Chapter 12

Chapter 12

William Wegner

Jen Real

Objectives:

• Understand that visuals not only attract attention and create appeal but also benefit cognitive processing and learning

• Adapt visuals by varying the complexity of content, presentation, color and size to different audiences and different situation

• Make effective decisions about textual references and labeling and placement of visuals

• Carefully design of select visuals to fulfill specific functions:
  
  • provide immediate visual recognition
  • organize numeric or verbal data
  • show relationships among numeric or verbal data
  • Define or explain concepts, objects, and processes
  • Present chronology, sequence, or processes
  • Illustrate appearance of structure
  • Identify facilities or locations

• Use color appropriately and productively

• Visuals can be more specific than words
  • Words may be too general, and not express the exact thing you are trying to represent.
• Well-designed visuals can usually be understood more easily than text
  • Graphs can sometimes make numical data easier to translate.
• Visuals can be processed more quickly than text
  • Can take less time to process data in graph than text
• Visuals help readers learn.
  • Readers can be able to hold information longer from visuals rather than text.

Incorporating Visuals

• Visuals/Verbal Combinations .
  • The combination of visuals and text can complement each other.
• Well-designed visual situations:
  • Limited technical oriented audiences.
  • Speed of presentation.
  • Could be more clearly illustrated.

Adapting Visuals to Audiences

• Visuals need to be adapted to the correct audience and experience of the audience.

Conventions in Referencing and Placing Visuals

• Textual Reference.
  • Visuals should be refered by text.
• Labeling.
  • Explain what the visuals is and what parts are included in the visuals.
• Placement.
• Visuals should be close the text that is describing the visual.

Visual Functions

Function 1: Provide Immediate Visual Recognition

• Common sybols are sometimes more vonvenient and can be standard for any audiences.
• Examples.
• Bathroom signs
• Traffic signs
• Critical safety signs

Function 2: Organize Numeric or Textual Data

• Numerical tables with rows and columns allow for eaily sortable data.
• Text can also be presented in tables for easy explanations.

Function 3: Show Relationships

• Spatials relationships can show a small section of a larger visual for more definition.
• Quantitative relationships effectively show comparisons between data sets. (Line, Scatter, Pie, and Bar Graphs)
• Floating graph conventions are good ways to show more details of a general data set.

Function 4: Define Concepts, Objects, and Processes

• The use of visuals can show a process or a transformation.

Function 5: Present Action or Process

• Actions can be shown using visuals in a sequence.
• Charts can be used to show flow and sequence.

Function 6: illustrate appearance, structure, or function

• Physical characteristics are easier to present visually
• Diagrams and drawings are two of the more effective ways to show of parts of an item

• Diagrams illustrate the complex physical and structures of objects, mechanisms, and organisms.
• Drawings depict the actual appearance of an object, or organism.

Function 7: Identifying Facilities or Locations

• Identifying facilities and locations traditionally has meant maps and photographs.

• Maps also refer to a navigational tool used on the web, and workplace.
• Photographs are often made with digital cameras as well as traditional camera

• Maps – graphic information displayed on maps (called charts not maps for air or water). Maps are not only navigational tools but may also show topographical, demographic, agricultural, meteorological, and geological data.
• Photographs – are best used when you actually want to display the object it’s self. Appropriate when you want to emphasize the realism, particularly the natural features of a setting.

Conventions in Use of Color

Cautions against misuse of color

• Overuse of decorative color –eliminates functionality
• Too much color – distracts or annoys the readers
• Cultural insensitivity – violating cultural expectations can mean the use of color contradictions in either the workplace culture or the broader social culture.

Suggestions for Appropriate use of color

When color is used in technical documents it should be an integral part of the information that readers need.

• A few of the most important purposes

• Signal safety – use of colors to make a statement of safety (ex. Green=go, yellow=caution, red= stop).
• Attract attention – draw readers to the topic.
• Enable accurate identification – helps readers focus on critical features of the object.
• Show structure or organization – enable readers to better understand the structure displayed.
• Highlight components and their process or movement – show the readers a path for moving components.
• Aid comprehension – make and image easier to understand by adding colors where colors where not present before.
• Influence interpretation – enhance the ability for readers to understand and interpret visuals in a presentation.

Color in Designing Electronic Documents

• Consider the following when designing electronic documents

• Will the document be viewed on a screen with different resolution then the one you’re using?
• What will the lighting in the room be like? Brighter or darker then the room your currently in?
• Will the document be printed? If so test what the colors look like on paper as there is a big difference between the colors on the computer screen and on paper. And if the document will be printed in black and white instead of color how will the color images look when not in color.