Write the Instruction Manual First, Then Design

"The best designed products won't even need manuals." Don Norman In 2001 Steven Heller interviewed usability expert Don Norman for Print Magazine.

SH: Do you believe, as I do, that the designers of instruction manuals make confounding guides? In other words are there built in handicaps for usability, and if so, why?

DN: Those who write instruction manuals know what it is like to be in hell. They are given unusable objects and told to write clear, intelligible instructions. And, of course, they must also heed the legal warnings. They have an impossible job.

Want to know what designers of manuals should do? They should design and write the manual before the product is designed. Make the manual simple and elegant. Then insist that the designers build it the way they have described it. Then we might actually get usable products. and simple manuals.

The best designed products won't even need manuals.

What products have manuals? VCRs. Shelving units. Phones. Vacuum cleaners. Cars. You. Websites? There are no website instruction manuals for users that I know of. What a bad idea. Can you imagine having an instruction manual for every website you visit? How thick would each manual be? Don Norman does a good job explaining what we do at Forum One. We write the manual for a website (legal warnings and 508 compliance considered). We design the website based on the manual. Lastly, we launch the website. The usability of the website depends on the how well we write the manual, design it, and test it. It's a hard job, but somebody's got to do it! Seriously, nobody's got a manual. Interview: first published in Print, 2001 column. Read it here.

Photo: Michael Graves teapot