http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Visual A listing of the most recently indexed works about Visual in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Visual http://tc.eserver.org/35318.html http://tc.eserver.org/35318.html What can a non-designer do to harness the power of visual design without calling professional help? Quite a lot, says internationally-regarded visual designer Dan Rubin. We called Dan to talk about what design techniques are accessible to mere mortals. http://tc.eserver.org/35273.html http://tc.eserver.org/35273.html In 2009 we are in the midst of an interesting era for data visualization, particularly as it becomes coupled with the social web. Increasing processing speed, bandwidth and storage capacity are making it relatively simple to render and access visual representations of data. Developers have released libraries of code so we can easily create our own visualizations; and access to all kinds of data is becoming incredibly standardized, particularly through the use of APIs. So as visualization becomes much more straightforward to integrate into online environments, it makes sense to rethink how it can best be used in this setting. http://tc.eserver.org/35187.html http://tc.eserver.org/35187.html Are you aware that PDF documents are readable by your computer? You can listen to any PDF instead of reading it! http://tc.eserver.org/35094.html http://tc.eserver.org/35094.html Designers believe that if something isn’t working well, and it comes down to changing the copy or the design, it’s always the copy that should be changed, reduced or sometimes nearly completely eliminated. How can I convince my designer co-workers that succinct, simple and memorable words can be just as important as the visuals? http://tc.eserver.org/34981.html http://tc.eserver.org/34981.html As digital cameras have become ubiquitous, and cheap (or free) photo websites plentiful, more people than ever are using images in presentations. Images are not appropriate for every kind of talk, but even when images are appropriate (such as keynote/ballroom style presentations), people are still making the same common mistakes. So here are some things to keep in mind if you use images in your next talk. http://tc.eserver.org/34881.html http://tc.eserver.org/34881.html Scholarly conversation within the field of professional communication increasingly has focused on the practice, research, and pedagogy of visual rhetoric. Yet, visual thinking has received relatively little attention within the field. If our programs produce students who can think verbally but not visually, they risk producing writers who are visual technicians but are unable to move fluidly between and within modes of communication. This article examines the literature and pedagogical practices of visually oriented disciplines to identify strategies for helping students develop the ambidexterity of thought needed for the communication tasks of today's workplace. http://tc.eserver.org/34684.html http://tc.eserver.org/34684.html This exercise of increasing diagrams and illustrations to assist visual learners could potentially help me increase the clarity of the text in any deliverable so that it benefits any who take the time to read or at least scan. At the very least, asking myself whether I could easily illustrate or visualize the text may help me write more clearly. http://tc.eserver.org/34669.html http://tc.eserver.org/34669.html Given the engineering audience, one can’t hope for too much style and flair in the prose, but it reads like a college textbook, outlining basic principles in a flat way. It is too focused on “clarity, accuracy, correctness, etc.” (p.79) to make for a fun or engaging read. http://tc.eserver.org/34663.html http://tc.eserver.org/34663.html User interface experts are often suspicious of the role of visual aesthetics in user interfaces—and of designers who insist that graphic emotive impact and careful attention to a site’s visual framework really contribute to measurable success. Underneath the arguments, I see a fundamental culture clash. http://tc.eserver.org/34634.html http://tc.eserver.org/34634.html Techniques that work for one screen reader almost always work in other screen readers. In some cases, one of the screen readers has capabilities that the others do not have, or handles some types of content better than the other screen readers. Still, developers are almost always better off when they focus on accessibility standards and generally-accepted accessibility techniques than when they focus on screen reader differences. http://tc.eserver.org/34566.html http://tc.eserver.org/34566.html Annotations come in all shapes and sizes depending on the artifact and the intent of the document. People are probably most familiar with wireframe annotations, where the author calls out areas of the screen to describe functionality not immediately discernible from the picture alone. http://tc.eserver.org/34495.html http://tc.eserver.org/34495.html As the internet and television bring us instant information and access to millions of resources worldwide—some more trustworthy than others—separating fact from fiction requires a bit of skill ... and luck. Illustrator Lonnie Busch recognizes this conundrum, as depicted in his illustration below. Using a palette that combines warm, rich shades along with cooler highlights, Busch is able draw the viewer into the action. http://tc.eserver.org/34189.html http://tc.eserver.org/34189.html Have you ever even tried to create your own CSS graph? If you have, you will know how hard it is. Using Flash is one way to go, but you just can’t beat a beautifully crafted CSS Graph. Have a look at these tutorials and techniques. http://tc.eserver.org/34155.html http://tc.eserver.org/34155.html Producing effective charts is essential to any document that conveys technical, scientific, or financial data. Here are four suggestions to ensure that your charts are effective and enhance rather than detract from your document. http://tc.eserver.org/34106.html http://tc.eserver.org/34106.html An interactive presentation of a variety of visualization techniques used by graphic designers, technical illustrators and document designers to convey information. http://tc.eserver.org/33962.html http://tc.eserver.org/33962.html Educators should include new dimensions of visual literacy in academic curricula. Today’s students are actively involved in interactive experiences. They are contributing content to websites as well as designing websites and other types of online experiences for the public. Students need to understand the semiotics of interactive computing and how the integration of diverse sensory data with social interaction impacts the way we interpret online information. http://tc.eserver.org/33891.html http://tc.eserver.org/33891.html Several authors of the 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the projected effects of global warming now say they regret not pushing harder to include an updated diagram of climate risks in the report. The diagram, known as “burning embers,” is an updated version of one that was a central feature of the panel’s preceding climate report in 2001. http://tc.eserver.org/33656.html http://tc.eserver.org/33656.html What is it about XML, and the technical publishing solutions that storing content in XML enables, that makes non-technical, design-oriented people in publishing want to run for the hills while screaming “You just don’t get it!”, leaving the technical people in publishing in the dust, wondering why no one understands all the wonderful benefits that can be reaped through publishing automated by XML-enabled technologies. http://tc.eserver.org/33483.html http://tc.eserver.org/33483.html How can design teams get to a successful visual design with their clients? Getting to the right visual design can be the trickiest part of a design project. One of the key reasons is that some clients have a hard time saying clearly what they want from the visual design. http://tc.eserver.org/33288.html http://tc.eserver.org/33288.html Few people have ever commented about my blog’s design at all. The same goes with the music intros for my podcasts. I can change the music each time, and no one ever responds. In contrast, if a post has good content, I see a steady stream of comments. My experience leads me to conclude that content is about 90% important, and design is 10% important. http://tc.eserver.org/33228.html http://tc.eserver.org/33228.html Visual communication can be thought of as two intertwined parts: personality, or look and feel, and visual organization. The personality of a presentation is what provides the emotional impact —your instinctual response to what you see. Creating an appropriate personality requires the use of colors, type treatments, images, shapes, patterns, and more, to “say” the right thing to your audience. This article, however, focuses on the other side of the visual communication coin: visual organization. http://tc.eserver.org/32963.html http://tc.eserver.org/32963.html In order for a Web application to be "usable", it must be understandable. It needs to communicate, and communicate effectively. When a user interacts with a Web application they have only the visual presentation (the interface) to "tell" them what the application has to offer, and how they can make use of it. As a result, designers must rely on visual communication principles to tell our audience: about the behavior, structure, and purpose of our Web applications. The better at communicating we are, the easier it is for our audience to understand our messages and intentions, and the easier it is for them to use and appreciate our Web applications. http://tc.eserver.org/32983.html http://tc.eserver.org/32983.html Scientists tell us that visual communication is natural human behaviour which all normally sighted persons engage in every day and take for granted, yet it is the product of a complex human intelligence that is very poorly understood. http://tc.eserver.org/32984.html http://tc.eserver.org/32984.html Strong visual design is about balance. It requires an appropriate relationship between written content, information hierarchy and the use of visual elements such as graphics and photography. While most visual designers will tacitly acknowledge this, the preponderance of visual design artifacts shows a bias toward either the words or the visual elements, and too often does not reflect strong information hierarchy. These all-too-frequent examples of spotty visual design belie personal comfort levels and experience. http://tc.eserver.org/32916.html http://tc.eserver.org/32916.html Surely there can't be a skill to writing ALT text for images? You just pop a description in there and you're good to go, right? Well, kind of. Sure, it's not rocket science, but there are a few guidelines you need to follow. http://tc.eserver.org/32773.html http://tc.eserver.org/32773.html Whether it's gestures in an oral conversation, type on a page, or flickering images on a screen, each medium of communication includes visual elements. Such elements long have been recognized as rhetorically significant, but the cultural proliferation of digital technologies has heightened interest in the visual dimension of rhetoric. As both consumers and producers, we engage daily with a variety of textual and graphical elements. Text and Image will encourage critical consideration of such encounters. We will examine the affordances and constraints of various forms from the perspectives of both reception and production. Our course assignments will ask you to respond to existing theories and examine them in praxis by producing a variety of image/text artifacts. http://tc.eserver.org/32718.html http://tc.eserver.org/32718.html As Web 2.0 style passes way, it’s time for something new. Few weeks ago we’ve written about the hand-drawing style in modern web-design. And as Web 2.0 style is all about glossy and shiny look, another option would be something rather crude, radical and provoking. Such as the grunge style — dirty look with irregular, nasty, sometimes even ugly and crooked visual elements. Will it establish itself as a trend? Probably not. However, it may be used once some creative and unconventional design approach is needed. http://tc.eserver.org/32302.html http://tc.eserver.org/32302.html This paper seeks to provide a brief overview of those developments which have taken the theory and practice of image and video retrieval into the digital age. Drawing on a voluminous literature, the context in which visual information retrieval takes place is followed by a consideration of the conceptual and practical challenges posed by the representation and recovery of visual material on the basis of its semantic content. An historical account of research endeavours in content-based retrieval, directed towards the automation of these operations in digital image scenarios, provides the main thrust of the paper. Finally, a look forwards locates visual information retrieval research within the wider context of content-based multimedia retrieval. http://tc.eserver.org/32332.html http://tc.eserver.org/32332.html This paper examines a large number of failed queries submitted to a web image search engine, including real users' search terms and written requests. The results show that failed image queries have a much higher specificity than successful queries because users often employ various refined types to specify their queries. The study explores the refined types further, and finds that failed queries consist of far more conceptual than perceptual refined types. The widely used content-based image retrieval technique, CBIR, can only deal with a small proportion of failed queries; hence, appropriate integration of concept-based techniques is desirable. Based on using the concepts of uniqueness and refinement for categorization, the study also provides a useful discussion on the gaps between image queries and retrieval techniques. The initial results enhance the understanding of failed queries and suggest possible ways to improve image retrieval systems. http://tc.eserver.org/32337.html http://tc.eserver.org/32337.html Color is an intrinsic visual attribute of form that functions as language and message. The purpose of this study was to investigate objectively structured color combinations as a means to communicate visual order for the purpose of reinforcing information hierarchy. Controlling the visual relationships of hue, value and chroma contrast can significantly assist a person's cognitive ability to assign importance and dominance to a controlled color structure. This research study provided significant findings supporting the hypothesis that intrinsic color structures can be formulated objectively; represent a visual hierarchy; and be perceived in an understandable order. Chi-square analysis for 99 participants was calculated for task effectiveness. To analyze task efficiency, three distinct ANOVA calculations were made for time variations. The documented findings of this study presented explicit evidence that addresses specific mechanisms for objective color ordering. The natural inferences of the study support the proposition that there is a natural relationship between objective color ordering principles and human perception. http://tc.eserver.org/32104.html http://tc.eserver.org/32104.html iLT is designed to inspire its readers, to make people more aware of the typography that is around them. We really cannot escape typography; it's everywhere: on road signs, shampoo bottles, toothpaste, and even on billboard posters, in books and magazines, online...the list is endless, and the possibilities equally so. http://tc.eserver.org/32094.html http://tc.eserver.org/32094.html Comments on the magnificent Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte. http://tc.eserver.org/31985.html http://tc.eserver.org/31985.html People often use colors in their documents in the wrong ways. Many students think that bright colors should be used in a document when they want to attract someone’s eye to a place on the page. Colors alone, however, should be used in synch with white space, font size, type and placement of whatever it is you want someone to be attracted to. Furthermore, just because something is filled with a bright color does not mean that it is eye-catching or attractive. True, bright colors will quickly draw the eye there, but use colors in a way that will make the eye stay there, not glance away in disgust. http://tc.eserver.org/31784.html http://tc.eserver.org/31784.html This article describes a study that examined the tables and figures in articles from a basic research journal, The Journal of Cell Biology, and compared them to tables and figures from an applied medical journal, The New England Journal of Medicine. Comparison of graphics between the two journals shows sharp differences in terms of range of graphics types, visual consistency within and between articles, or use of color. As the articles take into account what is needed by different audiences, the graphics help to build the credibility of the journal. The study also addresses the question of how scientific visuals contribute to the persuasiveness of a writer, looking at how the graphics within an article affect the credibility or ethos of the writer. http://tc.eserver.org/31678.html http://tc.eserver.org/31678.html An illustrated to Jean-luc Doumont's theory of high-context and low-context cultures and the contrast between their visual rhetorics. http://tc.eserver.org/31658.html http://tc.eserver.org/31658.html Although we all know that the colors viewed on your computer's monitor are not accurate for print reproduction, your screen color is probably good enough to yield reasonably accurate colorblindness test results. We invite you now to test yourself for colorblindness on-line. http://tc.eserver.org/31651.html http://tc.eserver.org/31651.html Criticisms that Tufte and others have leveled against PowerPoint are not insurmountable defects of the programs themselves. These defects are generally due to an orientation, shared by program designers and users alike, and toward images rather than diagrams, toward perceptual decoration and object indication rather than toward visually mediated, iconic representations of verbal information. Using Peirce's theories of visual rhetoric, we show that improvements in visual communication generally - and PowerPoint slides in particular - depend on shifting our orientation away from image-driven thinking and toward diagrammatic modes of presentation. http://tc.eserver.org/31431.html http://tc.eserver.org/31431.html Professional communicators and attorneys have long stood side by side as both fought to win in court—one in the court of law, the other in the court of public opinion. These two sometimes wary compatriots, however, are now beginning to partner more frequently to garner the best results for the executive suite. http://tc.eserver.org/31362.html http://tc.eserver.org/31362.html In a continuation of his January column, Hart sheds some light on page layout and design—and gives color to a seemingly “black-and-white” concept. http://tc.eserver.org/31232.html http://tc.eserver.org/31232.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/31241.html http://tc.eserver.org/31241.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/31220.html http://tc.eserver.org/31220.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/31235.html http://tc.eserver.org/31235.html As business communicators, our goal is typically to influence opinion or change behavior in order to achieve business objectives. To accomplish this, we must get people to interact with our message. A page of 12-point Times New Roman text is seldom compelling, so what you are left with to persuade people to read your publication is graphic design. http://tc.eserver.org/31198.html http://tc.eserver.org/31198.html This paper summarizes some of the major lessons learned about conducting usability tests with visually impaired participants while working as interns at Google, Inc. The lessons were in four major areas: (1) recruitment and scheduling, (2) preparing the usability lab for testing sessions, (3) using think-aloud protocol with screen readers, and (4) helping observers to get the most out of the test sessions. http://tc.eserver.org/31102.html http://tc.eserver.org/31102.html It is now possible to replicate Google Maps' functionality with open source software and produce high-quality mapping applications tailored to your design goals. Paul Smith shows how. http://tc.eserver.org/31012.html http://tc.eserver.org/31012.html Corporate annual reports typically include a narrative section and a financial section. The narrative section is not scrutinized by auditors as the financial section is, yet many readers rely heavily on its graphs to estimate the firm's financial situation. However, the graphs often misrepresent the financial data. To better understand annual report graphs' important role, this article examines more than 25 years of literature related to these four areas: (a) the ways financial graphs are prepared, used, and misinterpreted; (b) differences by country; (c) regulatory influences for accountants; and (d) the parts formatting and media selection decisions play in communication interpretation and persuasion. Across the literature, the author notes consensus that annual report graphs are widely used in many countries and that there is rampant disregard for the guidelines for their accurate, non-misleading presentation. The article concludes with seven proposed directions for future research. http://tc.eserver.org/30857.html http://tc.eserver.org/30857.html Taking photographs seems no longer primarily an act of memory intended to safeguard a family's pictorial heritage, but is increasingly becoming a tool for an individual's identity formation and communication. Digital cameras, cameraphones, photoblogs and other multipurpose devices are used to promote the use of images as the preferred idiom of a new generation of users. The aim of this article is to explore how technical changes (digitization) combined with growing insights in cognitive science and socio-cultural transformations have affected personal photography. The increased manipulation of photographic images may suit the individual's need for continuous self-remodelling and instant communication and bonding. However, that same manipulability may also lessen our grip on our images' future repurposing and reframing. Memory is not eradicated from digital multipurpose tools. Instead, the function of memory reappears in the networked, distributed nature of digital photographs, as most images are sent over the internet and stored in virtual space. http://tc.eserver.org/30859.html http://tc.eserver.org/30859.html This article argues that, with respect to the copyright protection of works of visual art, the general uneasiness that has always pervaded the relationship between copyright law and concepts of creativity produces three anomalous results. One of these is that copyright lacks much in the way of a central concept of 'visual art' and, to the extent that it embraces any concept of the 'visual', it is rooted in the rhetorical discourse of the Renaissance. This means that copyright is poorly equipped to deal with modern developments in the visual arts. Secondly, the pervasive effect of rhetorical discourse appears to have made it particularly difficult for copyright law to strike a meaningful balance between protecting creativity and permitting its use in further creative works. Thirdly, just when rhetorical discourse might have been useful in identifying the significance and materiality of the unique one-off work of visual art, copyright law chooses to ignore its implications. http://tc.eserver.org/30858.html http://tc.eserver.org/30858.html his article describes the (re-)design of newspapers and magazines as a process of cultural change which goes beyond designing a publication's layout, typography and use of colour, and includes designing the processes and structures of its production. http://tc.eserver.org/30850.html http://tc.eserver.org/30850.html Charts and graphs are ubiquitous in business documents, and most students in my business communication courses are well aware that they need to be able to create many different types of data representation. Most of them have had a great deal of experience working with spreadsheet applications, and they know how to manipulate data and present it in the various forms permitted by their software. http://tc.eserver.org/30687.html http://tc.eserver.org/30687.html Arguments manifest in scientific visuals through graphic representation, content placement, and overall document structure. These arguments, designed to influence public perception, change over time in relation to sociopolitical climate. Analysis of a series of documents constructed deliberately to influence perception can help to determine patterns of argumentation and perceived exigencies. In this article, four self-guided tour brochures produced for distribution to visitors to the Glen Canyon Dam in 1977, 1984, 1990, and 1993 are analyzed in order to identify rhetorical strategies designed to influence public perceptions of the dam site, and examine how public perception of the dam, and related argumentation, is structured by sociopolitical climate. http://tc.eserver.org/30611.html http://tc.eserver.org/30611.html The very best of today’s public relations photography devises visual statements by carefully blending composition and lighting. Dramatic use of color has emerged as a strong graphic element over the past decade. Today’s inexpensive scanners and related image manipulation software provide new capabilities to manipulate B/W and color photos. http://tc.eserver.org/30614.html http://tc.eserver.org/30614.html Effective visual design enhances the overall success of a manual as much as, if not more than, the other factors that go into its makeup. The presentation shows how we redesigned a 2-volume manual into a 6-volume manual and otherwise maximized the visual impact of the manual. The many examples of improved visual presentations show how important effective visual design is to the overall impact of the manual. While we also changed stylistic and organizational elements of the manual, we found the impact of the changes in the visual elements most powerful. http://tc.eserver.org/30620.html http://tc.eserver.org/30620.html How can writers enhance their visual literacy in order to create effective online documentation? By partnering multimedia production expertise with technical writing expertise, DVS Communications and Bell-Northern Research (BNR) have co-developed an introductory course 'Words into Pictures' that stimulates visual thinking capabilities. This paper describes the main components of the course and illustrates its contribution to the success of BNR's online information system CADHELP. http://tc.eserver.org/30601.html http://tc.eserver.org/30601.html The techniques of film language areas important to video and multimedia presentations as the techniques of written language are to technical documentation. Film language consists of such components as shot content, frame composition, camera movement, color (or shade), lighting, and film transitions. Film transitions are the way in which shots and sequences are connected and carry specific semantic weight for the viewer. However for many technical video-makers, the meanings of film transitions are overlooked in favor of flashy presentations or are abused to cover a problem. In developing videos for training or informational purposes, we should respect and understand the significance of film transitions and other aspects of film language. http://tc.eserver.org/30488.html http://tc.eserver.org/30488.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/30514.html http://tc.eserver.org/30514.html This paper takes a look at what is being said in various disciplines (technical writing, journalism, education, psychology, user interface design, and visual arts) in an attempt to answer the question 'What is visual literacy?' A corollory is 'How will I know when I have achieved it?' A working definition of visual literacy has many implications for how we train technical writers in order to meet the professional challenges of the future. http://tc.eserver.org/30426.html http://tc.eserver.org/30426.html Good design, like good writing or editing, cart make or break a technical publication. Even if you know little about design us a discipline, as a technical communicator you employ it in every publication you produce. If technical communicstion is indeed the art that bridges the gap between people and technology, then understanding the function of design us an inherent element of communication is paramount. Design seeks 10 translate perceptions, goals, and desires through the manipulation of images and language. Design inspires understanding, is both an art and a science, and is good business. Design matters! The purpose of our presentation is to explore the relationship between design until technical communication and heighten the level of consciousness of the function of design. http://tc.eserver.org/30397.html http://tc.eserver.org/30397.html Multimedia can sometimes convey meaning in ways that text and graphics alone cannot. This paper offers two principles for understanding how multimedia can clarify abstract concepts. The first principle is that multimedia is excellent for conveying any kind of change, such as change in quantity, size, shape, or relationship. The second principle is that multimedia can help present complex concepts by providing information in both the visual and auditory modes simultaneously. These principles can guide technical communicators in evaluating whether multimedia is a cost-effective way to present their information. http://tc.eserver.org/30383.html http://tc.eserver.org/30383.html A reader's overall comprehension is best when text is appropriately combined with graphics in a document. This introductory workshop on visual communications explores different leaning styles and information mediums and examines how a communicator can best combine words with graphics to increase reader interest and comprehension. The workshop also examines basic rules of text and graphic design and finally discusses the appropriate integration of text and graphics. http://tc.eserver.org/30302.html http://tc.eserver.org/30302.html In the first lesson on font type I highlighted how they can be used to make information easier to understand, and how the look of the font accomplishes that. Here I'd like to discuss how fonts can actually affect the meaning of that information. http://tc.eserver.org/30157.html http://tc.eserver.org/30157.html Visual design has played an important role in the historical development of professional communication. The technology of laser printing has reestablished the importance of visual language in functional communication, transforming contemporary document design and redefining its relation to the traditions of handwritten, typewritten, and printed text. During this period of transition, three factors will shape the new visual language: (a) the development of a visual rhetoric that represents design as an integral part of the message rather than merely as external "dress," (b) the rediscovery of aesthetics as a legitimate factor in text design, and (c) the use of empirical research--particularly context-specific research--to guide the document design process. http://tc.eserver.org/30169.html http://tc.eserver.org/30169.html Diverse work situations and varied skills, abilities, and motivation affect how users handle documentation to do their jobs. Communicating graphically challenges the communicator to 1) select illustrations that orient users ana' 2) use dynamic arrows to show the motion required. The communicator then 3) shows the order of steps within a task by using numbers with 'numberness.' Users' eyes seek information dynamically: help them find needed i$ormation by 4) keeping tasks within eyespan on a page. Then 5) use a grid to consistently layout an interesting page. http://tc.eserver.org/30156.html http://tc.eserver.org/30156.html Supra-textual design encompasses the global visual language of a document and operates in three modes: textual, spatial, and graphic. The rhetoric of supra-textual design includes structural functions that provide global organization and cohesion and stylistic functions that affect credibility, tone, emphasis, interest, and usability. Supra-textual rhetoric extends to other documents through conventional codes and through sets and series. Because writers may not control the end product of supra-textual design, intention may also be a rhetorical factor. http://tc.eserver.org/30159.html http://tc.eserver.org/30159.html Although business communication relies heavily on the visual, current approaches to graphics and text design are prescriptive and unsystematic. A 12-cell schema of visual coding modes and levels provides a model for describing and evaluating business documents as flexible systems of visual language. Emphasizing clarity and objectivity, the 'information design' movement has generated guidelines for creating functional visual displays. However, visual language in business communication is seldom rhetorically 'neutral' and requires adaptation to the contextual variables of each document, a goal the writer can achieve by com bining visual and verbal planning in the same holistic process. http://tc.eserver.org/30178.html http://tc.eserver.org/30178.html Employees, whether they are hourly workers on a manufacturing line, salaried supervisors, or owners of their own businesses, often need to develop newsletters, make presentations, create WWW Home pages, and communicate via e-mail. Therefore, students enrolled in professional writing courses need to acquire skills in manipulating desktop publishing and presentation software, hypertext and multimedia authoring programs, programs that display numerical data graphically, and programs that integrate graphics onto a Web Home Page. However; the visual displays that the generation raised with Nintendo's Mario Brothers prefer differ from those of the textbooks. They are more glitzy, colorful, and busy. http://tc.eserver.org/30158.html http://tc.eserver.org/30158.html The technology of in-house publishing is radically shifting the responsibility for document design from the graphic specialist to the individual writer. To apply the new technology, professional communicators need to understand the principles underpinning typographical design and their origin in the functionalist aesthetics of modernism, particularly as articulated by the Bauhaus. While some of the key concepts of modernism--strict economy, universal objectivity, intuitive perception, and the unity of form and purpose--are well-suited to business and technical documents, these concepts are bound to an historical and intellectual milieu. By understanding the influence of modernism on typographical design, professional communicators equipped with the new technology can adapt design principles to the rhetorical context of specific documents. http://tc.eserver.org/30094.html http://tc.eserver.org/30094.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/30012.html http://tc.eserver.org/30012.html Abstract user interface prototypes offer designers a form of representation for specification and exploration of visual and interaction design ideas that is intermediate between abstract task models and realistic or representational prototypes. Canonical Abstract Prototypes are an extension to usage-centered design that provides a formal vocabulary for expressing visual and interaction designs without concern for details of appearance and behavior. A standardized abstract design vocabulary facilitates comparison of designs, eases recognition and simplifies description of common design patterns, and lays the foundations for better software tools. This paper covers recent refinements in the modeling notation and the set of Canonical Abstract Components. New applications of abstract prototypes to design patterns are discussed, and variations in software tools support are outlined. http://tc.eserver.org/29950.html http://tc.eserver.org/29950.html This interactive tutorial is designed to supplement your use of TCTC, and provides new information and activities that will enhance your understanding of visual rhetoric. This tutorial has five main sections, Visual Rhetoric, Use of Visuals, Types of Visuals, Color, and Design. With only a few variations, each section is divided into smaller three- to five-page chapters, all arranged using three basic types of pages. http://tc.eserver.org/29939.html http://tc.eserver.org/29939.html Karen Schriver is the author of Dynamics in Document Design: Creating texts for readers, an extensive, multidimensional portrait of what readers need from documents and of ways to integrate word and image in order to better meet those needs. She is the former co-director of the graduate program in technical communication and document design at Carnegie Mellon University. Her company, KSA Document Design and Research, helps organizations improve the quality of their paper and electronic communications through strategies based on research and best practices. http://tc.eserver.org/29831.html http://tc.eserver.org/29831.html Literacy has always been a material, multimedia construct but we only now are becoming aware of this multidimensionality and materiality because computer technologies have made it possible for many people to produce and publish multimedia presentations. http://tc.eserver.org/29832.html http://tc.eserver.org/29832.html The progression of computer-generated images in motion pictures gives a sense of where we are headed. http://tc.eserver.org/29834.html http://tc.eserver.org/29834.html The keynote speech presented at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Writing 1998 Conference, 'Technology and Literacy in a Wired Academy.' http://tc.eserver.org/29829.html http://tc.eserver.org/29829.html In this article, I examine a historical information graphic--Charles Booth's maps of London poverty (1889-1902)--to analyze the cultural basis of ideas of transparency and clarity in information graphics. I argue that Booth's maps derive their rhetorical power from contemporary visual culture as much as from their scientific authority. The visual rhetoric of the maps depended upon an ironic inversion of visual culture to make poverty seem a problem that could be addressed, rather than an insurmountable crisis. This visual rhetoric led directly to significant features of and concepts in western societies, including the poverty line and universal old-age pensions (social security). http://tc.eserver.org/29799.html http://tc.eserver.org/29799.html The advent of internet technology has enabled the process of memorialization of those killed in US military conflicts to keep pace with the casualties themselves and, as such, has marked a shift in both the ideology of the war memorial as symbol and the ideology-driven media use of those symbols. This article argues that a process of increasing humanization and specificity enabled by the information architecture of the internet has led to a form of `war memorial', exemplified by www.facesofthefallen.org, that emphasizes decontexualized human loss at the expense of a coherent representation of a military nature for the loss itself. http://tc.eserver.org/29802.html http://tc.eserver.org/29802.html This article explores the staging of memory and death and the connotative differences within still photographs and film. It examines the tenses that can be inferred in reading photographs and film through examples drawn from representations of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-13 and Captain Scott's journey to the South Pole taken by Herbert Ponting, and in the 1948 film _Scott of the Antarctic_. http://tc.eserver.org/29801.html http://tc.eserver.org/29801.html In this article we examine 561 different airline tailfin designs as a visual genre, revealing how the global-local binary may be managed and realized semiotically. Our analysis is organized into three strands: (a) a descriptive analysis identifies the strikingly restricted visual lexicon and dominant corporate aesthetic established by tailfin design; (b) an interpretive analysis considers the communicative strategies at play and the meaning potentials which underpin different visual resources; (c) a critical analysis links these decisions of design and branding to the political and cultural economies of globalism and the airline industry. Specifically, we show how airlines are able to service national identity concerns through the use of highly localized visual meanings while also appealing to the meaning systems of the international market in their pursuit of symbolic and economic capital. One key semiotic resource is the balancing of cultural symbolism and perceptual iconicity in the form of abstracted stylizations of kinetic effects. Although positioned unfairly in the global semioscape, airlines may resist straightforward cultural homogenization by strategically reworking existing design structures and exploiting possibly universal semiotic meaning potentials. http://tc.eserver.org/29736.html http://tc.eserver.org/29736.html Talk with Gloria Reece, a senior member of STC’s AccessAbility SIG who can help you understand vision problems and the technologies that exist to make information accessible. Get practical advice for implementing new technologies in your workplace. http://tc.eserver.org/29646.html http://tc.eserver.org/29646.html In this paper, I describe web page design for those interested in conducting clinical, low vision studies. Ideally, web pages should be accessible and usable for all readers; however, the web is a highly visual medium for communication and creates serious accessibility issues for specialized (diverse needs) those with vision needs. Therefore, I propose that researchers consider a paramount and concurrent user-centered design approach when creating stimulus materials for these specialized audiences. This paper introduces readers to this design approach for a low vision audience as described in the WebText Study. http://tc.eserver.org/29705.html http://tc.eserver.org/29705.html Documentation departments have value; however because of the disconnection with the rest of the company, that value rarely get accurately communicated. Therefore, it is the department’s responsibility to show their value by becoming more visible. This paper describes how one technical writing department overcame negative perceptions by making themselves visible in five different ways. http://tc.eserver.org/29539.html http://tc.eserver.org/29539.html Scholarly conversation within the field of professional communication increasingly has focused on the practice, research, and pedagogy of visual rhetoric. Yet, visual thinking has received relatively little attention within the field. If our programs produce students who can think verbally but not visually, they risk producing writers who are visual technicians but are unable to move fluidly between and within modes of communication. This article examines the literature and pedagogical practices of visually oriented disciplines to identify strategies for helping students develop the ambidexterity of thought needed for the communication tasks of today's workplace. http://tc.eserver.org/29538.html http://tc.eserver.org/29538.html This article investigates the contribution visual rhetoric and rhetorical genre studies (RGS) can make to health care education and communication genres. Through a visual rhetorical analysis of a patient record used in an optometry teaching clinic, this article illustrates that a genre's visual representations provide significant insights into the social action of that genre. These insights are deepened by an insider analysis of the patient record that highlights how content analyses of visual designs need to be elaborated by contextual considerations. A combined visual rhetoric and RGS analysis shows that clinical novices learn to interpret the record's visual cues to safely traverse the complex requirements of this apprenticeship genre. The article demonstrates that visual rhetoric research can meaningfully contribute to the understanding of genres by presenting an enriched contextual analysis achieved by consulting with context insiders. http://tc.eserver.org/29529.html http://tc.eserver.org/29529.html This pilot study obtained baseline information on verbal and visual rhetorics to teach microscopy techniques to college biology majors. We presented cell images to students in cell biology and biology writing classes and then asked them to identify textual, verbal, and visual cues that support microscopy learning. Survey responses suggest that these students recognized some of the rhetorical strategies used and conflated others, revealing intriguing questions for further research in undergraduate microscopy education. http://tc.eserver.org/29511.html http://tc.eserver.org/29511.html An effective poster is not just a standard research paper stuck to a board. A poster uses a different, visual grammar. It shows, not tells. http://tc.eserver.org/29335.html http://tc.eserver.org/29335.html Tufte shares Orwell's impatience with doublethink and humbuggery, his insight that bad thinking and bad expression travel in a pair, and his awareness that they are usually deployed in the service of some brand of propaganda. http://tc.eserver.org/29334.html http://tc.eserver.org/29334.html Graphs and semigraphic displays are made for purposes. Different purposes usually call for different graphs. http://tc.eserver.org/29232.html http://tc.eserver.org/29232.html Professional communication scholars have defined the decorative narrowly and subordinated it to informational text. Yet, current psychological research indicates that decorative elements elicit emotion-laden reactions that may precede cognitive awareness and influence interpretation of images. We conceive the decorative in design, and specifically color, as a complex rhetorical phenomenon. Applying decorative and color theory and analyzing design examples illustrating aesthetic, ethical, and logical appeals, we present a range of potential uses for color in electronic media. http://tc.eserver.org/29030.html http://tc.eserver.org/29030.html The syntactic aspect of semiotic theory, especially its "aesthetic principle," is very influential in document design theories and practices. It has its roots in Burke's and Lessing s gender-related theories of images. Thus, it is laden with ideologies: it embodies our patriarchal attitudes and our iconophobia. Employing the semiotic theory in document design, we are making choices to reinforce the gender-related ideology in Burke's and Lessing's theories. It is time for us to re-conceive the "aesthetic principle" by de-emphasizing it and to adopt the reconciliation approach to design effective documents targeted at various rhetorical situations. http://tc.eserver.org/29104.html http://tc.eserver.org/29104.html We employ an array of terms to denote the visual; however, we have not yet agreed on a clear framework for understanding the function and relationship between visual concepts. I propose a literacy approach to the visual so that as educators, researchers, students, and practitioners, we acquire more than skills that rely on changing definitions and technologies but an intellectual faculty that provides the knowledge, understanding, and abilities that the visual affords. Through an analysis of arguments for visual instruction, I present the wayS in which scholars justify their claims about the visual. These arguments uncover the breadth and depth of the visual and contribute to a taxonomy of visual terminology. http://tc.eserver.org/29162.html http://tc.eserver.org/29162.html Andrew Feenberg's critical theory of technology is an underutilized, relatively unknown resource in technical communication which could be exploited not only for its potential clarification of large social issues that involve our discipline, but also specifically toward the development of a critical theory of illustrations. Applications of critical theory help strengthen our discipline by forcing us to delineate extant approaches and consider whether democratic goals are being achieved through those approaches. If a critical theory of illustrations can be built from Feenberg's critical theory of technology, it should be useful for classroom instructors and researchers as well as theorists. http://tc.eserver.org/29051.html http://tc.eserver.org/29051.html In visual querying, users analyze data for their decisions and problems by interacting with graphics that are dynamic and linked. This querying paradigm is new, a dramatic break from the more familiar retrieving of data via search statements and displaying of it in static charts and graphs. For this new visual querying paradigm, analysts conceptually and operationally need to master new approaches. To discover salient relationships, they need to manipulate displays. To drill down for detail or causes, they have to select data of interest directly from a graph. And to draw inferences, they have to consider meanings across several dynamically linked graphics. With the aim of studying users success in these new approaches, particularly focusing on the approach of directly selecting data from graphs, I conducted a scenario-based usability test with 10 data analysts. They interacted with visualizations to complete a realistic complex analysis evaluating employee performance. Test findings reveal a range of difficulties in visual selection that, at times, gave rise to inaccurate selections, invalid conclusions, and misguided decisions. To overcome these difficulties, support for visual selection needs to be built into interfaces and help. Results and recommended improvements are presented. http://tc.eserver.org/29069.html http://tc.eserver.org/29069.html For too long, journal articles and textbooks on scientific and technical discourse have adopted a positivistic approach to visuals. Unfortunately, this approach is problematic. It ignores that visuals are constructions that are products of a writer's interpretation with its own power-laden agenda. For example, in representing a tamed and dominated nature, visuals become instruments of patriarchy. Reading them responsibly requires that we uncover some of the values attached to the strategies of creating visuals and to the objects created. This article reviews the current approach taken by composition scholars, surveys richer interdisciplinary work on visuals, and-- by using visuals connected with the Human Genome Project--models an analysis of visuals as rhetoric. http://tc.eserver.org/29119.html http://tc.eserver.org/29119.html The recent trend of incorporating more visuals into communication challenges technical communicators, who must now possess both verbal and visual literacy. Despite all the recent scholarship on visual aspects of technical communication, technical communicators lack thorough guidelines for selecting and composing effective images that convey thematic and conceptual information, or what Schriver calls "stage-setting" images. This article reviews existing literature in visual communication and reports results of a study that assessed readers' opinions of themes conveyed by specific example images. It then suggests that the rhetorical tropes of metonymy and synecdoche can be used to identify images for conveying certain themes, and that successful stage-setting images will show intrinsic, not extrinsic, relationships to their thematic subject matter. http://tc.eserver.org/29046.html http://tc.eserver.org/29046.html Emphasis on page design, as an aid to visual accessibility, did not receive attention in modern technical writing until the 1970s. However, accounting documents and instructional texts utilized format and document design strategies as early as the twelfth century to enhance the organization of quantitative data and linear bookkeeping entries. Format in text was used to reflect the arrangement used in oral accounting practices and to produce uniform documents. Thus, format was integral to the rise of pragmatic literacy of the commercial reader. During the Renaissance, these early format strategies received impetus from Ramist method. The result was design strategies that attempted to capture the rigid principles of organization fundamental to commercial accounting. These early accounting documents also illustrate the plain style that would become the focus of the later decades of the seventeenth century. Clarity in language paralleled clarity in page design for the sole purpose of eliminating ambiguity on the page and on the sentence level. Plain style was thus nurtured by financial forces long before the advent of natural science. http://tc.eserver.org/28954.html http://tc.eserver.org/28954.html This interdisciplinary course focuses on studying and researching the role of rhetoric in the development of visual elements in texts. Students will be asked to both analyze and design visual texts, to analyze and critique ways in which visual rhetoric is defined, and to conduct primary research on an element of visual rhetoric. http://tc.eserver.org/28731.html http://tc.eserver.org/28731.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/27546.html http://tc.eserver.org/27546.html This study evaluated the effects of white space on visual search time. Participants were required to search for a target word on a web page with different levels of white space, measured by level of text density. Screens were formatted with one of four types of graphical manipulation, including: no graphics, contrast, borders and contrast with borders under two levels of overall density and three levels of local density. Results show that search times were longer with increased overall density but significant differences were not found between levels of local density. Only the use of contrast was found to be significant, resulting in an increase in search time. http://tc.eserver.org/27532.html http://tc.eserver.org/27532.html This study sought to determine if certain personalities and uses are associated with various fonts. Using an online survey, participants rated the personality of 20 fonts using 15 adjective pairs. In addition, participants viewed the same 20 fonts and selected which uses were most appropriate. Results suggested that personality traits are indeed attributed to fonts based on their design family (Serif, Sans-Serif, Modern, Monospace, Script/Funny) and are associated with appropriate uses. Implications of these results to the design of online materials and websites are discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/27547.html http://tc.eserver.org/27547.html In this study, reading performance with four white space layouts was compared. Margins surrounding the text and leading (space between lines) were manipulated to generate the four white space conditions. Results show that the use of margins affected both reading speed and comprehension in that participants read the Margin text slower, but comprehended more than the No Margin text. Participants were also generally more satisfied with the text with margins. Leading was not shown to impact reading performance but did influence overall user preference. http://tc.eserver.org/27110.html http://tc.eserver.org/27110.html Yet those of us who are fully sighted forget that as we make the Web our main information vehicle, we may be cutting out millions of customers or potential customers. And these millions (5 to 10 million in the U.S. alone, by some estimates) have every moral and legal right to have access to that information. http://tc.eserver.org/26851.html http://tc.eserver.org/26851.html How do software companies evaluate whether accessibility criteria mandated by law are met? Confirmation is often provided by filling out a checklist. However, the method used for determining compliance to the checklist is not specified. Typically the task of filling out the checklist is done by accessibility specialists, usability professionals, quality assurance testers, or, in one case we know of, the development team that wrote the software. We have conducted several types of accessibility evaluations, walkthroughs, and testing with scenarios by sighted test participants and testing by blind test participants. While testing with blind participants takes considerable preparation time, we have uncovered important findings that were not revealed with sighted participants. We consider accessibility testing by blind participants an important component of our evaluations. http://tc.eserver.org/26693.html http://tc.eserver.org/26693.html Explores some possible approaches to understanding typeface 'personality,' including empirical research and scholarly discussion, in the hopes of generating more discussion about how we can understand and use typeface personality when creating organizational identity packages. http://tc.eserver.org/26547.html http://tc.eserver.org/26547.html This class focuses on effective writing and design for online environments--with particular emphasis on the Web. While grounded in relevant theory, this course has a workshop format, with an emphasis on hands-on, collaborative learning. http://tc.eserver.org/26377.html http://tc.eserver.org/26377.html Understanding the dynamic qualities of typography through analogies with sound and music. http://tc.eserver.org/26375.html http://tc.eserver.org/26375.html Can sound and motion illustrate the personality of color? The Animation class at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design set out to discover the answer. http://tc.eserver.org/26341.html http://tc.eserver.org/26341.html Graphic design is everywhere, in every product, package, poster, and product of the modern world. Although the graphic design discipline was created less than a century ago, the world has since come to rely upon it. The world simply cannot function without graphic design and graphic designers. Yet graphic design is broader than any other creative profession. It is the third largest profession in the United States, far ahead of more commonly understood and respected vocations such as attorney, accountant, and educator. Graphic designers, who run the gamut from after-hours moonlighter through freelancer, solo- and team-creative, to agency and corporate designers, work in every city, town, and village in the world. Graphic design impacts everything and everyone. http://tc.eserver.org/26329.html http://tc.eserver.org/26329.html You can increase the effectiveness of your visual web designs and graphics by getting a little understanding of two human vision systems. http://tc.eserver.org/26319.html http://tc.eserver.org/26319.html Both spatial and visual rhetorics attend to issues of boundaries. From the structure of our classroom spaces to the margins of the page, rhetoric and compositionist are investigating the ways spatial and visual experiences are impacting our work as teachers and scholars. http://tc.eserver.org/25971.html http://tc.eserver.org/25971.html This article is for developers and content editors seeking to supplement the visual elements of a user interface with text equivalents. This article describes what text equivalents are, why they are required, how to create them, and the best approach to writing and editing them. http://tc.eserver.org/25888.html http://tc.eserver.org/25888.html Getting that just-right color is part art, part science. We'll show you. http://tc.eserver.org/25733.html http://tc.eserver.org/25733.html As a cognitive framework for making meaning of the world, the narrative provides a powerful form for structuring information, and has been adopted as a useful design framework for many communicative forms, including interactive media. This paper reports on the use of visual narrative for user-testing an interactive museum show. The viewers’ perceived narratives of a sequence of graphics from a show on brain science were compared to the designers’ intended narrative. Mapping the audience’s reading of the visual arguments proved a useful testing structure in developing the show, with color and pattern tracking proving especially critical when viewers experienced novel or abstract information. http://tc.eserver.org/25612.html http://tc.eserver.org/25612.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/25583.html http://tc.eserver.org/25583.html Native to the Internet and personal in approach, weblogs deliver bite-sized portions of information on a daily basis to an ever expanding audience. Weblogs are the conjunctions of the Internet: the ands, the buts the ors – they add to online conversations, refute them, or provide new perspectives altogether. http://tc.eserver.org/25490.html http://tc.eserver.org/25490.html Authenticity is something which must be constructed rather than simply accruing to verbal content, and visual and other design features are an inherent, but often overlooked, factor in this construction. http://tc.eserver.org/25014.html http://tc.eserver.org/25014.html Words seldom exist in a visual vacuum. With the exception of audio tapes and speeches, words are designed to be read-on book and magazine pages, on computer screens, even on product boxes. And how well those words are designed can greatly influence how often and closely they are read. To communicate effectively, good writers and editors must combine their words with good designs. http://tc.eserver.org/24978.html http://tc.eserver.org/24978.html Making documentation more visual is a two phase process. First comes the brainstorming, where ideas bubble up: the weird the funny, the wonderful, the breakthrough, the lame brain — no idea discriminated against, all equally enjoying the bright, spring air of the creative process. Once You begin to brainstorm you may find putting concepts into graphics is easier than you thought. Then comes the second phase: the hard realization that even if you throw out all the crazy ideas, you still have to pick and choose. You have to develop a strategy for graphic use, one that goes beyond the basic visual unity a good graphic designer can give a document. You have to see the graphics in light of the user's need. http://tc.eserver.org/24976.html http://tc.eserver.org/24976.html Many people prefer to use indexes to find the information they are looking for. As software products become more visual, so too can their indexes. Visual indexes allow users to find information about something without having to know what it’s called. And by organizing information in visual indexes by time, location, continuum or magnitude, or category, you can reveal aspects of a subject that might not otherwise be revealed. Visual indexes can be included in print and online. http://tc.eserver.org/24969.html http://tc.eserver.org/24969.html Many emerging nations have pre-technological cultures. These nations are striving to develop a new technological literacy that is heavily dependent on visual literacy, or the ability to 'read' images. This paper discusses some challenges for technical communicators in presenting technical graphics to users who are not fully functional in learned Western conventions and skills of pictorial representation, pictorial literacy, and pictorial perception aspects such as conceptualization, perspective and depth, scale, and analysis of component details. http://tc.eserver.org/24968.html http://tc.eserver.org/24968.html With the rush to adopt new methods of preparing graphics and the recognition that properly-prepared graphics cannot only enhance a document but may in some cases be the entire backbone of it, we need to recognize that special audiences may need extra attention when information is developed for their use. In this session, two speakers will discuss the challenges of preparing illustrated documents for pre-technological cultures and for audiences whose sight is impaired or absent. We invite you to explore these two challenges in communicating technical information. http://tc.eserver.org/24961.html http://tc.eserver.org/24961.html The visual practices of technical communication-the special use of graphics, page design, and typography, as well as the increasing reliance upon graphics software, multimedia technology, and data bases of various kindï¿distinguish the work we do from related forms of professional and academic communication. Though Visual Communication (VC) remains one of the smallest stems of the ITCC, it has traditionally offered some of the most innovative and best attended sessions of the conference. With a special emphasis on problem of design and technological change, this yearï¿s sessions should be no exception. http://tc.eserver.org/24857.html http://tc.eserver.org/24857.html An interactive experience of color communication and color symbolism. http://tc.eserver.org/24858.html http://tc.eserver.org/24858.html An online guide that explains color theory and shows how to use it in design through examples and exercises. http://tc.eserver.org/24855.html http://tc.eserver.org/24855.html This panel segment focuses on facilitating interactivity and teaching a visual subject matter in a distance (satellite) learning environment. http://tc.eserver.org/24856.html http://tc.eserver.org/24856.html Links to a variety of resources about visual rhetoric. http://tc.eserver.org/24792.html http://tc.eserver.org/24792.html Two of the panelists present visual devices they have used with large, multifunction systems. These devices are effective in presenting information about large systems to users performing diverse tasks and having different levels of experience, and are powerful tools to help writers or developers learn the system. The third panelist shows how these tools are effective in designing for fitness for use—whether you are maintaining legacy software or designing new products. http://tc.eserver.org/24790.html http://tc.eserver.org/24790.html The principles of graphic design 'work' for viewers for several reasons. One reason is that well-designed graphics perform significant information-processing functions for viewers. This workshop looks at individual differences in several dimensions of information-processing style (including visual/haptic,field independent/dependent, high/low detail analysis, high/low visual distractibility, and leveling/sharpening in visual memory). It then examines the ability of graphic designs to 'supplant' processing skills for viewers by either captializing on viewer strengths or compensating for their weaknesses. http://tc.eserver.org/24782.html http://tc.eserver.org/24782.html One of the biggest complaints about presentations that has been voiced far too frequently is 'The visuals were terrible.' This demonstration will show presenters that if they have visuals at all then they should be good visuals. It is as easy to make good visuals as it is to make poor ones.