I found the perfect candidate for my first hardware user manual buried in my gadget drawer: my mom’s abandoned GPX MP3 player. Although the manual fell through, I was proud of the complex computer-drawn diagram I had created.
DRAWING THE BASIC BODY
I created the GPX MP3 player diagram using the Shapes feature in Microsoft Publisher.
My initial attempts were horrible. I couldn’t find the right shape amongst those available in Publisher to craft the device’s body. The “rounded rectangle” shape had the rounded ends, but there was no way to cinch the middle section. The result looked like a knockoff iPod Classic. Meanwhile, the edges of the “trapezoid” shape were too sharp and square.
Eventually, I chose the “left bracket” and “right bracket” shapes. In their original state, the two brackets lined up horizontally. I needed them vertical. I rotated the left bracket down and the right bracket up. Then I moved the two shapes together into a single shape, manipulating their respective ends to form the narrow middle.
CREATING THE FUNCTION BUTTONS
After I drew the basic shape, I filled in the GPX MP3 player’s basic parts:
- The screen is a “rectangle.”
- The Hold and Power buttons are both made from the “oval” shape, rotated horizontally, elongated vertically, and flattened.
- The Mode button on the device’s left side is a rounder, shorter “oval.”
The navigation buttons involved more complicated parts:
- The Back and Next buttons are two “isosceles triangles”—rotated in the appropriate directions and lined up—with an elongated “rectangle” bar in front of them.
- The Play button is a right-facing “isosceles triangle,” with two vertical “rectangle” bars in front of it.
- The Volume Up/Volume Down buttons are text in text boxes.
The last step was to add the details to the device. I applied the bevel picture effect to the screen and the two rings around the navigation buttons to make them look sunken in. I omitted the silver ring that goes around the top and sides of the device because they are barely visible when the player is on a flat surface. I kept the diagram in black and white to avoid obscuring the numerous parts involved.
LABELING THE DIAGRAM
Next, I labeled the diagram. For simplicity’s sake, I put the part descriptions on the diagram rather on a separate table.
I used one of the “Line Callout” bubbles because of their “techie” look. I pointed the bubble stem at the appropriate part and explained its function in the bubble. If the part was located on the bottom or back of the device—somewhere not readily visible—I made the bubble outline dotted.
I made a separate diagram page for the navigation buttons. There wasn’t enough room to comfortably explain their functions on the main drawing. I blew up the section, pointed the callout bubbles at each part, and wrote the description inside them.