Printer Setup Instructions

     

     These first two pages of instructions for first-time setup of a paper printer demonstrate techniques that take advantage of the typical reading format in America - eyes moving left to right, top to bottom.  The visuals are placed in exactly this order, so that their place within the numerous steps can be easily interpreted without using unnecessary graphics or typography.  This helps reduce their costs in ink over printing mass copies of these instructions for the market, and it simplifies the installation instruction so that customers are more likely to be satisfied with their purchases.
   
     The inclusion of three languages help pinpoint the particular audience that the company is targeting with this manual - a specific regional demographic that the circumstantial place-of-purchase would reside in.  This is another example of cost reduction; rather than invest all the space and ink in a vast library of languages that may or may not be in a particular location, the company specializes these manuals within a limited scope of languages that cater to a particular region.
   
     Any first-time user who falls under the demographic umbrella that this model was constructed for will find this kind of simple manual invaluable. If it were more complicated or less deliberately constructed, they could be confused or frustrated.  Worst case scenario for the company is the customer returning their product because they can't figure out how to use it.
   
     Given all this, it makes sense that this manual was built with a very simple color scheme: blue, white, and several tones of gray.  Signs of a particular graphical style are on display here, with the blue border at the bottom, the blue underline with blue text at the top, even a sidebar next to the text.  These elements help elevate the top text in terms of its relationship to the rest of theses pages, in that they indicate the purpose behind the instructions throughout this part of the manual.  Otherwise, the simple color choice for the printer graphics minimize potential noise that may obstruct the instruction process.  The dark arrows are cleanly placed and visible against the light-toned graphics, and the combined use of images and text associate specific actions with each step in installation.
   
     The idea here is straight-forward, to communicate the process of first-time setup of a specific printer model with simple paper instructions.  This comes with the problem of lacking a human presence to assist in the setup process, and that is the primary hurdle that this manual was constructed to overcome.
   
     The simplicity of the instructions definitely work to its advantage, as does its attempt to open itself to a broader demographic by way of printing in multiple languages.  The only significant issue here, as with any product attempting to breach multiple languages, is the simple fact that it is still very limited in its linguistic range.  Printing in multiple languages is tenable - a company's concern for cost would still be minimal given how efficient they are already with graphics and word choice - but these is a concern to be had that too many different sentences could generate far too much noise in the overall layout.  This manual still has space to spare, but it is nevertheless limited.