Cutting the instructional text

Instructions for using sanitary toilet seat covers

When something about a design is not intuitive, it’s tempting to start adding instructional text. Can’t figure out a good label for a button? Just add a little instructional text next to it. Not sure how to let people know what to do next? Just add a sentence or two somewhere. All they have to do is read it, right?

Unfortunately, in reality, people do not like to read. They don’t like it so much that they simply don’t do it. Instead, they scan. They look for keywords, highlighted words, bullet points, and things they can interact with, like buttons. In the above photo, what people will see is this:

As a result, they’ll stand there waving their hand over the green rectangle that the arrow is pointing to, not realizing it’s actually a button they need to push.

There are some exceptions to this rule, such as when people read in order to learn something (books, blogs, tutorials), but even in those cases it is rare that every word will be carefully read and understood.

This is especially important to consider when designing dashboards, where every bit of space should be carefully accounted for. When you find yourself thinking of adding some instructional text to your dashboard, ask yourself what is the real problem you are trying to solve?

Often, the thinking goes like this: In order to proceed to the next step in their task, users have to click button X. But our users can’t figure this out, so we should add some text that says “In order to move on, please click button X.” The real problem here is not that the users aren’t smart enough to figure out what to do next. It’s a design problem. Instead of adding text, ask yourself these questions:

• Can you change the design to make the interface self-apparent?
• Why do your users not know what to do?
• Can you set up smart defaults so your users can complete their tasks without assistance?
• What do your users expect they should be able to do? Can you change the design to meet their expectations?
• Is there another type of chart or control that would be more familiar to your users?

This is not to say that all instructional text is bad. Sometimes a little explanation is necessary. It’s just important to keep in mind how people will actually read your design. Chances are, it will be nothing like the way that you intended. They will make lots of assumptions and will get frustrated when their assumptions are proven wrong even if you have text explaining why that is. The best thing is to understand the background of your users and provide an interface that makes sense to them. You can’t fix your users, but you can fix your design.