An innovative approach for a user manual from Samsung

Here is a very innovative approach to providing a user guide, from Samsung :

According to Vitamin Design:

These books actually contain the phone. Each page reveals the elements of the phone in the right order, helping the user to set up the sim card, the battery and even slide the case onto the phone. The second book is the main manual – the phone actually slots into this and becomes the center of attention. Arrows point to the exact locations the user should press, avoiding confusion and eliminating the feeling of being lost in a menu.

It’s a interesting example of user documentation as an emotional experience. (Thanks to Gareth Williams and Adam Wohl for spotting this.)

8 Comments

robert hempsall - information designer

One of the computer companies did something similar to this a while ago (in the days before wireless, probably even before internet). There was a piece of card that you put the computer box onto, and the diagram showed where all the cables went in. Annoyingly I can’t find an example of it.

Karen

Now I have seen this “in real life”. I attended the graduation ceremonies of the Denmark Design School yesterday. An industrial designer had created a tool that had several functions (hammer, drill, etc.). It was packed in a book that showed what the loose bits were and how to set a dial on the tool for the different functions. Her book was spiral bound. It seemed far less expensive that what Samsung did. That means it would be efficient to publish with the product with little chaos in coordinating doc and manufacturing teams IMO. My reaction when I saw it all? Want!

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