Lou Rosenfeld discusses how he tried to determine the best UX books to read when feeling unsure of what to do by holding show and tell sessions with other designers. He evaluated books based on attributes, where and when people use them, readability, and practicality. Prototyping and usability testing were also discussed as ways to test new product ideas without large investments. The back cover of a sample book provides an overview of its topic about creating flexible content that can be used across different devices and channels.
14. Show and Tell Sessions
4 sessions; 5-15 people/session
Questions:
• “Why did you bring these books?”
• “What are their good attributes?
And bad ones?”
• “Where and when do you use them?”
Combine competitive and
generative research
18. Practical
is good
C ARD SORTING
Designing Usable Categories
by DONNA SPENCER foreword by Jesse James Garrett
g how
mation
sable
sort,
asy-to-
ns-and-
emerge
d smart
Design
mation
Whether
size to
CARDSORTINGbyDONNASPENCER
28. Usability Testing
Task analysis + interviews to evaluate
• Support for orientation and fundability
• Author and publisher credibility
• Readability
29. Usability Testing
Task analysis + interviews to evaluate
• Support for orientation and fundability
• Author and publisher credibility
• Readability
More on prototyping/testing books:
http://rfld.me/1ONeA9e
30. The front of the book
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
What do you mean by “content everywhere”?
The way I talk about it, “content everywhere” doesn’t mean splattering your
message in every corner of the Web. It’s about investing in content that’s
flexible enough to go wherever you need it: multiple websites, apps, chan-
nels, and other experiences. Why? Because devices of all shapes, sizes, and
capabilities are flooding the market, and users expect to get your content on
all of them, which you can read about in Chapter 1.
Right now, most organizations can barely keep up with their large, unwieldy
desktop websites, much less multiple different sets of content for all these
different experiences. Content everywhere is all about learning how to pre-
pare one set of content to go wherever it’s needed—now and in the future.
What do you mean by structured content,
and why is it so important?
Today, most digital content is unstructured: just words poured onto a page.
To signify where one part ends and another begins, writers use formatting,
like upping a font size to be a headline or putting an author’s name in italics.
This works fine if your content is only going to be used on a single page and
viewed on a desktop monitor, but that’s about it.
Structured content, on the other hand, is created in smaller modules, which
can be stored and used in lots more ways. For example, you could display
a headline and a copy teaser in one place, and have a user click to read the
rest—something you can’t do if the story is all one blob. You can give the
same content different presentation rules when it’s displayed on mobile,
such as resizing headlines or changing which content is prioritized or
emphasized—automatically. In this way, adding structure actually makes
content more flexible, because it allows you to do more with it. You can learn
about this in Chapter 5.
But don’t I need different, simpler content for mobile?
FAQ before
the TOC provides
context, navigation
and orientation
31. The front of the book
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
What do you mean by “content everywhere”?
The way I talk about it, “content everywhere” doesn’t mean splattering your
message in every corner of the Web. It’s about investing in content that’s
flexible enough to go wherever you need it: multiple websites, apps, chan-
nels, and other experiences. Why? Because devices of all shapes, sizes, and
capabilities are flooding the market, and users expect to get your content on
all of them, which you can read about in Chapter 1.
Right now, most organizations can barely keep up with their large, unwieldy
desktop websites, much less multiple different sets of content for all these
different experiences. Content everywhere is all about learning how to pre-
pare one set of content to go wherever it’s needed—now and in the future.
What do you mean by structured content,
and why is it so important?
Today, most digital content is unstructured: just words poured onto a page.
To signify where one part ends and another begins, writers use formatting,
like upping a font size to be a headline or putting an author’s name in italics.
This works fine if your content is only going to be used on a single page and
viewed on a desktop monitor, but that’s about it.
Structured content, on the other hand, is created in smaller modules, which
can be stored and used in lots more ways. For example, you could display
a headline and a copy teaser in one place, and have a user click to read the
rest—something you can’t do if the story is all one blob. You can give the
same content different presentation rules when it’s displayed on mobile,
such as resizing headlines or changing which content is prioritized or
emphasized—automatically. In this way, adding structure actually makes
content more flexible, because it allows you to do more with it. You can learn
about this in Chapter 5.
But don’t I need different, simpler content for mobile?
FAQ before
the TOC provides
context, navigation
and orientation
Navigation
32. The back cover
www.rosenfeldmedia.com
MORE ON CONTENT EVERYWHERE
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/content-everywhere/
Care about content? Better copy isn’t enough. As devices and channels
multiply—and as users expect to relate, share, and shift information
quickly—we need content that can go more places, more easily. Content
Everywhere will help you stop creating fixed, single-purpose content
and start making it more future-ready, flexible, reusable, manageable,
and meaningful wherever it needs to go.
“TheWebhasmovedbeyondthedesktop,andourcontentmustfollow.Throughabroadperspective,
clear language, and an army of practical suggestions, Sara Wachter-Boettcher guides us through the
challenges we face.”
ETHAN MARCOTTE
Author, Responsive Web Design
“If you’re looking for a lucid guide to the new challenges content publishers face, you won’t find a
better one than this.”
ERIN KISSANE
Author, The Elements of Content Strategy, and editor, Contents
“Website,app,socialmedia—andmore.Largescreen,tablet,smartphone—andmore.Areyouwriting
and rewriting for all these different channels and devices? Stop. Get this book.”
JANICE (GINNY) REDISH
Author, Letting Go of the Words–Writing Web Content that Works
“An essential pretext to achieving responsive Web design. Required reading.”
DAN KLYN
co-founder, The Understanding Group
Cover Illustration by Leanne Shapton | Interior Illustrations by Eva-Lotta Lamm
33. The back cover
www.rosenfeldmedia.com
MORE ON CONTENT EVERYWHERE
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/content-everywhere/
Care about content? Better copy isn’t enough. As devices and channels
multiply—and as users expect to relate, share, and shift information
quickly—we need content that can go more places, more easily. Content
Everywhere will help you stop creating fixed, single-purpose content
and start making it more future-ready, flexible, reusable, manageable,
and meaningful wherever it needs to go.
“TheWebhasmovedbeyondthedesktop,andourcontentmustfollow.Throughabroadperspective,
clear language, and an army of practical suggestions, Sara Wachter-Boettcher guides us through the
challenges we face.”
ETHAN MARCOTTE
Author, Responsive Web Design
“If you’re looking for a lucid guide to the new challenges content publishers face, you won’t find a
better one than this.”
ERIN KISSANE
Author, The Elements of Content Strategy, and editor, Contents
“Website,app,socialmedia—andmore.Largescreen,tablet,smartphone—andmore.Areyouwriting
and rewriting for all these different channels and devices? Stop. Get this book.”
JANICE (GINNY) REDISH
Author, Letting Go of the Words–Writing Web Content that Works
“An essential pretext to achieving responsive Web design. Required reading.”
DAN KLYN
co-founder, The Understanding Group
Cover Illustration by Leanne Shapton | Interior Illustrations by Eva-Lotta Lamm
Meh
34. The back cover
www.rosenfeldmedia.com
MORE ON CONTENT EVERYWHERE
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/content-everywhere/
Care about content? Better copy isn’t enough. As devices and channels
multiply—and as users expect to relate, share, and shift information
quickly—we need content that can go more places, more easily. Content
Everywhere will help you stop creating fixed, single-purpose content
and start making it more future-ready, flexible, reusable, manageable,
and meaningful wherever it needs to go.
“TheWebhasmovedbeyondthedesktop,andourcontentmustfollow.Throughabroadperspective,
clear language, and an army of practical suggestions, Sara Wachter-Boettcher guides us through the
challenges we face.”
ETHAN MARCOTTE
Author, Responsive Web Design
“If you’re looking for a lucid guide to the new challenges content publishers face, you won’t find a
better one than this.”
ERIN KISSANE
Author, The Elements of Content Strategy, and editor, Contents
“Website,app,socialmedia—andmore.Largescreen,tablet,smartphone—andmore.Areyouwriting
and rewriting for all these different channels and devices? Stop. Get this book.”
JANICE (GINNY) REDISH
Author, Letting Go of the Words–Writing Web Content that Works
“An essential pretext to achieving responsive Web design. Required reading.”
DAN KLYN
co-founder, The Understanding Group
Cover Illustration by Leanne Shapton | Interior Illustrations by Eva-Lotta Lamm
Meh
Meh
35. The back cover
www.rosenfeldmedia.com
MORE ON CONTENT EVERYWHERE
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/content-everywhere/
Care about content? Better copy isn’t enough. As devices and channels
multiply—and as users expect to relate, share, and shift information
quickly—we need content that can go more places, more easily. Content
Everywhere will help you stop creating fixed, single-purpose content
and start making it more future-ready, flexible, reusable, manageable,
and meaningful wherever it needs to go.
“TheWebhasmovedbeyondthedesktop,andourcontentmustfollow.Throughabroadperspective,
clear language, and an army of practical suggestions, Sara Wachter-Boettcher guides us through the
challenges we face.”
ETHAN MARCOTTE
Author, Responsive Web Design
“If you’re looking for a lucid guide to the new challenges content publishers face, you won’t find a
better one than this.”
ERIN KISSANE
Author, The Elements of Content Strategy, and editor, Contents
“Website,app,socialmedia—andmore.Largescreen,tablet,smartphone—andmore.Areyouwriting
and rewriting for all these different channels and devices? Stop. Get this book.”
JANICE (GINNY) REDISH
Author, Letting Go of the Words–Writing Web Content that Works
“An essential pretext to achieving responsive Web design. Required reading.”
DAN KLYN
co-founder, The Understanding Group
Cover Illustration by Leanne Shapton | Interior Illustrations by Eva-Lotta Lamm
Meh
Meh
36. The back cover
www.rosenfeldmedia.com
MORE ON CONTENT EVERYWHERE
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/content-everywhere/
Care about content? Better copy isn’t enough. As devices and channels
multiply—and as users expect to relate, share, and shift information
quickly—we need content that can go more places, more easily. Content
Everywhere will help you stop creating fixed, single-purpose content
and start making it more future-ready, flexible, reusable, manageable,
and meaningful wherever it needs to go.
“TheWebhasmovedbeyondthedesktop,andourcontentmustfollow.Throughabroadperspective,
clear language, and an army of practical suggestions, Sara Wachter-Boettcher guides us through the
challenges we face.”
ETHAN MARCOTTE
Author, Responsive Web Design
“If you’re looking for a lucid guide to the new challenges content publishers face, you won’t find a
better one than this.”
ERIN KISSANE
Author, The Elements of Content Strategy, and editor, Contents
“Website,app,socialmedia—andmore.Largescreen,tablet,smartphone—andmore.Areyouwriting
and rewriting for all these different channels and devices? Stop. Get this book.”
JANICE (GINNY) REDISH
Author, Letting Go of the Words–Writing Web Content that Works
“An essential pretext to achieving responsive Web design. Required reading.”
DAN KLYN
co-founder, The Understanding Group
Cover Illustration by Leanne Shapton | Interior Illustrations by Eva-Lotta Lamm
Meh
Meh
37. The back cover
www.rosenfeldmedia.com
MORE ON CONTENT EVERYWHERE
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/content-everywhere/
Care about content? Better copy isn’t enough. As devices and channels
multiply—and as users expect to relate, share, and shift information
quickly—we need content that can go more places, more easily. Content
Everywhere will help you stop creating fixed, single-purpose content
and start making it more future-ready, flexible, reusable, manageable,
and meaningful wherever it needs to go.
“TheWebhasmovedbeyondthedesktop,andourcontentmustfollow.Throughabroadperspective,
clear language, and an army of practical suggestions, Sara Wachter-Boettcher guides us through the
challenges we face.”
ETHAN MARCOTTE
Author, Responsive Web Design
“If you’re looking for a lucid guide to the new challenges content publishers face, you won’t find a
better one than this.”
ERIN KISSANE
Author, The Elements of Content Strategy, and editor, Contents
“Website,app,socialmedia—andmore.Largescreen,tablet,smartphone—andmore.Areyouwriting
and rewriting for all these different channels and devices? Stop. Get this book.”
JANICE (GINNY) REDISH
Author, Letting Go of the Words–Writing Web Content that Works
“An essential pretext to achieving responsive Web design. Required reading.”
DAN KLYN
co-founder, The Understanding Group
Cover Illustration by Leanne Shapton | Interior Illustrations by Eva-Lotta Lamm
Meh
Meh
38. The back cover
www.rosenfeldmedia.com
MORE ON CONTENT EVERYWHERE
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/content-everywhere/
Care about content? Better copy isn’t enough. As devices and channels
multiply—and as users expect to relate, share, and shift information
quickly—we need content that can go more places, more easily. Content
Everywhere will help you stop creating fixed, single-purpose content
and start making it more future-ready, flexible, reusable, manageable,
and meaningful wherever it needs to go.
“TheWebhasmovedbeyondthedesktop,andourcontentmustfollow.Throughabroadperspective,
clear language, and an army of practical suggestions, Sara Wachter-Boettcher guides us through the
challenges we face.”
ETHAN MARCOTTE
Author, Responsive Web Design
“If you’re looking for a lucid guide to the new challenges content publishers face, you won’t find a
better one than this.”
ERIN KISSANE
Author, The Elements of Content Strategy, and editor, Contents
“Website,app,socialmedia—andmore.Largescreen,tablet,smartphone—andmore.Areyouwriting
and rewriting for all these different channels and devices? Stop. Get this book.”
JANICE (GINNY) REDISH
Author, Letting Go of the Words–Writing Web Content that Works
“An essential pretext to achieving responsive Web design. Required reading.”
DAN KLYN
co-founder, The Understanding Group
Cover Illustration by Leanne Shapton | Interior Illustrations by Eva-Lotta Lamm
Meh
Meh
MEH!
62. 2) Capture it
Facebook
Private List
Twitter
user experience in the enterprise
1) Take an
existing
conversation
3) Analyze
for patterns
63. 2) Capture it
Facebook
Private List
Twitter
user experience in the enterprise
4) Sequence
patterns
1) Take an
existing
conversation
3) Analyze
for patterns
64. 2) Capture it
Facebook
Private List
Twitter
user experience in the enterprise
4) Sequence
patterns
1) Take an
existing
conversation
3) Analyze
for patterns
65. 2) Capture it
Facebook
Private List
Twitter
user experience in the enterprise
4) Sequence
patterns
1) Take an
existing
conversation
3) Analyze
for patterns
Tactical Strategic
1 2 3 4
101. What do you do
when you
don’t know
what to do?
102. What do you do
when you
don’t know
what to do?
Do UX.
Notes de l'éditeur
Start: “let’s talk about your career”
From certainty to uncertainty
Let’s talk about how UX makes things better and steadies your career
I’m going to SHARE some stories from 25 years in the field
Let’s talk about how UX makes things better and steadies your career
I’m going to SHARE some stories from 25 years in the field
Why is this? It’s a control issue.
Not just over the money
Not just over the control over the content
But often over the design—and overall experience—of the book
Anyway: sometimes inspiration has no connection to research: you just have to start
It’s frightening to be confronted with something YOU’VE NEVER DONE BEFORE…especially redesigning the book, which has been around for a zillion years
We can all remember a time when we found ourselves in a situation where we’ve never done this before…
Smell is also good
Other physical characteristics, like feel of cover paper finish
Smell is also good
Other physical characteristics, like feel of cover paper finish
The ONE place where you can’t over-invest
Ask him about his ’77 Trans Am. Or about pudding. Or anything.
There’s no excuse not to prototype (take-away)
Subjects really enjoyed this: testing something that they took for granted
The front matter matters
The back cover: not so important
This part is really for authors
…and maybe to reinforce the sense of a book’s authority
There’s obvious stuff:
Look at competitors’ books
Read Amazon reviews and other reviews
Look at the numbers
Continue testing
BUT one thing has helped us most of all…
Bring the books to the people
Examples:
Get your CEO to do an hour of customer service/week
Now let’s move on to events…
It’s no secret that UX conferences are fantastic and getting more so
Why is this? It’s a control issue.
Not just over the money
Not just over the control over the content
But often over the design—and overall experience—of the book
Anyway: sometimes inspiration has no connection to research: you just have to start
use social networks to find out what people were talking about, then manually combed through transcripts
Examples:
Get your CEO to do an hour of customer service/week
mini-conferences; created opportunities for stakeholding
conversation was happening months in advance of the actual conference
Added storytelling sessions to broaden sense of ownership and engagement
RISKY: letting go of control of program before we even launched it
…and it means doing so in a non-binary way—it’s not just designer versus users. “Users” can take many roles, like facilitator
Control your inner control freak!
A conversation is something that happens OVER TIME—how do you sustain it?
You might have great speakers, a great program, great content… but things can still fall flat
Gave people permission to let their hair down, and be a bit raucous
Also signaled that THIS IS DIFFERENT
Think of the story arc planning for a show like Breaking Bad—not just within each episode, but across the entire 5 year run
Ask attendees for things beside their food preferences—like WHAT THEY WANT TO LEARN! ensures that speakers are giving something the audience wants
Examples:
Get your CEO to do an hour of customer service/week
E.g., publishing has an incredible history of editorial review
Leads to not just reducing uncertainty, but actual success
So I just saved you 25 years.
You’re welcome