Designed for Use, 2nd Edition

The Manual

Many products come with some type of manual that explains how to use the product. Most manuals are pretty awful, which is bad, because people tend to open the manual when they can’t figure out how to use a product. In other words, they’re already annoyed and unhappy, and then they get to slog through a distressingly crappy manual.

Manuals don’t have to be crappy. But creating a great manual means giving it high priority. And that means starting to think about—and work on—the manual early on.

During the design process, your brain is still free of implementation details. This helps you see the manual from the point of view of the user, who also doesn’t have a clue about all the technical minutiae that makes your product tick.

Starting ...