Programs used: WORD, Photoshop, PDF Creator

Project Background

Instructions can make or break a product. Of course a product needs to be designed as user friendly as possible, and the ultimate goal is to have a product that the customer could use without referring to the instruction. But, in the cases where the instructions need to be consulted, they need to be clear.

Instructions follow a parallel path with product development. There is a first draft, re-writes, comments from testers in the field, more re-writes, etc. But there was one more added step to instructions, printing. Once instructions were approved and there were no more re-writes, they would be forwarded to the printer. The printer would combine the text and the illustrations into a PDF and return them for approval. Inevitable there would be correction, then another round of approvals and finally the instructions would be printed. The printing process from first submission to final copy would take approximately four to six weeks.

Four to six weeks is a lot of time and money. The question was how could we shorten the printing process and lower the cost.

What we did

After several discussions with the printer, we found that the printer could simply print a PDF that was sent to him. We would lay out the instructions with text and illustration, create a PDF, then forward that PDF to the printer. Turn around time, one week. In addition we would save money in set up charges.

This became such a huge time saver. We could wait to the last minute to print instructions, incorporating last minute comments from testers and customers. If the sales department received feedback at a trade show about new features, we could quickly update the instructions.

Examples