Visual rhetoric and usability in user documentation

While debates continue in regards to the importance of usability in user documentation, many of those arguments have been focused on the importance of the type of language used--many pushing (rightly so) for a plainer, less technical style. However, while it is certainly important to focus on the words being used, it is equally, if not more, important to pay attention to the way those words are presented. Designing user documentation with a strong sense of visual rhetoric (specifically in terms of color and typography), the technical communicator is able to take control of how their work affects the user both intellectually and emotionally. I argue that by ignoring the visual element of their documentation, and as a result privileging the text, the designer does both the user, and the product, a terrible disservice.