TABLE OF CONTENTS The purpose of design and planning is to foresee solutions and enable implementation of changes that support and enhance anticipated activities. We accomplish this by interacting with information that helps us understand the context of our task, and by communicating what we know to decision-makers and to those who perform the labors of implementation. We use visualization in two very important ways: (1) to enhance our understanding of the problems we face, and (2) to help others understand the solutions we offer.
From the very beginning, we have relied on tools to help us create depictions that communicate the essence of our thoughts. Human history shows dramatic episodes of tool invention followed by periods of skill development and refinement of technology applications. The current era of tool invention and application refinement concerns the transition from manual tools of graphics production like triangles, templates, compasses, erasers, pens, markers, tables, and vellum to digital tools of graphics production like computers, software, scanners, printers, and digitizers. However, use of the new tools does not guarantee success at visualization and communication. Like all tool use throughout history, these are only as good as the skill of those who use them. Thus, we need to know the tools of communication at least as well as the content we wish to communicate.
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
Yogi Berra
Tools for producing e-graphics come in two general categories:
Software
Hardware
The two categories are equally important and closely...
