Incorporating

Visual Communication

in Technical Documentation

for Usability!

Visual Communication

WRITING

Making the Strange FAMILIAR

VISUAL THINKING

Visual Communication

“transcends the border between print and digital texts”

“MULTILITERACIES”

VISUAL

VERBAL

VISUALVERBAL

“Word and Image”

“the intimate interplay of words and images”

VISUAL

VERBAL

“dominated by visual rather thanoral or textual media”

LANGUAGES

LITERACIES

MULTILITERATE COMMUNICATORS

assume greater responsibility for DESIGN

“a foundation in the visual”

VISUAL LITERACY

“eyesight is a visual language”

IS NOT INTUITIVE

LEARNED

AND

PRACTICED

“LEXICENTRIC world view”

“We think in ways we have learned to TALK”

“Most of our students have learned to talk—as we have—

in verbal language,

not in visual language, and,

in turn,

they think verbally,

not visually”

MULTIPLE MODES OF THOUGHT

MULTIPLE MODES OF THOUGHT

OVERLAPS

“DISTINCT

cognitive modes that are interconnected and comparable in their

complexity”

Scott McCloud

a language

ALL ITS OWN

to HUMANIZE the process

USABILITY

“the combination of narrative,

character,

and graphic design helps communicate

a complicated subject

in a way that is

compelling and

easy to understand.”

“helped people understand them and

resulted in a more concise

communication of the concepts”

TOO LONG?

“comic art is a serious subject for information developers”

engaged with product-related information

“we should look to the comic as

an opportunity

that we can no longer ignore”

“Short two-to-three-minute video tutorials can be

your most powerful form of documentation.”

VISUALLY LITERATE

previously not the responsibility of the tech writer

“we can no longer consider [them] to be readers

in the traditional sense of the word”

USERS

VISUAL LITERACY

not the exclusive reserve of artists

USER RESEARCH

Localization!

Further Reading

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Johnson, Tom.I'd Rather Be Writinghttp://idratherbewriting.com

UXmatterswww.uxmatters.com

Kimball, Miles A., and Ann R. Hawkins.Document Design: A Guide for Technical Communicators

McCloud, Scott.Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

Sturken, Marita, and Lisa Cartwright.Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture