Graco

[marcia]

While their products work just fine once they've been put together, these people produce the world's worst instructions. Bizarrely, aggravatingly incomprehensible. It's like they try to make them impossible to understand. And it's not just one product. We have a carseat, a swing and a pack n' play and they all had amazingly hard to follow instructions. Does anyone at that company actually read their instructions and test for user friendliness?

[KathyO]

Hi Marcia -

I am a technical writer, and although I don't know Graco from personal experience, I can tell you that way too many companies only test the product - they never test the user's ability to use the instructions to do what they want with it.

Add in the fact that most technical writers have to work from written specifications for the product, and not the actual product itself... and half the time the instructions get written by an engineer or the boss's assistant instead anyway, and *presto*! Total incomprehensibility!

I agree with you from the user end - Graco's instructions are pretty sad. Don't know what to do about it, though.

Best,

Kathyo

[angusmom]

Ugh! Graco's instructions are also terrible because they issue one instruction manual that covers like ten models of the item. So half the book is "applies to some models that may have this feature." Makes it very difficult to follow and to know what you specifically bought and what features your specific item has. I know that to a certain extent, they probably have to do this for cost and management reasons. They are a huge manufacturer and supply to the mass market and specialty stores by making only very fine changes to their products for each market. But, it's very aggravating!