Open
Here: The Art of Instructional Design
Reviewed by Sid Beauchant MISTC [2000]
This is a heavily illustrated book, with an almost overwhelming collection
of images from technical communication. The sub-title, The Art of Instructional
Design, could be confusing as instructional design often needs text as well
as images. This highlights one of the weak points of this book, the images
are often taken out of context without the other text and images that support
them.
The authors have a good sense of humour, although sometimes the humour almost
gets lost in translation. The book reminded me of those instructions, which
are now less common than they used to be, where the English is not the one
usually spoken and written in the UK.
Basic technical communication messages are repeated; yes someone does have
to teach us to sit on a chair. The point is made that we want consumer products
with the latest facilities, even if we do not use them. Is the world divided
into Technofreaks, who will master it whatever you put in the instructions;
and Technophobes, who will find the one way to wreck it?
Life used to be simpler, the complete documentation of the Argus Flugmotor
(a German aeroplane engine) in 1916 was 85 pages. They also highlight the
problems caused by "The Explosion of Features" when the microprocessor took
over, and the ergonomists lost the battle with the electronics engineers,
computer scientists and programmers to make these products intuitive to use.
There are interesting case studies of "How to Insert a Telephone Card", "What
to Do in an Emergency in a Plane" and "How to Program the VCR". The problems
of standardisation are raised. Will there be an official SGSL (Standardised
Generalised Symbol Language)? There are some interesting comments on the cultural
aspects of instructional art. Not to mention that some instructions could
be accused of being ageist, sexist, etc.
The major part of the book takes you through the order in which a designer
should think and communicate with the user when creating visual instructions.
This starts with warnings, then identification through to cause and effect,
with finally That's What it Should Look Like. The final section of
the book, What We Left Out, is basically "scientific illustrations,
patent drawings, maps and Art with a capital A".
A most enjoyable book, which should provoke thought, even if it does not
provide categorical answers. In the process it should bring a smile to most
faces. I would imagine it could be a useful source book on graphic communication
courses, where it could trigger discussions on what works and what does not.
The best bits, for me, were:
-
The conversation between the landed gentleman and his butler, a computer
who tends to answer in error messages: "I just paid £2000 for this damn
thing and I'm not going to read a book".
-
Cut the blue wire ... AFTER you have removed the red wire. (From a mine
clearance manual [!!!].)
Thames and Hudson. 1999, ISBN 0 500 28170 X
Available from Amazon.co.uk |
