Guest post by Alan Porter
I’ve just spent the last couple of hours thinking about talking cars. In fact I spend a lot of my time thinking about talking cars, vampires, gods, astronauts, and science-based super-heroes at the moment.
The reason that these strange subjects occupy my mind, is that as well as being a long time member of the technical communications profession, I am also a comic book writer. All of the items I mentioned above are part of current writing projects. But this morning was all about the talking cars, as I am lucky enough to currently be the regular writer of the on-going comic book series based on the Disney*Pixar movie Cars.
I’ve been a comics fan most of my life, but really rediscovered the medium during my college days. My passion for comics has paralleled my career in technical publications and over the years I began to see how the ideas and structure of one could be used to help the other.
In my webinar this Wednesday [get more information and register at the link] I will take a look at what technical communicators can learn form the comics. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a graphic designer or an artist; in fact, this presentation is designed for Technical Writers, Documentation Managers, Information, Architects, UA designers, and anyone who is involved in the deliver of technical information.
I’ll first define what we mean by comics and that show that they are a medium that can be used for any type of communication, including technical documentation. The recent comic produced to launch the Google Chrome browser opened up many people to the possibility of using sequential art, but in fact there is already a rich history of technical and corporate comics.
I’ll also take a look at 8 areas where we can all use techniques from the comics to improve our communications.
- Sequence
- Narrative
- Symbols and Icons
- Color
- Concise Language
- Show Don’t Tell
- Media & Market Awareness
- Team Work
The one hour webinar will conclude with some examples of putting these ideas into practice. Please join us on Wednesday 20 January at 1:00 pm EST for what I hope will be an educational and thought provoking session.
You can also contact me at anytime with questions about corporate comics, or you can check out my blog, The Content Pool, for various thoughts and ideas on trends and happenings in the world of technical and business communications. My newest book, WIKI: Grow Your Own for Fun and Profit, will be published by XML Press in 2010.
Alan J. Porter is President & Founder of 4Js Group LLC, a Technical and Business Communications consulting and services company that specializes in helping companies and organizations “tell their stories” by combining creative talent with business experience. 4Js Group is the go-to company for corporate comics projects.