Visionary Design
NeXT Computer
Communicate design aesthetics to the core
Design Challenge: create technical documentation for world-class hardware and user systems.
Result: award-winning documentation reflected the same attention to design quality as the computing system that was radically reinvented by collaborating in a culture of visionary invention.
My understanding of innovative product design in hardware and software development coalesced at NeXT Computer. In a startup culture with a flat hierarchy, our small production team created instructions that characterized the user-friendly NeXT style.
I worked directly with the inventor-engineers and technical writers to create art libraries for consistent documentation. Our team explained to our customers how the interface worked. I became Art & Production Manager and expanded our group to support marketing communications.
The NeXT on-line and printed user and developer manuals were hand-crafted page layouts that reflected the meticulous qualities of the brand. We won many awards from the Society for Technical Communication.
“I think the artistry is in having an insight into what one sees around them. Putting things together in a way no one else has before and finding a way to express that to other people who don’t have that insight.” — Steve Jobs
