orchestrating content—fowd nyc
DESCRIPTION
Keynote presentation at Future of Web Design 2014 in NYC Templates, trainings, threats: I’ve tried everything to get content from clients and colleagues sooner—and mobile hasn’t made things easier. Instead of planning pages, now we’re asking stakeholders to prioritize and manage a million bits of modular content. So how do we keep our subject-matter experts from feeling overwhelmed, prevent carousel-obsessed executives from endless homepage arguments, and get the content we need to make design and development decisions? The answer is in using content strategy as a means to orchestrate, not dictate.TRANSCRIPT
flickr.com/photos/wolfworld/3597078422
orchestratingcontent
sara wachter-boettcher @sara_ann_marie
fowd nyc // november 2014
Let’s talk about how I screwed up instead.
flickr.com/photos/mypubliclands/9406650850
#WVpdx | 05.18.2012 @sara_ann_marie
#WVpdx | 05.18.2012 @sara_ann_marie
#WVpdx | 05.18.2012 @sara_ann_marie
So I made content models.
And I made things modular.
CONTENTGOES HERE
‘‘I don’t see why we need to fill out those fields. Look, I can just paste my press release right here.
— OH at CMS training
Mobile design requires content that works.
Web design requires content that works.
Orchestrating content
Orchestrating content models
Orchestrating content people
Orchestrating content realities
headaches we can actually stop3
www.flickr.com/photos/bevgoodwin/9482142313/
“My thing matters most!”1
‘‘Tools like carousels are used as appeasers to keep everyone from beating the sh** out of each other.
— Brad Frost, “Carousels”
Discord is why we can’t have nice things.
Cluttered layouts Bloated navigation Rogue departments One-off requests
flickr.com/photos/42dreams/485750534
What to do: Unify your performers.
Feelings can be as important as features.
Who are we? Who is our audience? What are our goals? How should we sound?
Create simple reminders.
‘‘Principle: keep it simple Students have a lot going on: courses, clubs, jobs, sports. Make life easier, not more stressful.
Common ground before content.
flickr.com/photos/bevgoodwin/9482142313/
“Wait, you want ME to do WHAT?!2
‘‘Publishing is easy! Just choose a category, fill out these nine fields, select three related items, and add at least four tags from this PDF.
—Every CMS training
flickr.com/photos/jiuguangw/6457845587
What to do: Listen and adjust.
Participation weeds out future problems.
Establish a shared lens for content.
the user’s journey
content we have
content we need
What will it take to serve that content at that moment?
TEASER / 25 words
DESCRIPTION / 100 words
TITLE / 40 characters
FEATURES / 150 words
RELATED RELATED
Draft real-ish content.
Vet it against the current reality.
Success is a design that’s sustainable.
flickr.com/photos/bjmccray/1564988306
“This is more work than we thought!”3
‘‘We’re working on our content! Probably today! We’re totally going to get it done on time!
—People with good intentions
flickr.com/photos/haagsuitburo/7958046990
What to do: Keep the tempo.
Kickstart writing tasks.
before
after
Find your team’s rhythm.
Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar.
PROJ
ECT
TEAM
Backend development
High-level IA
Content modeling Editorial &
CMS guide
Front-end developmentStyle tiles
Prototyping Prototyping
Content principles
QASample content
Content workshop
Content batch 1
Internal review CMS entry
CONT
ENT
MAN
AGER
S Batch 1 revisions
Content batch 2
Internal review
Batch 2 revisions
QA
Content batch 3
Internal review
Batch 3 revisions
Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar.PR
OJEC
T TE
AM
Backend development
High-level IA
Content modeling Editorial &
CMS guide
Front-end developmentStyle tiles
Prototyping Prototyping
Content principles
QASample content
Content reqs check
Pre-CMSentry check
Content workshop
Content batch 1
Internal review CMS entry
CONT
ENT
MAN
AGER
S Batch 1 revisions
Content batch 2
Internal review
Batch 2 revisions
QA
Content batch 3
Internal review
Batch 3 revisions
Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar.PR
OJEC
T TE
AM
Backend development
High-level IA
Content modeling Editorial &
CMS guide
Front-end developmentStyle tiles
Prototyping Prototyping
Content principles
QASample content
Design/content alignment
flickr.com/photos/42dreams/485750534
Practice, practice, practice.
flickr.com/photos/cedwardmoran/633158834
Build things.
flickr.com/photos/dingatx/4794442002
Build confidence.
flickr.com/photos/omcoc/9884103583
Build the future.
Thank you!
flickr.com/photos/paulrobinsonuk/6901390006
Flickr images used via Creative Commons Attribution license unless otherwise noted.
sarawb.com@sara_ann_marie