Universal instructions.

 

How many of these world religions do you recognise from these symbols?

Creating a universal set of symbols that can be read across the world has long been the aim of socially responsible designers. Otto and Marie Neurath famously developed their Isotype system with the aim of making information as widely available as possible, to as wide a range of people as possible.

It might appear straightforward to design signs and symbols that people recognise across the world but things don't always work out as easily as that. Very few symbols have world wide recognition. Religious symbols such as a crucifix might be recognised globally but what about a symbol that represents turning a TV or laptop on. In developed countries the upside down semi circle with a bar sticking vertically out of it, is seen as the indicator of the power button but what about countries with a poorer population?

We don't accept symbols like the power icon instinctively, we have to learn these symbols. In the same way as written languages, visual languages must also be memorised. to quote the well known author on semiotics, David Crow, "All that is necessary for any language to exist is an agreement amongst a group of people that one thing will stand for another".

So when it comes to designing instructions for kits is it always necessary to try and use symbols that are already recognised, or is it OK to invent a whole new set of icons? If by using existing symbols you restrict the amount of information that you can convey, then maybe it might be worth trying to invent new ones.

Where's the instructions?

Instructions are going online.

 It used to be that any new gadget you bought came with its own instruction manual which went into great detail about all of your new purchases functions. Not only did the manual explain every possible function that your gadget could perform, regardless of the fact that you would only use about ten percent of these possibilities, it also duplicated all of these instructions in a number of different languages. The resulting booklet was therefore much bigger than really necessary and the sheer volume of information made it harder to find what you were looking for.

Increasingly products are supplied with only a 'getting started' booklet which only contains the most rudimentary functions. The new owner is expected to go to the company website in order to download a PDF of the complete instructions or browse the help section of the website in order to find the answer to their questions.

Ikea has also recently started supplying video instructions on their YouTube channel with the aim of making their assembly processes easier to follow. This is still an experiment by Ikea and time will tell if video instruction will take over from their familiar printed instructions but the days of graphic printed instructions may not be over yet. Photographs and video should in theory be the clearest way to instruct how a multi-stage process should be carried out but a couple of points are worth bearing in mind.

Firstly, photographic pictures contain all of the visual information from the image being captured. This may not be a good idea because much of the information might not be necessary and could even be confusing. A graphic illustration on the other hand focuses only on the pertinent information and omits anything else, thus focusing the viewers attention.

The other aspect to bear in mind about video and photography is that they can show cultural bias. Ikea is a world wide company and a video made in Stockholm might not necessarily be as appropriate to show in South East Asia as it would be in Britain. Whoever we see on film comes with a set of cultural baggage. Illustrations on the other hand can be culture neutral.

Ikea has become a global success story, despite people joking about their instructions being hard to follow. Video and online instruction is a very useful adjunct to traditional instructions but don't count out their printed counterparts just yet.

I made that.

Build a Bear, your bear is worth more than any one other bear.

An interesting feature of building and making objects with your own hands is the value that you place upon these objects. Studies have shown that the satisfaction derived out of making an object oneself is out of all proportion to its objective qualities.

The Build a Bear company offers a fun experience for parents and kids who want to make a teddy bear with that personal touch. The family get to choose from a whole range of options on how to finish their bear and walk away with a toy that is special to them because of the time they have invested in the making of it.

If asked to evaluate 'their' bear alongside an almost identical bear, which could be bought off the shelf for a great deal less money, the family invariably place a much higher value upon the bear that they have made. The investment of one’s own time and effort seems to create a higher perceived value for the object created. This is therefore a much more expensive way of buying the bear but it also indicates how ingrained the sense of satisfaction is within us when we make things with our own hands.

Kits for Learning

Lies, damn lies and early Meccano instructions.

Kits are a very good way to entertain and amuse the builder but they can also perform a useful educational function. Legend has it that the instructions contained in early Meccano sets had deliberate mistakes printed into the step-by-step guide. This may, or may not be true but many budding engineers first gained the skills for their calling from Meccano.

 The pieces contained in this new Meccano set perform fewer functions than the earlier sets.

Many of the new Meccano and Lego kits today contain parts that perform only one function and only a limited number of outcomes are possible to construct from these kits. Whilst the young builders of these new kits are no doubt having fun, it is worth considering whether these types of kits are limiting the imaginative opportunities for the modern kit builder.

A Case for kits: Welcome

An Airfix Spitfire, a 1/72 scale kit and also a form of marriage guidance.

 
This is the first post on The Case for Kits blog with plans for many more to follow.

The reasons for making kits are many and varied and the following quote from Randy Cohen in his New York Times article Elegy for the hobby nicely sums up why many people take up kits as hobbies.

 ‘True hobbies require a particular -- even disproportionate -- intensity of attention. They provide a strong counterbalance to work. They are classically a marital aid, a mechanism for spouse avoidance. They involve the accumulation of equipment and lore; i.e., irredeemably specific information. This gives the hobbyist a pleasing sense of progress -- or pseudoprogress, because hobbies are conservative. Here is the prime law of hobbies: Absorbing but Not Transforming. They fill the mind without altering it.’

Kits and hobbies can be an absorbing diversion and a way of keeping you sane that might even make your marriage run more smoothly. So next time you see a kit maybe think of it as a three dimensional Relate session.