Instruction Assignment Final Version

How to Construct a Suburban House

Ioulia Trouskova WRIT 3562W: Technical and Professional Writing

2 Table of Contents Introduction..........................................................................................................................................................3-5 Equipment and materials needed ..................................................................................................................... 3 Downloading instructions.................................................................................................................................. 3 Basic Navigation and use ................................................................................................................................4-5 -Selecting, rotating, and inserting bricks………………………………………………………………………………4 -Changing angle/point of view……………………………………………………………………………………………..4 - Moving and copying bricks ………………………………………………………………………………………………..5 - Deleting bricks……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 Visual summary of tools/palettes………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 Instructions on constructing the Suburban House…….…………………………………………………………………………………6-13 List of construction materials …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6 Procedure steps……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……7-13 -Foundation………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..7-9 -Roof…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10 -Decorations……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………11-13 Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………….14-15

3 INTRODUCTION Audience and Purpose of this manual: This manual tells you how to construct the ―Suburban House‖ online using Lego Digital Designer (Version 1.6) and is intended for college students who know how to use a computer.

Equipment and materials needed: The materials needed in order to construct a ―Suburban House‖ include a computer that is connected to the internet and access to the Lego website, where you will need to download the Lego Digital Designer program for free. Installing the Lego Digital Designer Program: In order to find and install the program follow the following instructions: 1. Go to http://ldd.lego.com/download/archive.aspx 2. Click on either of the two options offered located above the picture: Mac or PC 3. Follow subsequent directions to download the program.

4 BASICS OF NAVIGATION AND USE Selecting Bricks: In order to select a specific brick, go to the Brick Palette located on the right side of the screen and select the needed brick by clicking on it once. To select a different kind of brick, go to the Category Palette on the right side (above the Brick Palette) and select the type of brick you want by clicking on it once. The bricks for that type of brick will appear in the Brick Palette.

Category Palette Brick Palette

Rotating and inserting Bricks:

In order to rotate brick, you can use the arrow keys on the keypad. To place the brick on the baseplate, simply click on the brick icon again at the spot where you want to place it at. Changing the Point of View of the Model: To see the model you are constructing from a different angle/point of view, use the Camera Gadget located on the bottom left corner of the screen. Simply press on the arrows when you need to look at the model from a different angle. Using this gadget, you can also zoom in or zoom out by clicking on the +/- sign. If you prefer to use your keypad, the numbers 8, 4, 6, and 2 are used to change the point of view, while the + and – signs are used to zoom in and zoom out, respectively. Number 8 Number 4 Number 6 Number 2

Up Left Right Down

Camera Gadget

Moving Bricks:

To move bricks that have been placed on the baseplate, click on the Selection Tool located on the left side of the screen that has an arrow on it. After clicking on the Selection Tool, click on a brick in your model to move it. You can use this tool to move one brick at a time. To move more than one brick at once, read below: 1. Moving more than one Brick at once: Click on the yellow arrow to the right of the Selection ToolSelect the arrow with a plus signclick on the bricks that you want to move. 2. Moving a group of connected Bricks at once: Click on the yellow arrow to the right of the Selection Tool Select the arrow with an asterisk click on the group of connected bricks you want to move. 3. Moving bricks of the same color at once: Click on the yellow arrow to the right of the Selection ToolSelect the arrow with a can (fourth from the left) click on a brick that has the color that you want to move. 4. Moving bricks of the same design at once: Click on the yellow arrow to the right of the Selection ToolSelect the arrow with a box (fifth from the left) click on a brick that has the design that you want to move.

5 5. Moving bricks of the same design and color at once: Click on the yellow arrow to the right of the Selection ToolSelect the arrow with 2 objects (sixth from the left) click on a brick that has the design and color that you want to move Selection Tool Copying Bricks: If you want to make a copy of a specific brick that is already in your model, select the Clone Tool located on the left side of the screen (below the arrow icon). You can select more than one brick in your model using the Selection Tool (see ―Moving Bricks ―on page ) and then copying all of them using the Clone Tool.

Clone Tool

Deleting Bricks: Clone Tool

If you want to delete a brick that has been placed in your model, select the icon with the X and then click on the brick that you want to delete. You can also click on the brick you want to eliminate and drag it to the Brick Palette, releasing the brick by clicking on the Brick Palette.

VISUAL SUMMARY OF SOME TOOLS/PALETTES

Stick mode Icon

Category Palette

Delete Icon Brick Palette

Hinge Tool

Camera Gadget

Create new model

Save model

Undo/ Repeat

Color Palette

Exit Lego Digital Designer

6 INSTRUCTIONS List of Materials needed to construct the ―Suburban House‖: In order to construct the ―Suburban House‖ model, you will need different types of blocks. Keep in mind that all these blocks can be selected from the Brick Palette using the Category Palette. Total Number of Blocks Needed: 117 Basic Bricks: - 41 reddish brown bricks (2x2) - 2 dark red bricks (1x2) - 8 white bricks (1x8) Tiles: -

5 black flat tiles (2x2) 31 reddish brown flat tile 1 bright red flat tile (2x2) 16 bright yellow radiator grilles (1x2)

Decorations: - 8 white fences (1x4x2) - 3 dark green spruce trees - 2 medium stone grey shutters (2x3)

7 Procedure Steps to Construct the ―Suburban House‖: Building the Foundation: 1. Click on the Star icon to start a new model. 2. Press the upward yellow arrow located on the bottom left three times to change the view of your mode to a one dimensional view. This will make placing the bricks easier. See figure 1 below.

Fig. 1

3. Select ―Basic Bricks ―from category palette Select the reddish brown brick (2x2). See fig. 2 for location. Place the brick in the middle of the plane. NOTE: Placing each brick in a square will make constructing this model easier.

Basic Bricks

Reddish brown brick (2x2)

Fig. 2

8 4. Place a total of 11 reddish brown bricks to form the structure shown in Fig.3 NOTE: You can use the clone tool to copy the bricks.

Clone tool

Fig. 3

5. Select ―Tiles‖  select black flat tiles (looks grey/dark blue). Fill the inside of the formed structure with the black tiles as shown in fig.4.

Tiles

Black tile

Fig 4.

9 6. NOTE: Use the selection tool to select a group of bricks all at once. Select a group of the reddish brown bricks all at once as shown in Fig. 5 Notice that one of the reddish brown bricks is not selected. Selection Tool to select a group of bricks.

Fig. 5

7. NOTE: Change the view of the model so that it is no longer one dimensional before doing the next step. Changing the view will make the step easier. **Copy the selected bricks and superimpose the copied structure on top of the original structure. You may find using the clone and selection tool useful at this point. 8. Repeat steps 7-8 TWO more times. Now you should have a foundation that is three bricks tall. It should look like this (Fig. 6):

Fig 6.

10 Constructing a Roof: 9. Select ―Basic Bricks‖ from the category palette select white brick (1x8). Move the white brick on top of the formed model to form a roof as shown in Fig. 7. NOTE: You will need to use 8 white bricks.

Fig 7.

11. Select ―Tiles‖ from the category palette select reddish brown flat tiles (1x2). Cover the white roof with reddish brown flat tiles (1x2). Make sure to leave an opening for the chimney anywhere in the middle section of the roof (Fig. 8). HINT: Use the Clone tool and Selection Tool to make the process faster.

Fig. 8

12. Select ―Basic Bricks‖ from the category palette select bright red brick (1x2). Place two bright red bricks (1x2) on top of each other in the opening you left in step 11. NOTE: Rotate the bricks to fit into the chimney space.

11 Adding ―Decorations‖ to the house: 13. Select ―Tiles‖ from the category palette select flat bright red tile (2x2) Place one flat bright red tile (2x2) inside the window opening as shown in fig. 9. WARNING: Be careful to not mistake the door opening for the window opening. The window opening is shown with a red circle in fig. 9—it‘s smaller than the door and does not go all the way down to the ground.

Fig. 9

14. Select ―Tiles‖ from the category palette select bright yellow radiator grille (1x2) Place the grille in front of the door opening (4x4) as shown in Fig. 10. NOTE: You will need 16 bright yellow radiator grilles.

Fig 10.

12

15. Select ―Decorations‖ from the category palette (location is shown below) select medium stone grey shutter (2x3) Place two shutters on the wall opposite the door as shown in Fig 11: Decorations icon

Fig. 11

16. Select ―Decorations‖ from the category palette select white fence (1x4x2) Put four fences on each of the two sides of the house as shown in Fig. 12

Fig. 12

13

17. Select ―Decorations‖ from the category palette select dark green spruce tree. Place one spruce tree at 3 corners of the house (three trees total) as shown in fig. 13.

Fig. 13 18. Congratulations! You have finished building a ―Suburban House‖!

14 APPENDIX To From Date Subject

Anthony Arrigo Ioulia Trouskova February 20th, 2008 Results and description of user testing of ―How to Construct a Suburban House‖ user manual

I have completed the user testing of the instructions used to construct a virtual suburban house using the Lego Digital Designer (Version 1.6). User testing was conducted to observe the effectiveness of the written instructions for constructing a virtual suburban house. The goal of user testing was to reveal possible missing or confusing steps and errors in language usability. Two user testings showed that the instructions showed flaws in language use and also flaws in step descriptions. Description of User testing The two users who tested the instructions were college students, both 21 years old. The testing was done at my home, using my computer and the already downloaded Lego Designer program. The time at which both user tests were conducted was at ten o‘clock in the morning when the users were more likely to be awake, not too full, nor too hungry. This ensured that there was little room for error. The two user testings were conducted on February 15 and 18. The tests were conducted by providing the two college students with a computer and access to the Lego Design application. The two users were provided with printed instructions and both performed these instructions in a quiet room, where there were no distractions of any sort. I sat behind the user and took notes while the user was building the Lego model. After each user was done constructing the model, I asked each one open-ended question about the clarity of the instructions, suggestions about how to improve the instructions, and problems they encountered as they built the model. Results and Changes Made As a result of the two user tests, I learned that my instructions were not detailed enough in their procedure steps. Lack of detail was mainly due to the fact that I did not use many figures to show exactly what I meant by specific steps. Therefore, as a result of the user tests, I added more figures to my instructions in hopes of clarifying many of my steps. For instance, after the first user tester tested my instructions, she suggested to add figure 1 to show the user what exactly I meant by a ―one-dimensional‖ view of the platform. After this change was made, the second user tester did not have trouble comprehending what I meant in the respective step. In addition, one of the users recommended that I outline the bricks and the fence in fig. 3 and fig. 12, respectively, to help the user see how the bricks and fence fit in the model and how many are needed on each side. Describing this would have been difficult and too wordy. Providing a more detailed figure clarified and simplified respective steps. Another change that was made as a result of user testing feedback was simplifying procedure steps by creating arrows that would indicate next moves. In other words, instead of writing ―the black tiles can be found in the ‗Tiles‘ section of the Category Palette,‖ I wrote ―Select ‗Tiles‘  select black flat tiles (looks grey/dark blue)‖.

15 Ioulia I. Trouskova

February 20th, 2009

Furthermore, I bolded the materials mentioned in each step to make them stand out and to help the user find them quickly if they were to forget what material they need. The addition of this change made it less likely for users to go back to the step to find the materials they need. Bolding the words seemed to enhance the user‘s memory of needed materials for each step. Lastly, I added NOTE before step 7 because having it after the actual step proved to be useless since it was too late in the procedure step. Please take the time to review the instruction manual provided and tell me what you think of it. I open to any recommendations that you may have.