Content Design
- Brand: Unbranded
Description
Content design isn’t graphic design or just copywriting under another name.Content design focuses on what content best serves the users’ needs, whether it be the written word, infographics, visuals, videos, or charts. Understanding how to display information the way the audience wants it at the time that they want it is the fastest way to successful content Chapter 7: Writing content Do you know? I don't know, often hear content strategy sits in comms, and it's not what I would call a content strategy anyway. I would like to see, so at the GDS, Ben Terret, who was Head of Design, took user experience out of everybody's title because he said, that is your whole job. Everybody in this digital team does user experience. We just all do it in different ways. So stop calling yourselves user experience. And I really agreed with that at the time, but maybe actually that is our job, and that I would like to see a team that does user experience from different lenses, and the content strategy I think should sit with at least one foot in that team. But I also have a problem with the silos that are between comms, marketing, the digital teams, the developers, whatever it is. Here particularly, very, very siloed working. And so having it in one team or the other isn't going to work, I guess. I would like to see something that works across the board. Sarah Winters is the delightful CEO and founder of Content Design London, a content design agency that works around the world helping governments and organizations to transform the way that they communicate. She is also the author of this seminal book, Content Design, and a respected and in-demand speaker who shares her expertise to audiences at conferences, meetups, and events around the world. Sarah, hello.
User needs are essential to content design. But it's the story that matters, and it's all in the way you write it. User stories Understand how you can open your content to a much wider audience by using content accessibility and inclusivity techniques. It was a really difficult time for Directgov because they knew that they couldn't carry on the way that they were going. And there was this awful, awful programme called 'The Change Programme' - and it was going nowhere. Our content designers work directly with clients to create clear, accessible content that meets user needs. They are experienced trainers and regularly work with individuals and organisations to help them develop their content skills. Clare Reucroft Interview: Why Content Design Matters Independent editor and content consultant, Oliver Lindberg interviews Sarah about designing with data and why content designers are needed.
sarahwinters’s tracks
What are your hopes? Tell me a little bit about what's going on at Content Design London. What is the work that you all are doing right now? Because I know that things are not great in the UK right now, it's not great. That's what I read. That's what I read in the papers. Things are complicated. Alpha had shown that time was a problem for contributors. To support contributors, Lizzie Bruce (a contractor working with CDL at the time), joined the project. This technique can help speed up content production and sign-off. Pair writing with peers and stakeholders can take you a long way to faster content production. Chapter 9: Crits
So there's just that disconnect I think between, at the moment in this country because not enough people have a good strong content strategy that the content designers can work to. So we say that if you have a content strategy, your bank of user needs and your research and your style guide, I should be able to give those three things to somebody and if they are trained, they should be able to produce good content, first time out. If they can't, one of those things is wrong. And it's usually, in my opinion right now in the UK, it's the content strategy. The best way to enter an alpha is with an open mind of “what am I going to learn?”, not “what am I going to achieve?”This is a jumble of questions. People will have to go through irrelevant information – because it goes through a variety of topics – to get to the one they want. And I’m not sure why some of it is here at all. You need to be able to analyse data. You need to be able to go and do desk research, even if you're just looking on social media for language, sentiment, scoring, empathy mapping. Sarah manages CDL’s training. She plans our courses and looks for ways to grow our training as the content design field evolves. Not quite. Yeah. You're welcome. How are you all navigating what's happening over there as an organization? Are you changing the focus of your services? Are you steady on? Are you looking at growth? Talk to me about what Content Design London is doing in terms of services and activities and pursuits. I think it is the people who are above that who, they're either super excited and attracted to bright shiny objects that design can create. They are looking for people that can point to very, very hard data, which can also be a difficult thing for content designers and content design leaders to grab onto and say, this is data that we impacted. Because of this thing that we did, these numbers shifted.
Mark manages our business and client relations. He leads on operations and contracts with clients, as well as overseeing CDL’s strategy and growth. Our senior content designers are responsible for shaping and leading complex projects from start to finish. They are experienced trainers and speakers and help other content designers develop their practice. Rachel EdwardsI feel like in much larger enterprises, especially that are dealing with legacy products, that I almost would like to see either organizations that have a Chief Digital Officer, or a Chief Customer Officer, that it sits there. So that it is something that is truly centralized and that is being served up as the beating heart of content within an organization and that it sits between and connects across all these different silos. That's my vision. Who can make that happen for me?
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- EAN: 764486781913
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