Jun 11
2008Getting Started with Vita-Mix
Filed Under: Documentation & Help Manuals, Fun Stuff, Technical Communication/Writing, Technical Writing Profession
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After waiting for more than three years, I finally got the #1 item on my wishlist — the Super 500 Vita-Mix. Vita-Mix is the Ferrari of all blenders. I’ve been lusting after this machine for a very long time but haven’t been able to find it anywhere in China until recently. Due to the voltage difference between China and the U.S., I am forced to pay triple the price difference but it is totally worth it. If anyone has a talent in making drinks, that will be me. 
My dream is to open up a juice bar when I retire from my technical writing job.
Anyway, on to the wonders of the Vita-Mix. Normally, I don’t like reading instructional manuals. This sounds strange coming from someone who’s a technical writer by profession! I’m a visual and kinesthetic learner so I learn by observation and/or working with things hands on. But as I’ve just coughed up a significant portion of my paycheck for this baby, the last thing I want to do is to break it! I decided to read through all the manuals and guides that came with the Vita-Mix.
Getting Started Guide
Some of my thoughts about the Vita-Mix getting started guide.
- The getting started guide looks very pretty, full of pictures to guide you through each step. You don’t even have to read the words!
- The steps are very specific—too specific—to the point of showing you how to wash, peel, and cut an apple. Not sure if this has anything to do with operating a Vita-Mix, but I give this guide two thumbs up for being an excellent recipe / getting started guide.
- Adding colors to instructional manuals makes a huge difference! Important words and sections are highlighted by different colors.
- Graphical tutorials are much more fun to read than plain text. The worst manuals to read are the ones full of conceptual stuff. Perfect remedy for curing insomnia.
- This guide alone serves as a great marketing tool! Looking at all the pictures of yummy drinks and desserts make me hungry!
I would have loved to write the instructional manual for the Vita-Mix! Not only do I learn how to pick out the perfect fruit, I get to practice washing, peeling, and cutting the fruits up. Then I get to practice making the drinks, experimenting with the proportions, and tasting the final product, all this while taking pictures of the entire process. Then I write down all the steps, matching each step with the right pictures as I repeat the process over and over again, until I perfect not only the recipe but the tutorial! And that’s just for the mango sorbet. Then there’s strawberry yogurt freeze, peanut butterscotch shake, coco mocha mint, and raw vegetable soup. Yuck. Maybe I’ll let someone else work on the raw vegetable soup.
The technical writers at Vita-Mix must have a great time! Their job sounds more exciting than my job at NI. So what do I do at NI? I write help manuals too, except there’s no fruits, knives, blenders, or camera involved. Instead, I install, uninstall, and reinstall software repeatedly throughout the day. Then, I learn how to perform certain tasks, writing down each step and taking screenshots of the process. I repeat the process over and over again, until I perfect both the help topic and my knowledge of how to create a VI using LabVIEW. It’s as exciting as it sounds.
Time for a piña colada break!
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I think you’re right about the importance of color and graphics in documentation. It’s easy to overlook this because graphics (with callouts) and color are tough to single source or to convert from one format to another (because often the right colors and graphics for one format, such as Word, are different from the right colors and graphics for the web).
On the topic of shakes, I’m also big into this. You must read my wife’s post on making Shrek shakes. We binged on these for 2 weeks straight before tiring of them. Now I’m into blackberry combinations. I’m convinced that a good shake requires a dominant fruit. For example, peaches and mangos doesn’t work — they’re both filler fruits. Same with peaches and bananas. A good shake needs contrast, like rasperries and bananas, or strawberries and peaches, etc. Or blackberries and bananas (and coconut). Same with color in documentation — contrast is design 101.
Getting Started with Vita-Mix | Shanghai Tech Writer…
Susan (who lives in Shanghai, China) is one of my favorite bloggers. In this post, she talks about the appeal of color and graphics in some documentation for a new blender. I really think we don’t emphasize these elements enough. Instead we end up tal…
Hi Tom,
Including colors and graphics really depend on the nature of the product you are documenting. The stuff I write are highly technical materials and though we do include some graphics, they’re certainly not the “pretty” print-format help like the Vita-Mix guide or the getting started guide inside a brand new computer box.
Thanks for the link to your wife’s blog. I’ll be experimenting with lots of drinks in the coming weeks. It’s going to be a hot summer in Shanghai!
[...] days ago, I wrote about the Vita-Mix Getting Started Guide and commented on how pretty the guide is and the appeal of adding color and graphics to [...]