From layout to practice: testing instruction comics during the European Researchers’ Night

Comics have been recognised for their potential to effectively communicate procedural knowledge, particularly in health contexts. While previous research has analysed the formal design features of several types of comics, including the genre of instruction comics, empirical evidence on how readers process and reconstruct their multimodal content remains limited. This study addresses this gap by examining readers’ ability to understand and reassemble the procedural steps of the Heimlich manoeuvre as presented in three distinct instruction comics from a previously analysed corpus. During the European Researchers Night 2024, participants were asked to read the comics and then physically reconstruct their layout. The resulting reconstructions were analysed with regard to the accuracy of the sequence of actions and the spatial organisation. Findings reveal differences in the reconstruction across the three comics, with one specific type seemingly causing greater challenges for participants.