Philosophy
We believe that quality technical manuals are:
Technical:
Provide the level of pertinent technical information necessary to aid the end-user in maintenance and daily operations
Accessible:
Organized in such a way that the desired information is easy to locate and understand
Beautiful:
Well planned and well laid-out, based on a thorough understanding of the trends, theories, and history of document design
Technical documents typically fall into several categories, each with its own pros and cons.
1. Documents by Engineers
Historically, engineers have often been tasked with writing technical documentation for the products which they have designed. However, as you may have experienced, engineers' minds work differently than those of the end users. So what may make perfect sense through the eyes of an engineer may be incomprehensible to non-engineers. In addition, an engineer's education typically does not include training in technical writing or document design. Consequently, documents created solely by engineers often contain an overabundance of technical terms, and may not be organized in a way that meets the needs of the end user.
2. Documents by Writers
Many technical documents are written by technical writers who have little knowledge of the subject about which they are writing. In this example, the information-capture phase of the project can be extremely frustrating for all parties involved. The sentences may be clear and gramatically correct, but the document as a whole may be of little depth, and as a result, is of little use to the end-user. In addition, writers typically lack design training and may not utilize graphic-intensive publishing software that is vital to creating a high-quality yacht manual.
3. Documents by Artists
Finally, some companies produce documents which may pleasing to the eye but lack the clear information hierarchy of a well-organized technical document. While attractive, these documents serve more as marketing pieces than complete instruction manuals.
The Verity Difference
Having worked in all three industries (engineering, publishing, and design), the staff at Verity Yacht Publications combines the best qualities of each of the above three industries. Our manuals include a depth of information that can come only from on-site boat yard tours with design engineers. As trained technical writers and graphic designers, we aim to communicate information as clearly and as concisely as possible, with the combination of both text and graphics. We use the most advanced publishing software available (Adobe Creative Suite 4). Verity staff is highly trained in graphic manipulation, and we aim to incorporate as many graphics as possible, combing photographs, illustrations, and CAD drawings in order to make your manuals as thorough and user-friendly as possible.
As a boat building professional, you know that one of the keys to profitably is the ability to stay on time and on budget. Using the latest technology is often the best way to improve efficiency. At Verity, we use the latest in Adobe publishing software, and have mastered our publishing tools. This expertise allows us to be very efficient in document design and construction, which in turn, enables us to produce an extremely high-quality product at a reasonable price.