Verbalizing About the Visual: Visual Analysis Tools for Design Evaluation and Group Communication  

While technical communicators are increasingly involved in visual design, they frequently have difficulty communicating verbally about the visual, and, therefore, contributing effectively to design development. A five-step visual analysis tool provides a common framework and language for design evaluation and group communication.

Keyes, Elizabeth. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Viewing Image Information

In this tutorial we're going to show you some quick and easy ways to find out information about your image in Photoshop. The tutorial was written for Photoshop 4 users, but also applies to later versions of Photoshop.

Elated (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Visible Narratives: Understanding Visual Organization

Visual designers working on the web need an understanding of the medium in which they work, so many have taken to code. Many have entered the usability lab. But what about the other side? Are developers and human factors professionals immersed in literature on gestalt and color theory?

Wroblewski, Luke. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Visual Alignment

Designers are used to being detail-oriented and mathematically precise, nudging things a point this way and a pixel that way until technical perfection is achieved. However, when it comes to typographic alignment, the mathematical approach to design doesn’t apply: it’s all in the eye of the beholder. Visual alignment (also called optical alignment) means exactly that: using that high-tech tool, the human eye, to line up your text until it looks right.

Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2002). Design>Typography>Graphic Design

Visual Architecture: The Rule of Three

When I think of web designers and developers, I think of them as craftsmen. These are people that are specifically skilled for their jobs, and know their way around almost any unforeseen obstacle that may appear in their path. A true craftsman is an artist, who pays close attention to detail and produces work of the highest standard. These are the architects of solid information structure. They are not merely turning out product, but building from the foundation to the finishes.

Finck, Nick and Peter Fielding. Digital Web Magazine (2001). Design>Graphic Design>Information Design

Visual Communication: The Expanding Role of Technical Communicators  

Visual communication no longer refers only to illustrating verbal information but to all aspects of designing documents. To be effective as information architects, technical communicators must understand the opportunties and limitations of developing technologies, the basics of communication in general and of visual communication in particular, especially the principles of selection, design, positioning, production, and cost of graphics.

Rainey, Kenneth T. STC Proceedings (1995). Presentations>Graphic Design>Visual>Visual Rhetoric

Visual Literacy Crash Course  

Today, communication requires more than just pages of printed words. Producing effective documents and training requires the ability to understand, think, and communicate graphically-to be visually literate. This demonstration shows how to communicate almost anything graphically. Through creative brainstorming you will start to think visually and to translate text into graphics. By looking at numerous examples of what works and what doesn’t, you are going to learn valuable principles that you can use back on the job to refine your own graphics.

Horton, William K. III. STC Proceedings (1997). Design>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Visual Metadiscourse: Designing the Considerate Text      

Visual metadiscourse can provide design criteria for authors when considering the needs and expectations of readers. The linguistic concept of meta-discourse is expanded from the textual realm to the visual realm, where authors have many necessary design considerations as they attempt to help readers navigate through and understand documents. These considerations, both textual and visual, also help construct the ethos of authors, as design features reveal awareness of visual literacy and of the communication context. Visual metadiscourse complements textual metadiscourse in emphasizing the necessity of rhetoric in technical communication.

Kumpf, Eric P. Technical Communication Quarterly (2000). Design>Graphic Design>Rhetoric

Visual Proofreading

We hear a lot about proofreading. And, although it is a vital part of any publication, there's another kind of proofreading that can make as much (if not more) difference in the success of your publication. Note: This is part four in a continuing series about the creative processes involved in designing a publication. I was prompted to begin this series by the discussions and questions asked by attendees of my Newsletter Design workshop recently in Dallas.

Design, Typography and Graphics (2000). Design>Graphic Design>Rhetoric>Visual Rhetoric

A Visual Signals Palette

Half of knowing where you're going is knowing where you are. So a fundamental part of creating a great web is to let your readers know where they are at all times. One way, of course, is to use tabs and menus that literally tell them where they are. Here at ideabook.com, for example, you know where you are by looking at the top of the page–-the tab tells you you're in the 'DESIGN PALETTES' section and the headline tells you the article title.

Chuck Green. Ideabook.com (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Branding

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.

InfoVis (2004). (Spanish) Design>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

viz.

The goal of this site is to explore the ways in which rhetoric, visual culture, and pedagogy interact with and inform each other. In keeping with this mission, the viz. blog is a forum for exploring the visual through identifying the connections between theory, rhetorical practice, popular culture, and the classroom.

University of Texas. Resources>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric>Blogs

W3C Standard for Scalable Vector Graphics  

In this installment of 'W3C Watch,' a new Intercom department dedicated to discussing the work of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and its potential impact on technical communicators, Porter introduces Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), which the W3C defines as 'a language for describing two-dimensional vector graphics and graphical applications in XML.'

Porter, Sara J. Intercom. Design>Graphic Design>Standards>SVG

Web Design: Use of Graphics

The conservative use of graphics is recommended to ensure reasonable download speeds.

Dianthus. Design>Web Design>Graphic Design

Web Graphics 101

If you work anywhere near a Web site, sooner or later you'll have to deal with graphics. Unfortunately, not everyone who winds up handling graphics is a professional designer, and even experienced Web designers don't always understand that graphics have to be produced in a particular way. On the Web, as with anything computer-related, there are more ways to do graphics wrong than there are to do them right.

Anderson, Paul. Builder.com (2001). Design>Graphic Design>Web Design

Web Graphics and Palettes

Indiscriminate use of graphics, no matter how cool, will only antagonise the reader to the point that they will switch off the automatic graphics download in their browser - and all the designer's efforts will be wasted.

WPDFD. Design>Web Design>Graphic Design

Web Graphics Basics

Good web sites require a seamless integration of text and graphics. Here's the least you need to know about web graphics.

Bakalor, Mark. EFuse (2004). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design

Web Graphics - From the Tried and True to the New  

You've gone to a lot of trouble to put together your Web page. The graphics make it look especially effective. But what if hardly anyone sees them? After all, Web surfers are au impatieut breed with short attention spaus. They might wait about 30 secouds, and theu they're off to another site. You ueed to keep your graphics files as small as possible so they'll load quickly. What cau you do? This demoustratiou shows how to use several popular graphics packages to compress the size of your graphics, alLd where possible, make them transparent.

Randolph, Elaine F., Jeffrey A. Randolph and Mark H. Bloom. STC Proceedings (1997). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design

Web Page Design for Designers

The purpose of my Web Page Design for Designers site is not to teach people how to produce web pages. There is little mention of HTML or any other technical stuff except where necessary. It is assumed that the reader already has a grasp of HTML programming, or has made the decision to use a WYSIWYG Web page editor. It is aimed at people who are already involved with design and typography for conventional print and want to explore the possibilities of this new electronic medium. They are probably already using page layout tools like QuarkXPress, Photoshop, Freehand and Illustrator and have discovered that designing web pages is something quite different.

WPDFD. Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Typography

WebCGM Beyond the Basics

WebCGM is the choice for implementers looking for interoperability and longevity of their web graphics. However, the standard alone does not give you an electronic parts catalog or interactive manual. This presentation will provide details on how to use WebCGM in real-world applications. This includes developing a concept for graphic navigation and how to implement it using WebCGM navigation. The presentation will also discuss the pros and cons of inline and out-of-line links. It will then provide an outlook over the latest developments around WebCGM, including stylable WebCGM and the WebCGM DOM. Lastly it will offer help for those who need to decide between SVG and WebCGM for their projects.

XML Conference (2002). Articles>Graphic Design>Standards>XML

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

What Is Success?

Although it is true that designers generally rely on clients, pleasing them is not the ultimate purpose of our work. What designers share with our clients is a public, an audience. Our clients wouldn't need us at all if we weren't helping them reach that public. Our broader responsibility is to the ultimate users of our work.

Lupton, Ellen. AIGA (2007). Careers>Graphic Design>Audience Analysis

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.

Auto-trol. Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration