"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.

Ring, Peter. Peter Ring Consultants (1996). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

What's the Right Typeface for Text?  

How to choose a typeface for clear, easy reading over long distances.

Before and After (2005). Design>Typography>Graphic Design

When Bad Things Happen to Good Photographs  

The family photos are crumpled, torn, and stained, but Photoshop can help.

Rose, Carla. Adobe Magazine (1999). Design>Graphic Design>Photography>Adobe Photoshop

When Bigger Isn't Better  

Working with large bitmap images can clog your hard disk and slow performance to a crawl. Here are some tips for staying lean.

Katz, Wendy. Adobe Magazine (1995). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Adobe Photoshop

When Vector Meets Photo

Mixing vector and photo is one of the hottest trends in the illustration industry today. We've seen this effect used in national ad campaigns from Anheuser-Busch to Hawaiian Tropic. In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at how to create this effect in Illustrator. Before you begin, keep in mind that you can download the Illustrator source fi le used in this column.

Kloskowski, Matt. Layers Magazine (2005). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Which Typeface Should I Use?

In this article, Fred talks about experiences with some of the greats of typography... and helps to answer the question with a quote from Jan White.

Showker, Fred. Design, Typography and Graphics (2004). Design>Typography>Graphic Design

Review: White Graphics: The Power of White in Graphic Design  

Every graphic designer or editor who has been forced to explain to a client why there is nothing—text or image—on a part of a page should have Gail Deibler Finke's newest book. It demonstrates clearly and convincingly 'the power of white in graphic design.'

Hudak-David, Ginny. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Reviews>Graphic Design

Whitening Teeth

Shows you how to brighten those teeth without an expensive trip to the dentist.

Kloskowski, Matt. Planet Photoshop (2006). Design>Graphic Design>Photography>Adobe Photoshop

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.

Kirsh, David. IWM-KMRC. Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

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.

Preis, Douglas and Voula Chris Georgopoulos. STC Proceedings (1998). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Charts and Graphs

Working With a Designer

Katherine Huck, owner of Keystone Design, explains 'all the stuff you never knew you wanted to know' in a short and simple handbook entitled Working With a Designer. This hanbook is designed to create a bridge between the designer and the non-technically trained client, explaining in very simple terms key concepts that will make the designer and client's lives much easier.

Huck, Katherine. Elisabetta Bruno. Design>Collaboration>Graphic Design

Working with Graphic Designers  

Offers suggestions to technical writers or project managers on how to successfully communicate design specifications to graphic designers. According to Petersen, an ideal design specification should include an introduction stating the purpose of the document and its audience, tender requirements, a list of elements that need designing, a list of document limitations, a list of necessary hardware and software, design suggestions, printing and distribution information, a list of people involved in the project, and design and project schedules.

Petersen, Judy H. . Intercom (2000). Careers>Collaboration>Graphic Design

Writing for Other Cultures: Cultural Associations of Color and Graphics  

When writing for cultures that are not your own, you must consider the powerful cultural associations that color and graphics have. Understanding and leveraging these associations leads to documentation that is strong and usable, while not understanding them leads to cultural miscommunications and misunderstandings that can render your information useless.

Coe, Marlana A. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Graphic Design>Cultural Theory>Color

XML in Motion: The Scalable Vector Graphic  

Introduces scalable vector graphic (SVG) format, a new, XML-based graphics format for the Web.

Altom, Timothy H. Intercom (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Software>XML

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.

McCormack, Lee. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

A Sack in the Sand: Photography in the Age of Information    

Throughout the 1990s the relationship between culture and technology was sharply focused in a debate about whether digital technologies signalled the death or radical displacement of photography. The case for the cultural continuity of photography centred upon a rejection of a strong form of technological determinism. It is now clear that far from being displaced to the margins of culture, there is now more photography than ever. There have also been dramatic developments: mobile phone manufacturers have put more cameras into people's hands then ever before; the photograph as social document and historical witness persists but in changing ways; photographs circulate globally on an unprecedented scale via electronic image banks. It is clear that such changes and developments do involve new technologies. However, rather than being due to the kind of technological determinism debated earlier, this is because photography has come to exist within a new technological environment. In many recent accounts, 'information' and information technology are repeatedly cited as constituting a new and shaping context for photographic practices.

Lister, Martin. Convergence (2008). Articles>Graphic Design>Photography

Cropping and Sizing Graphics

Use this study guide to learn how to crop and size graphics in several different applications. Cropping is not particularly problematic, but sizing is.

McMurrey, David A. Illuminati Online (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing

Accessible Data Visualization with Web Standards

When designing interfaces for browsing data-driven sites, creating navigation elements that are also visualization tools helps the user make better decisions. Wilson Miner demonstrates three techniques for incorporating data visualization into standards-based navigation patterns.

Minor, Wilson. List Apart, A (2008). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Charts and Graphs

Visually Speaking: Adult-Only Publications

Corporate photography was once the realm of adults only. Just a few years ago, it was surprising to see a picture of anybody under 40 years old in an annual report or capabilities brochure, much less someone under the age of 12. But nowadays, photos of children are showing up more and more often in all kinds of corporate publications, and as you might suspect, photographing children requires a totally different approach than shooting the CEO.

Salvo, Suzanne. Communication World Bulletin (2008). Design>Graphic Design>Photography>Visual Rhetoric

Being Good for Goodness' Sake: Corporate Social Responsibility Imagery

It sees you when you’re sleeping. It knows if you’re awake. 'It' is the world, and it knows if your company has been naughty or nice. The digital revolution has put a photographic device, be it a camera or camera-phone, in the hands of virtually everybody everywhere—so you can be sure someone besides Santa is constantly watching your company’s behavior. For that and other good reasons, corporate photography is looking very green this season.

Salvo, Suzanne. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Design>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Storytelling Photos

Anyone can relate the facts of an event, just like anyone can hold a camera up to a scene and document it. But bare facts and badly composed images make for poor communication. It takes skill and talent to write a good story, one that will inform and entertain. The same is true for photography. Images have always been storytellers. A good image can relay large amounts of data in a format that is pleasing and quickly absorbed by the viewer. That makes photos potentially more influential than a massive amount of words.

Salvo, Suzanne. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Graphic Design>Photography>Visual Rhetoric

Picture This

Film is dead. The history-changing miracle that made it possible to accurately reproduce anything the eye could perceive is now itself part of history. The cause of death? Digital imagery. But no one is shedding tears. It all began innocently in the mid-1980s when digital photos were a geeks-only, barely noticed novelty. It has since spread around the world in pandemic fashion. In its wake, entire industries have been killed off as more and more people succumb to the digital bug.

Salvo, Suzanne. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Design>Graphic Design>Photography

The Tao of the Digital Photographer

In just a few short years, the digital camera has blown past its tipping point so completely that many younger shooters have never touched a piece of film. The instant gratification, the tiny camera size and the ability to share images with the world now defines the experience of photography. But if you want to make great digital photos, there are some things you need to know.

Philpott, Keith. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Design>Graphic Design>Photography

Case Study: Shipshape Photography

Photography has become an essential element of the communication mix for the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), and is used to reflect the diversity and international nature of the business. If executed properly, a photograph can help explain a technical point or issue in such a way that it makes sense to an audience outside of the shipping community. We initially decided to use photography to enhance the visual content of our annual report. We now also use it in company newsletters (both internal and external), brochures and exhibit stands.

Smyth, Gillian and Susan V. Gonzalez. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Graphic Design>Photography>Case Studies

Buyer Beware: The Ever-Expanding Search for the Perfect Image

When you need to find an image for commercial use, how much consideration do you give to where it came from? Do you think about its provenance, its pedigree? Are the images you license sourced primarily from major distributors or from alternative suppliers, who may have access to more distinctive or original content?

Waterman, Jill. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Design>Graphic Design>Intellectual Property