Linda Oestreich gave a presentation on information design at the STC Summit in Columbus, Ohio. She began by introducing herself and her background in technical communication. She then outlined what would be covered in the presentation, including definitions of information design, leaders in the field, creating personas, design principles like contrast and alignment, and examples of redesigning various documents. The presentation provided an overview of information design and how technical communicators can apply principles like using typography, color, proximity and contrast to improve how information is presented.
Linda Oestreich gave a presentation on information design. She began by introducing herself and her background in technical communication. She then outlined the topics she would cover, including definitions of information design, key leaders in the field, creating personas, applying design principles like contrast and repetition, using typography and color effectively, and before and after examples. Some of the main principles she discussed were Edward Tufte's ideas of macro/micro design and layering information. She also covered the C-R-A-P principles of contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity. The goal of information design, she stated, is to clearly communicate messages to users.
This document provides guidance on principles of data visualization. It discusses why we visualize data, such as to communicate findings and inspire action. The visualization process involves getting and cleaning data, setting goals, and choosing visual types based on the data and audience. Effective use of color, narrative, and networks are also covered. The document emphasizes knowing the audience to select the right visual type and story to engage them. Overall it provides a helpful overview of best practices for data visualization design and communication.
This document provides an overview of data visualization and narrative concepts. It begins by defining visualization and its functions, including using images, diagrams and animations to communicate information clearly and efficiently. It then discusses visualization processes like acquiring, cleaning and filtering data. Different visualization types are explained for relating different types of data. Theories of visualization as visual communication are also covered, looking at how visualization can frame information for observers. Overall, the document presents fundamental concepts, functions, processes and theories of data visualization and narrative.
Pecha Kucha - Edward Tufte Information Design books reviewBen Melbourne
This is a book review, in the Pecha Kucha format, of some Edward Tufte's book. It includes some of my favourites of the beautiful historical examples he uses to explain how his points of information design.
Principles of Design (part I) Gestalt Laws-Unity and Harmony SAAD ALZAROONI, CM
The document discusses Gestalt principles of design, specifically unity and harmony. It explains that according to Gestalt theory, humans naturally seek order and relationships between elements. To achieve unity, similar elements should be grouped together. The document then provides several examples to illustrate principles of unity, including unity and placement using lines, shapes, and repetition through lines and shapes.
Data driven storytelling tips from an iron viz champion ryan sleeperRyan Sleeper
"Data-Driven Storytelling: Tip from an Iron Viz Champion" is a presentation by Ryan Sleeper, Manager of Data Visualization & Analysis at Evolytics. Ryan Sleeper is the 2013 Tableau Iron Viz Champion. This presentation was presented at the 2014 Tableau Conference in Seattle, Washington on 9/9/2014. The presentation offers fifteen actionable tips for improving your data visualization. For more information, visit Evolytics.com/15tips
Presentation from the September 2010 Columbus Web Analytics Wednesday. The presenter was Tim Wilson of Resource Interactive. Download the presentation (PPT 2007) for notes embedded in the slides and some useful animations.
Linda Oestreich gave a presentation on information design. She began by introducing herself and her background in technical communication. She then outlined the topics she would cover, including definitions of information design, key leaders in the field, creating personas, applying design principles like contrast and repetition, using typography and color effectively, and before and after examples. Some of the main principles she discussed were Edward Tufte's ideas of macro/micro design and layering information. She also covered the C-R-A-P principles of contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity. The goal of information design, she stated, is to clearly communicate messages to users.
This document provides guidance on principles of data visualization. It discusses why we visualize data, such as to communicate findings and inspire action. The visualization process involves getting and cleaning data, setting goals, and choosing visual types based on the data and audience. Effective use of color, narrative, and networks are also covered. The document emphasizes knowing the audience to select the right visual type and story to engage them. Overall it provides a helpful overview of best practices for data visualization design and communication.
This document provides an overview of data visualization and narrative concepts. It begins by defining visualization and its functions, including using images, diagrams and animations to communicate information clearly and efficiently. It then discusses visualization processes like acquiring, cleaning and filtering data. Different visualization types are explained for relating different types of data. Theories of visualization as visual communication are also covered, looking at how visualization can frame information for observers. Overall, the document presents fundamental concepts, functions, processes and theories of data visualization and narrative.
Pecha Kucha - Edward Tufte Information Design books reviewBen Melbourne
This is a book review, in the Pecha Kucha format, of some Edward Tufte's book. It includes some of my favourites of the beautiful historical examples he uses to explain how his points of information design.
Principles of Design (part I) Gestalt Laws-Unity and Harmony SAAD ALZAROONI, CM
The document discusses Gestalt principles of design, specifically unity and harmony. It explains that according to Gestalt theory, humans naturally seek order and relationships between elements. To achieve unity, similar elements should be grouped together. The document then provides several examples to illustrate principles of unity, including unity and placement using lines, shapes, and repetition through lines and shapes.
Data driven storytelling tips from an iron viz champion ryan sleeperRyan Sleeper
"Data-Driven Storytelling: Tip from an Iron Viz Champion" is a presentation by Ryan Sleeper, Manager of Data Visualization & Analysis at Evolytics. Ryan Sleeper is the 2013 Tableau Iron Viz Champion. This presentation was presented at the 2014 Tableau Conference in Seattle, Washington on 9/9/2014. The presentation offers fifteen actionable tips for improving your data visualization. For more information, visit Evolytics.com/15tips
Presentation from the September 2010 Columbus Web Analytics Wednesday. The presenter was Tim Wilson of Resource Interactive. Download the presentation (PPT 2007) for notes embedded in the slides and some useful animations.
Information visualisation: Data ink design principlesErik Duval
The document discusses Erik Duval's presentation on Edward Tufte's principles of data ink design. It outlines Tufte's key principles: showing the data above all else, maximizing the data-ink ratio by removing non-data ink, erasing redundant data ink, and revising and editing visualizations. The data-ink ratio refers to the proportion of ink devoted to displaying non-redundant data information. The principles aim to clearly display the maximum amount of data with the minimum amount of graphical elements.
This document provides lessons and best practices for designing effective dashboards. It discusses principles like understanding user needs, focusing on data over visual design elements, maintaining a clean and minimalist design, and ensuring the dashboard is easy to read and guides user attention and actions. Specific tips include removing unnecessary content, using white space, maximizing the data-ink ratio, avoiding decoration that does not support understanding, and prioritizing communication over entertainment.
We spend much of our time collecting and analyzing data. That data is only useful if it can be displayed in a meaningful, understandable way.
Yale professor Edward Tufte presented many ideas on how to effectively present data to an audience or end user.
In this session, I will explain some of Tufte's most important guidelines about data visualization and how you can apply those guidelines to your own data. You will learn what to include, what to remove, and what to avoid in your charts, graphs, maps and other images that represent data.
The document discusses various techniques for visualizing data, from basic charts to approaches for big data. It covers common basic chart types like line graphs, bar charts, scatter plots, and pie charts. For big data, it addresses challenges like large data volumes, different data varieties, visualization velocity, and filtering. The document recommends understanding your data and goals to select the best visualizations, and introduces SAS Visual Analytics as a tool that performs automatic charting to help users visualize big data.
Data Visualization 101: How to Design Charts and GraphsVisage
Learn to design effective charts and graphs.
Your data is only as good as your ability to understand and communicate it. The right visualization is essential to incite a desired action, whether from customers or colleagues. But most marketers aren’t mathematicians or adept at data visualization. Fortunately, you don’t need a PhD in statistics to crack the data visualization code.
Fundamental Ways We Use Data VisualizationsInitial State
The document discusses 5 fundamental ways that data visualizations are used:
1. To analyze data through visual representations like charts, graphs, maps and plots in order to see trends, anomalies, correlations and patterns.
2. To discover information buried in large datasets through interactive visualizations that allow exploration of data to find unknown information.
3. To support a story by providing context, engaging audiences and emphasizing key points, as effective speakers use visuals to make stories memorable.
4. To tell a story on its own, with some data visualizations serving as the story without text.
5. To teach, as visual learning is more efficient and retains information better than text alone.
This document discusses text media and information design. It defines text as a format for presenting ideas in written, printed or digital form, which can come from formal or informal sources. Text media disseminates information through various publications and platforms using design elements like emphasis, proximity, alignment and organization to effectively convey messages. These elements create visual interest and consistency through techniques like repetition and contrast. The document also discusses how consumers and producers of content should approach and create text media through frameworks that consider the audience, purpose and format. Finally, it explores typography and different typefaces that can be used to express meaning and emotion in digital text.
1. The document provides instructions for creating a greeting card using design elements such as line, shape, color, space and type. It explains how to use templates in Microsoft Word or to design a card from scratch.
2. Examples of other graphic design projects that use similar design elements are also discussed, including calling cards, posters, flyers and website design.
3. Students are asked to complete self-check questions and a skills warm-up activity in the computer lab, and then design a greeting card in pairs for a performance task.
Layout design is the process of arranging visual elements like text, images, and shapes on a page. It is important for projects that convey messages visually, such as magazine layouts, website design, and advertisements. There are five key elements of layout design: text, images, lines, shapes, and white space. These elements are arranged following principles of emphasis, contrast, movement, repetition, proportion, alignment, and design thinking.
The document discusses the basic elements of design including line, direction, space, scale, texture, and color. It defines each element and provides examples to illustrate how they are used in design. Line is the most fundamental element and can be straight, curved, or various widths. Direction refers to how the eye moves across a design and common patterns include horizontal, vertical and diagonal flows. Space involves using positive and negative areas. Scale sizes elements to indicate importance through visual hierarchy. Texture adds properties like warmth and personality. Color conveys moods and meanings, with principles like using a color wheel to combine hues effectively. Mastering these basic design elements is essential for clear visual communication.
Graphic design is a form of visual communication that uses images, text, and design elements to convey a message. It involves creating visual representations of ideas and information to get across intended messages in various media such as logos, brochures, posters, and digital formats. Effective graphic design organizes information for clarity and expression according to principles of visual perception and composition. It aims to inform and influence audiences through meaningful visual design.
The document provides an introduction to design basics for tasks involving creating a yearbook cover, promotional posters, and yearbook pages. It defines graphic design as the process of visual communication through fonts, space, images, and color. It discusses the core elements of design - line, shape, color, value, texture, text, size, and space - as well as the principles of design - contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. Examples are given for each element and principle to demonstrate how they are applied in graphic design. The document concludes by assigning students a task to search for examples of professional graphic design that demonstrate these elements and principles.
This document discusses digital writing and its importance in education. Digital writing includes any writing that requires a computer to access, such as creative writing, hypertext, role playing, blogging, and multimedia compositions. Teachers should teach digital writing because students need skills in analyzing, learning, exploring, and problem solving using technology. The benefits of digital writing include providing broader audiences, encouraging creativity, and enabling more collaboration. While teachers don't need to change everything, they should rethink assignments to incorporate different tools, genres, audiences, and purposes.
Graphic design involves using visual elements like typography, images, color, and layout according to principles of design. The principles establish guidelines for effective visual communication and include balance, proximity, contrast, alignment, repetition, hierarchy, and use of color, space, and typography. Mastering the language of design established by these principles is key to creating impactful designs that communicate ideas visually.
This document provides guidelines for effective multimedia design. It discusses considering the audience, having a detailed outline and storyboard before creating the project. Key design principles include keeping the design clean, consistent, and using proximity, alignment, color and typography intentionally to optimize understanding and emphasis. The goal is to engage the audience while ensuring the form and design do not distract from the essential content.
Commercial Graphic Designing - dealing with presentationsTheTemplateWizard
Check a showcase of our Commercial Graphic Designing PowerPoint Presentation. Download Commercial Graphic Designing PowerPoint presentation now for great and creative presentation ideas on designing and visual branding. This is our general marketing powerpoint presentation on Commercial Graphic Designing. We invite you to download TheTemplateWizard's Commercial Graphic Designing PPT presentation for great ideas on commercial graphic designing presentations. We have created Commercial Graphic Designing sample powerpoint presentations that demonstrates how to use visuals and illustrations in your PowerPoint presentations.
The document discusses various principles, elements, components, and methods of design. It covers topics like principles of design including emphasis, balance, rhythm, and unity. It also covers elements of design such as line, shape, space, texture, value, color, and size. Additionally, it discusses components of design including visuals, color, typography, shape, white space, hierarchy, and enhancers. The document provides descriptions and examples for each topic.
Empowerment Technologies - Imaging and Design for the Online EnvironmentLany Lyn Magdaraog
This document provides an overview of key principles of graphics and layout for online design. It discusses concepts like alignment, balance, contrast, emphasis, gestalt, movement, proportion, proximity, unity, repetition, rhythm, and white space. It defines these principles and gives examples of how they can be applied in graphic design. The document is intended to cover basic principles that are important for imaging and design in an online environment.
This document discusses text and visual dimensions of information and media. It defines text as a simple format for presenting information that can be handwritten, printed, or displayed. Text is commonly used in hypertext, plaintext, and formatted text files. The document also discusses typefaces, font styles like serif, sans serif, and decorative fonts. It covers visual design principles for text like emphasis, appropriateness, proximity, alignment and organization. The document also defines visual media and its purposes in gaining attention and facilitating retention. It discusses visual design elements like line, shape, value, texture, color and form. Key visual design principles are also covered such as consistency, center of interest, balance, harmony, contrast and directional
The Cover Article is a ‘graphical ode’ to the year 2019 that brought new trends in designing with it.
The issue further features CorpTeaser Animation and Films, which has earned a reputation for providing high-quality videos that can boost revenues, Return on Investment (ROI)
Visual principles play an important role in education by helping teachers deliver lessons in creative ways. There are several goals of visual design including ensuring legibility, reducing effort to interpret messages, engaging viewers, and focusing on important parts of messages. When creating visuals, teachers should select elements like realistic, analogic, or organizational images and use verbal elements like letter styles, sizes, and spacing appropriately. Elements that add appeal include surprise, texture, and interaction.
Information visualisation: Data ink design principlesErik Duval
The document discusses Erik Duval's presentation on Edward Tufte's principles of data ink design. It outlines Tufte's key principles: showing the data above all else, maximizing the data-ink ratio by removing non-data ink, erasing redundant data ink, and revising and editing visualizations. The data-ink ratio refers to the proportion of ink devoted to displaying non-redundant data information. The principles aim to clearly display the maximum amount of data with the minimum amount of graphical elements.
This document provides lessons and best practices for designing effective dashboards. It discusses principles like understanding user needs, focusing on data over visual design elements, maintaining a clean and minimalist design, and ensuring the dashboard is easy to read and guides user attention and actions. Specific tips include removing unnecessary content, using white space, maximizing the data-ink ratio, avoiding decoration that does not support understanding, and prioritizing communication over entertainment.
We spend much of our time collecting and analyzing data. That data is only useful if it can be displayed in a meaningful, understandable way.
Yale professor Edward Tufte presented many ideas on how to effectively present data to an audience or end user.
In this session, I will explain some of Tufte's most important guidelines about data visualization and how you can apply those guidelines to your own data. You will learn what to include, what to remove, and what to avoid in your charts, graphs, maps and other images that represent data.
The document discusses various techniques for visualizing data, from basic charts to approaches for big data. It covers common basic chart types like line graphs, bar charts, scatter plots, and pie charts. For big data, it addresses challenges like large data volumes, different data varieties, visualization velocity, and filtering. The document recommends understanding your data and goals to select the best visualizations, and introduces SAS Visual Analytics as a tool that performs automatic charting to help users visualize big data.
Data Visualization 101: How to Design Charts and GraphsVisage
Learn to design effective charts and graphs.
Your data is only as good as your ability to understand and communicate it. The right visualization is essential to incite a desired action, whether from customers or colleagues. But most marketers aren’t mathematicians or adept at data visualization. Fortunately, you don’t need a PhD in statistics to crack the data visualization code.
Fundamental Ways We Use Data VisualizationsInitial State
The document discusses 5 fundamental ways that data visualizations are used:
1. To analyze data through visual representations like charts, graphs, maps and plots in order to see trends, anomalies, correlations and patterns.
2. To discover information buried in large datasets through interactive visualizations that allow exploration of data to find unknown information.
3. To support a story by providing context, engaging audiences and emphasizing key points, as effective speakers use visuals to make stories memorable.
4. To tell a story on its own, with some data visualizations serving as the story without text.
5. To teach, as visual learning is more efficient and retains information better than text alone.
This document discusses text media and information design. It defines text as a format for presenting ideas in written, printed or digital form, which can come from formal or informal sources. Text media disseminates information through various publications and platforms using design elements like emphasis, proximity, alignment and organization to effectively convey messages. These elements create visual interest and consistency through techniques like repetition and contrast. The document also discusses how consumers and producers of content should approach and create text media through frameworks that consider the audience, purpose and format. Finally, it explores typography and different typefaces that can be used to express meaning and emotion in digital text.
1. The document provides instructions for creating a greeting card using design elements such as line, shape, color, space and type. It explains how to use templates in Microsoft Word or to design a card from scratch.
2. Examples of other graphic design projects that use similar design elements are also discussed, including calling cards, posters, flyers and website design.
3. Students are asked to complete self-check questions and a skills warm-up activity in the computer lab, and then design a greeting card in pairs for a performance task.
Layout design is the process of arranging visual elements like text, images, and shapes on a page. It is important for projects that convey messages visually, such as magazine layouts, website design, and advertisements. There are five key elements of layout design: text, images, lines, shapes, and white space. These elements are arranged following principles of emphasis, contrast, movement, repetition, proportion, alignment, and design thinking.
The document discusses the basic elements of design including line, direction, space, scale, texture, and color. It defines each element and provides examples to illustrate how they are used in design. Line is the most fundamental element and can be straight, curved, or various widths. Direction refers to how the eye moves across a design and common patterns include horizontal, vertical and diagonal flows. Space involves using positive and negative areas. Scale sizes elements to indicate importance through visual hierarchy. Texture adds properties like warmth and personality. Color conveys moods and meanings, with principles like using a color wheel to combine hues effectively. Mastering these basic design elements is essential for clear visual communication.
Graphic design is a form of visual communication that uses images, text, and design elements to convey a message. It involves creating visual representations of ideas and information to get across intended messages in various media such as logos, brochures, posters, and digital formats. Effective graphic design organizes information for clarity and expression according to principles of visual perception and composition. It aims to inform and influence audiences through meaningful visual design.
The document provides an introduction to design basics for tasks involving creating a yearbook cover, promotional posters, and yearbook pages. It defines graphic design as the process of visual communication through fonts, space, images, and color. It discusses the core elements of design - line, shape, color, value, texture, text, size, and space - as well as the principles of design - contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. Examples are given for each element and principle to demonstrate how they are applied in graphic design. The document concludes by assigning students a task to search for examples of professional graphic design that demonstrate these elements and principles.
This document discusses digital writing and its importance in education. Digital writing includes any writing that requires a computer to access, such as creative writing, hypertext, role playing, blogging, and multimedia compositions. Teachers should teach digital writing because students need skills in analyzing, learning, exploring, and problem solving using technology. The benefits of digital writing include providing broader audiences, encouraging creativity, and enabling more collaboration. While teachers don't need to change everything, they should rethink assignments to incorporate different tools, genres, audiences, and purposes.
Graphic design involves using visual elements like typography, images, color, and layout according to principles of design. The principles establish guidelines for effective visual communication and include balance, proximity, contrast, alignment, repetition, hierarchy, and use of color, space, and typography. Mastering the language of design established by these principles is key to creating impactful designs that communicate ideas visually.
This document provides guidelines for effective multimedia design. It discusses considering the audience, having a detailed outline and storyboard before creating the project. Key design principles include keeping the design clean, consistent, and using proximity, alignment, color and typography intentionally to optimize understanding and emphasis. The goal is to engage the audience while ensuring the form and design do not distract from the essential content.
Commercial Graphic Designing - dealing with presentationsTheTemplateWizard
Check a showcase of our Commercial Graphic Designing PowerPoint Presentation. Download Commercial Graphic Designing PowerPoint presentation now for great and creative presentation ideas on designing and visual branding. This is our general marketing powerpoint presentation on Commercial Graphic Designing. We invite you to download TheTemplateWizard's Commercial Graphic Designing PPT presentation for great ideas on commercial graphic designing presentations. We have created Commercial Graphic Designing sample powerpoint presentations that demonstrates how to use visuals and illustrations in your PowerPoint presentations.
The document discusses various principles, elements, components, and methods of design. It covers topics like principles of design including emphasis, balance, rhythm, and unity. It also covers elements of design such as line, shape, space, texture, value, color, and size. Additionally, it discusses components of design including visuals, color, typography, shape, white space, hierarchy, and enhancers. The document provides descriptions and examples for each topic.
Empowerment Technologies - Imaging and Design for the Online EnvironmentLany Lyn Magdaraog
This document provides an overview of key principles of graphics and layout for online design. It discusses concepts like alignment, balance, contrast, emphasis, gestalt, movement, proportion, proximity, unity, repetition, rhythm, and white space. It defines these principles and gives examples of how they can be applied in graphic design. The document is intended to cover basic principles that are important for imaging and design in an online environment.
This document discusses text and visual dimensions of information and media. It defines text as a simple format for presenting information that can be handwritten, printed, or displayed. Text is commonly used in hypertext, plaintext, and formatted text files. The document also discusses typefaces, font styles like serif, sans serif, and decorative fonts. It covers visual design principles for text like emphasis, appropriateness, proximity, alignment and organization. The document also defines visual media and its purposes in gaining attention and facilitating retention. It discusses visual design elements like line, shape, value, texture, color and form. Key visual design principles are also covered such as consistency, center of interest, balance, harmony, contrast and directional
The Cover Article is a ‘graphical ode’ to the year 2019 that brought new trends in designing with it.
The issue further features CorpTeaser Animation and Films, which has earned a reputation for providing high-quality videos that can boost revenues, Return on Investment (ROI)
Visual principles play an important role in education by helping teachers deliver lessons in creative ways. There are several goals of visual design including ensuring legibility, reducing effort to interpret messages, engaging viewers, and focusing on important parts of messages. When creating visuals, teachers should select elements like realistic, analogic, or organizational images and use verbal elements like letter styles, sizes, and spacing appropriately. Elements that add appeal include surprise, texture, and interaction.
Visual principles play an important role in education by helping teachers deliver lessons in creative ways. There are several goals of visual design like ensuring legibility, reducing effort to interpret messages, and focusing attention on important parts. When creating visuals, teachers should select elements like realistic, analogic, or organizational visuals and consider verbal elements like letter style, color, and size. Elements that add appeal include surprise, texture, and interaction to engage learners. Overall, visuals can help simplify complex ideas and motivate learning.
Visual principles play an important role in education by helping teachers deliver lessons in creative ways. There are several goals of visual design including ensuring legibility, reducing effort to interpret messages, engaging viewers, and focusing on important parts of messages. When creating visuals, teachers should select elements like realistic, analogic, or organizational images and use verbal elements like letter styles, sizes, and spacing appropriately. Elements that add appeal include surprise, texture, and interaction.
Visual principles play an important role in education by helping teachers deliver lessons in creative ways. There are several goals of visual design like ensuring legibility, reducing effort to interpret messages, and focusing attention on important parts. When creating visuals, teachers should select elements like realistic, analogic, or organizational visuals and consider verbal elements like letter style, color, and size. Elements that add appeal include surprise, texture, and interaction to engage learners. Overall, visuals can motivate learners and simplify complex information.
Visual principles play an important role in education by helping teachers deliver lessons in creative ways. There are several goals of visual design including ensuring legibility, reducing effort to interpret messages, engaging viewers, and focusing on important parts of messages. When creating visuals, teachers should select elements like realistic, analogic, or organizational images and use verbal elements like letter styles, sizes, and spacing appropriately. Elements that add appeal include surprise, texture, and interaction.
Ähnlich wie Information Design for Technical Communicators: Scratching the Surface (20)
This document provides an overview of a technical editing workshop. It includes the schedule, introduction of the presenter, and definitions of technical editing. The value of technical editing is discussed, including improving quality, reducing costs, and increasing sales and productivity. Finally, the document discusses defining and measuring quality and value through metrics.
Linda Oestreich gave a presentation on speed editing titled "Delivering your best with the least". She outlined several key steps to take when doing a speed edit: 1) Be prepared with the necessary style guides, checklists, and tools; 2) Know your own abilities and limitations as well as how to use your editing tools; 3) Quickly skim the document to understand its length, complexity, organization, purpose, and intended audience; 4) Prioritize which areas of the document to focus on first based on its needs; 5) Edit the document while following your priorities and quality control checks; 6) Know when to stop editing in order to deliver a high quality final product on time.
The document discusses online education, outlining both its challenges and benefits. It begins with definitions of online course types and an overview of data showing that academic leaders see online learning as critical to their long-term strategies and believe learning outcomes are comparable to or better than face-to-face instruction. Challenges discussed include technology issues, student and faculty abilities, and retaining students online. Benefits include flexibility, convenience, and developing technology skills. Student feedback provides mixed views, with some praising flexibility while others prefer face-to-face interaction. In conclusion, the author believes online education's benefits outweigh challenges for technical communication topics.
Technical Editing: The Foundation of a Quality ProductLinda Oestreich
The document discusses technical editing and provides an overview of the topic. It defines technical editing as editing specialized subject matter documents that address a specific audience using its own jargon in an objective manner. The document outlines the value of technical editing in improving document quality and usability. It also discusses defining quality goals and metrics to measure how editors contribute to quality. Different types and levels of edits are reviewed, from informal to classic edits and content-focused versus rules-focused edits.
The document discusses online education and compares its benefits and challenges. It provides data showing that most academic leaders see online learning as critical to their long-term strategy and believe its learning outcomes are equivalent to or better than face-to-face instruction. While online education provides benefits like flexibility and convenience, challenges include technology issues, student isolation, and developing engaging online content. Student and instructor feedback reflects both advantages and disadvantages of the online medium. Overall, the presentation concludes that online education's benefits outweigh its challenges for technical communication topics.
Here are some pros and cons of using grammar checkers:
Pros:
- Can catch basic grammatical errors like subject-verb agreement issues, incorrect verb tense, etc.
- Help maintain consistency in grammar usage
- Provide another set of "eyes" to catch mistakes
Cons:
- Often miss errors involving complex sentences or ambiguous grammar
- Don't understand context or intended meaning
- May flag constructions that are technically grammatical but awkward
- Can disrupt writing flow by interrupting with frequent error messages
- Require manual review of all flagged issues, adding time to the editing process
In summary, grammar checkers are helpful supplementary tools but shouldn't replace careful human editing, as they have limitations in
Online Education: Where Benefits Outweigh ChallengesLinda Oestreich
Slides to accompany STC Summit presentation for Wednesday, 24 June 2015. Discuss class formats, academic analysis and metrics, and case history of presenter's experience moving from standup instructor to virtual one.
This document contains the agenda and presentation materials for a strategic leadership workshop presented by Linda Oestreich to the STC-Houston chapter on November 10, 2012. The workshop objectives are to help participants understand concepts of leadership, their role as leaders, and how to prioritize leadership needs for their chapter. The presentation covers defining leadership traits, different leadership roles, evaluating strengths and weaknesses, and developing a strategic leadership plan with goals, alignment of members, and ongoing motivation. The workshop provides guidance on effective communication, outcome-based planning, and finding one's own leadership style.
This document discusses ethics in the workplace. It begins by outlining some basic ethical presuppositions and imperatives like respecting others, helping people, being honest and fair. It then discusses codes of conduct and views on their role and effectiveness. Several workplace ethics dilemmas are presented along with approaches to evaluate ethical decisions. The document emphasizes that ethics is a continual process and companies should lead by example through their leaders' behavior.
The document discusses the state of the technical communication profession. It summarizes that STC has hired an economist to provide a salary database for technical writers based on industry and geography. Additionally, STC is working to update the definition of technical writer to technical communicator with the Department of Labor, though they decided to keep the current definition for now. The document also discusses globalization efforts like partnering with localization organizations, an upcoming trip to China to meet with technical communicators there, and standards and partnerships within the technical communication field.
This document discusses leadership and provides tips for developing leadership skills. It begins by asking why someone would want to be led by you and if you have the qualities of a good leader. It then defines leadership, discusses common myths and theories of leadership, and identifies trust and communication as two key aspects of leadership. The document outlines four competencies of effective leadership and provides a leadership strategy cycle of intent, behavior, effect, and adjustment. It concludes with exercises for individuals and teams to assess leadership styles and practice leadership skills.
The document discusses different approaches to defining the types and levels of edits that technical editors perform, including rule-based definitions focusing on grammar and style, content-based definitions prioritizing technical accuracy, and informal hierarchies of editing tasks. It also explores how types of edits can be mapped to types of software testing and how definitions have evolved over time to simplify complex models. The goal is to establish a common language and framework for discussing the work of technical editors.
The document discusses technical editing in the 2010s. It provides an overview of an editor's toolbox, which includes style guides, dictionaries, checklists, software and soft skills. It also discusses different types of editing like copy editing, substantive editing, and different levels of editing. The document encourages establishing common language and guidelines to facilitate the editing process. It addresses challenges in today's workplace for editors, such as managing remote teams and tight schedules. Overall, the document aims to provide guidance to technical editors on best practices.
Expanded Roles and Added Value for Technical CommunicatorsLinda Oestreich
This document summarizes a panel discussion from the 2011 STC Technical Communication Summit on expanded roles and added value for technical communicators. The panelists discussed their careers in technical communication and moving into roles in areas like business planning, corporate communications, information design, information security, and project management. They emphasized skills like communication, learning new skills, networking, and obtaining meaningful certifications to expand career opportunities.
Practical eLearning Makeovers for EveryoneBianca Woods
Welcome to Practical eLearning Makeovers for Everyone. In this presentation, we’ll take a look at a bunch of easy-to-use visual design tips and tricks. And we’ll do this by using them to spruce up some eLearning screens that are in dire need of a new look.
International Upcycling Research Network advisory board meeting 4Kyungeun Sung
Slides used for the International Upcycling Research Network advisory board 4 (last one). The project is based at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK, and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Discovering the Best Indian Architects A Spotlight on Design Forum Internatio...Designforuminternational
India’s architectural landscape is a vibrant tapestry that weaves together the country's rich cultural heritage and its modern aspirations. From majestic historical structures to cutting-edge contemporary designs, the work of Indian architects is celebrated worldwide. Among the many firms shaping this dynamic field, Design Forum International stands out as a leader in innovative and sustainable architecture. This blog explores some of the best Indian architects, highlighting their contributions and showcasing the most famous architects in India.
2. Who am I?
Technical communicator
Key roles: technical writer, technical editor, doc manager,
strategic/business analyst, college instructor
Key skills: analysis, problem solving, leadership, teaching, creativity,
public speaking, facilitation, writing, editing
Industries: software development, government, property
management, geophysics, science and engineering,
corporate communications
STC: Fellow, Society leader (President, VP, Director-Sponsor,
Annual Conference Program Manager), chapter leader, STC
conference presenter, mentor
Hobbies: dogs, cats, reading, movies, gardening, Facebook
2
3. Where we’re going
What, who, and why
Definitions
Favorite leaders in the field
Personas (audience)
Principles and examples
Typography and color
Before and afters
Done
3
4. What, who, and why?
What? Info design is “The translating of complex, unorganized, or
unstructured data into valuable, meaningful information.” (STC Info Design
SIG) Info design affects everything a human being’s senses can absorb and
translate into meaning.
Who? Specialists and generalists in areas such as graphic design,
information architecture, interaction design, usability engineering, human
computer interaction, writers, editors, library science, and human factors
(most all of whom can be called technical communicators!).
Why? Because it includes so much that we see and use: printed matter,
information graphics, websites, and interactive, environmental, and
experimental design in products such as:
4
• Maps • Forms
• Brochures • Ballots
• Websites • Logos, and brands
• Roadway, airport, city signage • Rx instructions
5. Definitions
Schriver: Information design is the art and science of integrating
writing and design so that people can use content in ways that suit
their personal goals. Document design is the act of bringing together
prose, graphics (including illustration and photography), and
typography for the purposes of instruction, information, or
persuasion. Good document design enables people to use the text
in ways that serve their interests and needs....the reader's needs
should drive design activity.
Redish: (1) It is the overall process of developing a successful
document—(2) It is the way the information is presented on the page
or screen (that means layout, typography, color, and so forth).
Carliner: Information design can be hard to define, because it is an
interdisciplinary approach which combines skills in graphic design,
writing and editing, illustration, and human factors. Information
designers work to combine skills in these fields to make complex
information easier to understand. 5
6. Favorite leaders in the field?
6
Edward Tufte (also see Information Sage)
Jakob Nielsen
Karen Schriver
Ginny Redish
Saul Carliner
7. First, define your personas
A persona is a composite of the words, attitudes,
appearances, and needs of your audience.
Personas help you design for an individual that you can
“see” rather than for an abstract entity that you’ve
researched.
Identifying personas for your products adds dimension,
reality, and familiarity; solidifies the shift you must make
from what the client needs to what the audience needs;
and it redirects the source and content of your design to
the audience.
7
8. Seven steps to creating a persona
8
7. Use your info to write scenarios for your site.
6. Include the persona’s goals and tasks.
5. Use your info to create personas.
4. Gather your audiences’ questions, tasks, and stories.
3. List major characteristics for each audience.
2. Gather info about your audience.
1. List your major audience.
– G. Redish
9. Sample persona
Senior Technical Writer for ABC Company, 45 years old, married, with two kids
M.A. in English; taught freshman comp while grad student
Nearly 20 years experience in technical writing with a four-year break to have her children
Worked for the same company for the past 12 years
Senior member of STC; attends local meetings a couple of times a year; went to one conference
when it was in a nearby city many years ago
Has no accounting or business training, but has attended many company seminars on their
technology
Quote: "How can I get management to understand what we're up against? We're overworked and no
one seems to care. And now they expect me to handle translations!"
Narrative: Caroline got into technical writing as a way to use her exceptional writing skills. She
likes the writing and has evolved into the natural leader of the small writing group. ABC Company
is expanding beyond its U.S. base into Europe and possibly Japan. She knows from reading
Intercom and the STC journal that they may want to think about how to write for translation….
Additional areas to identify:
Key attributes
Tasks
Informational needs/goals
Scenario of use
9
Caroline Landry, Senior Technical Writer
10. Applying the principles
Tufte believes that “principles of info design are
universal—like mathematics—and are not tied to unique
features of a particular language or culture.” (Envisioning
Information, 1990)
Zimmerman believes that the same principles apply to
whatever is being designed—paper, posters, web pages,
logos, etc.
10
11. Tufte’s main principles of info design
Macro/micro design: the micro details that cumulate (mix) into larger
macro structures or overall patterns
Layering and separation: visually stratifying or ordering data to
establish proper relationships among types of information; separate
layers by distinctions of texture, weight, shape, value, size, or color
Small multiples: using data-thick slices of information to offer
variations on a theme-keeping comparisons within the reader’s view
(chunking)
Color and information: tie color to information—but difficult to
achieve. Color has several fundamental uses in info design:
To label (color as shown); to measure (color as quantity); to represent
or imitate reality (color as representation); and to enliven or decorate
(color as beauty)
Integration of words and images: represents heart of info design.
Bringing together words and images enables the designer to tell a
story; single purpose is to effectively present information. 11
12. C-R-A-P
The C-R-A-P acronym is widely used across the field of design to
group the principles of contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.
Both Robin Williams and Garr Reynolds feature this grouping in their
respective books shown in the references.
Contrast: most important visual attraction; if elements are not
purposely the same—you must make them visibly different
Repetition: repeat of visual elements—color, shapes, textures, and
so forth—all things that help develop organization and strengthen
unity
Alignment: no arbitrary placements of information! Everything must
have a visual connection with other elements on the page or you
need to remove it
Proximity: group items with a purpose in mind. When things are
grouped, your readers see them as one unit. Grouping sets
organization while reducing clutter and providing structure. 12
17. Alignment in text
17
Bad alignment – large blocks of centered
text appear messy and don’t give the
viewer a clear place to start. The random
placement of links is confusing and doesn’t
connect to the other text.
Good alignment – left alignment is always
best; we read from left to right, so a strong
left alignment is pleasing on the eye.
Blocks of text are evenly spaced with each
other and the edge of the page.
21. Proximity examples
21
Bad proximity – subheadings aren’t used so the
three services appear as one block. Call-to-
action text is completely lost underneath the
services.
Good proximity—subheadings are used in
addition to main headings to visually break up
sections of text. Call-to-action text is separated
from other text with a different style to stand out
(a strong background color is effective for call-
to-actions).
25. Introducing type
The word typography derives from the Greek
roots typos (“impression”) and graphein (“to
write”). Typography is the use of letterforms to
visually communicate a verbal language. Since
letterforms are shaped by the culture that gave
rise to them, their use for typographic means is
part of a culture's visual language.
Typography has developed over the last 600
years as the printing process has evolved.
Type is the means by which an idea is written
and given visual form.
Type is closely connected to language and is
affected by reading direction and the history of
the country in which it is used.
25
28. The Univers family
21 type styles, designated by numerals.
Univers 55 is the “parent.”
First digit is the stroke weight
Second digit indicates
28
expansion and
contraction
between the
letters.
Roman = odd
numbers;
oblique = even
numbers
29. Type contrasts (don’t be a wimp!)
Size—point size and type style
Weight—thickness of the strokes
Structure—how it is built
Form—shape of the letters
Direction—how the eye follows
Color—cool and warm hues
29
30. Typographic relationships
Concordant: use one type family without much variety;
page is harmonious & quiet (dull?).
Conflicting: combine typefaces that are similar but
different. When similarities aren’t different enough to
contrast, but too different to be concordant, you create
confusion.
Contrasting: combine separate typefaces and elements
that are clearly distinct from each other—can result in
appealing and exciting designs that attract attention…or
be so confusing you cause a train wreck!
30
– R. Williams
31. Color
Color is an inherent component of graphic
design
Color represents many things such as
character
mood
ability
resonance
31
“The way we see things is affected by what we know or
what we believe.” (J Berger, The Art of Seeing)
32. Color wheel
32
Primary: yellow, red, blue
Secondary: Green,
purple, orange
Tertiary: combos of the
above to make the 12
colors in the color wheel
Note: In CMYK color
model, black is the
combination of all
colors and white is
the absence of all
colors.
33. Color relationships
Complementary
Triads
Split complement triads
Analogous
Shades, tints, tones,
and monochromes
Warm and cool
CMYK and RGB 33
42. In the end…
The goal of any information design task is
to communicate a specific message to the
end user in a way that is clear, accessible,
and easy to understand.
Technical communicators must know
enough about information design to
present their messages to meet that goal.
42
44. References
Presentation Zen (2008), by Garr Reynolds
[Read the Six Minutes book review.]
slide:ology (2008), by Nancy Duarte
[Read the Six Minutes book review.]
The Non-Designer’s Design Book (1994), by Robin Williams
How to Create Pro Slides in Less Time: Don’t Worry, Be CRAPpy; Chiara Ojeda,
(2012) (http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/contrast-repetition-alignment-proximity/)
Basic color schemes - Introduction to Color Theory (http://www.tigercolor.com/color-
lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm)
Color Works: Best Practices for Graphic Designers (2013), by E. Opara & J.
Cantwell, Rockport Publishing
Information Design Workbook (2010), by K. Baer
Typographic Design: Form and Communication, 5th Ed (2011), by Rob Carter et al.
“Applying Tufte’s Principles of Information Design to Creating Effective Web Sites,”
Beverly B. Zimmerman, Brigham Young University, SIGDOC 97 Snowbird Utah, 1997
beverly_zimmerman@byu.edu
44