Customer-focused documents:- Engineers' use of visuals to support product descriptions

Engineers find obvious self-expression or any hint of emotive language in writing for design documentation anathema. They strive for objective-like expression, and are particularly vigilant about usage that might convey personal stance or partiality. However, such attitudes hold little sway in engineers' choice of visuals to accompany their writing, especially in documentation intended for external audiences, mainly product data sheets and proposals. Five thematic categories for making judgments about visuals for customer-focused documents are suggested: cultural and ideological; functional; political; discoursal-attitudinal; and narrative.