Figures

In a medium where words take central place, Communication Patterns teaches concepts and ideas that go beyond that usual boundary.

Technical books are often published in greyscale, which on most technical topics is fine, but in this case we have examples of how misuse of colour, absence of colour and interpretation of colour affect communication.

We have a further consideration, in terms of the published medium’s print size. The print size, which is by no means small, mean that large fonts and bolder features such as arrows are required to ensure accessibility of the diagrams where weak sight or low ambient lighting may impact reading. These adaptations mean that there is less space than typical around items in the figures, for achieving that improved readability.

Producing larger books adds to retail price, and takes up more bookshelf real estate, so this is a trade-off decision that the publisher makes on behalf of the reader. Having a series of books published in the same dimensions also brings uniformity and even feeds into the brand of the publisher. It could even affect tooling at the printer.

Our final context is that the published medium is portrait in orientation - once again, from where the format is optimised for the written word. As a book that is written in English, many diagrams would be easiest to read from left to right, but within the constraints listed above the diagrams need to make full use of vertical space.

As part of trying to make the diagrams even more accessible I have published copies here on my website. This way they can be shown in higher resolutions, on larger screens, and in full colour.