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Content, Clients and Responsive Design

almostexact
September 05, 2013

Content, Clients and Responsive Design

Slides from my session at UX Cambridge 2013, with some added notes for context.

almostexact

September 05, 2013
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Transcript

  1. CONTENT, CLIENTS AND
    RESPONSIVE DESIGN
    BONNY COLVILLE-HYDE
    @almostexact
    #UXCAM

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  2. CLIENT EXPERIENCE

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  3. AGENCY EXPERIENCE
    + Freelance

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  4. OVERVIEW
    • What its like to do UX in an agency
    • How doing responsive design has changed my client relationships
    • Why content and content strategy is the ultimate problem

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  5. DOING UX IN
    AN AGENCY

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  7. SCARY PROJECT BRIEFS
    SCARY
    BRIEFS

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  8. Hello Bonny,
    [Client name] have been in touch about the great
    website you architected for them last year.
    They want to pimp it with carousels and related
    content blocks.
    My questions are:
    How long would you require to make such amends to the
    wireframe?
    And would you recommend any further updates/changes
    now we've had a year to reflect on things?
    Thanksyeahbye,
    Real email:

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  9. My response:

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  10. Objectives:
    •"
    to offer more accessible ways to access content on the
    website
    •"
    increase time on site
    •"
    to reduce bounce rate on key pages
    Suggested way to meet objectives:
    i. Homepage/landing page carousel
    ii. Related links
    Client response:
    THESE ARE NOT SENSIBLE REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS
    PARTICULAR CLIENT - SO WE HAD TO PUSH BACK.

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  11. My response:

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  12. “It was useful to think about content vs design – of
    course people might be leaving site ‘cos of content
    issues too. I’m sure a content review would be really
    useful – at the moment I’m waiting for agreement on my
    suggested changes to key pages which I’m waiting for
    sign off for. So any review would probably be more
    useful a bit later on.”
    Client response:
    THE CLIENT
    CARD
    CLIENTS OFTEN FOCUS ON THE APPEARANCE OR
    FUNCTIONALITY OF THEIR SITE, AND COMPLETELY FORGET
    HOW MUCH IMPACT THEIR CONTENT HAS ON THEIR USER
    EXPERIENCE, AND SUCESS OF THEIR SITE.

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  13. “In terms of “accessibility”, yes I guess I mean “more
    effective ways to showcase our content.” It would be
    great to read the articles on carousels – we’re not
    necessarily wedded to this for every landing page.
    The main issue is with the homepage – and
    organisationally, being able to promote big events
    with big images is quite important.”
    Client response:
    THE CLIENT
    CARD
    CLIENTS DON’T ALWAYS KNOW WHAT THEY NEED - ITS
    OUR JOB TO PROBE UNTIL WE FIND OUT THE REAL
    PROBLEM AND FROM THERE WE CAN WORK WITH THEM
    TO FIND A WAY TO SOLVE IT. WE CAN’T JUST BLINDLY
    FOLLOW WHAT THEY ASK US TO, OR WE’RE NOT DOING
    OUR JOB.

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  14. AM I MAD TO WORK IN AN AGENCY?
    AGENCIES GET A LOT OF STICK, AND YES, THERE ARE SOME BAD ONES. BUT THEY’RE NOT ALL BAD. I REALLY
    BELIEVE THEY SERVE A PURPOSE AND CAN GIVE CLIENTS A LOT OF VALUABLE EXTERNAL INPUT.

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  15. STOP BEING SO HIPSTER
    Image by Sean Wes: https://seanwes.com/2012/hipster-designerd/
    I’M REALLY SICK OF
    SEEING HIPSTER
    DESIGN FADS
    SNEAKING INTO UX
    WORK. OUR JOB
    ISN’T TO ARCHITECT
    THINGS THAT WE
    LIKE, AND WE SEEM
    TO BE FORGETTING
    THAT.

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  16. THERE’S NO WAY I WOULD DO AN
    APPLE-CENTRIC DESIGN WITH
    MOUSTACHE FLOURISHES...
    (OR MY USER’S LIVES)

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  17. “...IT SAYS
    NOTHING TO
    ME ABOUT MY
    LIFE”
    THERE’S NO WAY I WOULD DO AN
    APPLE-CENTRIC DESIGN WITH
    MOUSTACHE FLOURISHES...
    (OR MY USER’S LIVES)

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  18. AM I THE ONLY UX-ER THAT ISN’T RIDING A FIXIE
    BIKE AND WORKING FOR A START UP DOING
    LEAN/AGILE WITH AN UNLIMITED BUDGET AND
    NO TECHNICAL DEBT OR OTHER CONSTRAINTS
    TO WORRY ABOUT?

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  19. WHEN I READ SOME BOOKS, ARTICLES, BLOGS ABOUT DOING UX, IT CAN FEEL LIKE EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING
    ‘WEIRD SCIENCE’ AND I’M DOING MISS CONGENIALITY... WE’RE NOT ALL ABLE TO START FROM SCRATCH...

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  20. ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES
    OF MAKING A SITE RESPONSIVE IS
    EDUCATING THE CLIENT IN WHAT’S
    POSSIBLE...
    A COMMON PROBLEM IS CLIENTS
    HAVE A RELATIVELY NEW SITE, AND
    THEY WANT THE ‘RESPONSIVE
    SWITCH’ TURNED ON. LIKE THERE’S
    A MAGIC CSS RULE ONE CAN
    INVOKE THAT SOLVES ALL THE
    PROBLEMS OF RESPONSIVE STUFF...

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  21. IT’S ALMOST LIKE CLIENTS THINK
    WE’RE MAGIC...

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  22. WE WORKED WITH AN ANIMAL
    CHARITY RECENTLY WHO WANTED
    TO MAKE ONE PART OF THEIR SITE
    RESPONSIVE... THREE LEVELS DEEP
    INSIDE THEIR SITE STRUCTURE...
    WE THOUGHT THIS WAS A BIZARRE
    IDEA...HOW ON EARTH WOULD THE
    EXPERIENCE WORK - NAVIGATION
    ALONE COULD BE REALLY
    FRUSTRATING FOR USERS.
    AFTER MUCH DISCUSSION, AND
    PLANNING THOUGH, ITS BECOME A
    REALLY POSITIVE STEP IN THE
    SITE’S LIFECYCLE: THIS ONE LITTLE
    SECTION HAS SEEN MASSIVE
    GROWTH IN CONVERSIONS,
    ENOUGH TO PROMPT FURTHER
    INVESTMENT IN BOTH CONTENT
    AND TECH MODIFICATIONS TO MAKE
    THE SITE FULLY RESPONSIVE.
    OUR SKEPTICISM TURNED OUT TO
    BE WRONG - SOMETIMES WE HAVE
    TO BREAK OUR OWN RULES.

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  23. AS ‘PROFESSIONALS’
    WE DON’T LIKE TO
    ADMIT WE GET
    THINGS WRONG
    SOMETIMES, BUT I
    BET WE ALL HAVE A
    BUNCH OF
    SKELETONS IN OUR
    CLOSETS OF PAST
    PROJECTS GONE
    AWRY...

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  24. BEST WESTERN

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  25. BEST WESTERN
    A FEW YEARS BACK I WORKED ON A RE-DESIGN FOR BEST WESTERN UK. WE SPENT AGES DOING ALL THE
    THINGS ONE DOES FOR THIS SORT OF WORK - EXTENSIVE RESEARCH, SKETCHING, TESTING OUR IDEAS,
    REWORKING THEM ETC ETC
    BUT IT TURNED OUT THAT ALTHOUGH WE DID ALL THIS, ULTIMATELY WHAT THE SITE NEEDED: THE DATABASE
    THAT HOTELIERS USED TO POPULATE THE SITE WITH THEIR CONTENT, WAS NOT STRUCTURED OR
    DESIGNED IN A WAY THAT ENSURED THE SITE HAD CONSISTENT AND APPROPRIATE CONTENT.
    IN THIS EXAMPLE YOU CAN SEE THAT THE HOTEL HAS UPLOADED A BLURRY PHOTO OF THEIR SIGN, AT AN
    UNREADABLE ANGLE, AS THE FIRST PICTURE IN THEIR GALLERY.
    :-/
    WE SHOULD HAVE RE-DESIGNED THE AUTHOR EXPERIENCE TO GET A BETTER END USER EXPERIENCE, BUT
    WE DIDN’T BECAUSE IT WASNT IN OUR REMIT.

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  28. ANDREWS
    A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO I WORKED ON A COMPLETE RE-DESIGN OF THE ANDREWS ONLINE SITE. LIKE WITH
    BEST WESTERN, THE FOCUS OF THE WORK WENT ON THE SITE ARCHITECTURE, MAKING THE RIGHT USER
    JOURNEYS, THE FINDABILITY OF PROPERTIES...
    HOWEVER, WE SHOULD HAVE WORKED ON THE AUTHOR EXPERIENCE THAT ESTATE AGENTS HAVE WHEN
    THEY COMPLETE PROPERTY LISTINGS, AS THE LISTINGS CONTAIN PROBLEMS CREATED THROUGH THE WAY
    THIS DATA IS CAPTURED, AND CONSISTENCY IS POOR.

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  29. AND NOW SOME TIPS...

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  30. MAKE
    FRIENDS
    CLIENT
    RELATIONSHIPS
    DETERMINE HOW
    WELL YOUR
    PROJECTS WILL
    GO - INVEST TIME
    IN GETTING TO
    KNOW YOUR
    STAKEHOLDERS.

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  31. QUESTION
    CLIENT
    MOTIVATION
    WHENEVER YOU GET ASKED TO
    DO SOMETHING, QUESTION WHY
    - DON’T TAKE IT AS A GIVEN. IF
    YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT
    THE REAL GOAL IS, YOU’LL
    NEVER HELP THE CLIENT GET
    THERE.

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  32. DON’T
    FEAR
    CLIENT
    FIGHTS
    SOMETIMES YOUR
    CLIENT TEAMS
    HAVE INTERNAL
    PROBLEMS -
    OFTEN
    COMMUNICATION
    OR HIERARCHY
    ISSUES. A BIT OF A
    TIFF CAN HELP
    CLEAR THE AIR
    AND IT ALSO
    SHOWS YOU
    WHERE
    PROBLEMS LIE.

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  33. GET
    *EVERYONE*
    IN A ROOM
    INSIST THAT ALL STAKEHOLDERS ATTEND WORKSHOPS AT ONCE -
    DON’T SPLIT THEM: EVERYONE HAS TO REACH A CONSENSUS
    TOGETHER.

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  34. CHALLENGE
    CRAP
    CONTENT
    IF A SITE’S CONTENT IS CRAP, DON’T PRETEND
    ITS OK. KEEP HAMMERING THE POINT THAT IT
    NEEDS RE-WORKING.

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  35. CHALLENGE
    CONTENT
    HOARDING
    JUST BECAUSE CONTENT HAS BEEN
    PUBLISHED, DOESN’T MEAN IT SHOULDN’T BE
    UNPUBLISHED.

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  36. FORCE
    PRIORITISATION
    EVERYTHING WITHIN A
    RESPONSIVE SITE HAS TO SIT IN
    A PRIORITISED ORDER -
    SOMETHING THAT SOME
    CLIENTS WILL STRUGGLE TO
    DO. FACTOR IN TIME AND
    ATTENTION TO ENSURING THIS
    IS UNDERSTOOD.

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  37. WORK
    TOGETHER
    SHARE YOUR WORK IN PROGRESS WITH YOUR CLIENTS - YOU CAN EVEN KEEP A
    BLOG AND POST IDEAS AND WORK ON IT DAILY - SO THEY’RE ALWAYS INVOLVED
    AND ABLE TO COMMENT. NO BIG REVEALS!

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  38. HAVE THE
    RIGHT TECH
    DISCUSSIONS
    BEFORE YOU GET
    CARRIED AWAY
    WITH MEDIA
    QUERIES, DON’T
    FORGET XML FEEDS
    OR DATABASES YOU
    MAY NEED TO INPUT
    INTO.

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  39. ADAPT HOW
    YOU WORK
    THERE IS NO SET FORMULA -
    YOU NEED TO CHANGE YOUR
    APPROACH AS THE PROJECT
    CHANGES.

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  40. WHAT DO I WANT?

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  41. WHAT DO I WANT?
    • TALK OPENLY ABOUT COMPROMISE IN UX

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  42. WHAT DO I WANT?
    • TALK OPENLY ABOUT COMPROMISE IN UX
    • SHARE PRACTICAL TIPS AND TRICKS WITH THE COMMUNITY

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  43. WHAT DO I WANT?
    • TALK OPENLY ABOUT COMPROMISE IN UX
    • SHARE PRACTICAL TIPS AND TRICKS WITH THE COMMUNITY
    • DON’T ASSUME ALL AGENCIES ARE BAD

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  44. WHAT DO I WANT?
    • TALK OPENLY ABOUT COMPROMISE IN UX
    • SHARE PRACTICAL TIPS AND TRICKS WITH THE COMMUNITY
    • DON’T ASSUME ALL AGENCIES ARE BAD
    • IF YOU ARE AT AN AGENCY, MAKE IT BETTER

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  45. WHAT DO I WANT?
    • TALK OPENLY ABOUT COMPROMISE IN UX
    • SHARE PRACTICAL TIPS AND TRICKS WITH THE COMMUNITY
    • DON’T ASSUME ALL AGENCIES ARE BAD
    • IF YOU ARE AT AN AGENCY, MAKE IT BETTER
    • DON’T BE A DICK

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  46. THANK YOU
    @almostexact

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