Our consultancy and design services answer questions such as: what information needs to be published, what it should look like, who should produce it and how it should be delivered to the reader. This work may be aimed at producing a publication architecture as the first stage of an integrated documentation project, but we are equally happy providing advice, assessments and designs as independent activities.

In making recommendations and design choices, we look at a wide range of issues including:

• Reasons for producing the documents
• Who will read them, when and why
• Existing and potential sources of information, including training and support channels
• Available technology, tools and resources
• Brand image
• Regulations and legal requirements
• Budgets and deadlines

Above all, we seek to understand our clients' real-world goals and look for the most cost-effective ways to achieve them. We don't believe quality inevitably has to suffer when constraints are tight, and enjoy the creative challenge of finding coherent design solutions to complex and conflicting requirements.

Publication architecture

A publication architecture is a high-level design specification for the documentation needed for a product, business process or knowledge area. It might specify a single book or web site if that is what is required, or it might include a number of different types of paper and online document that work together to deliver the information.

The architecture defines the set of items to be produced and their scope, relationships between documents and with other sources of information, reader access, physical design and delivery channels. Deliverables from this activity usually include style guides and templates as well as specifications for individual items. For a full documentation project, costed plans and schedules are also prepared at this stage, and the project will continue with the development of the defined items.