The Gameatory

Four Questions for Reader Delight

Creighton Broadhurst -

Designing a module, rulebook or supplement is only half the battle. The best content in the world is useless if you make it too hard to read, understand and use.

Why No Print-Friendly PDFs?
Am I the only one who wants printer-friendly copies of the adventures I buy?
The GameatoryCreighton Broadhurst

Gaming books, modules, rulebooks and supplements, can be complex beasts. A book’s UI (its User Interface) is a critical part of the design process. (User interface is all about how a user interacts with a thing—in this instance a book or PDF.)

As a publisher, I want my readers’ UX (their user experience) to be as enjoyable as possible.

Innumerable factors go into determining a book’s UX. Listing them all would be a heroic endeavour, particularly if I paired that with a list of things to consider when designing a book’s UI. So I’m not going to do that.

Instead, I’m going to ask you four questions:

  1. How will your customer want to use the book?
  2. How will your customer actually use the book?
  3. Why are #1 and #2 different?
  4. How can you make your book more user-friendly?

Give some deep thought to those questions, and you’ll be well on the way to designing a better book for your customers.