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Suomen tekniset dokumentoijat ry Syysseminaari 2002 Polishing your pictures

Suomen tekniset dokumentoijat ry Syysseminaari 2002 Polishing your pictures. by Patrick Hofmann. Patrick Hofmann. Tervetuloa!. Anteeksi, en puhu suomea Minun nimeni on Patrick Hofmann I work at Quarry Integrated Communications near Toronto, Canada

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Suomen tekniset dokumentoijat ry Syysseminaari 2002 Polishing your pictures

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  1. Suomen tekniset dokumentoijat ry Syysseminaari 2002Polishing your pictures by Patrick Hofmann

  2. Patrick Hofmann Tervetuloa! • Anteeksi, en puhu suomea • Minun nimeni on Patrick Hofmann • I work at Quarry Integrated Communications near Toronto, Canada • I was trained as a technical writer but I’m mostly an illustrator

  3. The agenda 1 Problems with pictures 2 Build picture templates 3 Show what you mean 4 Save your pictures properly 5 Questions

  4. 1Problems with pictures

  5. Pictures are given too little priority • We include pictures “because we must” • We build our documents with templates, but not our pictures • We build meaningful words, but not meaningful pictures

  6. Pictures have too many formats • We deal with too many media -- and too many formats • We are encouraged to use the same picture file across many media • We think about our efficiency, but not the customer’s

  7. How do we solve these problems? • Build picture templates • Show what you mean • Save your pictures properly

  8. 2Build picture templates

  9. The problem • Pictures are drawn at different sizes, then squeezed into various spaces • When reduced dramatically, the pictures and text are often unreadable • As the destination sizes change, the text and line weights change

  10. The solution: build standard sizes • When creating pictures, consider the final destination size • If possible, draw at actual size • For both print and online

  11. Build standard attributes • Lines (line weight and colour) • Fills (shading and colour values) • Text (font, size, style, colour) • Annotations (line, text, alignment) • Use these attributes across all types of pictures

  12. The benefits • Like your document conventions, customers will become acquainted with your picture conventions • They will scan, read, and find meaning in your pictures much more quickly

  13. 3Show what you mean

  14. The problem • We build meaningful words, but not meaningful pictures • Pictures often seem to have no purpose • They are too often used to show physical proof -- with little meaning

  15. The solution: show what you mean • Plan the picture before “putting pen to paper” • Provide a focus of attention • Ask yourself: What is the message of the picture? What do I include/exclude?

  16. The solution: show what you mean • Plan the picture before “putting pen to paper” • Provide a focus of attention • Ask yourself: What is the message of the picture? What do I include/exclude?

  17. The solution: show what you mean • Plan the picture before “putting pen to paper” • Provide a focus of attention • Ask yourself: What is the message of the picture? What do I include/exclude?

  18. The benefits • If all pictures are meaningful, customers will rely on them to learn • If even one picture is unmeaningful, customers will disregard all of them • Saves you time in creating; saves customers time in reading

  19. 4Save your pictures properly

  20. The problem • Pictures are hard to read because of poor resolution • Pictures have been resized improperly, resulting in poor quality • A single picture file is used to satisfy several media types -- resulting in consistent quality

  21. The solution • Never resize already exported / bitmapped graphics • Always keep your raw picture files and only export from them • Ask yourself: what format and resolution does each destination require?

  22. Three media to consider • Hardcopylaser and press-printed documents • Online online help, web pages, and presentation material • PDF portable documents that are both viewed and printed

  23. For hardcopy documents • Typical manual graphicsvector: EPS/WMFraster: 300 dpi TIF/GIF • Cover graphics for film/offset printingvector: EPS/WMFraster: 1200 dpi TIF/JPG • Keep your raw drawing or paint file

  24. For online documents • Windows-based help72 ppi BMP • HTML pagesvector:Flash/SVGraster: 72 ppi GIF/JPG • Powerpoint presentations72 ppi BMP • If possible, create your picture at actual size

  25. For PDF documents • When you distill your hardcopy or online documents to PDF, specify how your graphics are compressed

  26. For PDF documents • Again, there are three media to consider: • Press • Print • Screen

  27. For PDF documents • Press • Select 300 dpi + maximum quality for colour/grayscale images, 1200 dpi for monochrome • Print • Same as Press but only high quality • Screen • 72 dpi for all images, with anti-aliasing

  28. The benefits • By keeping your raw files, you can easily expand and update to other formats and media • By targetting your picture resolution to different media, your pictures are more reliable • Potentially more file management, but happier customers

  29. 5In conclusion

  30. To polish your pictures • Create your picture templates • Plan the meaning of your picture • Use your templates to build consistent pictures • Save the picture properly • Always think like the customer

  31. Questions? ?

  32. Kiitos! • Minulla oli mukavaa! • For a copy of this presentation, or further discussion, please email me: phofmann@quarry.com

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