Slides from my talk about the difference between content and platform design and why it is essential to understand the difference. It explains why designers are uniquely qualified to solve some of the toughest problems facing newsrooms today. This talk explores how platform design is the new battleground for audience retention and how designers play a crucial role in building successful digital products.

1. Platform ≠
Content

2. Thank you to my smart friends:
Callie Neylan
Jeremy Pennycook
Paulo Lopez
Max Pfennighaus
Patrick Cooper
Benjamin Dauer
Wes Lindamood
Josh Hatch
Joel Sucherman
Kinsey Wilson
Miranda Mulligan
Michael Yoch
Ian Adelman
Tyson Evans
Bill Couch
Matt Mansfield
Justin Ferrell
Bryan Haggerty
Matt Thompson
Ron Coddington
Michael Maness
Laura Ramos
Irakli Nadareishvili
Marc Lavallee

3. Louisville Slugger

4. Rockwell
About me
•Newseum
•Knight-Ridder/Tribune
•SmartBrief
•USA
TODAY
•NPR
•Twitter

19. Twitter
NPR
USA TODAY
PLATFORM
CONTENT
Newseum
KRT

20. Content design and
platform design are
different beasts.
Understanding the differences
between the platforms is essential to
creating good work.

21. Content
Platform
Exploratory
Specific
Custom
Storytelling
Pacing
Rigid
General
Template-driven
Distribution
Wayfinding
The perfect page
The perfect system

22. What is the best way to
tell this story?
What problem am I
helping this reader solve?

23. CONTENT
illustration
reporting
the story
graphics
pacing
bandwidth
readability
metrics
scale
CMS
sharing
wayfinding
PLATFORM

24. “...like trying to
make one pair of
shoes fit
everybody’s feet.”
Jony Ive
FastCoDesign.com

35. Poynter.org 10/28/2013

37. Digital news design is
still broken.
•Many
story pages still feel the same.
•Pages are filled with unnecessary junk.
•Things don’t work on mobile.

38. Samey

39. 152 choices in the top nav.

42. Unsolicited NYTimes redesign by Andy Rutledge

43. Your competitive set?

45. WTHR app

48. Gmail = ubiquitous

49. News / Information Consumption
News Orgs →
← Tech Orgs

50. Jim Roberts Is
Mashable’s
Exective Editor
and Chief
Content Officer
Mashable
October 30, 2013

51. Jeff Bezos Says
Washington Post
Could Take a
Page From
Amazon
ABC News
September 25, 2013
Source: wikipedia

52. The battle for audience
retention will be fought on
the platform.
Design plays a crucial role in helping
news organizations make digital products.

53. How might design help
create better experiences?
We must create beautiful spaces in which
our audiences want to spend time.
Lots of time.

54. Lucent Home

55. animatedalbums.tumblr.com

56. Design thinking can help
•Context
•Research
•Empathy
(user-centered)
•Synthesis → Insights

57. Why?
•Answer
the right questions
•Better answers, faster
•Proactive, not reactive

58. Building great products
can’t happen in dysfunction.
Our organizational structures are
kryptonite to innovation.

59. The baggage:
Distribution
Paid to manage risk.
vs.
Content
Paid to tell stories.

60. Better!
Technologists
Product
Shepherds
User
Experience

61. Good experiences thrive in
organizations where design
is respected.

62. Visual journalists are readymade problem solvers.
•Ask
questions
•Observation helps challenge status-quo
•Readers are fickle

63. YouTube

64. Parade Magazine

65. If you’re not agile, you’re
doing it wrong.
•Small
•Multidisciplinary
•Empowered
•Accountable

66. Fertilizer for Agile
•Clear
strategic direction
•Co-location
•Mutual understanding

68. Evaluate and iterate

69. Tappable
prototype

70. Understand how
things work.
We say “build” for a reason.

73. Handing a PSD to a
developer does not make
you a platform designer.
Knowledge of how things work is critical
to making informed design decisions.

74. Start small:
•Little
experiments
•Skunk works can be cheap
•Google is free
•Show, don’t tell
•SHIP IT.

75. Experience is everywhere.
Understanding the differences
between the platforms is essential to
creating good work.

76. Thanks!
@dwjr