact, this is one of those filters that's so amazing, you can wind up spending hours cloning away things that have no business being cloned away.

Kelby, Scott. Layers Magazine (2005). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

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

Resizing Images for the Web: Photoshop Tutorial

We all have those photos that we like to on the web to share with our friends. Or, we have some terrific images we've created that need to be resized for the web. Images for the web need to be both small in file size and in physical dimensions so that our viewers don't have to scroll right to see the whole picture. In Photoshop we can adjust our huge images to fit the web quite easily.

Photoshop Today (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Web Design>Adobe Photoshop

Restoring Damaged Photos  

Time isn't kind to treasured photographs. See Photoshop Diva Katrin Eismann's digital techniques for repairing creased, stained, torn, and damaged photos.

Eismann, Katrin. Creative Pro (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Adobe Photoshop

Rethinking Postcards

If you think post cards are for nothing more than 'wish you were here' messages, think again. Post cards are serious tools for building relationships with customers--tiny billboards with big missions. They are one of those often-used but little analyzed marketing mediums--a perfect platform for some 'jolt thinking.' Jolt thinking questions the basic premise--the what, why, and how of doing something. How? By answering three questions. What is the purpose? Why is it done the way it's done? And how can I do it most effectively?

Green, Chuck. Ideabook.com (2002). Design>Graphic Design>Marketing

The Right Match  

Ever wonder why some graphics file formats have a poor reputation? Sometimes, it's not because they're inherently bad, but because they're not designed to be used in certain ways, on certain printers, or on certain platforms. Knowing how to match a job with the right formats can save you some real headaches.

Kvern, Olav Martin. Adobe Magazine (1997). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Standards

The Role of Graphic Art in Modern Scientific Communication  

The use of graphics in scientific communication increases the level of understanding of the subject matter. Graphic art has helped transform the way we view science and technology. It simplifies complex ideas in a visual way and opens up a new way of seeing the world around us. A graphic representation of a spacecraft in orbit is visually stunning and easier to obtain than a photograph would be. A graphic can also provide us with an understanding of three-dimensional objects. The structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), depicted as a double helix, is an example of the power of graphics in a scientific communication.

Peck, Angelika D. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Graphic Design>Scientific Communication