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Article: Illustrations in User Manuals: Preference and Effectiveness with Japanese and American Readers.
- Article from:
- Technical Communication
- Article date:
- May 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Society for Technical Communication. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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INTRODUCTION
With the increasing globalization of business, document designers are being required to localize user manuals. Many American companies that export their products to Japan and vice versa are localizing the manuals that accompany the products. In the localization process, texts are translated into target languages, yet in most cases, the manual format and the illustrations often remain the same. The use of a static format may be caused by document designers not knowing how different people from different cultures use and comprehend illustrations.
Although much has been written about how to design the "look" of illustrations for different ...