Understanding Content: The Stuff We Design For

UNDERSTANDING CONTENT: THE STUFF WE DESIGN FOR Rachel Lovinger and Karen McGrane @rlovinger @karenmcgrane

what about the art? 7

when do we see the art? 10

WHERE IS THE ART? 13

DISASTER STRIKES! 16

YOU WOULDN’T BUILD A GALLERY THIS WAY. 21

WHY WOULD YOU BUILD A WEBSITE THIS WAY? 22

TWO BIG PROBLEMS 23

“ Organizations invest tremendous resources on developing the framework for a great user experience — fabulous design, robust content management infrastructure. Yet when it comes to the content itself, there's often a gap. ” The end result is that the value proposition for customers can't be delivered because the content is insufficient, inadequate, and inappropriate. — RAHEL BAILIE 24

We already have most of the content. Copywriting just isn’t that big of a deal. We can figure the content out later. We pretty much know what we want to say. Our marketing team is handling the content. Kristina Halvorson, Brain Traffic 25

Melissa Rach, Brain Traffic 27

Here be dragons Melissa Rach, Brain Traffic 27

Codename Logo Features Browse Our Sites About Us Sign Up Login Support Feature Name Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad. Find out more about: Feature Name | Feature Name | Feature Name | Feature Name | Feature Name | Feature Name 28

IT’S TIME TO GIVE CONTENT THE ATTENTION IT DESERVES. 29

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT CONTENT

TEXT 31

IMAGES 32

AUDIO 33

VIDEO 34

DATA VISUALIZATION 35

COMMENTS 36

ERROR MESSAGES via Margot Bloomstein 37

CONTENT IS THE REASON PEOPLE GO TO YOUR SITE. Photo by zandperl 38

CONTENT IS DATA + METADATA Data is the core part of the Metadata is information about the content content For example: a photographic image For example: Title: Laduree Pastries Description: We wanted to eat them all! Tags: macaron, macaroon, Laduree, Paris, France, Champs-Élysées Created by: Robert Stribley Taken on: November 21, 2009 Taken with: Nikon D200 Usage Rights: (c) All rights reserved Source URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stribs/ 4375484013/ 39

HOW TO ANALYZE YOUR CONTENT FOR FUN AND PROFIT

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlaarena/3188139819/ 41

http://www.getittogetherinc.net/images/storage%20before.JPG 42

DON’T LET THIS BE THE FATE OF YOUR WEB CONTENT http://www.getittogetherinc.net/images/storage%20before.JPG 42

• What are my business objectives? • What do my users want to do? • What does my brand stand for? De te gy sig tra nS S tra teg te nt y C on Product Strategy • How will users interact with it? • What do we want to say? • How will it be structured? • Where will we get the content? • What will it look like? • Who will maintain it? Technology Strategy • How will we build it? • Who will maintain it? 43

CONTENT STRATEGY IN THE PROJECT LIFECYCLE Discover Discover Design Develop Deploy Research Source Plan Maintain Assess Organize Style Guide Monitor Concept Taxonomy Copy Deck Respond Voice Social 44

CONTENT STRATEGY Product Analysis Sourcing Creation Governance Strategy CONTENT ANALYSIS Get the Facts Assess the Quality _What content do you have? Is it communicating clearly? _How is it organized? Is it appropriate for your _What different types are there? audience? _Roughly, how much content is Is it appropriate for your brand? there? Is it meeting your business needs? 45

CONTENT ANALYSIS IS AN ITERATIVE PROCESS Information An ct aly lle ze Co Assumptions Findings Re fin rm e Fo Insights 46

WHERE IS YOUR CONTENT? 47

A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO ANALYZING YOUR CONTENT

GET THE FACTS Content Inventory Content Organization Content Model

CONTENT INVENTORY WHAT CONTENT DO YOU HAVE? Look at (all) the pages of the site Make choices about what content to evaluate: _How deep do you need to go? _How do you ensure you see examples of all the different content types? _What are common pathways that users are likely to take? _Can you find content that has been lost or hidden? Assume this will be a living document you use throughout your process 50

Product name URL Type Type2 Packaging Caffeine Product Line Specialty 8ct Rooibos Blood Orange In Stash Tin http://www.stashtea.com/products/8ct+Rooibos+Blood+Orange+In+Stash+Tin.aspx Herbal Bagged Caffeine Free Black Needle Yunnan Black Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Black+Needle+Yunnan+Black+Tea.aspx Black Loose Chai Spice Decaf Black Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Chai+Spice+Decaf+Black+Tea.aspx?package=Bag Black Chai Bagged Chai White Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Chai+White+Tea.aspx White Chai Bagged Chanakara Dragonfruit Herbal Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Chanakara+Dragonfruit+Herbal+Tea.aspx Herbal Bagged Christmas Morning Black Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Christmas+Morning+Black+Tea.aspx?package=Bag Black Bagged Darjeeling Okayti Black Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Darjeeling+Okayti+Black+Tea.aspx Black Loose Double Bergamot Earl Grey Black Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Double+Bergamot+Earl+Grey+Black+Tea.aspx?package=Bag Black Bagged Premium Dragon Phoenix Pearl Jasmine White Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Dragon+Phoenix+Pearl+Jasmine+White+Tea.aspx White Loose Fusion Red & White Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Fusion+Red+_and_+White+Tea.aspx White Loose Ginger Peach Black Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Ginger+Peach+Black+Tea.aspx Black Loose Kashmiri Chai Green Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Kashmiri+Chai+Green+Tea.aspx Green Chai Loose Keemun Hao Ya China Black Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Keemun+Hao+Ya+China+Black+Tea.aspx Black Loose Lemon Honey Sticks http://www.stashtea.com/products/Lemon+Honey+Sticks.aspx?category=SPECIALTYFOOD Honey Sticks and Agave Specialty Food Licorice Spice Herbal Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Licorice+Spice+Herbal+Tea.aspx Herbal Loose Caffeine FreePremium Moroccan Mint Green Tea http://www.stashtea.com/productitems/green+teas.aspx?ﬁlter=Bag&product=tea Green Bagged Orange Cranberry Herbal Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Orange+Cranberry+Herbal+Tea.aspx Herbal Loose Caffeine Free Organic Assam Banasphati Black Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Organic+Assam+Banasphati+Black+Tea.aspx Black Loose Organic Organic Chai Black & Green Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Organic+Chai+Black+_and_+Green+Tea.aspx?package=Bag Black Chai Bagged Organic Organic Earl Grey Black & Green Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Organic+Earl+Grey+Black+_and_+Green+Tea.aspx?package=Bag Black Bagged Organic Organic Merry Mint Green Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Organic+Merry+Mint+Green+Tea.aspx?package=Bag Green Bagged Organic Organic Pomegranate Agave Sticks http://www.stashtea.com/products/Organic+Pomegranate+Agave+Sticks.aspx?category=SPECIALTYFOOD Honey Sticks and Agave Specialty Food Organic Red Tea (Rooibos) http://www.stashtea.com/products/Organic+Red+Tea+(Rooibos).aspx Herbal Loose Caffeine FreeOrganic Silver Beads White Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Silver+Beads+White+Tea.aspx White Loose Silver Needle White Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Silver+Needle+White+Tea.aspx White Loose Silvery Needles with Jasmine White Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Silvery+Needles+with+Jasmine+White+Tea.aspx White Loose White Christmas White Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/White+Christmas+White+Tea.aspx White Loose Yellow Kuan Yin Black Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/Yellow+Kuan+Yin+Black+Tea.aspx Black Loose YMY 1690 Jasmine Green Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/YMY+1690+Jasmine+Green+Tea.aspx?package=Bag Japan Green China & Bagged YMY 1690 Pu-erh Tea http://www.stashtea.com/products/YMY+1690+Pu-erh+Tea.aspx?package=Bag China & Japan Black Bagged 52

WHY DO THIS? When is it useful? _To understand the story the site is trying to tell _To get a sense of the range of pages that need to be designed _To determine the range of content types the site will support _To decide what content to eliminate or migrate When is a content inventory unnecessary? Why not do this? _You can learn 80% of what you need to know by sampling representative content _When the site is too large for a full inventory _Consider automated tools to index the site 53

CONTENT ORGANIZATION HOW IS IT STRUCTURED? Look at: _Navigation, main channels of content _Subsections within those channels _Distribution of content across sections 54

WHY DO THIS? _To evaluate whether people can find the content they’re looking for _To make decisions about a new navigation structure and content model _To decide if content needs to be migrated to a new section _To find gaps in the content where needed information is underrepresented 56

CONTENT MODEL WHAT DIFFERENT CONTENT TYPES ARE THERE? Look at: _Content formats: Article? Video? Audio? Image? _Content structure or purpose: Recipe? Product Review? Blog post? _Content assets: PDF spec sheets? Spreadsheet data? How will this impact the design of the CMS? 57

WHY DO THIS? _If you’re doing a redesign _If you’re launching a new CMS _If you’re merging content from one site into another _If you’re migrating content from one format to another (for example, from PDF to HTML) 60

OTHER FACTORS TO CONSIDER SEO _Does the content follow best practices for titles, descriptions, keywords, and URLs? Accessibility _Does the content conform to guidelines for accessibility? See the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative for more info. Functional Requirements _If there are new features that have to be supported by metadata, does that metadata exist? 61

ASSESS THE QUALITY Content Quality

CONTENT QUALITY HOW GOOD IS THE CONTENT? Ask yourself: _Do you have all the content that needs to be there? _Is the content up-to-date? Are the examples presented fresh? _Is it communicating clearly? _Is the content relevant to its intended audience? _Is the tone and style appropriate for your goals and reader? Is it appropriate for your brand? _Is it meeting your business needs? There is no overall definition of content quality—only quality within your business and user context. 63

NECESSARY CONTENT 64

UP TO DATE CONTENT 65

CLEAR COMMUNICATION 66

RELEVANT CONTENT 67

RELEVANT CONTENT 68

APPROPRIATE TONE AND STYLE 69

MEETING BUSINESS NEEDS 70

WHAT DECISIONS DOES THIS HELP YOU MAKE? _ To identify gaps where content is missing or inadequate _ To create or source new content _ To edit your existing content, or delete it altogether _ To identify the page types or templates you will design for _ To identify the fields and structure for a new CMS _ To assign ownership of content for ongoing governance Most important: _ To define or refine how your editorial and messaging strategy creates business value 73

Questions? 74

charitywater.org/sxswater/ Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick.

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Understanding Content: The Stuff We Design For

by Karen McGrane on Mar 18, 2010

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