Occasionally I like to share the first time UX from traditional products. Many onboarding concepts we use today are rooted in physical packaging design. For example:
The quick start guide
Typically a single-page insert, the quick start guide is an acknowledgement that reading the user manual is too big a burden for new users. Quick start guides instead illustrate 1 or 2 primary activities a user needs to perform in order to get up and running. These primary activities cover 80% of a user’s needs so that the manual is only necessary for just in case scenarios. Here, the Breville tea maker has a double-sided sheet for its quick start guide. The first side focuses on preparing the kettle for its first use, and the second side focuses on making a pot of tea.
In digital products, the concept of the quick start guide lives on when we build simple flows that ramp users up with basic info and defers everything else to on-demand help.
Inline cues
In software, inline cues are the hints and tips that we integrate into the flow of normal content or on blank slates. Similarly, educational information can be integrated into the functional packaging used to protect a product. For example, the Breville has a cylindrical insert inside the kettle that details the four step brewing process, so the user can learn about the device as he unpacks it. There is also a sticker on the front LCD that represents the type of content the new user can expect to be displayed when it is turned on, which is a great way to handle this empty state. It also helps sell the product to would-be buyers if the device happened to be sitting on a store’s display shelf.