A paper by David Kirsh, Associate Professor at the Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego.

Abstract:

A small collection of illustrations is provided to show some of the diverse ways illustration may aid understanding. The display of parts and assemblies often relies on techniques such as explosions and canonical views to communicate the global structure and relations of a system that may have hidden pieces.

Book illustrations exemplify specific visions of described situations and allow readers to save memory and summarily review potentially complex descriptions. Visual proofs abstract from details and embody reliable metatheories that provide semantic guarantees for inferences. And conceptual illustrations when effective rely the logical method of universal generalization to help viewers grasp general ideas.

Author:

David Kirsh is Associate Professor at the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego.

Visit his website to learn more about David and his other publications.