Welcome to Tech-Illustrations!
Why we need Technical illustrations ?
Suppose you have just bought a washing machine, air conditioner or any complex product which you have no idea how you are going to use it! So, you search the packing box for the holy grail which will allow you to understand and utilize the product — ‘User Manual’. Once you have the user manual in your hand, you surely feel happy that you can now relate to product and can use it. The example I referred to is for pretty common products. There are some specialized products used in industries like Aerospace, Electronics or Heavy machinery that it is increasingly difficult and confusing for a layman to figure out by looking at the product — which is the front side, right side and the orientation in which it will be fixed. This is where the illustrations in the user manual give you a fair idea. They minimize the confusion and also give idea about the hazards and safety operation zone.
What is Technical Illustration ?
Technical illustration is a field of graphic design that uses static and dynamic images to explain the nature of technical relationships. Simply said, technical illustrators visually simplify a complex subject or a product. They do it by reading and becoming an ‘expert’ on the domain knowledge of the product. Researching the product is a key step in the process. It allows illustrator to decide how he can focus more on the product content and make his illustration convey the data visually to end user without making the user feel confused. This way illustrator can do the best job possible.
Pre-Digital Era!
In Pre-digital era, creating technical illustrations was a really complex process. It was literally like drawing on mylar paper with a strict control on the creativity. There were these pens called — ‘Rapidograph’ used to create detailed engineering drawings. I have read that they were really notorious for exploding while working on the drawings and make hell of a mess. The illustrator had to be perfect to highest level of accuracy. A small line overdrawn or out of the way means having to start everything from scratch. I can attest to the fact that ‘Patience’ to see your work through is the most important virtue of Technical Illustrator. My #Respect goes out to all the Pre-Digital era Technical Illustrators.
CAD to the rescue!
Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) changed the rules of the game. It actually made technical illustration a lot easier since, the same program used by an engineer to design a piping installation can be used to create dimensional accurate axonometric or perspective pictorials, render realistic views, or animate operations. This meant that technical illustrations can now be easily made by engineers, technologists, technicians, and graphic artists — and even by managers.
Conclusion
There are varying sources of input data that are utilized to create technical illustrations — sketches, photographs, engineering drawings, CAD data, raster scans, real objects that you measure, and your colleague/boss’s verbal descriptions. So it is very difficult to narrow down on a perfect tool to create it. Add to that the fact that technical illustrations appear in magazines, textbook, manuals, brochures, white papers, package design, are displayed in PowerPoint presentations, included in digital training, and are passed around on company Intranets. You have to match the tool to the data and its intended use. This makes it possible to choose the exact tool to make illustration for the right format.
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Credits: Image copyrights belong to original creator.
