Abstract: A user guidance display system provides an animated display of example action being entered into a displayed image of the machine, to show a self-service machine user how the machine is to be operated. The various graphic images which show the prospective user what to do are created on a personal computer, using any of the commercially available graphic design programs. The binary file provided by the design program is processed, to compress the file into a special form having reduced memory requirements and having synergism with the image-displaying apparatus so as to permit fast and low overhead display of each image. By displaying a base image comprised of a number of image fragments, the base image can be changed during the course of guiding a user through a transaction. Animation is provided by sequentially displaying a plurality of image fragments under control of an animation list which, in turn, controls a timer.