try it<\/h3>\r\nTake a moment to search the Internet for the term \u201cdesign process\u201d and look at \u201cimages.\u201d You will find many variations. Look at several of them and list some commonalities.\r\n\r\n[reveal-answer q=\"1\"] Commonalities (answers will vary)\u00a0 [\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"1\"]\r\n\r\n \t- They all are processes; nothing happens all at once, but in stages.<\/li>\r\n \t
- Many of the processes are recursive, which means that at different points you may need to circle back and repeat portions of the process - you can see that through the arrows.<\/li>\r\n \t
- Most processes start with the end user, by analyzing the audience and\/or problem that needs solving, and by\u00a0 communicating with the \u201cclient\u201d or whoever has the \u201cproblem\u201d that needs solving. This might be called \"empathizing\" or \"understanding the context.\"<\/li>\r\n \t
- Most processes include some kind of analysis or comparison of options once the context is understood.<\/li>\r\n \t
- Most of the processes include a testing phase, after which you revise based on feedback and results of the test.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n[\/hidden-answer]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n
example to consider: European Court of Justice Ruling<\/h3>\r\nHere's an example of the design process for technical communication, which this and subsequent pages in this section will refer to:\r\n
Your manager tasks you to provide a briefing about a European Court of Justice ruling to search engine optimization specialists who work in the field with clients. Your manager suspects that clients of the firm will ask about the ruling and she wants consultants to be able to answer clients' questions with confidence based on the latest information.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\nHow do you start and engage in the technical writing process based on the European Court of Justice Ruling example? You know nothing<\/em> about that ruling. But you are a technical writer and writing about topics you may not know about is what you do. So, the design process kicks in. First, you research two things:\r\n\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5366\/2020\/07\/27192043\/55-300x250.jpg\")
\r\n\r\n \t- Who are you writing to\u2014who is the audience?<\/li>\r\n \t
- What does the audience need to know, and in what form would they prefer it?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nOnce you have your data or information about who you want to write to, and what you need to write about, you:\r\n
\r\n \t- Sort it into categories\u2014this is called analysis<\/li>\r\n \t
- Organize it into a coherent message\u2014this is called synthesis\u2014and organize it to suit your audience, which brings you back to the beginning.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nAs you can see, technical writers do not so much write as compose documents, and they compose those documents to meet the needs of audiences, based on analysis and research. In the pages that follow you'll learn about these elements of the design loop in greater detail.\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"
In the workplace, many of the communications tasks you perform are designed to solve a problem or improve a situation. Whether you are doing work for a client, for your employer, with your team, or for someone else, you will typically use some sort of design process to tackle and solve the problem. A specific design process provides you with a clear, step-by-step plan for finding the best solution for your situation.<\/p>\n
\ntry it<\/h3>\n
Take a moment to search the Internet for the term \u201cdesign process\u201d and look at \u201cimages.\u201d You will find many variations. Look at several of them and list some commonalities.<\/p>\n
Commonalities (answers will vary)\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n- They all are processes; nothing happens all at once, but in stages.<\/li>\n
- Many of the processes are recursive, which means that at different points you may need to circle back and repeat portions of the process – you can see that through the arrows.<\/li>\n
- Most processes start with the end user, by analyzing the audience and\/or problem that needs solving, and by\u00a0 communicating with the \u201cclient\u201d or whoever has the \u201cproblem\u201d that needs solving. This might be called “empathizing” or “understanding the context.”<\/li>\n
- Most processes include some kind of analysis or comparison of options once the context is understood.<\/li>\n
- Most of the processes include a testing phase, after which you revise based on feedback and results of the test.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
example to consider: European Court of Justice Ruling<\/h3>\n
Here’s an example of the design process for technical communication, which this and subsequent pages in this section will refer to:<\/p>\n
Your manager tasks you to provide a briefing about a European Court of Justice ruling to search engine optimization specialists who work in the field with clients. Your manager suspects that clients of the firm will ask about the ruling and she wants consultants to be able to answer clients’ questions with confidence based on the latest information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nHow do you start and engage in the technical writing process based on the European Court of Justice Ruling example? You know nothing<\/em> about that ruling. But you are a technical writer and writing about topics you may not know about is what you do. So, the design process kicks in. First, you research two things:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n- Who are you writing to\u2014who is the audience?<\/li>\n
- What does the audience need to know, and in what form would they prefer it?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Once you have your data or information about who you want to write to, and what you need to write about, you:<\/p>\n
\n- Sort it into categories\u2014this is called analysis<\/li>\n
- Organize it into a coherent message\u2014this is called synthesis\u2014and organize it to suit your audience, which brings you back to the beginning.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
As you can see, technical writers do not so much write as compose documents, and they compose those documents to meet the needs of audiences, based on analysis and research. In the pages that follow you’ll learn about these elements of the design loop in greater detail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t \n\t\t\t Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t CC licensed content, Original<\/div>- The Design Process: An Overview, adapted from Empire State College's course Technical Writing, and Technical Writing Essentials; attributions below. Authored by<\/strong>: Susan Oaks. Provided by<\/strong>: Empire State College, SUNY. License<\/strong>: CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul>CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div>
- The Document Design Loop. Provided by<\/strong>: Empire State College, SUNY. Project<\/strong>: Empire State College's Technical Writing course. License<\/strong>: CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial<\/a><\/em><\/li>
- 1.1 Key Concept: Problem-Solving Approach to Communication Tasks. Authored by<\/strong>: Suzanne Last. Provided by<\/strong>: University of Victoria. Located at<\/strong>: https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/technicalwriting\/chapter\/problemsolving\/<\/a>. Project<\/strong>: Technical Writing Essentials. License<\/strong>: CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":81366,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"The Design Process: An Overview, adapted from Empire State College\\'s course Technical Writing, and Technical Writing Essentials; attributions below\",\"author\":\"Susan Oaks\",\"organization\":\"Empire State College, SUNY\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"The Document Design Loop\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Empire State College, SUNY\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"Empire State College\\'s Technical Writing course\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"1.1 Key Concept: Problem-Solving Approach to Communication Tasks\",\"author\":\"Suzanne Last\",\"organization\":\"University of Victoria\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/technicalwriting\/chapter\/problemsolving\/\",\"project\":\"Technical Writing Essentials\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-44","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":20,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81366"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1584,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/44\/revisions\/1584"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/20"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/44\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
example to consider: European Court of Justice Ruling<\/h3>\r\nHere's an example of the design process for technical communication, which this and subsequent pages in this section will refer to:\r\n
Your manager tasks you to provide a briefing about a European Court of Justice ruling to search engine optimization specialists who work in the field with clients. Your manager suspects that clients of the firm will ask about the ruling and she wants consultants to be able to answer clients' questions with confidence based on the latest information.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n- \r\n \t
- Who are you writing to\u2014who is the audience?<\/li>\r\n \t
- What does the audience need to know, and in what form would they prefer it?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nOnce you have your data or information about who you want to write to, and what you need to write about, you:\r\n
- \r\n \t
- Sort it into categories\u2014this is called analysis<\/li>\r\n \t
- Organize it into a coherent message\u2014this is called synthesis\u2014and organize it to suit your audience, which brings you back to the beginning.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nAs you can see, technical writers do not so much write as compose documents, and they compose those documents to meet the needs of audiences, based on analysis and research. In the pages that follow you'll learn about these elements of the design loop in greater detail.\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"
In the workplace, many of the communications tasks you perform are designed to solve a problem or improve a situation. Whether you are doing work for a client, for your employer, with your team, or for someone else, you will typically use some sort of design process to tackle and solve the problem. A specific design process provides you with a clear, step-by-step plan for finding the best solution for your situation.<\/p>\n
\ntry it<\/h3>\n
Take a moment to search the Internet for the term \u201cdesign process\u201d and look at \u201cimages.\u201d You will find many variations. Look at several of them and list some commonalities.<\/p>\n
Commonalities (answers will vary)\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\n- \n
- They all are processes; nothing happens all at once, but in stages.<\/li>\n
- Many of the processes are recursive, which means that at different points you may need to circle back and repeat portions of the process – you can see that through the arrows.<\/li>\n
- Most processes start with the end user, by analyzing the audience and\/or problem that needs solving, and by\u00a0 communicating with the \u201cclient\u201d or whoever has the \u201cproblem\u201d that needs solving. This might be called “empathizing” or “understanding the context.”<\/li>\n
- Most processes include some kind of analysis or comparison of options once the context is understood.<\/li>\n
- Most of the processes include a testing phase, after which you revise based on feedback and results of the test.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
example to consider: European Court of Justice Ruling<\/h3>\n
Here’s an example of the design process for technical communication, which this and subsequent pages in this section will refer to:<\/p>\n
Your manager tasks you to provide a briefing about a European Court of Justice ruling to search engine optimization specialists who work in the field with clients. Your manager suspects that clients of the firm will ask about the ruling and she wants consultants to be able to answer clients’ questions with confidence based on the latest information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nHow do you start and engage in the technical writing process based on the European Court of Justice Ruling example? You know nothing<\/em> about that ruling. But you are a technical writer and writing about topics you may not know about is what you do. So, the design process kicks in. First, you research two things:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n- \n
- Who are you writing to\u2014who is the audience?<\/li>\n
- What does the audience need to know, and in what form would they prefer it?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Once you have your data or information about who you want to write to, and what you need to write about, you:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Sort it into categories\u2014this is called analysis<\/li>\n
- Organize it into a coherent message\u2014this is called synthesis\u2014and organize it to suit your audience, which brings you back to the beginning.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
As you can see, technical writers do not so much write as compose documents, and they compose those documents to meet the needs of audiences, based on analysis and research. In the pages that follow you’ll learn about these elements of the design loop in greater detail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCC licensed content, Original<\/div>- The Design Process: An Overview, adapted from Empire State College's course Technical Writing, and Technical Writing Essentials; attributions below. Authored by<\/strong>: Susan Oaks. Provided by<\/strong>: Empire State College, SUNY. License<\/strong>: CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul>CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div>
- The Document Design Loop. Provided by<\/strong>: Empire State College, SUNY. Project<\/strong>: Empire State College's Technical Writing course. License<\/strong>: CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial<\/a><\/em><\/li>
- 1.1 Key Concept: Problem-Solving Approach to Communication Tasks. Authored by<\/strong>: Suzanne Last. Provided by<\/strong>: University of Victoria. Located at<\/strong>: https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/technicalwriting\/chapter\/problemsolving\/<\/a>. Project<\/strong>: Technical Writing Essentials. License<\/strong>: CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":81366,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"The Design Process: An Overview, adapted from Empire State College\\'s course Technical Writing, and Technical Writing Essentials; attributions below\",\"author\":\"Susan Oaks\",\"organization\":\"Empire State College, SUNY\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"The Document Design Loop\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Empire State College, SUNY\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"Empire State College\\'s Technical Writing course\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"1.1 Key Concept: Problem-Solving Approach to Communication Tasks\",\"author\":\"Suzanne Last\",\"organization\":\"University of Victoria\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/technicalwriting\/chapter\/problemsolving\/\",\"project\":\"Technical Writing Essentials\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-44","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":20,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81366"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1584,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/44\/revisions\/1584"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/20"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/44\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- The Document Design Loop. Provided by<\/strong>: Empire State College, SUNY. Project<\/strong>: Empire State College's Technical Writing course. License<\/strong>: CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial<\/a><\/em><\/li>
- The Design Process: An Overview, adapted from Empire State College's course Technical Writing, and Technical Writing Essentials; attributions below. Authored by<\/strong>: Susan Oaks. Provided by<\/strong>: Empire State College, SUNY. License<\/strong>: CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul>