December Meeting:
Pictures and Profits with Patrick Hofmann

by Jim Korth, PR Committee member

A picture is worth a thousand words.” People have been saying that for years, long before the advent of computers and digital graphics. Does this statement hold true for the technical communications profession? Patrick Hofmann, a visual interaction designer for Google in Sydney, Australia, believes strongly so and has built a career on it.

Mr. Hofmann will share his insights as the featured speaker at the LSC’s December 13th meeting. His talk is entitled “Pictures and Profits: The ROI of Visual Information Design.” As a trained technical writer and now designer, Mr. Hofmann travels internationally to share his passion for “visual language,” the use of fewer words and more images to save costs and generate revenue by improving product documentation, training and, most importantly, usability for the customer. Mr. Hofmann plans to present a series of cases to demonstrate how visual interaction can readily replace text in customer and user applications.

Details Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007, 6:15 to 8:00 p.m. Crowne Plaza Hotel North Dallas-Addison 14315 Midway Road Addison, Texas Need directions! Reservations (Reservations made after 5pm on December 10 are subject to a $5 penalty) Click to register for the meeting now! Dinner (with reservations): $20 STC and UPA members or Students with student ID $25 non-members Program Only Attendance (with reservations): $5 for STC; $10 for non-members FREE for students with valid student ID

• Patrick will first show how visuals can reduce training time and user error by creating a visual online help poster for users of a laser-guided tool to cut leather.
• Second, he will show how sales can be increased by creating a series of graphical instructions to educate phone subscribers about new pay-per-use features.
• Finally, Patrick will describe how Hewlett-Packard saved millions by creating wordless manuals for computer assembly and set-up procedures.

Patrick touts the affordability of customer insight-gathering and usability testing. He cites the proven practices of recruiting and rewarding usability test participants for next to nothing, gathering customer feedback virtually for free, and conducting usability assessments using everyday tools and technology. Patrick is a proponent of the cost-effectiveness and simplicity of using visuals to test and improve usability.

"In the end, I'm merely sharing some simple success stories,” Mr. Hofmann said. “In them, I want to inspire technical communicators and managers alike that a little common sense, a lot of courage, (and plenty of mistakes) can go a long way to building successful changes in your work." He is passionate about giving ideas a chance with the user and carefully observing the feedback generated.

As he does for most of his presentations, Mr. Hofmann established learning objectives for his talk at the LSC meeting. This is what he hopes people will walk away with:

• Strategies for visualizing and testing information that will reduce translation, printing, and development costs.
• Real success stories and dramatic return-on-investment values to share with your company's financial decision-makers.
• Tactics for obtaining customer feedback and conducting usability assessments using everyday tools and little budget.
• Methodologies for iterative design and evaluation—to build and test products and documentation for international audiences.

Mr. Hofmann hopes attendees can have a few laughs and get a taste for this workshop the following day. He also hopes that attendees can see the value of “visual language” and the promise it holds for improving usability and enhancing the customer experience.