The following items make up the
category “Publications:”
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Each heading below
describes a common type of publication your Publications Specialist can
design and develop for you. Some of the
headings contain or will contain links to demonstration examples. |
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The most commonly
understood form of publication is the printed manual. Almost all products will require at least a
small booklet, and, in the case of more complex machinery and software, a
complete suite of manuals may be needed.
Printed manuals are usually the Publications Specialist’s starting
point in designing and developing product publications, as most users still
refer to the printed publications as the main source of information. |
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Also, the codex (pages
attached at one edge to form a bound book) is still the most useful method of
providing both an overview and one or more levels of detail information at
once. The codex requires no
electricity and its use is a basic skill of literacy from early childhood. |
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Many product developers
and marketers feel pressure to convert the printed manuals to electronic
form, either in the form of “Help files” or in read only electronic format
(for example, Adobe Acrobat .pdf files); however,
in most fields in which these publications will be used, the user will report
a preference for a printed manual or manuals. |
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In some cases, the product
developer can negotiate with the user for the user to print the electronic
files locally. In other cases, the
user will demand printed (“hard copy”) publications. This is especially true of fields in which
information is intensely linked to professional knowledge and skill (for
example, health care, accounting and finance, and law) If you must distribute
printed publications, your Publications Specialist will help you structure
and price the publications so that they become a profit center, rather than a
deadweight cost to you. |
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The final advantage for
you in distributing printed publications as the primary form of user
information is in terms of precision and liability. In many cases, you will remain perpetually
liable at law for the correctness of your user publications; at the same
time, if your publications are available to users and business affiliates in
electronic form, others may copy and paste or otherwise plagiarize or alter
critical information without your knowledge but with continuing liability for
you. In addition, electronic
distribution completely removes your control over the distribution of
publications, and makes it impossible for you to keep records of
distribution. Your consulting Publications
Specialist can help you plan and design your publications and the system by
which they are distributed to minimize inappropriate distribution and the
distillation of liability, as well as controlling costs and, where possible,
making your publications operation profitable. |
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Electronic help means
on-screen information pages that contain instructions, concepts, tips, and
reference materials accessible with the mouse or a keyboard or both, and
organized in a logical sequence and/or outline form. Electronic help is often called, “on-line
help,” though that term actually refers only to help systems that operate
through the internet or other communications network. |
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Most software products
today include electronic help; in addition, electronic help is increasingly a
part of hardware and machinery that incorporates touch-screen or other computer-driven
controls and displays. Electronic help
must be professionally designed, written, illustrated, and tested to make
sure that it reflects the functionality and usability of the product of which
it is a part. |
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Very often, electronic
help is the most visible part of a product that appears on a screen. Many users who have become accustomed to
using electronic help (not all users do, as described above) tend to keep the
electronic help open at all times, and refer to it often. |
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A skilled professional
Publications Specialist will design and develop your electronic help so that
it integrates well with your printed publications, preserves the integrity of
your information and related liability matters, and makes your product more usable
and satisfactory for the user. In many situations,
electronic help can now be expanded into more sophisticated self-paced
learning materials and linked to web-based reference materials. This allows you to take advantage of the
most up-to-date learning technology and to keep user information current and
accessible in economical ways. Only a
full-service professional Publications Specialist can assure you of all these
advantages at once. |
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Training manuals
commonly reflect the information available in user publications, release
notes, and online reference materials.
Training materials should always be designed and developed by the same
specialists and the same team that produces your other user
publications. In some organizations,
training materials are produced by a different department from user
publications, resulting in severe degradation of the market’s perception of
the quality of the products. Training manuals often
contain much the same information, but must be organized differently to
facilitate the classroom learning process.
Your Publications Specialist will analyze the entire sales, training,
technical support, and customer integration process that will be associated
with your product, to determine the best approach to presenting each type of
information in each situation. Good training materials
may save you more money and do more to make your product profitable than any
other professional activity in your company’s work. Good training means less follow-up and
support work, and fewer warranty calls.
For many products these will be among the most costly activities that
will accrue to the product life cycle.
Calling in a professional Publications Specialist can save you many,
many times over the cost of the specialist’s work. Where an impression of
high quality is needed for the product, all training materials must be
professionally designed to work together and to be organized into units and
sequences appropriate to each trainee job description and area of need for
information. |
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Training manuals are
typically accompanied by workbooks for the use of trainees. The two complement each other and make a
useful set that the trainee can keep for permanent reference. A workbook provides practical exercises and
review questions, as well as space for notes and opportunities for the
trainee to relate the general information provided in the user manuals and
training manuals to the specifics of the individual workplace. |
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A training workbook is
light and easy to handle and use, and is constructed in such a way as to make
it possible to lay the workbook flat for note taking purposes. |
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Where an impression of high
quality is needed for the product, all training materials must be
professionally designed to work together and to be organized into units and
sequences appropriate to each trainee job description and area of need for
information. |
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Training Classroom Presentations
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Most training manuals
and workbooks are accompanied by materials for the use of the instructor in
classroom presentations. The
instructor may have an instructor’s version of the manual and the workbook
for each unit, as well as a demonstration database and other aids for use in
classroom demonstrations and presentations. |
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You may want to provide
instructors with PowerPoint slide shows or other forms of educational media
aids to the classroom learning situation. |
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Where an impression of
high quality is needed for the product, all training materials must be
professionally designed to work together and to be organized into units and
sequences appropriate to each trainee job description and area of need for
information. |
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In many situations,
users of software or machinery require learning materials that they can use
on their own to learn special procedures and functions that are not frequently
used or are not covered in the training syllabus, for recurrent or refresher
training purposes, or to remedy gaps in the individual’s training or
experience with the product. |
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Well designed and
presented self-paced learning aids can save the you
tens of thousands ($10,000s) or hundreds of thousands ($100,000s) of dollars
in training and technical support costs.
Like basic training, self-paced learning can be the best investment in
professional skills your company makes. |
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Self-paced Learning
Aids must be designed and produced by a professional expert so that they
embody the usefulness and appearance of quality you want for your
product. These materials may be in
printed form or may be any of a variety of types of multi-media electronic
presentations. Your professional
Publications Specialist will help you decide on the mix of types of learning
materials appropriate to your product. |
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Quick Reference Cards/other aids
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Most users of your
product will need to refer to a quick reference source of information from time
to time, to refresh the user’s memory about functions or procedures that are
not frequently used or have recently been upgraded. In many cases, a quick reference source is
all the experienced user needs to make the transition when products are
upgraded or enhanced. |
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Your Publications
Specialist will include the design of quick reference materials in the
overall plan for your publications, following the guidance of research that
includes a complete study of the product, the functions and procedures, and
the users’ information needs. Quick
reference materials are typically in the form of plastic laminated cards and
flip-charts, but may be in brochure format or even in electronic form. |
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The Publications Specialist
will consult with your subject matter experts, your customers, and your field
personnel to determine what is best for you. |
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Many marketers who want
to use the Internet today to market their products and distribute information
are confronted with the problem of having web materials developed
correctly. Unfortunately, “web development”
services are widely offered by people who are skillful at engineering HTML
pages, but whose knowledge of graphics and layout and the disciplines of
logical thinking and the proper presentation of information is limited. As a result, many fine companies, including
some of the largest corporations, have web pages that include inappropriate
graphic design elements and glaring errors in spelling and grammar. |
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Your web materials
should be designed by the same Publications Specialist that designs all of
your publications. The specialist can
ensure that your web materials reflect the standard of quality you want to
display. This applies to web sites for
marketing and sales purposes, reference information and database access,
on-line training, help, and product support, and the support of sales and
technical personnel in the field. |
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It makes sense to have
your consulting Publications Specialist develop your web site or consult to
your web development department or outside developer. |
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A newsletter can be an
invaluable marketing tool and also help your existing customers feel your
commitment and involvement in the field of work. Editing and publishing a newsletter
requires a different approach, for which you need the professional skills of
the consulting Publications Specialist. A newsletter requires
extensive planning to make sure the information resources are available for
the long haul; the editor will call upon a variety of subject experts both
within your company and out in the user field. Then the specialist will design and develop
your newsletter so that it reflects your company identity and works well with
your other publications and information offerings. The specialist will
help you organize the distribution of your newsletter so you have an
understanding of the readers and how they use your newsletter and perceive
your company and products. The
newsletter is a great way to receive feedback and share good news with your customers
and prospective customers. |
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User Group Materials
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Many product developers
in a variety of industries find it helpful to develop user groups and special
interest groups as a tool for deepening their markets. A user group should feel that it receives
special attention and appreciation from the product developer. One of the most
effective ways to achieve this result is to provide special publications for
user group members. A special edition
of your product reference manual; interviews, comments, hints and tips, and
case examples from within the user group will make your customers feel your
commitment. All of these materials
should be designed and developed to the same rigorous standards by the
Publications Specialist so that they are well integrated with your other
publications and responsive to users’ needs. |
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Technical and Release Notes
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Most products in today’s
device and software markets follow a release cycle, with updated publications
for each new release. To cover the
spaces in between, and to help customers manage the changes that occur in
product function and use between version releases, most developers use a
system of product release notes. Release notes may be
integrated with a product newsletter or user group materials, or they may be
a more formal stand-alone mechanism.
In any case, the Publications Specialist should design and develop
your release notes to be well integrated with other publications and to
project the desired image of quality. |
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Product Demonstrations
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Modern multi-media
technology can produce an appealing demonstration of your product and the
ways it can be used. Such a
demonstration may contain music, narration, animated simulations, and even
video sequences to show what the product does and how the user interacts with
the product. The advantages of such a
demonstration can apply to an endless variety of products: machinery, building materials, laboratory
instruments and methods, software, and even food products. |
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The product
demonstration may be distributed by electronic media or through the Internet
for the prospective customer to use unassisted. For this reason, such a demonstration must
be very carefully and conservatively designed and very thoroughly tested to
ensure that it works correctly, every time. |
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As with other modern
methods, the skill of the Publications Specialist is essential to the
production of such a demonstration.
The specialist can research the product and the market, and determine
exactly what is needs. The specialist
also designs and develops the demonstration so that it reflects the esthetic
values and the impression of quality you want for your product. |
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Your sales people take advantage
of sales materials that include slide shows, videos, and printed materials
for use of the prospective customer in following the presentation and seeing
the product benefits you want to emphasize. |
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Your consulting
Publications Specialist will integrate your sales presentation materials into
the entire family of product materials so that the transition for the
customer from sales materials to ownership will be a natural process. |
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The sales force can also
take advantage of “guided” versions of your demonstrations, intended to be
used by the sales person to increase buyer interest and improve the emphasis
on your most desirable features during the presentation. Rely on the consulting Publications Specialist
to make sure you get the most out of your sales materials. |
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The consulting Publications
Specialist also offers a variety of services for helping you with your
internal planning processes for management systems and product
development. For most regulated
industries, these systems will require internal documents that record actions
and the placement and acceptance of responsibility, and trace design
requirements through the development process and the life cycle of a product. |
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A consulting
Publications Specialist has extensive experience with the design and management
of such documents, and will help you set up a system that will save you
money, simplify your enterprise, track requirements and responsibility,
improve regulatory compliance and readiness for regulatory review, and make
your business easier to manage and more profitable. |
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In many cases, this is
the main work the consulting Publications Specialist will do for you. If you want your management documentation
system designed correctly by an expert at logic and the storage of
information, call your consulting Publications Specialist today. |
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Engineering Reference
Materials
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When complex products are
being developed by large teams with widely varying skills, specialized
engineering manuals may improve and simplify the development process, keeping
the design process in line with standards and ready for regulatory review. Your consulting Publications Specialist
will apply the same skills to this as to any other publication, doing the
correct research and organizing and presenting the information to make it
most useable and valuable. |
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Management Systems Information
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As the Publications
Specialist establishes your system of internal documents to track the status
of your projects and to ensure contemporaneous recording of changes in
company profitability and liability, the specialist will also plan for the
reporting standards management requires to ensure day to day oversight of the
processes that go on “downstairs.”
This is a tightly integrated process that requires skill, experience,
and a broad understanding to execute properly. Call your consulting Publications
Specialist for more details. |
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Project Management Detail Materials
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Modern methods of
project management require the right standards of record keeping and the
right design of internal tracking documents to make sure management has the
information it needs from the management process. An experienced Publications Specialist will
analyze your specific needs and incorporate the design of the project
management system into the Total |
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For more details about how
the specialist integrates Project Management with product development,
regulatory compliance documentation, and cost control methods, contact
David Cook today. |
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Design mockups are made
possible by new technology in the field of multimedia and interactive
design. A Publications Specialist can create
a detailed mockup of all the screens in a software application or all the
control panels on a piece of electronic equipment or machinery. These “imitation” screens and controls can
be made to operate in the same way as the intended application, so developers,
marketers, managers, and investors can “get a feel” for the way the new
product will work without a line of code being written or a piece of metal
being cut. |
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By integrating sound,
animation and even video into a simulation, a product can be “demonstrated”
very realistically with enormous savings and in an environment that makes
changes much easier and less costly than in the traditional prototyping
environment. The savings can be in the
millions of dollars for a sophisticated product. |
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