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

CLIENT EXPERIENCE 

AGENCY EXPERIENCE + Freelance 

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 

DOING UX IN AN AGENCY 

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SCARY PROJECT BRIEFS SCARY BRIEFS 

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: 

My response: 

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. 

My response: 

“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. 

“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. 

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. 

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. 

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

“...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) 

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? 

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... 

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... 

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

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. 

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... 

BEST WESTERN 

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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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. 

AND NOW SOME TIPS... 

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

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. 

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. 

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

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

CHALLENGE CONTENT HOARDING JUST BECAUSE CONTENT HAS BEEN PUBLISHED, DOESN’T MEAN IT SHOULDN’T BE UNPUBLISHED. 

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. 

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! 

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. 

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

WHAT DO I WANT? 

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

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

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 

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 

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 

THANK YOU @almostexact