An investigation into the efficacy of technical illustrations depicting physical orientation in sports procedures

Abstract

This study on mental imagery set out to investigate the efficacy of technical illustrations depicting physical orientation in sports procedures. The study was carried out by junior level students on an undergraduate degree in computer science at a Japanese technical university with no specialized knowledge of information design or visual communication. The study participants were asked to match body and overhead images shown from different height perspectives (waist and chest height) and camera positions (front, 1/3rd side, side, 1/3rd back, back) of a man holding a bat and a man hitting with a bat. These physical actions were selected by the researchers as they can typically be seen in multiple sports such as baseball, rounders or cricket, thus widening the potential applicability of the study findings. Overall, the study participants achieved relatively high levels of accuracy in matching the body and overhead images and no consistent or clear pattern emerged with regard to preferred height perspectives or camera positions. However, what can be suggested is that the study participants appeared to prefer - and the mean accuracy levels were higher for - viewpoints shown into the display plane. In addition, the study participants self-reported relatively high overall confidence in their matches despite not having any specialised knowledge of visual communication. It is hoped that this study and accompanying literature review could help technical communicators in thinking about how to design 2D technical illustrations and contribute to existing research into information design and visual communication, particularly in a sporting context.

Keywords:

• 2D technical illustrations
• camera positions
• canonical viewpoint
• display plane
• information design
• mental imagery
• visual communication

Public Interest Statement

This is a unique study in technical communication where technical illustrations were used to understand how users of technical manuals understand the procedure that shows physical actions with equipment as it unfolds. This study is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing from cognitive and behavioral psychology, and provides multiple examples of different body positions, camera angles and rotations that are typical for many sporting or other physical actions. The idea is to highlight the different factors in the design process that technical illustrators must consider when drawing technical illustrations for print or online user manuals. There is not much research in this area of study. Besides technical illustrators and visual communicators, this study should be helpful to instructors who want to offer an innovative technical course in visual communication and procedural instructions design.

Notes

1. Mental imagery is used here to mean creating a mental image of an object without direct visualization of it (Amorim, Isableu, & Jarraya, 2006), mental rotation to mean then rotating this mental image (Hertzog & Rypma, 1991; Johnson, 1990; Jones & Anuza, 1982) and motor imagery to mean the ability of humans to mentally simulate an action without physically being engaged in it (Decety, 1996a, 1996b).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Debopriyo Roy

Debopriyo Roy is a Professor at the Center for Language Research, University of Aizu, Japan. He is a technical communication specialist and his research deals with information design, visual communication and usability for computer-assisted language learning in an EFL context. He obtained his PhD in Technical Communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, and MA degrees in Communication and Economics. He is an active board member of the ACM chapter, and IEEE PCS Japan society, directs his own laboratory in technical communication, supervises research projects, and has publications in leading journals and conference proceedings.

Stephen Crabbe

Stephen Crabbe is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and Translation (Japanese to English) at the University of Portsmouth, UK. The focus of his teaching and research is technical, professional and business communication and he is interested in supervising research students in any of these areas. He teaches multiple undergraduate and graduate courses and has many publications. He is also a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy.