How to Design Effective Instructions: Tips and Tricks for More Productive Designs
When it comes to designing effective instructions, most
people struggle. This is usually because designers don’t realize that a user
sees the same set of information in different ways depending on their learning
style, skill level, and task at hand. For example, when an end-user first looks
at a diagram or illustration of how to do something, they may see something new
and exciting. However, as soon as they look away from the screen and try to
implement what they just saw, everything starts to feel overwhelming and
confusing. They may even get frustrated if they can’t figure out how to do
something right away. This is why it’s so important for designers to understand
where users are coming from before creating a design. Here are some helpful
tips and tricks on how to design effective instructions:
Use a Learners’ Explanation
When creating instructions, it’s helpful to consider the
learning style of your end users and what kind of visual explanation they may
need. When you think about how people learn, you’ll start to see that different
people learn best from different types of explanations. For example, someone
who is just learning to drive a car may not understand how to park a car or how
to make it go in reverse. They may just need to know how to drive forward.
Therefore, every time they saw a diagram of how to drive a car, they may just
see it as a diagram of how to drive forward. This person may even feel
overwhelmed by the amount of information they need to process at once. To solve
this problem, you’ll want to use a learners’ explanation. A learners’
explanation is a visual explanation that takes the form of a learners’ thought
process. It helps users understand not only what the design is, but also how
they can use it and why it’s important.
Break down the steps to understand how users will move through the process
When you break down the steps to perform a task, you’ll see
that no two people will move through a process the same way. This is because
each person has their own skill, experience and preferences on how to move
through a task. Therefore, it’s important to include all the steps your users
will need to perform in your design. The only exception may be if you know that
no person will need to perform an action that is not essential for the task to
be completed. For example, if you’re designing directions for moving a sofa,
you may assume that no one will need to turn the sofa. If you assume that, then
you don’t need to include all the steps that are not essential for the task to
be completed.
Use Task Based User Interface (TBUUI)
When designing a user interface, it’s important to
understand how your users will move through the interface and what their mental
model of your design will be like. This will help you create a user interface
that will feel more familiar to them and less overwhelming. The mental model of
a task-based interface is the way your users imagine how they will move through
a task. The way a user sees a task is different from how they move through the
task. Using a task-based interface can help designers understand their users
better and create more effective designs. To create a task-based interface,
designers use a mental model diagram where they write down the steps and
objects your users will see in the interface. This diagram is then fed into the
design to see how the user sees it in their minds.
Test and Iterate
Once you have a design that works well for one type of user,
it’s important to test it with other potential users. Testing your design with
different types of users will help you understand what kind of problems and
issues your design may have. This can save you from designing a design that
doesn’t work for any type of user. Once you have a design that works well for
one type of user, it’s important to test it with other potential users. Testing
your design with different types of users will help you understand what kind of
problems and issues your design may have. This can save you from designing a
design that doesn’t work for any type of user.
Stay up to date on user feedback
No matter how good your design is, users may still find it
frustrating. This is why it’s so important for designers to stay up to date on
user feedback. You can do this by monitoring user reviews on your product and
reading comments left by other users. You can also track user behavior on your
product to see how they are interacting with your design. For example, you can
look at how many people are clicking a button or performing an action on your
product.
Conclusion
As designers, we have the opportunity to create products
that make people's lives easier. However, we also have the responsibility to
make sure those products are easy enough for people to understand and use.
Designing effective instructions requires the designer to consider a variety of
factors, including the users’ skill level, knowledge of the task being
performed, and the mental model of the design. When designing effective
instructions, it’s important to consider where users come from and what kind of
explanation they may need. This can help designers create a user interface that
is easier to understand and use.