**2. Product instructions**

In the Oxford English online dictionary (2006), the word "product" is defined as "that which is produced by any action, operation, or work; a production; the result. Now that which is produced commercially for sale". Another word "Instruction" is described as "making known to a person what he is required to do; a direction, an order, a mandate (oral or written) (www.oed.com, 2006)". Thus the term "Product instructions" refers to the guides associated with products to provide detailed operating instructions. In one of these international standards, "Instructions for the use of products of consumer interest" are defined as: "the means of conveying information to the user on how to use the product in a correct and safe manner" (ISO/IEC GUIDE 37, 1995, iv).

The initial purpose of instructions is to communicate vital information to users, and help them to use products correctly when this cannot be achieved through the design of products

Product Instructions in the Digital Age 41

up with the changes in emerging products. With the majority of product instructions, users are mainly suffering from problems in three design aspects: the effectiveness, the

Although product instructions are important and not replaceable, evidence suggests that existing instructions are not as good as they should be. The fact is that the user satisfaction rate on product instructions is only 31% according to the authors' survey in 2006. Users complain about many problems with product instructions such as they do not explain what the users really need; they are either too wordy or difficult to understand, hold unusual

26

These criticisms suggest that many accompanying instructions are not effective and they are

The majority of instructions in accompanying materials are in the physical forms of leaflets, manuals, CD (Figure 2). Another survey carried out by the authors (2008) showed that the vast majority (92%) of product instructions often are printed. Other forms such as

> Printed leaflets and Manuals 92%

CD/DVDs are also adopted but only used by a very small number of users.

Videotapes 0%

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60

Other 2%

48

53

43 42

37

technical terms, contain bad translations and bad visuals (Figure 1).

4

Frequencies

Fig. 1. Problems with instructions (authors' survey 2006).

CDs/DVDs 6%

Fig. 2. Types of accompanying instructions.

accessibility and the inclusiveness.

**3.1 Effectiveness** 

too much jargon too detailed and w ordy difficult to understand don't explain w hat I need doesn't match product visually poor other

not designed for all.

**3.2 Accessibility** 

themselves. They are crucial parts of products and they should allow and promote proper use of manufactured goods also offer direct help to avoid mishandling which may lead to danger. Although they should not compensate for flaws of product design, instructions should be able to reduce risks of damaging products, consequent failures or inefficient operations.

It is believed by Petterson (2002) that the design of product instructions is the design of instructional messages and it is one sub area of Instruction Design. It is closely related to information design and it is an interdisciplinary subject. It takes influences from many established areas of research. The main areas may involve language, art and aesthetics, information discipline, communication, behavioural and cognitive study and so on.

In many perspectives, product instruction design and information design share their similarities. Both these areas are not clearly defined yet and their histories are not easy to trace. The preparation, presentation, analysis and understanding of a message need to be embraced through a selected medium. Also, product instruction design and information design both involve multi-disciplinary and global concerns. They have influences from similar areas and they both need to inform the intended users. When studying the design of product instructions, the authors have taken inspiration from the information design field.

#### **3. The trends and problems**

People's demands on product instructions more or less depend on how much information they need for the operation of the products. Therefore the design of product instructions is closely related to the design and development of products. In the product design field, products are restructured and redesigned from time to time to follow different trends. Designers are passionate about using newer technology, creating appealing appearances for products, minimise then simplify them (Redhead, 2000).

The past ten years has been the fastest changing period for technologies; extraordinary changes have been brought to society. The emergence of mass information, new products and redesigned products is more prevalent than ever. New technology allows products to be more complicated to use but their appearance is getting simpler. Users are very often overwhelmed by new technology, products and information. Products both more confusing and more exciting than ever.

The choices for customers are wide,from products like computers and mobile phones to consumer products, for example, shampoo and chairs, almost everything has been rethought from scratch. Consumers, after experiencing high technologies and pleasant appearances of inventions, start to require more control and urge for personalisation. They want products to be "more seductive, more personal, more available" (Redhead, 2000, P54). The trend of customisation allows more customers to personalise their products. For example, Apple's products such as the iPod and iShuffle allow customers to have their own name on the back of the product. Similarly, Nike let the buyers decide the colour, detail and the ID of their own trainers. And now, personalised products are developed in most industries; ranging from fashion products to computers or furniture, even picture frames.

These trends and existing changes on the design of new products require product instructions to follow up and to be as exciting. The change of products needs their instructions to be clearer, quicker to access and easier to understand. However, while we are surfing in the ocean of newer and more charming products, product instructions are not as interesting as they should be. They are not redesigned and updated quickly enough to catch up with the changes in emerging products. With the majority of product instructions, users are mainly suffering from problems in three design aspects: the effectiveness, the accessibility and the inclusiveness.

#### **3.1 Effectiveness**

40 Industrial Design – New Frontiers

themselves. They are crucial parts of products and they should allow and promote proper use of manufactured goods also offer direct help to avoid mishandling which may lead to danger. Although they should not compensate for flaws of product design, instructions should be able to reduce risks of damaging products, consequent failures or inefficient

It is believed by Petterson (2002) that the design of product instructions is the design of instructional messages and it is one sub area of Instruction Design. It is closely related to information design and it is an interdisciplinary subject. It takes influences from many established areas of research. The main areas may involve language, art and aesthetics,

In many perspectives, product instruction design and information design share their similarities. Both these areas are not clearly defined yet and their histories are not easy to trace. The preparation, presentation, analysis and understanding of a message need to be embraced through a selected medium. Also, product instruction design and information design both involve multi-disciplinary and global concerns. They have influences from similar areas and they both need to inform the intended users. When studying the design of product instructions, the authors have taken inspiration from the information design field.

People's demands on product instructions more or less depend on how much information they need for the operation of the products. Therefore the design of product instructions is closely related to the design and development of products. In the product design field, products are restructured and redesigned from time to time to follow different trends. Designers are passionate about using newer technology, creating appealing appearances for

The past ten years has been the fastest changing period for technologies; extraordinary changes have been brought to society. The emergence of mass information, new products and redesigned products is more prevalent than ever. New technology allows products to be more complicated to use but their appearance is getting simpler. Users are very often overwhelmed by new technology, products and information. Products both more confusing

The choices for customers are wide,from products like computers and mobile phones to consumer products, for example, shampoo and chairs, almost everything has been rethought from scratch. Consumers, after experiencing high technologies and pleasant appearances of inventions, start to require more control and urge for personalisation. They want products to be "more seductive, more personal, more available" (Redhead, 2000, P54). The trend of customisation allows more customers to personalise their products. For example, Apple's products such as the iPod and iShuffle allow customers to have their own name on the back of the product. Similarly, Nike let the buyers decide the colour, detail and the ID of their own trainers. And now, personalised products are developed in most industries; ranging from fashion products to computers or furniture, even picture frames. These trends and existing changes on the design of new products require product instructions to follow up and to be as exciting. The change of products needs their instructions to be clearer, quicker to access and easier to understand. However, while we are surfing in the ocean of newer and more charming products, product instructions are not as interesting as they should be. They are not redesigned and updated quickly enough to catch

information discipline, communication, behavioural and cognitive study and so on.

operations.

**3. The trends and problems** 

and more exciting than ever.

products, minimise then simplify them (Redhead, 2000).

Although product instructions are important and not replaceable, evidence suggests that existing instructions are not as good as they should be. The fact is that the user satisfaction rate on product instructions is only 31% according to the authors' survey in 2006. Users complain about many problems with product instructions such as they do not explain what the users really need; they are either too wordy or difficult to understand, hold unusual technical terms, contain bad translations and bad visuals (Figure 1).

Fig. 1. Problems with instructions (authors' survey 2006).

These criticisms suggest that many accompanying instructions are not effective and they are not designed for all.

#### **3.2 Accessibility**

The majority of instructions in accompanying materials are in the physical forms of leaflets, manuals, CD (Figure 2). Another survey carried out by the authors (2008) showed that the vast majority (92%) of product instructions often are printed. Other forms such as CD/DVDs are also adopted but only used by a very small number of users.

Fig. 2. Types of accompanying instructions.

Product Instructions in the Digital Age 43

traditional instructions, and are still limited compared to other instructions delivered by

Product instructions should help all users to use different products and fulfill different tasks. When designing product instructions, designers are planning instructional materials and in some way designing a learning process for product users. Designed instructions should be easy to follow by users with all kind of intelligence references and learning styles. Therefore the instructions should use varied styles of delivery, be customized for specific people and help everyone to understand and learn. However, this is not achieved in most

Currently, the majority of product instructions are presented by either text, images or a mixture of both. Product instructions dominated by text certainly enable aural learners to follow easily, however, they are not as straightforward to use for other readers with different strengths. Instructions full of pictures and charts can help visual learners to process information effectively and use products quickly but yet again they might not be the best

Additionally, it is difficult to locate a piece of information among instructions, as they are often very lengthy. Users have to scan all information and evaluate them to select the part they need. This works well when the assimilating learning style is favoured. However, when an accommodating learning style is preferred, users will be annoyed, often because they are forced to go through lots of instructions, instead of getting hands on experience

Facing all these problems with product instructions, some actions have been taken to alleviate the frustrations. To make product instructions more comprehensible and effective, standards for formulating instructions are available and textual materials on how to write instructions are provided. Meanwhile, info-graphics have been studied by some designers and academic researchers so that graphics can be used to aid the presentation of information. However, related standards are limited and dated; research focused on the accessibility and inclusive design of product instruction is very rare; problems of product instructions are not completely and successfully solved and users are continuing to suffer from annoyance caused by poor product instructions. It is necessary to carry out a systematic and up to date study to improve the performance of product instructions,

physical media.

**3.3 Inclusiveness** 

cases.

quickly.

**4. Current solutions** 

especially in this digital age.

Fig. 5. Examples of paper based product instructions.

choice for other users, for example, kinesthetic learners.

Many printed instructions take a huge amount of storage space and are not easy to be kept and shared. For example, some products, such as office machines and equipment, are shared or passed around and instruction manuals become lost in the process. For example, in the survey carried out by the authors (2008), 72% of participants (155) intended to keep all instructions which accompany products (Figure 3).

Fig. 3. Do users intend to keep instructions?

Among them, only 5% participants (3%) never lose the instructions and another 37 participants (24%) rarely lose them. 12% participants admit that they lose product instructions very often. The majority users (61%) replied "sometimes" (Figure 4).

Fig. 4. Do users lose instructions?

On the other hand, for manufacturers, it is expensive to have these accompanying materials produced. Paper based product instructions such as leaflets and manuals are typical examples. Some of them contain many pages as all useful information has to be included (Figure 5).

Costs for producing them have been continuously increasing since the price of energy and paper has climbed. In recent years, there are more and more product instructions available online for free download. However, they are mostly digital or scanned versions of the

Many printed instructions take a huge amount of storage space and are not easy to be kept and shared. For example, some products, such as office machines and equipment, are shared or passed around and instruction manuals become lost in the process. For example, in the survey carried out by the authors (2008), 72% of participants (155) intended to keep all

Among them, only 5% participants (3%) never lose the instructions and another 37 participants (24%) rarely lose them. 12% participants admit that they lose product

instructions very often. The majority users (61%) replied "sometimes" (Figure 4).

Never, 5, 3%

On the other hand, for manufacturers, it is expensive to have these accompanying materials produced. Paper based product instructions such as leaflets and manuals are typical examples. Some of them contain many pages as all useful information has to be included

Costs for producing them have been continuously increasing since the price of energy and paper has climbed. In recent years, there are more and more product instructions available online for free download. However, they are mostly digital or scanned versions of the

Yes, 155, 72%

Very often, 18, 12%

> Sometimes, 95, 61%

instructions which accompany products (Figure 3).

Fig. 3. Do users intend to keep instructions?

Rarely, 37, 24%

Fig. 4. Do users lose instructions?

(Figure 5).

No, 61, 28%

traditional instructions, and are still limited compared to other instructions delivered by physical media.

Fig. 5. Examples of paper based product instructions.
