"An experience is never a failure because it always serves to show something."

Thomas Edison (1847 - 1931)

technical writing examples

I have worked within different businesses over the years, sometimes as an employee and sometimes as a free-lancer. I have occupied different marketing and PR positions, within food-processing equipment, high-strength concrete applications maritime communications and telecom. I have worked short term for i.e. bunkering companies, diary turn-key consultants, roofing companies, engineering consultants, spare-part suppliers, attorneys and hospitals. 

I consider this mixed background an asset. I have achieved a basic understanding of many different technologies, and found that I easily adapt to new scenarios. I communicate with engineers and technical staff on all levels without difficulties to grasp the inner meaning of a concept and express this in terms that are suitable for the target audience. 

I have selected some illustrative examples of my work. In case you are looking for a technical writer, it may provide you an idea of my skills. If you are planning to do your own writing, it may serve as a source of inspiration.

Whatever the reason for your interest in my website, you are always welcome to contact me for a dialogue on technical writing. 

The more we learn, the higher the quality

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The cellular phone industry is an exciting and challenging business for the technical writer, because even though we are talking complex space-age gadgets here, packed with sophisticated features, they are targeted towards end users with very varying reading skills. The challenge is thus to make complicated functions easy to use for the layman.

With the introduction of the Maxon MX7810/12 for instance, the concept of GPRS was rather new to the average cell phone user. As General Radio Packet Service is of no interest in itself to the user - it is merely a way of transmitting data - the benefits of using GPRS (a faster connection) must be illustrated clearly through application examples.

Read the entire guide here (PDF 646 Kb).

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As functions increase in complexity, demands are automatically raised to the user guide as well as to the writer. Simple MMI's need little explanation, but intricate details such as PC synchronization includes installation of software and set-up of several parameters.

Read the entire guide here (PDF 666 Kb).

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Imagine to make direct contact with something that is hovering 22.000 km above your head. Awesome! Satellite phones are not toys for the average man, so to get the opportunity to write a user guide for this gadget was an inspiring challenge. For six months I tested the phone under various conditions and I remained awestruck by this amazing piece of equipment. 

Sadly, the M4 never made it to the market. During the final developing period, the market hit rock bottom, and even well established competitors with proven products were gasping for air. Under these conditions EuroCom gave the M4 up, all in all not too dumb a decision, I guess. 

Nevertheless, this does not taint the user manual, which at that point was some 95 % finished. Therefore I have included it in this line of examples. For this manual, instructive drawings were necessary, these were made by Bjergs Tegnestue. 

Read the entire manual here (PDF 1200 Kb).

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and Flooring

Concrete is a fascinating material not just suitable for building houses and bridges. High-strength concrete has numerous applications, ranging from road pavement, flooring and wear protection to safe-guarding of valuables and reinforcement of oil rigs.

One of the difficulties in marketing concrete is the traditional concept of its applications with the target groups. Enlightenment and education is thus the way to broaden the perspective and draw attention to new applications.

Writing newsletters to a professional audience requires a balanced approach; fact oriented but not boring, lively but still serious. First and foremost, you must be well acquainted with your audience, as perspectives may vary quite a lot within businesses that superficially may seem alike.

The Densit Process was directed towards industries that experience heavy wear to the processing equipment. The intended audience was high-level engineers and managers, and the writing style was deliberately very "matter-of-fact" with no fooling around. At its peak, the Process was circulated in eleven languages in as many countries, and served as a powerful support tool to the distributors.

The Densit Gazette on the other hand was directed towards a broader audience and featured a more relaxed and laid-back style. We had jokes and small contests to lighten up the more serious stuff, and we would not hezitate to put Santa Claus on the logo at Christmas. The Gazette was published in English and German and was of great use to the sales staff and on trade fairs.  

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It is a tricky business to mix the high-strength Densit ceramic composite and instructions are often to be given to an inexperienced crew, while the mixer is running and the customer eagerly awaiting the result. 

To support the efforts on site, the WearFlex installation guide was elaborated. In order to avoid misinterpretations of the text on various markets, and to accommodate the use for people who do not read too well, we emphasized the use of instructive photos and simple terms in the necessary text.

See the entire guide here (PDF 175 Kb)

You can be a divine communicator and an expert in the matters, you write about. And you can write the finest manual the world has ever seen, it is all to no use if nobody reads it. 

At Densits flooring we were very concerned about installation crews not reading the manual, so we boiled down the essence of the manual to a few major points to remember. We came up with six points, decided to print them on a piece of paper and pack one with every pallet of flooring material. All we needed was a catching name, that would make people read the paper.

That's how the "SAFE SIX" instructions were born.

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Installing Densit wear linings is a process of continuous development and learning. For that reason, frequent distributor workshops were held during my time in Densit A/S, where the techniques were practiced and experiences exchanged. It was also an entertaining way to strengthen the corporate identity and acquaint distributors all over the world with one another.

To further pursue this goal, we issued the Densit Distributor Newsletter, a highly technical magazine with an exclusively small circle of readers, whenever we found it appropriate. Both Densit staff and distributors contributed to DDN. 

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During my Carnitech years I had the opportunity to meet and become friends with many trade press journalists. Gradually, I developed a sense for the kind of material that would catch their attention, and as a result, Carnitech - though having a very modest budget for advertising - enjoyed comprehensive media exposure.

Needless to say, maybe, but the trick is mainly to be serious. That is, do not flood your media contacts in self-centered sales talks and expect them to quote you every time you open your mouth. Instead, make an effort of evaluating the material, you send them, and make sure that it contains real news, that will interest the readers. It helps, if you also furnish them with all necessary data including high-resolution scannings of the equipment in question.

xxx Material to be implemented

xxx Material to be implemented

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Aalborg Sygehus (Aalborg Hospital) is a fairly large medical center servicing the northernmost part of Jutland, Denmark. The hospital has more than 900 beds and some 3500 employees.

In 1992 the hospital management decided to issue an informative, monthly newsletter, directed to the staff, local press and decision makers within the community. I took on the assignment, and - on a low budget - we created "Information", a b/w print-on-demand magazine-style newsletter which was very well received by its audience. The first issue comprised a modest eight pages, but volume and circulation quickly grew.

Under the auspices of a local advertising agency, Information has grown to a full-fledged color magazine and is still issued today. 

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Mobitenna is an independent design bureau for mobile antenna innovation. Some very bright minds have gathered her, offering advise to handset manufactures who wants to minimize size and enhance performance of their mobile antenna unit.

Even if IQ's are high, budgets can be small. Furthermore, when the message is complex in nature, but must be straightforward in presentation, the trick is to be brief in writing and limit yourself to offer a more elaborate explanation at a personal meeting.

However. Mobitennas homepage is still under construction, and will soon offer the visitor a little more than what you see now.

Maxon Telecom A/S is the Danish branch office, or rather the R&D facility of a Korean handset manufacturer. As such, the interest Maxon Telecom A/S takes in their homepage is more as an instrument of information rather than it is a mere sales tool. 

Their present homepage represents my first effort in HTML and is due for a thorough refurbishing, probably in early winter 2003.

John Peter Andersen is attorney at law and the proprietor of an exclusive one-man legal business. He handles commercial matters for a handpicked portfolio of clients and is in no dire need for traditional advertising or promotion as clients traditionally come to him after the recommendation of others. Thus, his homepage is as much an online CV as it is a traditional presence on the Web. It also contains lots of "free stuff" in terms of legal articles and memorandums, some in English.

Creation of this homepage has just begun and will continue for some time. It is a challenging task that I am looking forward to. 

Opholdsstedet Nordly is a foster home for troubled young people, age 13 to 20. The homepage had to be both informative for the fiscal authorities who are responsible for finding accommodation for the kids and appealing to the youngsters themselves.

We settled for a not too fancy layout - kind of "old fashioned" really - in an effort to convey the rural comfort, love and safety, Nordly represents. The kids from Nordly contributed eagerly to the creation of the homepage.

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