Why marketing should make the user manuals

[Susan Hogarth]

On 8/31/06, Bill Swallow <techcommdood at gmail.com> wrote:
> It all comes down to purpose and execution. User guides are not
> intended to wow anyone. They're meant to educate. And, a B&W layout is
> as appealing or as dull and boring as the designer wants it to be.

At an auction, I came across a beautiful old 16mm projector. Didn't
buy it, because our house is too cluttered already, but the manual
alone was almost worth the price it went for (around $20, I think). It
was -lovely- - slick B/W pages with -wonderful- drawings and diagrams
and beautifully written. The layout was beautiful - more polished than
many books of the period (1950s, I think). I'm not a luddite, but I
wonder sometimes if word processors and layout software have just
enabled people to do things sloppily with more ease...

-- 
Susan Hogarth
http://www.colliething.com