English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

The readings for this week gave me a lot of great ideas to use for my instructions project. One of the things that stuck with me most was properly using white space. I guess this is one of those things that I had always taken for granted. I know that in my own personal experience, if I didn't like the design of a document, chances are I would skip it unless I really had to read it. Whether it was instructions for assembling something, or reading people's resumes, if it wasn't visually appealing it didn't get read.

From the readings, it’s clear that design is not purely for aesthetics, but it has a huge impact on your credibility and usability. But one should not underestimate looks when it comes to designs. I know a lot of people that use Mac and Apple products simply because they’re “cute”, and another that does not use a brand new laptop because it is “ugly”.

The importance of a design is absolutely crucial, as the Instructor Blog #5 stated, “Design is much more crucial than many people realize. It is not merely something that dresses up information; design is how users interact with data.” As a Computer Graphic Technology major,
I have used almost all these strategies that are provided in the Thomas Handbook. I think the book did a great job in emphasizing the importance of graphic elements in a design.

Does anybody else find it ironic that we’re reading about useful instructions and efficient formatting from a book with such an abstract design? Chapter 24 even stresses the importance of an effective layout in the first few sentences. When reading this book, I usually start with the narrow columns along the outer edges of the pages, but I constantly feel as though the pictures near the center are trying to draw my eyes away from the text. I’d agree that the examples are informative, but I often find myself losing my place and getting off track.

After reading through chapter 24, there really wasn't much that I found to be interesting. Most of the information that was presented in this chapter dealt with presenting pure facts in the form of a graph or table. Another large portion of this information talks about how to present graphics in order to persuade someone. This information doesn't directly affect my thoughts on this current project, but there was a few things that I found interesting. One main topic that I found appealing was the portion dedicated to explaining how to insert graphs and charts into a word document.

From reading this weeks chapters and the instructor’s blog, I have learned some of the basics of how to effectively present information. With adding what we have learned form the previous course work we are becoming better writers. My thought process is changing with learning and refreshing material.

Throughout this week’s readings, I’ve gathered a number of new composition methods to utilize, and guidelines to follow, to produce more clear and effective documents. I found The Thompson Handbook to be a real asset in covering this material, as it is rich with effective design.

A good friend of mine once said: “Presentation is not the most important thing. It’s the only thing.” This idea can be related to this week’s course readings. I believe that the design is very important to delivering work, if not the most important. Therefore, when developing our instruction project, there should be a considerable amount of time spent on designing and working on presentation. There are several great do’s and don’ts that are recommended by the readings that can help us create a powerful and effective document.

In Chapter 24 – Using Visuals to Inform and Persuade, the chapter talked about how pictures can help our writing documents.

This week’s readings focused on the use of visual objects and design considerations, and how they are used to enhance the usability and effectiveness of any product or document. Instructor Blog #5 relates the importance of design to the success (or lack thereof, as the counter argument states) of Apple. I was a Windows user for years, and thought Macs were inferior machines for novice users wrapped in flashy gimmicks and irritating commercials.