Letter of Transmittal the Enclosed

¶ … Letter of Transmittal

The enclosed document contains a brief overview and analysis of two documents, one primarily visual and other primarily textual. Each of these documents functions primarily to explain information that is perhaps not easily understood by the average individual, and thus the efficacy of the communication is the primary function of these documents. The first is a document produced by Microsoft detailing the procedure for the shipping an Xbox to a service center for repair; the second is a bullet-style list of the key provisions taking place immediately due to the passage of the healthcare reform bill in the House and Senate.

Both of these documents are analyzed using criteria established by Mike Markel for effectiveness in document writing and design, with note being made of particular success and failures in the design process. Recommendations based on Markel's criteria are also offered to correct the failures to meet this criteria as observed in the analysis. These recommendations are based on serious consideration of the established criteria and all apparent efforts -- or apparent non-efforts -- to meet this criteria in an effective manner. Both documents were found to be largely successful in terms of their comprehensibility, simplicity, and straightforward delivery of information, though each also contained some room for improvement.

Both documents also appeared to be at least somewhat influenced by certain principles of web design, which is not at all uncommon in today's Internet-based world; the documents were evaluated along criteria for website design, also developed by Markel. Both documents largely succeeded in a successful and effective communication of information from this perspective, as well.

Abstract

An analysis of two informational documents for effectiveness in terms of Markel's criteria is conducted, with overall effectiveness results delivered and recommendations for achievement of increased effectiveness made. Analysis of these documents is also conducted utilizing Markel's criteria for website design, to provide a supplemental understanding of document design and effectiveness in our world today. Microsoft's Xbox repair-shipping instructional document was found to be slightly visually overwhelming, with too many disparate images, whereas some visual aspects of the healthcare legislation key enactments document were somewhat lacking. Recommendations include simplifying Microsoft's document through more unified statements both visually and textually, and enhancing the healthcare legislation overview with increased visual differences in the text to define sections.

Executive Summary

This report contains an analysis of two documents for their effectiveness in communicating information. The method used is a simple qualitative comparative analysis utilizing Markel's criteria for effective document and website design as well as technical communication. Results are given in a summary format for each document that includes analysis of success and failures in meeting the criteria established by Markel and recommendations for ways in which the documents can be improved to better meet this criteria are also provided. Comprehensive statements regarding document and website design conclude the report.

Introduction

Achieving a general understanding of effective document and web design is an essential task in many industries and fields today; as the amount of available information increases, effective delivery of this information can become more difficult. This report analyzes two documents for their effectiveness in communicating information based on Markel's identified criteria for document effectiveness. Analysis based on Markel's criteria for effective website design is also included in the analysis as it relates to the documents. This research originates from a need to directly apply the principles and criteria of effective visual document design and technical communication to real-world examples in order to develop a more directly applicable and comprehensive understanding of these aspects of document and website design. The inclusion of website design principles in the analysis of two non-web documents is for the purpose of providing a supplemental and more generalized understanding of effective visual and textual communication. This overview is provided in the conclusion section, following a brief discussion of the research method utilized in the creation of this report and the actual summary and analysis of the two documents.

Research Methods

The research method utilized for this study was a simple and straightforward application of the principles of document and website design appearing in Mike Markel's Technical Communication. An overview of the criteria appears below, followed by summaries of the findings for each document.

Summary of Findings

One of the most essential criteria identified for both the linguistic and the visual aspects of website and document design and technical communication is simplicity (Markel 2009). Much of the time this goes hand-in-hand with enabling users or readers to easily navigate a website or document, as simplicity makes navigation simpler, but at times these two can also be in opposition to each other. Navigation makes the access of necessary and important information -- from the point-of-view of both the author and the reader -- more likely to be found and obtained, and thus utilized (Markel 2009). Developing visual means to allow for simple navigation is one of the essential goals of document design, and these documents vary in contrasting ways when their success in this goal is assessed.

Xbox Return Shipping

The Xbox return shipping document contains many graphic images that make the process of shipping a game console to a repair facility very easy. At the same time, there is abundance of graphical information that makes the document less simplified and less easily navigable. Though each individual piece of information on the document is easily understood, the combination and conflagration of all of these pieces of information creates some sense of confusion with the document. The designers of this document attempted to go too far in simplifying the presentation of information, resulting in an overall reduction in the navigability of the document due to the sheer abundance of the information it presents.

Healthcare Legislation Key Provisions

This document has a very strong visual header at the top, which is an effective means of attracting attention in both documents and websites (Markel 2009). The document is further subdivided by sections headings and sub-headings, appearing in large-font red ink and bold black ink, respectively. While this greatly aids in the navigation of the document, enabling readers to find relevant information relatively quickly, an increase in the visual separation between sections and specific pieces of information would be even more beneficial in this regard. Still, this document achieves a strong balance between simplicity and navigability, utilizing the principles of each to enhance the other. The document's language is also simple yet comprehensive, providing a full and adequate understanding of the information without abundant technical detail -- again, simplicity is key.

Conclusions and Recommendations

It is recommended that the Xbox document be revised to contain fewer visual elements, increasing the simplicity of its presentation of information and thus making navigation of the document easier. The healthcare provision document needs visual enhancement, also to increase navigability. This will cost some simplicity in both documents -- in the textual information in the case of the former and the visual presentation in the case of the latter -- but overall communication will be rendered more effective. The principles of both document and web design are best served by a meeting of the simplicity and navigation purposes.