If great packaging can help turns kids into lifelong fans, great instructions can make parents happy (and, more importantly, happy to make another purchase). But toy instructions are an all too often overlooked opportunity to provide consumers with a great product experience. Any parent will tell you that assembling toys is often frustrating, turning a joyful Christmas Day or birthday into a tear-filled slog. That’s why, when I’m writing instructions for a toy, or any other complex product, I approach the project the same way I approach writing for comics. Let the visuals do the work, and rely on copy only when illustrations or photos cannot be made clear enough. I write detailed, step-by-step descriptions of the illustrations or photos to be used, then fill in any gaps in understanding with the simplest, most direct copy possible.
rose petal cottage
I’m especially proud of these Rose Petal Cottage instructions. The playhouse was like an old school tent — the kind that sent your dad off on a streak of profanity unlike anything you’ve ever heard. It was finnicky, complicated, and difficult. These instructions (written by me and designed by Kim Ruggieri) scored a perfect 100 when we tested them with parents in the Hasbro Funlab.
nerf
As Nerf grew in popularity, the blasters started to get more and more complex. The Vulcan introduced complex assembly that could actually permanently break the product if done wrong, and a belt-fed mechanism that was prone to frustrating jams it operated incorrectly. The Long Strike brought a complex bolt-action mechanism, and similarly challenging assembly. The designer Kim Ruggieri and I spent a very long time developing a new illustration style and new primarily visual approach for the Nerf brand to ensure a great play experience.
