Research and analysis

Best practice in manual design: scoping study

A review of 25 large white goods manuals against criteria based on industry practices and standards.

• From: Department for Business and Trade, Office for Product Safety and Standards and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
• Published: 2 October 2020

Documents

A scoping study to explore best practice in product manual design

Ref: BEIS Research Paper Number 2020/034

PDF, 2.17 MB, 113 pages

Details

This report details the findings of the scoping study undertaken by The i-Team on behalf of the Office for Product Safety & Standards (OPSS) to explore best practice in the design and writing of instruction manuals with a focus on domestic products.

This scoping study reviewed 25 existing product manuals across 5 categories: fridges and freezers, cooking appliances, dishwashers, washing machines and tumble dryers.

The review involved a set of 142 criteria based on industry practices and official standards.The criteria involved various documentation features such as product identification data, safety information, page layout and text style.

This review was carried out in 2019.

Published 2 October 2020