![\"Honda](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pages.charlotte.edu\/visualrhetoric\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/651\/2014\/04\/Images-with-graphics.png\" "\\"Cylinder")
<\/a>Figure 1<\/p><\/div>\n
Much of the mystery surrounding the service manual is due to its exclusive nature.\u00a0 New cars and motorcycles come with owner\u2019s manuals, but service manuals are only given to dealerships or purchased by service stations and individual owners.\u00a0 The average vehicle user never comes in contact with such a book without luck or intent.\u00a0 Such a lack of inclusion reinforces the notion that the manuals contain information beyond the grasp of the uninitiated.\u00a0 This division is reinforced by much of the language present in the manuals, \u201cShould be serviced by an [sic] your dealer, unless the owner has proper tools and service data and is mechanically qualified\u201d (Honda 2003-2005 <\/i>3-4).\u00a0 Should someone outside of the specialized field of vehicle maintenance dare to peek inside the secret book, they are greeted with a commandment reinforcing the societal assumption to see an expert unless they happen to be one absent any indication of what a \u201cmechanically qualified\u201d person is.<\/p>\n Figure 2<\/p><\/div>\n If the brave amateur presses on, they are then provided a hefty amount of diagrams, data charts, and visuals to navigate (Figures 1 and 2).\u00a0 Many of these images, and the instructions listed with them, assume a basic level of knowledge that the amateur may or may not have.\u00a0 The names of parts are listed, and the instructions about how to interact with them are clearly given, \u201cRotate the crankshaft clockwise and align the \u2018FT\u2019 mark on the primary drive gear with the index mark on the right crankcase cover\u201d (Honda 2003-2005 <\/i>3-4).\u00a0 However, the tools needed to perform such an action and a description of how to use said tools are not provided.\u00a0 Clearly, the exclusive nature of the service manual is reinforced by its assumed audience.<\/p>\n Figure 3<\/p><\/div>\n Despite these impediments, not all of the aspects associated with the service manual genre are unfriendly to the amateur.\u00a0 As stated above, the manuals make use of a large number of images and data tables.\u00a0 While the data tables may be too dense for some, the images are often simple enough to allow universal understanding.\u00a0 In figure 3, the parts associated with the instructions are circled in white and black and are labeled using arrows and black text contrasting with a white box, thus providing both the expert and the amateur audience a simple bit of labeling to go along with the command \u201cRemove the six socket bolts and the timing hole cap cover\u201d (Honda 2003-2005 <\/i>3-8).\u00a0 When photo images do not provide enough detail, diagram drawings are used in a similar way (Figure 4).\u00a0 The images are also placed in chronological order, coinciding with the step-by-step instructions.\u00a0 The only likely issues one could raise with the images are their size, often no larger than 2×3, their lack of color, and their being zoomed in, which can make finding the observed location difficult when one is looking at the unit as a whole.<\/p>\n (See C. Justin Hall and Zachary Allen’s essay “Olympic Pictograms<\/a>” for more about the use of images and drawings to achieve universal understanding).<\/p>\n Figure 4<\/p><\/div>\n Much of the simplicity found in the manual images is the result of what Edward R. Tufte describes as \u201cjust noticeable differences,\u201d meaning \u201cvisual elements that make a clear difference but no more \u2013 contrasts that are definite, effective, and <\/i>minimal\u201d (73).\u00a0 The arrows and white boxes provided in the images (Figure 3<\/b>) are immediately noticeable by their contrast to the image, but they are also limited in number.\u00a0 The diagrams that are substituted for photo images also include text and arrows set apart from the focal point of the image, and the parts being described make use of slightly bolder lines in order to make them noticeable without being distracting (Figure 4).\u00a0 The minimalism of the images is also facilitated by a system of chronological ordering.\u00a0 Time oriented ordering makes use of spatial parallelism, which \u201ctakes advantage of our notable capacity to compare and reason about multiple images that appear simultaneously within our eyespan\u201d (Tufte 80). \u00a0Presenting images in a before and after pattern employs the natural ability to detect causality, adding clarity to the instructions stated in the manual without needing to crowd a single image with a disproportionate amount of graphics.<\/p>\n Figure 5<\/p><\/div>\n This ease of use explains why manuals have changed so little in twenty years; the little they have changed is largely due to advances in computer technology.\u00a0 Although the example manual used here (figure 5) is for a different motorcycle, the instructions in the 1984 manual are very similar to the 2004 manual, \u201cRemove the right crankshaft cover\u201d (Honda Shop Manual <\/i>6-4).\u00a0 The labeling matches the later manual, and chronological ordering is the method of choice.\u00a0 The only major differences are the lack of highlighting circles and the clarity of the image, both items that have been improved with the increased use of computer graphics and high quality cameras.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>