Adventures in Content Strategy
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." Benjamin Franklin
I love to travel. Over the years I’ve visited more than 40 countries across 5 continents. I love trying new foods, hearing and learning new languages, and learning about local history. But until last year I had seen very little of the United States. I also love to run. That’s how my sister and I…
Financial wellness? Sounds boring. Worse, the finance industry is embroiled in scandals, corruption, and poor user experiences. Why would someone who cares about people want to enter the world of banks, wealth management, and financial institutions? Because people need us. Financial wellness is at stake. Banking is Not Human In spite of the commercials telling…
Last week I went to synagogue. It’s not a common occurrence for me, but when I go I like to hear the Rabbi’s sermon. This time the Rabbi spoke about respecting people while disagreeing with them. He stressed the importance of a hug or lighter conversation after, and disagreeing respectfully. Yet I left frustrated. I…
“Like Google” requests literally every client. They want an experience that simple, that easy… and also that ubiquitous. Most organizations dream that people around the world will go directly to their website for every possible need. They want to provide “a one-stop shop consumer experience”. You know you’re nodding. It does sound simple. You too want…
You’ve been thinking about content design since you first began writing papers. You asked about content design every time you asked “front and back?” or “double spaced?” or “how many words?” When I was in middle school, one teacher stopped giving us word-lengths for our papers. Instead, he would say we should write a paper…
Last week I gave a talk on planning and writing for voice UI. In the talk, I explored a few important concepts: A voice interface is not right for every experience. Voice interfaces are different from chatbots and other conversational interfaces. When you are creating a voice interface – either for a car, a new…
As UX practitioners, our job is to aid, support, and at times protect end-users. We create experiences that help them. Therefore, it seems a no-brainer that “empathy” benefits UX design. Many, many, MANY articles have been written about empathy in UX. Nielsen Norman Group has written about Sympathy vs. Empathy in UX. Career Foundry explored…
Lately I’ve been exploring what defines personalization, and how low-tech personalization can succeed (no machine learning required!). I’ve also learned a lot from my colleague Kevin Nichols. And I’ve realized something. All personalization requires a low-tech approach. All personalization has personalization business rules. Personalization business rules are the key to answering the question: what content…
Back in 2015 I wrote about the “perception of control“. These are situations where people don’t (or can’t) have control, but UI elements help make it look like they do. But lately I’ve been hearing about a dark UX pattern. This pattern, much like the UI patterns I noted, looks like a choice. But it…
I spent last week at VOICE Summit, soaking in all that is happening in voice UI. Use cases for voice, new products coming out, and the latest technology dominated the stage. It was overwhelming, and incredible. Here are just a few of my many takeaways – and a few recommendations for where to learn more:…
