A little verification that what we do at Infographics matters

This past year Infographics had the opportunity to work with a new client to redesign installation instructions for one of their existing products. Before moving forward with another project, the company wanted to validate the work we did and determine if the investment was a good one. Today—almost  a year since we delivered the first project—we received this email asking for our help. Needless to say, we're absolutely thrilled to know that this company recognizes the value of their investment and partnership with Infographics when it comes to technical communications.

From our client:

We recently completed some observational research with consumers and professionals to see how they install our product and the results were conclusive: We need better manuals!!!

Here are the takeaways from our research:

• Use consumer friendly terms 

• Include more detailed diagrams/illustrations and exploded view images 

• Design with larger fonts 

• Define symbols and icons 

• Use more white space, less clutter 

• Review installation sequence and steps 

• Consider preferences/needs of both “left-brained” and “right-brained” individuals

At Infographics we pride ourselves in being left brain and right brain thinkers. With our left brains we evaluate and analyze the project’s specific needs, putting information in a sequential and logical order. Then we employ our right brains to visualize the whole project and process the information in an intuitive manner. We tailor our proven process and techniques for each project's specific needs. Our thorough and consistent approach results in clear, concise and complete instructions. And we're happy to know that this client agrees.

We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

You simply can't afford to stick your head in the sand when it comes to product instructions, especially in this economy. Product returns and unnecessary customer service calls are more expensive than calling on our expertise.   

infographics® -- it's more than a name, it's what we do. Our firm was founded on our personal experiences as consumers, product developers, and communications professionals who consistently found technical product communications inadequate and confusing. Data from our research confirmed more people understand concise, image-based instructional material than text-heavy collateral material. 

At infographics^® we believe that well-executed communications do more than just translate an idea; they provide a foundation for understanding. infographics^® instructions, animations, training tools and product communications bridge language and educational barriers. We help our customers communicate complex information and facilitate understanding.

Who wants to take time to read the directions? Let's just play!

A few years ago, Infographics was asked to do a complete redesign of the playing instructions and develop a new Quick Start Guide for Hasbro's popular family game, CLUE. We take our jobs seriously, so in the spirit of good project analysis and evaluation, our employees spent an afternoon playing--I mean--working.

Whether it's a Quick Start Guide for a home appliance, a piece of machinery, or even a board game, the key to communicating relevant information with your intended audience is to literally put yourself in their shoes.

And that's what we do at Infographics. We play games, we install appliances, we take products apart and put them back together...all in order to deliver instructions that are easy-to-understand and applicable for the intended audience.

The goal of the new CLUE Quick Start Guide was to communicate the game summary and objectives (basically the Who, What, Where, and When) as well as the set-up and overview of basic game play rules. Realizing that simply playing the game often trumps reading lengthy explanations, we added "case file" headers and visuals in order to quickly share with players how to set-up, play, and win the game. The more serious players could refer to the Strategy Guide in the complete instructions for more detailed information.

Infographics' Client is Jumping into ABC's Shark Tank

Knoxville businesswoman and Infographics' client Jill Quillin will appear on Friday's episode of ABC's reality series "Shark Tank." Quillin is the developer of LipStix Remix, which allows someone to mix colors and make a new tube of lipstick or combine old used tubes into one new full size tube.

On the reality show, Quillin approached a panel of well-established entrepreneurs, asking them to invest in her company. Quillin cannot say how her meeting went, although it will play out on national television this week. "I feel like I accomplished the world," Quillin said. "I was taking a risk just by getting in there. I was just thankful when I went through the door (to meet the panel)."

A little over two years ago, Quillin barely had the product completed when she started focusing on the instructions and contacted Infographics for help. "I knew the instructions would be critical to the success of customers keeping the product once they received it," stated Quillin. "After working so hard to acquire my customer, I knew a well-designed instruction sheet would be the best possible hope for my customers to stay 'in-love' with the product and have a positive experience using it."

Infographics' response: Whoever said that instructions have to be boring? Sometimes style is a significant consideration - even when it comes to instructions. According to Sara Christensen, Infographics' creative director, "we developed a two-tone retro look that was a major component of the design language for this project. Jill had a definite style of her own and we felt that style needed to be reflected in all communications related to her unique product."

"Infographics delivered in every aspect (design, copy, illustrations, etc.) and I can report that I have not had one return out of 1,000 systems sold to date!" said Quillin. "As an added bonus, the money I invested in my instruction sheet converted into a savings when I set up my company website as all the beautiful illustrations Infographics created were a perfect fit for my home page."

For What It’s Worth, Jim’s Two-Cents

It's my observation that too many product manufacturers whose market consists of a demographic of 50+ years of age, are ignoring an important and critical need: Simpler easy-to-see, easy-to-use and understand product documentation!

According to the U.N. Program on Aging, one in ten people worldwide is now 60 years and older. By 2050, one in five will be 60 or older—and in more developed regions, it will be one in three. Even with increased social awareness of the need to serve an aging population, many companies still fail to understand how marketing specific information to better accommodate this population and making simple design changes can greatly accommodate older consumers.

Simpler easy-to-see, easy-to-use and understand product documentation IS a real need and too many product manufacturers cashing in on this growing demographic, are ignoring it!

I contend that a manufacturer of products for the older population could actually gain market share by having product documentation designed with their needs in mind by using it as a bonus product feature in their marketing. I say this not only because Infographics could help these companies, but because it hits home with me personally in dealing with aging parents and in dealing with age…"ahem"…myself!

- Jim Kughler, GM at Infographics

For further reading on this topic, check out this article by Brand Channel: Engaging the Aging, Marketing to Europe’s Seniors.

Recent recalls on “How-To” home improvement books got us thinking.

Maybe you heard about the massive recall last week of 951,000 home improvement books by Oxmoor House, Inc. due to errors in the technical diagrams and wiring instructions that could lead consumers to incorrectly install or repair electrical wiring, posing an electrical shock or fire hazard to consumers. Since we’re in the instruction business, this news obviously caught our attention and got us thinking that perhaps most manufacturers and publishers don’t factor “recalls” into their product profitability projections.

It also prompted us to do a quick internet search to see if any other instructions had been recalled. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, just a year prior 64,000 Wiring a House instructional books published by Taunton Press were recalled for the very same reasons. Additionally, within the past year 18,000 illuminated round rocker switches sold by RadioShack Corp., were recalled because the wiring diagram on the switch’s package showed the neutral and line notation was reversed, posing a shock hazard to consumers. Stamina Products recalled 11,000 elliptical machines and modified the warning/assembly instructions in the owner’s manuals to emphasize that the elliptical pedal shafts must be securely tightened to the cranks. If not securely tightened, the pedal shafts could become loose from the cranks, which could result in serious injury to the user.

Our experience has shown that many companies fail to calculate, track or, even consider the cost of the risks they take by under-valuing the importance of the quality of their instructions. Risks that can take away those profits (for instance by recalls, unnecessary customer service calls) and result in the loss of market share, and more.

Many of our potential clients simply don’t budget enough money or time for their instructions (they seem to be an “afterthought” in the product development and launch schedule) and opt to spend the bulk of their money on sales support material. We understand that they are in the business to make money and selling the products is paramount to that concept. On the flip side, recalls like these are just one of many financial risks of underestimating the value of producing accurate and comprehensive instructions.

Why these particular instances happened and how these folks address it in the future must be identified before they can be avoided. It’s possible these “mistakes” stem from the lack of quality control and accuracy check points or the lack of physical testing of the instructions by actual users to verify them as accurate and safe.

Instruction manuals (and how-to books) continue to be, for many manufacturers, a requirement on which they invest a minimal amount of their product’s cost. For these publishers, the problem may have stemmed from common assumptions—the content and copy were fact-checked and proofread for spelling and grammar—the illustrators followed the experts' lead—therefore it must be right.

So what’s the answer? Hire the instruction experts? Partner with Infographics and they’ll do everything flawlessly? Now that’s a pretty big claim, and not one that many humans can or should make. What Infographics can offer are processes and collaborative ideas to substantially LOWER the risks of mistakes. We first recognize who the “content expert” is and it’s seldom us. Our niche is creating the means to communicate to other “non-experts”. We respect the manufacturer, engineer, product designer, scientist, inventor, researcher or writer (content experts) who provide the facts. We then respectfully challenge them and their content IF we don’t understand it ourselves right away. Combined with our skills in creating effective visual and verbal instructions, we can substantially lower the risks of mistakes.

Yes, we realize the experts know more than we do about their product/content, but WE need to understand it on our level to effectively communicate it to the audience who, like us, often does not have the expertise of the manufacturers and engineers. Once the content experts and our team come to an understanding based on our mutual respect of what we both do, the process begins.

We collaborate and create content for the end-users they can relate to and understand, and not necessarily in the way our experts can relate to all the time. To assure accuracy, both sides (experts/Infographics) stay intimately involved in making sure the content is accurate no matter how it is communicated—continuously pushing back on each other to make the information clear and accurate.

For the best results, we have our solutions checked by giving the instructional piece to a sampling of the targeted audience (by far the most important people in our process) to try to use and then critique.

The bottom line: Lowering the risks of recalls or injuries takes an investment too few are willing to make upfront. These recent recalls are examples of what NOT making adequate investments in instructions can cost for those who don’t.

Identifying moving parts and communicating motion with Infographics®

This week’s entry picks up on the concept introduced in our previous post—see Actually, it is brain surgery below—of using color to identify moving parts and communicate motion. Infographics developed a new quick reference guide for GE Healthcare that contains a series of sequence illustrations demonstrating set-up and basic functional processes. The reference step shown here was also included to quickly communicate different areas of articulation for the cranial clamp. These adjustments allow users to precisely position the patient for delicate surgical procedures. By using color and arrows, users get a quick visual reference to aide in making fine adjustments—which are critical in this application.

Quick reference guides have become a specialty of ours—communicating key information in a concise and visually-based form can make the difference between a positive experience and frustration.