From the course: Graphic Design Tips & Tricks

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How to design visual instructions

How to design visual instructions

From the course: Graphic Design Tips & Tricks

How to design visual instructions

- Hi everyone, John McWade. Have you ever bogged down reading a how-to manual? Maybe for that baby crib or a new stereo? They're so verbal. And, I like to read, but for instructions, there's a better way. That's to describe things in pictures. IKEA is great at this. They use no words in their manuals, just images. And I'd say they pretty much reached the holy grail when it comes to printed instructions. You know, if you can say it clearly without words, you're there. I mean, you're global. You're also thinking clearly. Even though it looks easy, it's really hard thinking it all through so your readers can get it the first time. But it's important that we do it. We've all experienced how frustrating it is when instructions aren't clear. What we're going to do is what we did with silhouettes awhile back. Set up the action with photos, then trace them. And use the tracing phase to improve things. As an example, I have this old radio. Just put it on a chair and took a picture. It's…

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