Be concise
Cut every word that does no work. Don't say in a paragraph what five words can say.
Inside every box is a product; next to it is a manual someone wrote. Technical writing is the craft of turning engineering knowledge into instructions a person can actually follow — with zero confusion. This guide explains the essentials in plain terms.
User manuals, service manuals, how-to guides, help files. The measure of success is simple: the reader completes the task without asking anyone for help. Not beautiful prose — clear prose.
A manual is not read like a novel. The reader has the product in one hand and a question in mind — good headings and clear steps let them scan straight to the answer, do the task, and put the manual down.
Before writing a word, a technical writer asks: who is reading, what do they already know, and what do they need to do? The most common mistake is the curse of knowledge — the expert forgets what it was like not to know. Writing for a first-time user and writing for a service engineer are two different documents.
And one rule above all: at any point in the document, the reader knows only what you have already told them — so define every term before you use it, never after.
Cut every word that does no work. Don't say in a paragraph what five words can say.
“Press the button,” not “The button should be pressed.” The reader always knows who does what.
Each paragraph carries a single point; a new point starts a new paragraph.
Spell out every acronym the first time, and keep jargon on a short leash.
A procedure is a sequence — write the steps in the order the reader will do them, and never jumble the order.
An image confirms the reader is on track before the text does — that is why good appliance manuals show one for each step.
One name per part, everywhere, and in the same order the reader will do the task. A “cover” must not become a “lid” on the next page, and step 4 must never depend on step 6.
Good manuals follow a predictable skeleton, so users find answers fast — safety always first.
Writers who join while the product is still in development catch confusing steps early and ship accurate manuals on launch day — instead of reverse-engineering a finished machine.
And a manual written clearly in one language translates faster, cheaper, and more accurately into twelve. Clear source text is the first step of every good localization project.
If your documentation needs to be written — or rewritten so people actually understand it — talk to us.
Clear in one language, ready for every language.
CMYK, bleed, and binding — the language of print, in plain terms.
Read the guide → Topic 02Page layout, typography, and the craft of multilingual documents.
Read the guide → Topic 03Translation, culture, and formats — going global by going local.
Read the guide → Topic 05Layers, dielines, and finishes — three jobs in one box.
Read the guide → Topic 06Design thinking, the Double Diamond, and how projects run.
Read the guide → Topic 07Warehouse, assembly, and delivery — from press to doorstep.
Read the guide →