IKEA manuals
Ikea manuals are a perfect example of iconic language. IKEA idea is that you buy the parts of a piece of furniture and then build it yourself. To do this you need instructions. Please look at the image below.
Challenge |
ConceptWhat are these instructions telling you? How do you know what they mean? Would this work for all people? Why or why not?
Now this is the introduction page to an IKEA manual, many of the furniture have the same style manual to help you build the product. For this assignment you will attempt to turn this iconic language into symbolic text. You are to describe all the steps of each picture in words.We should then be able to read your text and understand how to build the product. For example: If you look at the picture to the left, Here is one way to put those pictures into text. 1. To build this piece of furniture you will need: a fill ups screwdriver flat head screw driver A hammer a pencil measuring ruler scissors 2. Please do not try to build the furniture alone. It is best to build with help. 3. Please build the furniture on a soft surface such as a rug to avoid damage. 4. If you need help please contact IKEA. |
Now in a small group please click here for a list of IKEA Assembly Instructions.
Pick a very simple piece of furniture you would like to describe how to make and go to product details and download the manual. The manual should have between 6-10 steps any more than that may be to challenging.
After you pick the item and get the manual, make a list of vocabulary you will need to describe the parts of this product, for example; large screws, pegs, wheels, u shaped bolts, ect.
After that start writing out the steps using written english to explain how to make the product.
**When you are finished someone should be able to read your (symbolic) written directions and understand them with out seeing any (iconic) pictures.
Pick a very simple piece of furniture you would like to describe how to make and go to product details and download the manual. The manual should have between 6-10 steps any more than that may be to challenging.
After you pick the item and get the manual, make a list of vocabulary you will need to describe the parts of this product, for example; large screws, pegs, wheels, u shaped bolts, ect.
After that start writing out the steps using written english to explain how to make the product.
**When you are finished someone should be able to read your (symbolic) written directions and understand them with out seeing any (iconic) pictures.
Reflection
Now that you have created text based directions it is time to reflect on the challenge. Please think about and write your thoughts to the questions below on your blog. you can copy and paste these questions or include them in complete sentences in your reflection on your website.
- On a scale from 1 to 5 (1=easy and 5=difficult) how difficult was this assignment?
- Please explain why you choose this number.
- How and why did you pick the furniture manual that you did? Were there other manuals that you considered? Why not them?
- What was the most challenging step to explain in your directions? Why?
- What do you feel was easier to do in text than in the picture when you wrote out the directions?
- Do you think directions such as these are best in text (symbolic), picture (iconic)?
- If you were to combine both the text (symbolic) and icon (picture) do you think this would help or confuse the communication of directions?
- Think of something in everyday life that you would like to learn. Do you think you could use icon (picture) based directions like the IKEA manuals to learn this. Why or why not?
- Final thoughts, what situations do you feel icon directions work better than symbolic? And symbolic better than icon?