So it just arrived.  You got a new Kindle, or Nook, or iPad, or Droid Tablet, Nexus, or SmartPhone.  Now what?

Flick it on, and a totally foreign set of icons, sliders, and hidden gestures await your every command.  Kind of like being plunked down in the cockpit of stealth fighter, no?  Wheels up in 10!  Now where is that instruction manual anyway…

Don’t be intimidated, forget the manual for a bit.  We recommend you just start exploring and touch icons, follow where they lead, then try to find your way back to the home screen.  Pick another icon.  Try out a couple gestures that always look so cool on that primetime detective/cop shows where a lead character is mining forensic data for clues on their translucent floor-to-ceiling touchscreen.  With surround-sound of course.

At some point before you decide to chuck it out the window, search the internet or even the (gasp!) manual for how-to steps.  There are likely a gazillion poorly produced youtube videos demonstrating just what it is you want to know.

The reason we suggest this approach is to integrate the intuitive-ness in design of the device with your own cognitive approach to discovery and problem-solving.  Is there science behind this method of learning?  Maybe, maybe not.  But probably most of us learned to communicate with words before we learned to read.  We played the instrument before we read the manual.  Also it’s what we’ve found to work best, and many clients have told us the same.

So back straight, chin up.  Feel the wind in your hair and go boldly forth.

Happy Computing!