Graphic Relief: Beyond Flowcharts and Screenshots¶
Description
When I joined Ripple, we already had comprehensive documentation. While our docs were thorough, I found them dense, detailed, and difficult to parse. They needed reorganization, a new navigation layer, and a lighter touch.
Technical documentation should not be boring or opaque. No one ever said, “yes, that documentation was thorough, but I wish it had been more bland and mind-numbing.”
Over the past two years, I’ve had the opportunity to revise and enhance our documentation in several key ways:
- Reduced cognitive load by adding white space and reinforcing graphics
- Created graphic representations of abstract processes
- Used video to illustrate background workflows
We had several of these updates underway when my manager and I attended Write the Docs Portland 2023. Presentations by Caitlin Davey and Ryan Young gave us confidence that we were making sensible changes, and gave us the vocabulary to explain the rationale behind our enhancements to our stakeholders.
My presentation covers:
- Coordinating with visual designers to create a corporate graphic style
- Using graphics to enhance engagement
- Producing effective educational video on a shoestring
- Working with UX testers to validate and challenge assumptions
- Conference: Write the Docs Portland
- Year: 2024
