Customer Reviews

Open Here: The Art of Instructional Design

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The introductory chapters promise a methodological approach on intructional design. Forget it. There are hardly any research findings in the book, and of those, none come from the author. The book keeps repeating itself by saying that we deal with all kinds of instructions on a daily basis, up to the point where you start skipping the text. In the end, all that's left is the catalogue of an exhibit of instructional design examples. There's even a hint that this is what the book was made out of...

This is not one of those `How to design instructional material for Dummies' books (if it was I certainly wouldn't own a copy) but a beautifully designed and printed book with hundreds of illustrations and diagrams showing how designers have attempted to explain, mostly visually, how we should handle everyday technology. Not only technology but simple stuff too, page eighty-seven shows the instructions, usually printed on tissue paper as I recall, on how to complete one of this little wooden puzzles you can buy in arcade shops, this one is for a camel.

Instructional design is serious stuff, a matter of life and death in some cases. The fold-out on page forty-seven shows forty-one examples of those emergency exit and life jacket cards you find in the seat pocket facing you on a plane. Although they all provide the same information, the type of illustration and layout is different in each example.

Simple instructions can be the hardest to put across, just how do you depict, in a simple visual way, the action of washing out your mouth with a glass of water, page 126 shows how with a profile of a boys head and four arrows describing a circular motion printed on his cheek, his hand holds a tilting glass with the water.

Here is a lovely book for graphic designers to leave on their coffee table.

Don't buy it if you need to know how to do instructional design, instead enjoy the interesting illustrations and examples through the ages. Worthwhile addition to a well-rounded design collection.

I was looking for theory; so I was initially disappointed, but once I got past that I started enjoying it as a catalogue of both best and worst practices. It's funny. There's a particularly good example of how to use a toilet bib.

No, you perverts, not that...this book tells you everything you always wanted to know about instructional design. You know, those little picture stories that tell you how to thread a bobbin, put on a life vest, open a can of sardines, or change the battery in your camera.

The book itself is not well put together -- it could have included more information about where the informational comics came from -- but the cartoons are a hoot! Ingenious, some of them, totally incomprehensible some others.

Look at this book - you will learn something, but look at it at the library. Have some fun looking at the directional comics from other countries. Just don't buy it...I don't think it is worth the money.

a student of industrial design and looking for information on UI and instructions, this book is great in that it shows a variety of examples of instructions that are good/bad. very colorful and interesting pictures, not alot of specific information though; alot of good quotes and perspectives on instruction information.

Really nice book with beautiful images! If you don't know how to open a can or what to do in a plane crash - buy this book!