Gregory Woodland
Portfolio — technical & visual instruction design

I turn complex build steps into instructions technicians can follow the first time.

Visual Instruction Designer 4 working in shipbuilding and defense manufacturing — translating engineering data, drawings, and specs into work instructions, illustrated procedures, and training that hold up on the shop floor.

↓ reworkon redesigned hull outfitting package
↓ RFIson illustrated wiring harness package
↓ timeto competency, confined-space module

Selected work

Three anonymized case studies from shipbuilding and defense manufacturing programs.

1 2 3 1 2
01

Hull outfitting work package

Redesigning a shipyard fabrication work package for a major shipbuilder's hull outfitting line.

ROLEVisual Instruction Designer
TIMELINE4 months
PARTNERSEngineering, quality, production
THE PROBLEM

Work instructions were built from raw engineering drawings, so technicians were interpreting tolerances and sequence on the fly — a leading cause of rework and nonconformance reports on the line.

THE APPROACH

Sat on the floor with technicians to see where they actually got stuck, then rebuilt each package around numbered callouts on isometric views, one action per step, with critical tolerances called out visually instead of buried in a spec table.

RESULTNonconformance reports tied to instruction misreads dropped noticeably in the following production run, and new hires reached solo sign-off faster.
02

Wiring harness illustrations

An illustrated work package for a wiring harness install on a defense manufacturing program, replacing a text-only procedure.

ROLEVisual Instruction Designer
TIMELINE10 weeks
PARTNERSElectrical engineering, quality
THE PROBLEM

The existing procedure described connector routing entirely in text, which meant technicians filed frequent requests for information (RFIs) to confirm which wire went where — slowing the line and adding paperwork on both ends.

THE APPROACH

Built color-coded, to-scale routing diagrams keyed to the actual connector labels, with a shared legend across every sheet in the package so a technician could follow one wire from start to termination without cross-referencing three documents.

RESULTRFIs tied to harness routing questions fell sharply after rollout, and the diagram format was adopted as the template for two other harness packages.
1 2 3 4 Isolate power Test atmosphere
03

Confined-space training module

An interactive training module preparing technicians for confined-space entry procedures on a manufacturing floor.

ROLEVisual Instruction Designer
TIMELINE8 weeks
PARTNERSEHS, training department
THE PROBLEM

Confined-space certification relied on a slide deck and a written test, disconnected from the actual sequence of decisions a technician has to make at the space's edge.

THE APPROACH

Rebuilt the module as a scenario-driven walkthrough: technicians make the same isolate, test, and permit decisions they'd make on-site, in order, with immediate correction when a step is skipped or done out of sequence.

RESULTTime for new technicians to reach certification held steady while first-attempt pass rates on the practical evaluation improved.

How I work

The same shape on most programs, adjusted for how mature the source data is.

01 — SOURCE

Start from the drawing

Work from the actual engineering data and specs, not a prior document's version of them, so nothing gets copied forward wrong.

02 — FLOOR

Watch it get used

Stand with technicians while they follow a draft. Where they hesitate or improvise is exactly where the instruction is failing.

03 — SEQUENCE

One action per step

Break procedures into single, checkable actions with the callout, tolerance, or hazard shown at the point of use, not in a separate note.

04 — VERIFY

Route it back

Run the revised package through engineering and quality sign-off, then track RFIs and nonconformances after release to confirm it actually worked.

About

I'm a Visual Instruction Designer based in Newport News, VA, working in shipbuilding and defense manufacturing. My job sits between engineering and the shop floor — taking drawings, specs, and process data and turning them into instructions a technician can execute correctly under real conditions.

I care about the gap between a document that's technically correct and one that's actually followed correctly the first time. Most of my best work comes from time spent standing next to the person using the instruction, not from redesigning it at a desk.

I'm glad to walk through any of these case studies in more depth, or talk through a program you're trying to get unstuck.

TOOLS & PRACTICE

  • Adobe Illustrator / InDesignDaily
  • 3D CAD-derived illustrationWeekly
  • Technical writing standardsEvery project
  • Floor observation / walk-throughsEvery project
  • LMS / e-learning authoringAs needed

Have a procedure that isn't landing? Let's fix it.

Email gregory@gregorywoodland.com

Newport News, VA · open to on-site, hybrid, and contract work