Spark Content

During our years creating smartphone documentation, we got very familiar with “the box” – not only the rhetorical box that we needed to think outside of to keep innovating, but also the physical box that we needed to think of when planning for a new release.

As smartphones got smaller, the boxes got smaller too. As they became more ingrained into our daily routines, they also came with more accessories to help us out. All of this left less and less room for user documentation. Often, we had to think outside of the box to figure out how to fit everything inside the box.

The most obvious way to reduce the size of printed documentation is to reduce the amount of information in it. For both environmental and space reasons, we moved much of the smartphone documentation online. But, there were some things that we couldn’t move, such as information on where the power button was, or what gestures users needed to know to navigate the user interface and set up the phone – not to mention how to find all the information that we had removed from the printed documentation!

But, what do you do if you’ve removed all the information that you think you can and you’re still struggling to fit your documentation into a physical package? Here are a few other ways to shrink your printed documentation without impacting its usability:

• Use thinner paper. When box space is measured to tenths of a millimetre, shrinking the thickness of each page can make a difference when you add up the pages. Keep in mind that the paper still needs to be thick enough so there’s no ink bleed from one side of the paper to the other. The documentation isn’t helpful if users can’t read it.
• Reduce the font size. There is a limit to how low you can go – in limbo and in font size. But, font size is often something that you can play with. Keep your audience in mind, as products aimed at younger audiences can generally squeak by with smaller fonts than those aimed at an aging population. If you’re translating the documentation, you might not be able to reduce the font size for some languages without impacting the readability of the characters.
• Use narrower margins. If you have short paragraphs or steps, you might be able to get away with slightly smaller side margins. But, there is a limit to how tightly you can pack in the text. People need white space around the text – both between the lines and at the sides – to comfortably read it. With short paragraphs, however, the internal white space might balance out the decreased space in the margins.
• Replace text with graphics. Unlike the old adage says, you can’t often replace 1000 words with just one picture. But, you can condense short bits of information into one graphic to save space. In most cases, callouts or tables are easier for users to scan and find the information they need, rather than long paragraphs of text.
• Look at the whole package. This is where you start to think outside of the box – and the documentation. Can some information go somewhere else? For example, is there empty space on the packaging where you can put support information? Is information duplicated? If it’s on the packaging and in the documentation, can you remove it from one? Can you replace paper with another format? In our case, the smartphones shipped with blank clings on the screen and the back of the device. By moving some information out of the documentation and onto those clings, we could make better use of the space. And, better yet, the information was more visible to users.
• Take another look at the information. It never hurts to take a second (or third) pass at your content to make sure that it really is as streamlined as it can be. A good editor can help you with that task. It’s easy to get into the habit of carrying forward information because it’s always been there, without considering whether it is still necessary. A fresh set of eyes can help assess the need for content. For example, new features or emerging technology might necessitate a more detailed explanation at first. But, as it becomes mainstream, you can likely reduce that additional contextual information. Or you might be able to remove it entirely.
• The Three Cs: When you know what content needs to be included, it’s time to take a review how the content is written. Clarity, consistency, and conciseness are rules that every technical writer needs to live by. When you are working with tight spaces, they are even more important. Are there ways to tighten up the text? Have you applied plain language principles? Can you use fewer words to express the same thought?

As you can see, there are many ways to reduce the size of your documentation without reducing its usability. You might even find that making a few changes to reduce space improves the overall readability of your documentation.

If you need help fitting information into a printed format, or figuring out what to keep in the box and what to do with the rest, give Spark a call. We can help you find a solution to your space problems.