Critique of User Manual

Sony Xperia Z User Guide Critique

What is the purpose of a user manual? The primary objective of a user manual is to guide the consumer through a set of instructions or to familiarize the end user with a product. In addition, a user manual must be easy and simple to follow; otherwise, the buyer will lose interest in the instruction. In order to accomplish the goal of not losing the interest of the reader, the design team must consider the following when developing a user manual is conciseness, consistency, ease of use, and design. This critique will examine if the Sony Xperia Z User Guide accomplished the goal of keeping the reader interested in the instruction.

What is conciseness? According to Sharon J. Gerson and Steven M. Gerson (2012), who have a combined of 75 years of teaching experience at the university and college level and authors of Technical Communication: Process and Product seventh edition, state that conciseness is a manual that is brief and to the point. In addition, they state the instruction must be easy to follow versus having an overload of information. Based on the criteria, the Xperia Z User Guide is concise and to the point. For example, in the introduction of the user manual, Sony gives a brief description why they chose the Android platform for their operating system.

What is consistency? According to Gerson & Gerson (2102), they state when developing a user manual one must consider the following questions, “Is a consistent and parallel hierarchy of headings used? Are graphics presented consistently (same location, same use of figure titles and numbers, similar sizes, etc.)?” Based on their recommendation, the Xperiz Z is consistent throughout the user guide. For example, for performing tasks on the device, the manual used font that was larger and different in color. However, during the instructional part of the task, the user guide used a standard black. By using, the differences in font this made the instruction easy to follow....