RE: I need recommendations on technical illustrations books

["Eric Thomas" <ethomas -at- ftdi -dot- com>]

Well, I can't recommend an entire book on the subject, but there's a great
book called Graphics for Business by John McWade with a chapter named How to
draw great visual instructions. The book is published by Peachpit Press and
is from the creators of Before and After magazine (a great graphic design
magazine in its own right).

The example doesn't cover all of your requirements, but is a pretty nifty.
Additionally, the actual layout of the chapter (and book itself) serves as a
case study in effective illustration.

Your mileage may vary.

-Eric

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+ethomas=ftdi -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+ethomas=ftdi -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
Sharon Burton
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 11:10 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: I need recommendations on technical illustrations books


I'm looking for a book that explains how to create usable graphics in
technical manuals. I want my writers to learn about shades of gray,
effective color use, contrast, pleasing layout, what constitutes insanely
complex drawings and how to simplify, using callouts effectively, chunking
graphics to show more and more detail, that sort of thing. Examples and
before and afters are good. Product independent is best.

I know about Tufte and his books but they are too abstract for what I need.
Horton and his Icon book is good but I don't know that I can get the writers
to generalize from icons to half page drawings. I did a quick search of
google but there are too many to know what's great.


sharon

Sharon Burton
CEO, Anthrobytes Consulting
951-369-8590
www.anthrobytes.com
Immediate Past President of IESTC


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