Cognitive Engineering 1

[Tahashamim]

Hi all,

I am in electronic industry where we have visual work instructions with attached pictures and some written instructions.

Is there a good book or a paper which discuss how one can improve work instructions from psycological/cognitive point of view (more of a human factors). Meaning is "Bold" better or "Normal" fonts, when are pictures good and when we should avoid them..etc...

Cognitive engineering is widely used in system design and a lot of research has been done in preparing technical manuals for computers and related technology.

So if there is any knowledge out there, please share with me so we can benefit from it.

Thanks,
Taha.

 

[Unotec]

In the past I'd said 'give it to a 10yr old and see if he/she can understand it' nowadays chances are they can figure it out far better than me

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying ” Damn that was fun!” - Unknown>>

 

[tomwalz]

Try Ogilvy on Advertising.

Great info on how to lay out ads which is essentially what you are doing.

Pictures are good
headline
subhead
bulleted key point
Instead of just "good" or "good" and "bad" pics we use 5 pics.

1. good, 2. o.k. (make changes to get to good), 3. marginal(make changes now)4. sub marginal (can be reworked) 5. bad (stop the line)

Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.