Is there room for creativity in Technical Communication?
One may lament that Technical Writing, or Technical Communication in a broader sense of this term, isn’t a creative profession. Accuracy, pedantry, and plain English seem to be the core prerequisites here. However, if you value artistic sensibility, you may fully appreciate such a career direction.
And to prove this, we will guide you through the inspirational trip, diving into the main WHYs the TechComm needs your creativity. It’s going to be an unusual and fascinating voyage — full of allegories, professional routines, and halts in several locations around the world.
The wind is in our sails, and we make the most of it
Our first stop is near the ocean, with a panoramic view sprawling long into the horizon.
Warm sand beneath your feet.
Limitless blue sky overhead blends in with the azure waters.
A gentle breeze in the hair evokes a blissful sense of freedom.
You perceive the gusts on cheeks and fingertips. Trying to harness the wind and freeze time, you feel how every cell in your body is floating.
This atmosphere is calm and comforting. But the big question is, why did we use an ocean as a starting point for the trip? Its vastness symbolizes the immensity of tasks performed by Technical Communicators (TCs).
As my colleague mentions in her exciting article, a TC can do absolutely different things depending on the company and the project. Let’s consider illustrations as a bright example. Technical Communicators can create all sorts of visuals:
- Diagrams
- Technical illustrations
- Infographics
- One-pagers
- Brochures
- Motion graphics
Creativity here derives from the ability to choose the most suitable approach to data visualization. This task isn’t always easy. Sometimes we struggle to picture a concept or data so that it simplifies the understanding and not hinders it. Just imagine a tremendous amount of information that should fit on the slide or one-pager, looking elegant and clear to the audience. How do SoftServe’s Technical Communicators deal with this issue?
We have our professional secrets:
- Think about the goal of the visualization first
- Use less text and more visuals to design presentation slides, one-pagers, and brochures
- Illustrate statistics, workflows, or achievements via diagrams
- Get rid of tiny unnecessary details or portray them in the form of charts, histograms, highlight tables, bullet graphs, choropleth maps, or correlation matrixes
- Create motion graphics to attract attention or present short flows onscreen
- Check again whether the visualization really assists in understanding the information
Let’s move on to our next location, which is far from the ocean but tightly connected to creating graphics.
Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads
You’re in the famous city on the French Riviera, a guest of the Cannes Film Festival at the very heart of the movie industry, surrounded by actors, scenario writers, producers, and journalists. It’s a big red carpet event with paparazzi and celebrities, where creativity is in the air.
You get here to enjoy masterpieces. But let’s shift your focus from brilliant movies to routine video creation. It’s another TCs’ competence where we express ourselves as artists.
Depending on the project and client needs, we create various video materials:
- Animated videos
- Simulations
- Interactive videos
- Demos, how-to or show-me videos
The most creative part sits in selecting the appropriate way to reach our viewers and making sure that videos are their preferred way to digest information. We develop the storyline and mix text, visuals, and screen recording. There is not one recipe for all cases, and that’s fascinating!
While developing videos, TCs can also record narration or create a script and use AI-generated audio services. We synchronize a voice-over with captures and supplement it with background music, intro, outro, various transitions, and effects. It’s a good chance to share our unique vision by opting for one of our favorite video creation tools:
- PowerPoint
- Captivate
- Camtasia
- Keynote
- After Effects
- Moovly Studio
As you can see, there is enough space for imagination here. The work may be complex and time-consuming, though. It requires efforts that can be compared to reaching the summit of a mountain. And we suppose it’s about time to resume our trip and conquer the peak.
At the foot of Mount Fuji
You find yourself standing at the foot of Mount Fuji, enchanted by its pure beauty and greatness. This highest peak in Japan, also known as Fujisan, beckons travelers from across the globe.
Fuji is known as a sacred place and source of artistic inspiration. It stands 3,776.24 m tall, so conquering it is physically demanding and requires a well-defined plan. Here we can draw an analogy with the scope of Technical Communicators’ work, where a highly thought-out plan is crucial.
To handle accumulating tasks, we should use planning tools and prioritize work. You can perceive this as another possibility for self-manifestation. For instance, TCs can be involved in two or even more projects. To keep track of the tasks implementation progress — from conducting SMEs interviews to creating release notes and documentation — we use Trello, Jira, Asana, Airtable, or Wrike.
We may also demonstrate ingenuity while launching a project and choosing relevant tools to work on traditional documentation, templates, API documentation, onboarding materials for newcomers, and UI texts. The list of available programs includes RoboHelp, FrameMaker, Snagit, Confluence, Flare, Visio, ProProfs, Oxygen — there are tons of them, we know it for sure (and you probably too). It is a special form of art to select a tool for your project needs and build a coherent environment for the documentation life cycle.
Nevertheless, one of the most powerful tools is the vivid imagination that enables us to prosper as Technical Communicators. As soon as you assume the same position, you will be free to embrace the spirit of creativity and experiment, trying various approaches and tools to find the best solution that suits the project. And on that optimistic note, we would like to finish our journey that has lifted the curtain of TCs’ world.
