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How to Write the

Wordless Manual

STC-Israel Technical Communications,National Conference 2004

Kibbutz Ma’aleh HaHamisha, Israel

February 2004Presented by Yehuda Zelenko

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Assumption

We assume that graphics is sort

of a universal language -- that

different cultures interpret

graphics in the same way.

WRONG!!!!

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Non-Verbal Learning

• Act of gaining knowledge, apart from

language, speech or words.

• Knowledge gained by

watching, imitating body movements

• WATCH ME!

• Isotype: set of pictographic

characters, to communicate

directions, events, objects

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Non-Verbal

Communications

• Facial expressions

• Gestures

• Postures

• Tones of voice

The process of sending and

receiving word-less messages

• Grooming habits

• Body positioning

• Consumer

product design

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Facial Expressions

• Lips

• Eyebrows

• Tongue

• Eyelids

• Eyes

• Eye contact

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Gestures

What does this mean in Japan?

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Gestures

What does this mean in France?

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Gestures

What does this mean in Iran?

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Body Gestures

• Clenched fist

• Wave of hand

• Pointed finger

• Shrug of

shoulders

• Palms Up

• Palms Out

• Crossing your arms

• Making facial

expressions

• Nodding

persistently

• Overusing hand

motions

• Tapping your

fingers or feet.

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Successful Verbal

Communication

Should end with

“ I SEE! “

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Tactile Symbols for

Blind

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Tactile Symbols for

Blind

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Language for the Deaf

Signing

Finger-

Spelling

Numbers

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Examples of visual

manuals

Seat cards in airplanes

Origami books

Lego building block instructions

IKEA furniture assembly

instructions

Books for Children

How-to-Do repair manuals

Various labels and tags

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IKEA Manuals

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From DVD Manual

Don’t pull

refrigerator

over bump!

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Table Lamp SAFETY!!

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Product Wrappings

On a plastic packaging bag

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Shoe Tag

• Shoe Upper –

from leather

• Shoe Insides –

woven cloth

• Shoe Soles –

Diamonds?

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Packing Instructions

If you

drop

box on a

dog, don

’t trip on

its tail…

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IEC-ISO Safety Symbols

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ISO 3864 Safety Signs

rotating gear wear safety do not touch

hazard gloves

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Homeowner Wordless

Fix-It Manual

• The problem (presented in a

cartoon):

A person sorting through laundry to

wash, trying to separate the colors.

Laundry is all over the floor in front

of the machine.

• The solution:

A frame is built which holds six little

trash bins, stacked up one on top of

the other, so clothes can be sorted

into them by color.

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Don’t use ambiguous

illustrations !

Honda Motorcycle Manual

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The Wordless Manual

What’s it good for?

• For step-by-step

procedures

• For physical

activities

• Cannot teach

programming

• Not for

conceptual

tasks that need

branching or

looping.

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So why did HP want visual

(wordless) manuals?

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Main Criteria for the HP

Visual Manual

• Main motivation: Company wanted to

save money, but not necessarily

promise better usability to their

customers!

• Wanted to enjoy a global market

• Both parties won…!

• Designed for a HP Network Computer

• Audience – Network Administrator /

Tech Support Persons

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Main Logistic Benefits

• Product Engineering collaborated

with Documentation team

• Localization costs were virtually

eliminated (for up to 22 languages)

• Printing & Production costs per

revision were substantially reduced

• HP internal documentation

management was simplified

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Collaboration -- Engineering &

Documentation Teams

Improved the product:

• By adding instructional

cues, such as:

decals, warnings, engr

aved labels, arrows

• By proposing

alternative placement

for card assemblies

and cables – making

assembly easier

• By unifying

components onto

same assembly

• By moving

components to

other locations

• By doing usability

testing repeatedly–

to create ideal user

experience.

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LOCALIZATION

Definition

• “Process of creating or adapting a

product to a specific locale --

language, cultural

context, conventions, and market

requirement of a specific target

market,

• So that User can interact in his/her

own language and cultural

conventions, and

• Product meets all regulatory

standards.”

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Virtually Eliminated

Localization Cost$

• Localization -- used to cost up to

80 cents per word before Wordless

Manual was published (year 2000)

• For 5 languages: @ 25-page book not

localized saved ~ $15,000!

• Savings did not include salaries of internal

staffing or consultants to manage multiple

localization vendors.

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Reduced Printing &

Production Cost$

• Single Wordless Manual saved lots of

money!

• Non-Recoverable Expenses (initial

print setup of manual) - small manual

in color costs US $5,000.

• Printing production costs for each

manual - reduced by combining

volumes.

As much as half saved per copy with large print

runs.

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Simplified HP Document

Management

• Reduced the costs of handling

multiple parts

(e.g., manuals), multiple

inventories, and different bills of

material.

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HP Marketing Gains

• Flexibility – able to enter new

language markets

• Improved Time-to-market - no delays

for translation & localization

• Improved Usability -- for users

who had difficulty with textual

instructions

• Manual portability (fewer pages)

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Marketing Power

• For countries who demanded

instructions in their native language

• For limited markets, localization and

re-printing costs were prohibitive

• Easy to enter very small markets ---

no additional costs or waiting time

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How to Increase

Usability using Pictures

• Reduce visual

traffic by taking

out extraneous

details

• Use only simple

illustrations

• Help reader to

focus only on

relevant details

• In US, preferred words

with pictures

• In Japan, preferred

Wordless manual

• Tip:

“Illustrate only the

instruction, not the

object in its perfect

form!”

• Don’t scrimp, be

repetitive.

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Developing Non-Verbal

Instructions

• Set size of

manual, orientatio

n, & binding

• Sketch out simple

frames

• Storyboard with

text information

and simple photos

or videotape

• Chunk text in

frames to create

more succint

instructions

• Group into logical

modules of related

steps

• Make reading

sequence obvious

• Test and revise!

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Manual + Product --

Usability Testing

• 6- to 8-month development period

• Six product prototypes were built

• 1st

product prototype tested with worded

manual – problem: could not assemble the

product with text.

• 3rd product prototype tested with first draft

of Wordless manual

• 5th product prototype tested with final

version of Wordless manual

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Off-Line Testing

• EQUIPMENT

• Had to pass all

performance, ele

ctrical, safety

tests

• No sacrifice in

performance and

operation

• MANUAL

• First tested the

text manual

• Next tested the

visual manuals -

twice

Any revisions =

mainly on

icons, not the

instructions.

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Any Questions?

• Now let’s see

what an HP

visual manual

is all about.