Technical Writers’ Companion

No:

Yes:

▪Remove everything that isn’t important for the purpose and message of the image.

▪Arrange the remaining objects in a clear, structured way.

▪Use enough white space to group objects that belong together.

▪Simplify what can be simplified. Leave out unnecessary detail. (Note that what is “unnecessary” depends on both the audience and the purpose of the image.)

▪Use as few lines and pixels as possible.

▪Remove repetitive information.

▪Clearly distinguish the visual weight to separate primary information from secondary information (example: use different line widths).

▪Keep all sorts of codings simple, such as color codings or codings by shape or line style.

▪Increase detail only where it’s needed to clearly identify critical items.

▪If it makes sense, divide one complex image into two or more simple ones.

▪Be as abstract as you can depending on your audience.

▪Use simple shapes rather than complex ones.

▪Don’t use drop shadows unless this adds any significant value.

▪Don’t use 3D if 2D is enough. However, note that often 3D images are easier to understand for some audiences.

▪Use only a few colors.

▪Use bolder colors for important things and use gray or light colors for less important things. In grayscale images, use black for what’s important, and use gray for what’s less important.

▪If it’s sufficient, only indicate a line instead of showing the whole line. For example, it can sometimes be enough to only indicate the beginning and the end of a line. The human brain then automatically complements the rest of the line.

▪Always consistently use the same styles for the same purpose. Once users have learned what each style means, this makes reading the other images much easier.

▪As good as possible, stick to common conventions that your audience already knows.

▪Don’t use the same element and the same style for different purposes. For example, if you use arrows for indicating movements, don’t use arrows also for pointing out objects in your image. If you can’t avoid using the same elements for different purposes, at least give them a clearly distinct look.

▪When importing CAD drawings from development, remove all things that are important only for internal use, such as approval signatures, headers, footers, etc. Also, you can typically remove a lot of unnecessary detail here to reduce the complexity to the level necessary for the users of the product.

▪Consider using a grayscale image plus only one additional color for highlighting objects or areas of interest.

▪Crop the image so that only the relevant section is shown.

Note:
However, make sure to provide enough orientation. Don’t cut off elements that users may need to see for being able to locate and identify the shown object.

▪Erase objects that don’t need to be visible. These may be elements that were needed only for taking the photo (such as holding hands or a supporting device), or it can be elements that don’t add any useful information.

Note:
However, don’t erase any objects that might be necessary to help locate and identify the important objects.

▪Work with a shallow depth of field so that only the area of interest in the image is in focus but the irrelevant background gets blurred.

▪Decrease the opacity or contrast of all objects that aren’t the main object in the image.

▪Only show the window of interest but not the full application. With web applications, don’t show the browser but only the web application itself.

▪Don’t make the window that is to be captured larger than necessary.

▪Within the window, only show the relevant area (plus some surrounding context for orientation if necessary).

▪Use simple sample data.

▪If the captured window contains a list of uniform data, consider adding only a few sample data records instead of filling the window with a long list.

▪Consider using a simplified user interface image (SUI) — see Use a real screenshot or an illustration?).

▪If possible, remove all objects that aren’t relevant for the message of the video.

▪Only show the area of interest (plus some surrounding context for orientation if necessary).

▪If the video shows software, use simple sample data.

▪Use only few, unobtrusive video effects.

▪Be careful with adding text and other elements, such as boxes and arrows.

For more information, also see Keep the video simple.