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Facttactic

Corporate and technical writers

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Design

how we used to work and communicate

April 27, 2010

A fun look here at advertisements for old personal computers and laptops: PC ads that will blow your processor.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: Advertising, Design, Marketing

signed, sealed, delivered … in pictures

March 28, 2010

Here’s a very nifty postal gimmick … great for customising envelopes: the Google Map Envelope.

Simply enter a location in the box and get back an envelope ready to print with a Google map picture of the location you chose. Nice!

Filed Under: Marketing, Public Relations Tagged With: Branding, Design, Google, Marketing, Public Relations

the one-page guide to London

December 2, 2009

Last week we talked about one of the icons of modern technical communication design — the London tube map — and how its simplicity and readability was key to its success. Thanks to a reader for this week pointing us towards the Londonist and its take on an even more pared back approach to a pared back approach!

Read more from the Londonist here.

Filed Under: Technical writing Tagged With: Design, Technical writing

no light at end of tunnel for design icon

November 27, 2009

One of the most famous communication tools of the last century may be on its way out. Not because it has been overtaken by anything better but because progress has made it too small to hold all the information officials say it requires.

The London tube map was created in 1931 by Harry Beck, a London Underground draughtsman. It turned a clumsy geographic map into a circuit diagram and quickly become an instantly recognised symbol not just for the underground trains but for London itself and, for many visitors, the frisson of  a visit to one of the world’s great cities (Circle Line pub crawl, anyone!). Nearly 70 years on, it is still as relevant and vital as the day Beck drew it.

With a design that millions of people stare at every day but that few might stop to think about, the simplicity and beauty of the map has made it a pin-up star for all technical communicators!

Click here for a look at a pictorial history of the London Underground map.

London Underground original map 1931
London Underground original map 1931 (image from the Guardian -- http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/nov/26/london-tube-map-design)

Filed Under: Technical writing Tagged With: Design, Technical writing



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