Humor and visuals in technical writing with Dennis Dawson

The Not-Boring Tech Writer

In this episode, I talk with Dennis Dawson, a technical writer with 40 years of experience who creates the sketchnotes for Write the Docs talks. We talk about how humor and visual elements can make documentation more engaging and memorable, the science behind why graphics help information stick in long-term memory, practical tools and techniques for adding visual content to your docs, and why you don't need to consider yourself an artist to create effective illustrations that enhance your documentation.

Dennis and I discuss his unconventional path into technical writing, starting with an English degree and progressing through roles as an editor, typist, secretary, and eventually desktop support in the early days of personal computing. His technical writing career began at startups in the 1980s, where he combined training and documentation work. Throughout his 40-year career, Dennis has consistently advocated for using humor and visual elements in documentation.

Our conversation centers on the science behind why visual content and humor make documentation more effective. Dennis shares how reading Richard Mayer's Multimedia Learning and Barbara Oakley's books on learning validated many of his instinctive approaches. We explore concepts like how visual information sticks in long-term memory more easily than text, the importance of reducing cognitive load through strategic use of graphics, and how breaking up text with visuals gives readers' brains time to process information by switching between focused and diffuse modes of thinking. Dennis also discusses when to use graphics and shares examples like using whimsical robot characters to represent different software components.

We dive into the practical side of creating visual content, including Dennis's collaborative approach of sketching ideas and working with design teams to polish them into professional graphics, and tools like Gimp, Inkscape, Keynote, and Google Slides that make visual creation accessible. Dennis emphasizes that you don't need to consider yourself an artist to create effective illustrations—the key is getting over your reticence and recognizing that drawing is a skill developed through practice, not innate talent. We also discuss his approach to creating educational videos, including using Doc Detective to automate video updates when UIs change. Throughout our conversation, Dennis stresses the importance of using visual humor and plain language to help make documentation digestible and accessible.

About Dennis Dawson:

Like many baby-boomers, Dennis still hasn't decided what he wants to be when he grows up. He's a technical writer with 40 years' experience in technical communications providing documentation, training, and user support; a sketchnotes artist for Write the Docs; a 3-time Distinguished Toastmaster and Past District 57 Governor who's won District Champion titles in Humorous, Tall Tales, and Evaluation contests; a volunteer Santa Claus at San Jose Christmas in the Park; and a volunteer drawing teacher at local elementary schools.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Free tools:
  • Doc Detective: Manny Silva’s open source tool for testing and validating documentation
    • Doc Detective tutorials that Dennis created
    • As a reminder, we also did an episode with Manny Silva on Doc Detective S3:E14
  • GIMP: free alternative to Adobe Photoshop
  • Inkscape: free alternative to Adobe Illustrator
• Books:
  • Multimedia Learning by Richard E. Mayer
  • Learning How to Learn by Barbara Oakley, Terrence Sejnowski, Alistair McConville
  • A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley
  • Uncommon Sense Teaching by Barbara Oakley, Beth Rogowsky, Terrence J. Sejnowski
• Dennis Dawson’s sketchnotes:
  • Write the Docs Portland, May 2025
  • Write the Docs Atlantic, September 2024
  • Write the Docs Portland, April 2024
  • Write the Docs Atlantic, September 2023
• Write the Docs Portland 2023 talks:
  • Lightning Talk: Dennis Dawson - Sketchnoting: Engaging both brains
  • Caitlin Davey - The visuals your users never saw…wait that’s most of them
  • Ryan Young - Is it (layer) cake: Thinking in content levels

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