Making How-To Manuals ‘User-Friendly’

A senior executive at Ford Motor Co. wanted to reset the clock in his Ford car. Unable to figure out how to do it by himself, he reached for the owner’s manual in the glove compartment.

He found he couldn’t understand the manual.

He wasn’t alone. Growing numbers of psychologists and linguists spend their days thinking about the incomprehensible instructions and unmanageable manuals that accompany the technological revolution.

The Document Design Center of the American Institutes for Research in Washington is a not-for-profit outfit that tries to help corporations and government agencies make their reading material readable.

As it has with insurance claims, computer tutorials, phone bills, loan applications and instructions for chicken fryers, the Document Design Center recently tackled the owner’s manual for the Ford Taurus.

Using techniques similar to those of political polling, the document center formed several “focus groups” of about 10 people. They were handed the manuals and asked questions such as, “How do you put in oil?” or, “What does it mean when the brake light is on?”

Some people seek their answers in the index, some go for the table of contents, “and some start in the middle of the book and just leaf through,” said Carolyn Boccella Bagin, a senior communications specialist.

Based on the focus group responses and problems, Bagin and co-workers rewrote the Taurus text to be more “user-friendly.”

They introduced personal pronouns and cut back on boldface type that shouted warnings. They packaged concepts into bite-sized “chunks” and created “breathing spots” to ponder the meaning of the blinking brake lights. They reworked the index and table of contents to list not only “instrument panel” but “dashboard.” Then they tested the “before” and “after” manuals on a fresh supply of Taurus owners and found a rise in satisfaction.

On the whole, Bagin said, she worries that forms and instructions may be getting worse instead of better. Part of the problem may lie with the authors. They are often lawyers, engineers or marketers. Lawyers want to avoid lawsuits. Marketing people want to sell something. And engineers want to tell you how things work.

“You don’t need to know how your computer works. You just need to know in plain English how to put in the disc and turn the machine on,” Bagin said.