Evaluation of pictorial assembly instructions for young children

We examined the usability of common formats of pictorial toy assembly instructions for 6- and 9-year-old children.

Interlocking building toys and models are increasingly prevalent and important for developing spatial abilities and fine motor skills among children. Little is known about how effectively the intended child users can interpret and carry out the instructions.

Twenty-four children used five sets of manufacturer-supplied pictorial toy assembly instructions. We evaluated the impact of toy instruction set, age, gender, and previous experience on usability problems, assembly speed and accuracy, instruction gaze time, and subjective ratings.

The children had difficulty with all but the simplest instructions and assemblies. As predicted, older participants assembled more quickly, with fewer errors and fewer instruction looks. However, the 6-year-old girls assembled the fewest parts correctly, and the 9-year-old girls reported having the least fun. Instruction look time and frequency revealed differences in instruction complexity and were correlated with subjective ratings of fun. Thirty-two usability problems were observed, and 10 are described in detail.

Product age recommendations may not reflect developmentally appropriate instructions. Small design changes should contribute to improved instruction usability among young children. For instance, designers should avoid complex graphic syntax, depict colors accurately, select clear angles of view, and support natural tendencies to assemble top to bottom.

This research provides pictorial assembly instruction guidelines to inform instruction designers and describes performance and look-time benchmarks for future usability studies.