The existing manuals made the classic mistake of presenting content from the developer’s perspective. So instead of helping to guide customers, they described each feature of the product in turn. The language was also very technical and scientfic.
So the first challenge was to write the content from the customer’s perspective. To do this, I had to find out what conditions the customers would be suffering from, and how they would use the devices to treat them. This meant that instead of sections like ‘Program 4’, the manual now had sections for each conditon, such as ‘Bladder Weakness’ or ‘Pelvic Floor Weakness’. When the customer opens the device, they know what condition they have, so that had to be the starting point of the ‘user journey’.
Simplifying the language was another challenge. But one that is part and parcel of my work. I ripped out as much jargon as possible and made the text more ‘chatty’.
The time and budget on this project were very limited, so the visual aspects of the manuals were kept to a minimum.