Sequential Imagery 4. -- OUAN404

Illustrated instruction manuals can be seen as a smart use of sequential imagery to get around language barriers. Ikea is an international company, but by using cleverly designed instructions they can hand out the same manuals in every different country they operate in, safe in the knowledge that they will be equally incomprehensible to whoever reads them, regardless of the language they speak. But the concept of text-free instructions is interesting because it points out once again human's ability to understand complex instructions or concepts just through a visual stimulus, and our unique ability to recognise a 2D visual representation of real life physical objects such as the tools and moving parts represented in the imges below. Similarly, in the case of Ikea's instructions the images themselves are fairly basic line drawings, sort of halfway between a cartoon depiction and a technical drawing, but they successfully communicate difficult actions involving many separate pieces, which is a testament also to the shared visual literacy of society, that we understand automatically what an arrow symbol means or a rotating arrow means.