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Content design

Published on Aug 10, 2017

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1.

Content design

Photo by Luca Upper
2.

"Content is anything that communicates a message to the audience. Anything."

- Ian Lurie

On this moving box, the fields describing the potential contents - name, order number, family room/living room/den - are all content. So is the writing in permanent marker. It's all content!
Photo by Meathead Movers
3.

Content can...

  • Engage
  • Inform
  • Drive action
  • ...or any combination of those three


Photo by vic_burton
4.

Content to engage

  • The goal is attention
  • Success can usually be measured quantitively (eg by time spent on the page)
An example of content to engage would be...

Any random page from Buzzfeed.
5.

Content to drive action

  • The goal is a behaviour
  • Success can usually be measured quantitively (by whether a behaviour occurs or not)
  • Might be conversion... but might not
An example of content to drive action would be...

The vinomofo landing page.

https://www.vinomofo.com/

6.

Content that informs

  • The goal is a changed state of knowledge in the user
  • Success is qualititive - extremely difficult to measure using quantitative metrics
An example of content that informs would be...

The information on GOV.UK about how to buy a personalised number plate.

https://www.gov.uk/personalised-vehicle-registration-numbers/buying-a-priva...
7.

TV licences

 (it's a Thing)
Compare and contrast!

https://web.archive.org/web/20110524182135/http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk:80/...

https://www.gov.uk/tv-licence
Photo by Frank Okay
8.

In the UK, people who use BBC content must pay a TV licence fee - including students.

Let's compare the content for students on the old TV licencing website with the new GOV.UK website...

Compare and contrast!

https://web.archive.org/web/20110524182135/http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk:80/...

https://www.gov.uk/tv-licence
Photo by Frank Okay
9.

Old:
There’s nothing like that last minute goal, the nail-biting season finale or your favourite Friday night sitcom to bring students together, laughing, crying and cheering over a laptop in halls.


But just remember, whatever you’re watching live online, you’ll need to be covered by a TV Licence – no matter what device you use. Your hall's licence won’t cover you, and you may not be covered by your parents’ licence. Thankfully, it’s easy to buy your own.


First, check below to find out if you need one. Then, buy a licence so you can be sure you’re enjoying all your favourite programmes legally from the day you start uni.

It may cost less than you think.

Compare and contrast!

https://web.archive.org/web/20110524182135/http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk:80/...

https://www.gov.uk/tv-licence
Photo by Frank Okay
10.

You must have a TV Licence if you:

watch or record programmes on a TV, computer or other device as they’re broadcast

download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer – live, catch up or on demand

A TV Licence costs £147 (£49.50 for black and white TV sets) for both homes and businesses.

Compare and contrast!

https://web.archive.org/web/20110524182135/http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk:80/...

https://www.gov.uk/tv-licence
Photo by Frank Okay
11.

Exercise

Go to marleyspoon.com.au
Identify which elements of content work to engage, drive action, or inform.

12.

Untitled Slide

13.

Time for some reading theory!

Photo by Geraint Rowland Photography
14.

Reading is involuntary

15.

...at least, it's involuntary for any length of text that can be perceived at a single glance. More than that requires eye movement, and eye movement is predominantly but not exclusively voluntary - which means reading long strings of text is too.

16.

Untitled Slide

A classic example of written content that you just can't help reading.
17.

Visual cognition

Visual cognition, at it's most basic level, consists of two actions: Seeing and Looking.

At any given time, we can see a huge amount - everything that's withing scope of our eyes.

We simultaneously direct our attention to one specific area, which is intentional looking.
Photo by infomatique
18.

"Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

As a rule, people read words not letters. They read by word shape first, and only slow down for letters if the word is unfamiliar.

Kids learn to read letter by letter, and then later by letter shape.

Dyslexics do not tend to read by word shape, but... it's complicated.
19.

"The recently implemented categorical standardisation procedure on waste oil should not be applied before 1 January 2015.”

When a large number of words are long or unfamiliar, readers will start skipping words to get back to safer ground. Once they've started skipping, they don't slow down until they're sure they can. In this content, for example, we could reasonably expect that a reader who skipped the long words would accidentally fail to read the word 'not' and miss the point of the content entirely.
Photo by oatsy40
20.

"The recently implemented categorical standardisation procedure on waste oil should not be applied before 1 January 2015.”

OR


"Do not use the new waste oil standards before 1 January 2015."

By starting with an imperative and holding the longer words over for another sentence, we have a much clearer piece of content.
Photo by oatsy40
21.

Meet the F-shaped reading pattern

This research is about 20 years old, but still seems to be relevant today.

English speaking readers will skim down the page reading headings and the first part of first lines to see if the content is relevant to them or not.

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/
22.

High literacy people prefer plain English

(Though they don't necessarily realise that they do)
First, when given a choice, 80% of people preferred sentences written in clear English (for example, 97% preferred ‘among other things’ over the more traditional Latin phrase ‘inter alia’) and the more complex the issue, the greater that preference. But second, it found that the more educated the person, the more specialist their knowledge, the greater their preference for plain English.

http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=christoph...
Photo by sadmafioso
23.

WWJND?

What Would Jakob Nielsen Do?
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-users-read-on-the-web/

This is 20 years old, but still...
Photo by matt hutchinson
24.

Untitled Slide

25.

Untitled Slide

26.

Untitled Slide

27.

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Untitled Slide

29.

Exercice

Using the printable version, identify how many steps there are in the 'Meyer lemon cake' recipe

http://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/recipes/print-recipe/?id=5822
30.

STOP

31.

Grammar time!

32.

Meet the passive voice!

  • Active: subject verb object. "The cat sat on the mat."
  • Passive: object verb subject. "The mat was sat on by the cat."
  • Also passive: object verb. "The mat was sat on."
33.

Meet the passive voice!

  • Active: "SEEK requires job titles."
  • Passive: "Job titles are required by SEEK."
  • Also passive: "Job titles are required." (The subject has disappeared!)
34.

Embrace the imperative

Don't be scared of "You can", "You can't", and "You must" statements
35.

Pronoun agreement is cool

If we start with you, we'll stay with you (or them!)
Shifting from 'your' to 'my' to 'users' when you're addressing the same person creates confusion.

Generally, if you're addressing a person, 'you' is the best bet.
36.

Truth, justice, and the oxford comma

This is the Oxford comma!

If there's three items on a list, and there's a comma before the last one, that's the Oxford comma.

Truth, justice and the American way

or

Truth, justice, and the American way
Photo by andertoons
37.

Practical stuff

38.

Don't forget Jakob!

  • Concise
  • Scannable
  • Objective
39.

Users want to know...

  • Am I in the right place?
  • Do I need to keep reading?
40.

Let people stop reading

If/then statements are great
For example, 'if you have not eaten lunch, you can buy a sandwich from the canteen'.
41.

Words of death

  • Simply
  • Quick (eg. 'Quick links')
  • Easily (eg 'You can easily')
  • Important (eg 'it is important that')
  • Just
42.

Headings can be signposts or summaries

(I recommend treating 'summary' as the default choice)
Summaries https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/facebook-watch-new-youtube-competit...
43.

Full-stops or whitespace?

Both indicate a break in text.

To someone who is scanning, whitespace is far easier to perceive than a full stop - a full stop is a very small mark.
44.

"States and territories are responsible for the delivery of preschool. Since 2008, the Australian Government has made $3.2 billion available to states and territories through a series of National Partnership agreements. The current National Partnership provides $840 million to states and territories to support the delivery of 600 hours of preschool per year in 2016 and 2017."

Here is text with no whitespace...

https://www.mychild.gov.au/agenda/universal-access
45.

"States and territories are responsible for the delivery of preschool.

Since 2008, the Australian Government has made $3.2 billion available to states and territories through a series of National Partnership agreements.

The current National Partnership provides $840 million to states and territories to support the delivery of 600 hours of preschool per year in 2016 and 2017."

...and the same text with whitespace.

https://www.mychild.gov.au/agenda/universal-access
46.

Tea time!

Photo by Paul Keller
47.

Exercise

You run a hotel, and many of your guests are aliens.

They are all very keen to experience Earth culture, but they are unfamiliar with our customs. Many have heard of ‘tea’ and want to try it for themselves.

Write a guide for your alien guests that describes how to make a cup of tea using standard hotel tea-making equipment.

Douglas Guilfoyle

Haiku Deck Pro User