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Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Chapter 9
Illustrations
Technical Communication:Strategies for College and the Workplace
by Dan Jones & Karen Lane
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustrations . . .
• get the reader’s attention and create interest
• explain information
• help the reader retaintext material
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Use Illustrations to . . .
• improve job performance
• help to make documents accessibleto an international audience
• assist non-readers— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Use Illustrations to . . .
• add credibility to your work
• promote creative thinking and effective reading
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Use Illustrations when . . .
• concepts in the text use numbers, symbols, or measures
• ideas are structural or pictorial
• readers are more visually than verbally oriented
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Use Illustrations if . . .
• the subject is too complex to explain with words alone
• your illustrative skills are stronger than your writing skills
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustrating Print Documents
• Use illustrations appropriately
• Refer to illustrations in the text before they are displayed
• Number all figures consecutively
• Number all tables separately from figures
— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustrating Print Documents
• Label illustrations properly
• Allow for sufficient white space on all sides
• Place illustrations so that they will fall within the top third, middle third, or bottom third of the page
— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustrating Print Documents
• Balance the amount of text and illustration
• Be sure all captions, callouts, and legends are legible
• Place landscape illustrations toward the top of the document, closer to the binding
— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustrating Print Documents
• Remember that foldout illustrations require special handling
• Ensure that all illustrations look professional
— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustrating Print Documents
• Cite the source of any borrowed or adapted illustration properly
• Include a list of tables and figures
• If illustrations are not essential to the text, place them in an appendix
— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustrating Online Documents
• Consider the medium
• Choose your illustrations wisely
• Select the format in which you will present your illustration
— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustrating Online Documents
• Choose illustrations with few colors and save them in a low-resolution format
• Size your illustration with respect to its context
• Keep illustrations near related text— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustrating Online Documents
• Keep shape and orientation of graphics and illustrations simple
• Apply text last
• Don’t resize the image once the text is in place
— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustrating Online Documents
• Adjust the contrast according to the background to make the illustration easier to interpret
• Use color carefully
— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustrating Online Documents
• Allow viewers to zoom in onthe illustration, if possible
• Restrict the movement of illustrations
— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustration Types and Purposes
Tables — display figures in rows and columns for the sake of comparison
Graphs — show trends, movements, distributions, and cycles
Charts — show relationships— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustration Types and Purposes
Drawings — portray a subject or object sketched manually by a professional
Diagrams — portray objects or events using conventionally defined symbols to convey information
Maps — display a physical layout— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustration Types and Purposes
Photographs — give precise,two-dimensional replicas
Clip Art — presents commercially produced icons and drawings
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Illustration Types and Purposes
Computer Illustrations — provide visual images using vectoror raster (pixel) programs
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Guidelines for Creating Illustrations
Do you want your information to . . .
• ask a question
• provide an answer
• create an emotional response
— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Guidelines for Creating Illustrations
Determine a specific objective:
• Who is your audience
• What decisions will they have to make
• How well will they be able to
understand the illustration
— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Guidelines for Creating Illustrations
• Select the type of presentation best suited to the data you are displaying
• Convey the information simply and directly
— continued —
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved.
Guidelines for Creating Illustrations
• Avoid ambiguity through labels and annotations
• Make the horizontal
and vertical scales
comparable— continued —