Overlappings &
Underpinnings
Content Strategy and Information Architecture
Delivered on February 10th, 2011 to the Michigan Usability Professionals Association

So who is this guy?

Chris Moritz
Digital Content Strategy Manager, Campbell Ewald
13 years working on this crazy Web thing
Worked on Navy, Alltel, Michelin, ACDelco, Chevrolet,
Kaiser Permanente, U.S. Postal Service, U.S. Mint,
General Motors, Carrier, OnStar, McKesson
Instituted Web Standards while in CE Engineering
Created and led the Information Architecture group
Created and led the Content Strategy group
Speaker at Internet User Experience conference
Speaker at the Content Strategy Consortium during the
2009 IA Summit
@chrismoritz “Chris helped shape the Campbell-Ewald Experience Planning
Group into a solid team and was instrumental in helping me develop
facebook.com/chrismoritz
a user-centric process (patent-pending) that is the best in the
linkedin.com/in/chrismoritz industry. Chris is extremely knowledgable on a plethora of subjects.
His command of English will no doubt result in a fascinating novel or
textbook someday.” — Dave Linabury, @davezilla

Acknowledgements
A tip of the hat to the following, whose thinking was invaluable
when putting together this talk:
Kristina Halvorson, Karen McGrane, Erin Scime, Meghan Case, Erin Kissane,
Ahava Leibtag, Nick Finck, Lisa Reichelt, Elizabeth McGuane, and Dan Brown.
note: this slide was not presented at the live MiUPA event
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10ch/5340350175/sizes/l/

Image credit: http://www.storenvy.com/

It’s not that Information Architects
and Content Strategists can’t create
each other’s deliverables

It’s not that Information Architects
and Content Strategists can’t create
each other’s deliverables
It’s what each spends the bulk of
their time working on

Few thoughts from
around the Interwebs

“
Content strategy plans for the
creation, publication, and
governance of useful, usable content.
”
– Kristina Halvorson

“
Content strategy plans for the
creation, publication, and
governance of useful, usable content.
”
– Kristina Halvorson
“
“No amount of research, information
architecture, interaction design, or usability
testing can create a great user experience
if the content isn’t useful and usable…”
– Jonahtan Kahn

“
content strategy is to copywriting as
information architecture is to design
– Rachel Lovinger
”

“
content strategy is to copywriting as
information architecture is to design
– Rachel Lovinger
“ ”
“If [Information Architecture] is the
spatial side of information, I see
content strategy as the temporal
side of the same coin.”
– Lou Rosenfeld

So what goes into
“content strategy”?

Create
Review
Approve
Hat tip: Brain Traffic

Audit Structure Publish
Analyze Create Update
Strategize Review Archive
Categorize Approve
Hat tip: Brain Traffic

What
Hat tip: Brain Traffic

What
Why
How
For whom
By whom
With what
When
Where
How oHen
What next
Hat tip: Brain Traffic

Let’s go through the
arguments…

They’re
the same
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paloetic/5021765804/sizes/o/

They’re
completely
different Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wandering_angel/1319316642/sizes/l/

They’re partners
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gingher/2609582370/sizes/l/

They’re competitors
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrtopf/16245629/sizes/l/

They’re
redundant
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/willpate/297848002/sizes/l/

The single, indisputable,
irrevocable, definitive
sequence of who does
what when, for how
long, and to what end
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robotson/272408633/sizes/l/

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/willpate/297848002/sizes/l/

Ok… here’s one idea
User Content
Search Experience Strategy
Insights
Pillars
Personas
definition
Consumer
Insights
Scenarios & Content
Gap Analysis
Tasks Inventory
Social
Media
Insights
Content
Site Map
Planning
Editorial
Strategy
Content
Wireframes
Marketing
Creative Digital Style
Visual Guide
Creative
Digital Editorial
Content
Build Calendar

What’s the same?

Not optional

Not optional
Concerned with structure, meaning,
organization, best practices

Not optional
Concerned with structure, meaning,
organization, best practices
Focused (mostly) on the user

Not optional
Concerned with structure, meaning,
organization, best practices
Focused (mostly) on the user
Dip into creatives “territory”

What’s different?

multiple dynamic
multiple pages pages multiple pages
x x x
multiple
multiple files
cross-linked files
x x

multiple dynamic
multiple pages multiple pages
pages
x x x
multiple
multiple files
cross-linked files
x x

multiple dynamic
multiple pages multiple pages
pages
x x x
multiple
multiple files
cross-linked files
x x
IA

multiple dynamic
multiple pages multiple pages
pages
x x x
multiple
multiple files
cross-linked files
x x
IA CS

Think about it this way…

IAs define
structure
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/estherase/576775607/sizes/l/

CSs define
mass
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/telstar/757650042/sizes/l/

Creatives define
surface Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58842866@N08/5388132989/sizes/l/

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eldave/2083760539/sizes/l/
Let’s just go
kick some ass

Want to know even more?
This is some of the best thinking (imho) on the topic on the
intersection of content strategy and information architecture:
Complete Beginner’s Guide to Content Strategy
Delineating Information Architecture and Content Strategy
Content Strategy and Information Architecture - Can't We All Just Get Along?
A Content Strategist and Information Architect Can Be Friends
Fear, loathing and content strategy
How content strategy fits into the user experience
Letter to a Content Strategist
Content Strategy, IA, UX or SEO: What’s My Problem?

thx!