About Me

Egyptian scribe sculpture

I love technical communication and information design. I chose this career because I derive pleasure from crafting words to be concise, to fit within industry standards and regulations, to use specified style guides, and to educate readers. Each project poses new challenges and new opportunities for me to expand and display my skills. I’ve been a technical communicator/information designer since 1996. I’ve been involved with product development labeling and documentation (including electrical medical devices) since 2001. I’m currently located in Kansas City; however, I can permanently/semi-permanently relocate to your area if provided relocation assistance. I can also work from home with limited on-site visits. I can travel to visit you on-site, visit your clients, and visit your customers as frequently as necessary. On-site product visitation and SME interviews are always preferred.

I can write/edit/draw to meet the following standards:

Style Guides:

  • Associated Press
  • Chicago Manual of Style
  • Microsoft® Manual of Style for Technical Publications
  • MLA

International and Federal Regulations:

  • ANSI
  • FDA
  • EMC
  • EN
  • FTC
  • IEC
  • IEEE
  • ISO
  • MIL
  • UL
  • others (I’m especially familiar with regulations for electronic medical devices)

Services

I offer a variety of services for businesses, individuals, and non-profit organizations, including:

  • Brochures
  • ad slicks
  • flyers
  • posters
  • signs
  • post cards
  • Corporate identity packaging (letterheads, envelopes, business cards, and more)
  • Documentation project feasibility studies/analysis
  • Glossaries, indexes
  • Graphics, illustrations
  • Hazard labeling
  • safety and warning labeling (IEC, FDA, etc.)
  • shipping labeling
  • device labeling
  • Newsletters and e-newsletters
  • Online help (WinHelp, WebHelp, HTML Help)
  • Packaging and multimedia distribution
  • Procedural guides, manuals, and documentation (user guides, installation instructions, policy and procedural manuals, standard operating procedures, manufacturing instructions, service level agreements, technical specifications, and more)
  • User interface designs
  • Web design and development
  • Web content
  • White papers
  • …and much more

Capabilities

Technical communication/information design takes more than agreat writer. It also takes a lot research, organization, attentionto regulationsandindustry standards, attention to usability, and numerousrounds of editing for consistency, understandability, and easeof use. The whole process, from start tofinish, can involve a lot of peopleand alot of teamwork.

If your team needs assistance with any type of labeling or documentation, I can provide or assist you with:

  • Audience analysis
  • Consulting
  • Copywriting/technical writing
  • Content re-purposing (for multiple/other formats)
  • Creative writing
  • CSS
  • Design validation
  • Desktop publishing
  • Documentation project feasibility studies/analysis
  • Editing
  • Electronic device rear-panel labeling
  • Fact checking
  • Format conversion
  • Ghost writing
  • Graphic design
  • Graphics creation
  • Hazard, safety, warning labeling
  • HTML
  • Indexing
  • Information architecture
  • Information planning
  • Information design
  • Interviewing/shadowing technical staff
  • Labeling requirements documentation
  • Machine drawings
  • Membrane label design/graphics
  • Outlining
  • Packaging and distribution
  • Planning
  • Presentation formatting
  • Proofreading
  • Requirements tracking
  • Requirements verification/validation
  • Research
  • Software training
  • Sustaining legacy documentation
  • Transcription
  • Translation management
  • Usability testing
  • User interface design/labeling
  • Web design and development (Internet, Intranet)
  • XML
  • …and much more!

Software Proficiencies

I have these software proficiencies:

  • Desktop Publishing

    Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe InDesign, Adobe PageMaker, Microsoft Publisher, Quark XPress

  • Graphics Creation

    Adobe Illustrator, Adobe ImageReady, Adobe ImageStyler, Adobe PhotoDeluxe, Adobe Photoshop, CorelDraw, Corel Photo-Paint, FreeHand, Image Composer, Macromedia Flash, Paint Shop Pro

  • Programming Languages

    CSS, HTML, Java (novice), JavaScript (novice), VB (novice), XHTML, XML

  • Web Page Design

    Dreamweaver, FrontPage, PageMill, Microsoft Word, WordPad, XML Spy, XML Writer

  • Word Processing

    Corel WordPerfect, Microsoft Word

  • Other

    Adobe Acrobat, DocTrak Documents Management System, RoboHelp Classic, RoboHelp HTML, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visual Basic (novice), RMTrak Requirements Management Tool, SCM Source Code Management/Software Version Control, Visio