Suomen tekniset dokumentoijat ry Syysseminaari 2002 Polishing your pictures

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

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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 3Show what you mean

24. 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

25. 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?

26. 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?

27. 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?

28. 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

29. 4Save your pictures properly

30. 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

31. 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?

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

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

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

37. 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

38. 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

39. 5In conclusion

40. 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

41. Questions? ?

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