User documentation - drawings or photographs?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Sylvia wondered: <<Originally all the graphics in our user  
documentation (MS Word) were done done in Corel Draw (vector). We  
slowly introduced photographs for procedures (Photoshop is easier)  
but the tendency is to slowly replace drawings with photographs. Some  
of these drawings were originally created because the product did not  
exist yet but most products were simply drawn with Corel Draw. It was  
my impression that vector graphics for user documentation was "more  
professional" even if we try to have nice photographs of the products.>>

It's not really a question of "professional", but rather one of  
effectiveness. Simplistically, photographs are most useful when you  
want to show everything the eye will see, exactly as the eye would  
see it. That's a "literal" image. Drawings are more useful when you  
want to eliminate irrelevant details so readers can focus only on  
what remains. That's called abstraction. The more details you need to  
eliminate so that you can see only what the author wants you to see,  
the more abstraction improves the effectiveness of the communication.

So the larger question is what product you're documenting, and what  
amount of visual information is necessary to communicate the key  
points. The less visual information you need, the more likely a  
drawing will prove superior to a photograph. Some relevant articles  
that might interest you:
http://www.geoff-hart.com/resources/2006/abstraction.htm
http://www.geoff-hart.com/resources/2007/words-plus-pictures.htm
http://www.geoff-hart.com/resources/2007/visual.htm


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
***Now available***  _Effective onscreen editing_
(http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/onscreen-book.htm)


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