Designing Narrative Content Workshop

This was a workshop I gave at http://csforum.eu in 2011.

DESIGNING NARRATIVE CONTENT:
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How can you be sure your content reaches the largest audience possible? By designing content for all contexts, that will reach your audience via any device, any phone, any laptop, anywhere.

This workshop will discuss how to create a content strategy for narrative content. We'll explore how to tailor your content, as well as your editorial workflows, for different devices and audiences. We'll use Treesaver, an open-source content layout framework to illustrate narrative content principles.

Publishing usually comes at the end of your content strategy, but by orchestrating your process for narrative content, you can ensure your stories, news, product descriptions, and more will be tailored for your audience wherever they are.

What you’ll learn

How to optimise workflow, production, and deployment for narrative content.
How to use the technology behind narrative content.
How to customise content for different contexts.

Transcript

1. Designing Narrative content Martha Rotter :: @martharotter cartoon courtesy of xkcd.com
2. by Dustin Diaz
3. by photohome_uk
4. Introductions :: Who’s Here? !  Please share: !   Your name !   Your current role / focus !   What you’re working on !   What you’re hoping to learn from this workshop. By Þorgerður Þorgerður Olafsdottir
5. What We Will Cover In This Workshop !  This workshop will :: !  Show you the difference between effective and ineffective narrative content !  Show you how to improve your workflow with narrative content !  Teach you ways to easily include narrative content in your design and technology
6. This Workshop Is !   INTERACTIVE !   Focused more on magazines, newspapers, blogs and long-form content than calls-to- action and labels !   Focused on results - you will walk away with a publication you can use as a skeleton or for brain- storming or building content strategy for long- form content by Narisa
7. What This Workshop Is Not !   This Workshop is Not :: !   Going to teach you how to write sexy content !   Going to give you FIVE HOT TOP TIPS FOR CONTENT STRATEGY! !   Going to make you into a developer (which you probably don’t want anyway). But it might teach you some terms to help you work better with developers. image courtesy of thinkgeek.com
8. So Just What is Narrative content?
9. Narrative content is content that describes a story, an idea, a discussion by vasta
10. Narrative Content Describes a Story, an Idea, a Discussion !   [screen grabs of The New Yorker, Wired, Guardian article] article taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14798534 article taken from http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/09/five-essential-online-tools/
11. Narrative content is not the same as identifying text, instructions on a web page, labels or calls to action.
12. Narrative Content is NOT descriptive text or calls-to- action
13. Not Narrative Content cartoon copyright theoatmeal.com
14. Not Narrative Content cartoon copyright theoatmeal.com
15. Narrative content from an editing perspective could be anywhere from 500-5,000 words. by Chris Blakeley
16. Narrative Content is of Varying Length article taken from http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/09/should-the-new-yorker-change.html article taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/sep/06/hallucinogenic-foods
17. Narrative content is found in magazines, newspapers, short and long form fiction and non- fiction, interviews and many blogs. by Tracy Hunter
18. Narrative Content is Found in Newspapers, Magazines, Blogs, and Much More
19. Narrative Content can be the Difference Between These Two:
20. Stop Believing That People Don’t Like To Read from 37Signals A/B Test results Aug 2011
21. Where Does Narrative Content Fit In Your Content Strategy? !   Does your content strategy include: !   A Blog? !   Guest Articles? !   Interviews or Transcripts of Podcasts? !   Opinion Pieces? !   Editorials? !   Articles accompanied by illustrations or photographs?
22. Good Examples :: The Atavist
24. Good Examples :: Palimpsest
26. Good Examples :: NY Library’s Biblion
27. Good Examples :: The Economist article taken from http://www.economist.com/node/21525840
28. Good Examples :: The Atlantic
29. Good Examples :: Financial Times
30. Bad Examples :: The Irish Times article taken from http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/travel/2011/0903/1224303392437.html
31. Bad Examples :: The New York Times article taken from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/world/africa/24libya.html?pagewanted=all
32. What Makes Them Good or Bad? !   Good Narrative Content is: !   Easy-to-Read !   Favors the reader’s view !   Uncluttered !   Intuitive !   Accessible* !   Bad Narrative Content is:
33. Thinking About the Digital Reading Experience image from http://craigmod.com/bibliotype/
35. Maybe Numbers Tell The Right Story? graphs from Google Trends - August 2011
36. How Are We Going to Learn Designing Narrative Content Today?
37. We’ve Defined Narrative Content !  Now Let’s Take it from IDEA to REALITY by Scoobymoo
38. Three Steps !   Talk about workflow !   Talk about tailoring content !   Talk about the technology by Hub☺
39. WORKFLOW
40. Let’s Talk About Workflow by zemanta
41. What’s the *PROBLEM* With workflows today?
43. Maybe We (or our tools) Are Too Specific? by Anders Adermark Does your CMS have one output capability? Are you trying to get your content in more places? Does your site or app look funny in other browsers or on phones? Are you missing out on opportunities due to difficulty sharing content?
44. Maybe Our Team Is Stuck In A Rut? Are people reluctant to try new things? Is being “cutting edge” a risk? Is management concerned about spending money in unproven arenas? Is there a “Let’s see how it goes when competitor X tries it” by PierluigiCo
45. Maybe It’s Something Else? Ownership? Uptime / Tool Access? Money? Internal Issues? What else?
46. First things First
47. Get your strategy right
48. Ideally Workflow Goes Something Like This: !   Input Content (writing & art) !   Copy Editing !   Previewing !   Fix any errors !   Publish !   Content is live everywhere
49. In Reality It Might Go More Like This: !   Input Content (writing & art) !   Run spell-check !   Publish !   Content is live everywhere !   THEN: !   Edits made on-the-fly & republished !   One image doesn’t show up on an iPhone 3GS !   Headline image found to be offensive, so has to be
50. Most Of These Problems Are Due To the Same Two Things !  1) Little or no previewing / testing !  2) Duplicating instead of reusing content [And then of course there’s 3) Late Content, but we can’t solve that today. Sorry!] by DonnaGrayson
51. Let’s Align Expectations !   Writer / Copyeditor guidelines !   Style, look-and-feel, image, art !   ALERTS Repeat after me, “Surprises are bad.”
52. Let’s Set Schedules !   For content delivery !   For new features !   For ability to test !   For feedback turnaround !   Look at upcoming events, book launches, media coverage Repeat after me, “Realistic Is Good.”
53. Let’s Understand Our Systems !   Talk to developers to understand limitations !   When you have a list of asks, talk to them first to see what is feasible, what’s hard, what is impossible with current architecture !   Where do things break down? !   When the system is offline? !   When you can’t get on the Internet? !   When upgrades happen? !   When the servers are congested? (So we can help improve them!)
54. Tailoring Our Content
55. Tailoring Our Content :: What Works in this Format? !   This style works great for: !   publications which need to work on a variety of platforms/browsers/mobile devices !   Articles and stories where the alignment of the image and the words is not critical !   Small budgets, Big dreams
56. Tailoring Our Content :: What Doesn’t Work in this Format? !   This style is not optimal for : !   publications which are optimised for one device !   publications whose audiences have a homogenous experience of the content !   publications which require a printed version (and especially those that are required to look like the printed version)
57. image from http://all-sorts.biz/
58. Tailoring Our Content :: Best Practices !   Think about the content length with regard to images !   Don’t pick loads of obscure or heavy fonts - find one or two that are unique & suit your style !   Remember that not everyone is on a T1 (AKA superfastinterwebz) !   Experiment with multiple images in various sizes !   Take risks and try new platforms !   The content is the priority: keep it flexible and open
59. by twicepix
60. Technology time
61. Technology Breakdown :: What Are Some Options? !   Treesaver - an open-source framework for dynamically laying out articles and images; uses pagination, not scrolling; web standards-based, so works everywhere !   Bibliotype - an open-source framework for creating publications which have easy-to-use menus and look great everywhere; based on scrolling, not pagination
62. Treesaver !   Treesaver is an HTML5 platform for narrative experiences—with text and pictures and video !   Treesaver divides content into pages, automatically adjusting to the size of any screen.
63. image from http://treesaver.net
65. Treesaver Follows A Pagination Model 1. A pagination, or card, model is great for when you have full control over the device 2. When your information doesn’t need more room than a single canvas 3. And when the interaction model is linear and the information architecture only has one dimension image from http://www.informationarchitects.jp/en/ipad-scroll-or-card/
66. Bibliotype !   Bibliotype is a (very) simple HTML, CSS and JS based library for rapid prototyping long-form typography and reading on tablets. !   http://craigmod.com/ bibliotype/demo/ !   For more information on why this works, read Craig’s A List Apart article here called “A Simpler Page” : http://www.alistapart.com/ articles/a-simpler-page image from http://craigmod.com/bibliotype/
67. Screenshot from “A List Apart”, Illustration by Kevin Cornell
68. image from http://craigmod.com/bibliotype/
69. Bibliotype Follows a Scrolling Model •  Content needs to scale over different platforms and screen sizes (e.g., mobile, tablet, desktop) 1. Layouts need to be automatically generated (daily newspapers) 2. Accessibility is an issue (variable font sizes for sight impaired people) 3. A complex information architecture requires chunking of stacks of content The scroll model allows you to easily separate content and design. Scrolling might be preferred when: image from http://www.informationarchitects.jp/en/ipad-scroll-or-card/
70. Other Ideas :: The Golden Grid image from http://goldengridsystem.com/
71. image from http://goldengridsystem.com/
72. Other Ideas :: Less Framework image from http://lessframework.com/
73. image from http://lessframework.com/
74. Martha, my head hurts
75. Martha, I *said* I’m not a developer!
76. Technology Breakdown :: How do You Decide? !   When not to use the scroll model •  - Linear information architecture (PowerPoint, novel, children’s book), demands the pagination model. - Scrolling metaphor breaks when pages become too long (as in 20 pages or more) and the scroll bar becomes so tiny that it doesn’t offer a visual clue about page length anymore. by MagnesMuseum
77. Technology Breakdown :: How do You Decide? !   When not to use the pagination model •  -A pagination model can be difficult if content has multiple dimensions or if the information is not linear. - As soon as you add another dimension than just page forward and page back, things can get confusing. by mikebaird
78. Technology Breakdown :: What Does It Look Like? image from http://treesaver.net
79. Technology Breakdown :: What Does It Look Like? image from http://craigmod.com/bibliotype/
80. Technology Breakdown :: Why Don’t We Just Build An App? !   Apps might be better if you need more control over the look & feel of your content !   Apps might be appropriate if your audience is all on the same platform. !   For example, your site statistics show that 90% of your audience uses an iPhone. !   Or if you’re building an internal application for a company and all employees have Android tablets. !   The number one reason not to build a device-specific app: Apps don’t scale.
81. HANDS-ON
82. The CS Forum Times !   We’re going to quickly create a four-story publication that will then be available on the web. !   We will use articles from CS Forum speakers and any creative commons licensed images you like. !   The publication will be available afterwards for you to download and play with or edit or use yourself.
83. The CS Forum Times http://martharotter.com/csforum/ts
84. Decide on a Theme
85. Here Are Some Article Suggestions :: Any Others? !   Blurb from CS book? !   Blog Post from one of keynote speakers !   Article from A List Apart !   Interview with one of CS Forum speakers !   Review from someone’s CS Forum blog post / notes
86. 1) Decide on Copy & Publication Order (TOC) !   Select the articles you’re planning on including !   Check copyright !   Choose relevant art !   Decide on order of articles, advertisements, etc.
87. DEMO :: Table of contents
88. 2) Drop Content into Templates !   Copy & paste content in between the template markers !   Add formatting with an HTML WYSIWYG tool, your CMS, or by hand if you prefer !   I recommend http://www.coffeecup.com/free-editor/ for Windows, http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/ index.html for Mac !   Check here for some suggestions: http://www.webdesignbooth.com/15-really-useful-web- based-html-editors/
89. DEMO :: Adding Content
90. DEMO :: Editing Content
91. 3) Resize & Add Images !   You might want multiple image sizes for different devices. Decide on these ahead of time so that it can be part of the workflow or automatic in the CMS. !   You might also want to use slightly different images for the same piece (article 3 example). This is also something that can be done on your desktop, with an automated resizer, or in your CMS. !   Resizing Tools: !   http://www.gimp.org/ (free, Windows & Mac) !   http://www.pragmaticworld.com/image_resizer (free, browser-based) !   The usual suspects: Photoshop, Elements, Windows
92. DEMO :: Resizing Images
93. DEMO :: Two Different Images
94. 4) Upload And Check !   Use a live preview in a web browser if it’s already on the server !   If it’s only on your computer, use a program like XAMPP to access your content via http://localhost/MYWEBAPP !   When it’s live and public, check it from multiple browsers, tablets and phones if you can (and especially if the style, images, or other items have changed from their norm)
95. Workshop Resources !   All content used today lives on http://martharotter.com/csforum !   Live Treesaver Demo is at http://martharotter.com/csforum/ts !   Live Bibliotype Demo is at http://martharotter.com/csforum/bib !   Materials for you to download and try are at http://martharotter.com/csforum/workshop.zip
96. Content Resources (AKA, Go Learn More) !   Reading about readable content, publishing on the web, flexible design !   Khoi Vinh’s blog (formerly NY Times design director) :: http://www.subtraction.com/ !   iA blog (consultants, creators of annual Web Trends map) :: http://www.informationarchitects.jp/en/articles/ !   Craig Mod (Flipboard) :: http://craigmod.com/journal/ !   Ethan Marcotte (author of Responsive Web Design) :: http://www.alistapart.com/authors/m/emarcotte !   Martha Rotter (me!) :: http://martharotter.com/blog !   Treesaver !   http://treesaver.net/ (site for publishers) !   http://treesaverjs.com/ (site for developers/designers)
97. Content Resources cont. !   Bibliotype !   http://craigmod.com/bibliotype/ !   http://www.alistapart.com/articles/a-simpler-page/ !   http://code.google.com/p/bibliotype-wp/ !   The Golden Grid System !   http://goldengridsystem.com/ !   Less Framework 4 !   http://lessframework.com/ !   http://mashable.com/2011/03/17/less-framework-guid/