Ginny Redish - Writing for the small screen

Writing for the Small Screen
Janice (Ginny) Redish, Ph.D.
Redish & Associates, Inc.
Bethesda, Maryland
ginny@redish.net
www.redish.net
@GinnyRedish

© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Writing for the Small Screen Slide 2
Topics for this morning
 Think
 Plan
 Organize
 Write
 Design
 Review and test

Think
Pictures of people ©iStockphoto.com,
except where I give another citation

What devices do you own and use?

Why worry about writing for the small
screen?
 As of April 2012:
 own a cell phone 88% of U.S. adults
 of those, use it for internet 55%
 of those, go online
mostly or only on phone 31%
Smith, 2012
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Cell-
Internet-Use-2012/Key-Findings/Overview.aspx

 Age
18 – 24 year olds 45%
 Minorities
African-Americans 51%
Hispanics 42%
 Income and education
Less than $50,000/year 40%
Not college graduates 39%
Of those who use the internet
on a cell phone, this percent go online
mostly or only from their phone:

 90% of people start a task
on one device and then complete it on another.
 77% of mobile searches take place at home or work,
only 17% on-the-go.
http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/multiscreenworld_final.pdf
http://www.google.com/think/research-
studies/creating-moments-that-matter.html

Share your story –
preferably a small screen story
Flickr cc photo by theworldcafe

What do people want from web sites?
To satisfy their goals
Content
Information
To do a task
People just want to
 answer their question
 do a task
 solve a problem
 engage in a social conversation

Why focus on content?
Useful, usable navigation and search are critical.
Good, clear design is critical.
Technology that works is critical.
But they all support the content that people come for.

How well does your site converse,
especially on a small screen?
Every use of your web site is a conversation
that the site visitor starts

Let's consider a common conversation

Plan

Plan Draft
Review,
Test
Revise Publish
Draft =
Organize
Write
Design

Your site visitors must be able to
find what they need
understand what they find
act appropriately on that understanding
in the time and effort that they think it is worth
Find Understand Act
For web conversations to succeed…

Content strategy =
 thinking strategically about your content
 aligning content with business goals
Develop and follow a content strategy
text
illustrations
charts
graphs
tables
forms
 videos
 podcasts
 blogs
 emails
 social media
 paper mailings

Content must be
 planned
 coordinated
 reviewed
 managed
and maintained
 removed
Content strategy =
Governance and resources
Break down those silos!
all with cross-group
collaboration

Content strategy =
Coordinating across devices and platforms

Content strategy = Messages and more
Messages
Tones
Styles
Right content
in the right amount
to the right person
at the right time
in the right medium
Media
Voice

To learn more about content strategy
Halvorson and
Rach, 2012
Wachter-Boettcher,
2012
McGrane,
2012
Leibtag,
2013 (Nov.)
Redish,
2012

Plan before you write
Think before you write.
For every piece of content,
answer these questions:
 Why? (Purposes)
 Who? (Personas)
 What? (Conversations)

Why? (Purposes)
 Align with the organization's overall strategy and goals.
 Be measurable.
 Focus on your site visitors and what they should do.
 Be specific.
$
$

Focus on your site visitors
and what they should do
to tell people how to make an appointment
anxious patients to call the correct number
to make an appointment easily and quickly
to give instructions for the … form
our very busy site visitors, whom we know
don't have time to read carefully, to fill out the form
correctly and completely without calling us up
We want

Be specific
www.manageyourwriting.com
Kenneth W. Davis

 Who are your site visitors?
(Name the different groups.)
 What should you keep
in mind about these people?
(Write down adjectives or phrases.)
not what content they are looking for
− that's the question after this one.
Who? (Personas)

What is a persona?
 a fictional person
who realistically represents
a major group of site visitors
 composite
 based on data about
 demographics
 goals and tasks
 contexts of use (environments)
 values
Art

What? (Conversations)
 Site visitors come with their own goals, tasks, questions.
 See the site visitor coming to your content.
 What does that person want?

Organize
Flickr cc photo by Polandeze

Organizing content for the small screen
 Put your key message first.
 Anticipate and answer site visitors' questions.
 Keep it short.
 Break it up.

If you don't answer your site visitors' questions,
they may not "hear" your messages.
For successful conversations, you must
mesh…
Successful
web content
site visitors'
questions
Your key messages

2011 version from a state agency

Put your key message first
Typical document
(narrative style)
topic, history,
background, rationale
narrative of what you did
main point as conclusion
Better workplace document
(style for busy users;
inverted pyramid)
key message first
answers to questions readers
would have (even if you don't write
question headings)

Anticipate and answer site visitors' questions
Eva − one of the personas
of the Washington State
Office of the Insurance Commissioner Try it!
Eva and Cobra

Keep it short
 Short sections
 Short paragraphs
 Short sentences
 Short words
 Short list items
www.marylandhealth
connection.gov

Break it up
 Your seventh-grade English teacher
never wrote for the web
− and definitely not for the small screen.
 A one-sentence paragraph is fine on the web.
 Help people "grab and go."
fragments tables
lists images
links
Try it!

Write
Design
Review and test

Write the conversation
Use all the plain language guidelines.
Talk with your site visitors. Use "you" and "we."
Write in the active voice (most of the time).
Put the action in the verbs.
Cut unnecessary words.
✔✗

Everyone benefits from plain language
Summers, K. and Summers, M., 2005,
Reading and Navigational Strategies of Web Users with Lower Literacy Skills,
available at http://redish.net/images/stories/PDF/summers_asist2005.pdf

Design for the space you have
 Keep small amounts of space between paragraphs
and between list items.
 Keep headings next to the text they cover.
 If you use lines, put them over (not under) each heading.
 Don't center text. Align text on the left.
 Cut out large, meaningless pictures.
 Use small, meaningful pictures.
 Use visual design to save words.

Review and test your drafts
 Read your draft out loud.
 Share with colleagues.
 Walk personas through their conversations
on different devices.
 Do usability testing with different devices.
 Always keep your ego in a drawer.

Walk personas through their conversations
on different devices
 Be the persona.
 Come to the site with a realistic conversation.
 What would the persona do?
 How well would the site satisfy the persona's need?

Do usability testing with different devices
 Do not rely on readability formulas
(computerized grade levels).
 Great writing for the small screen may score poorly.
Usability testing:
Watch and listen
as relevant people
(one at a time)
try to use the site
to do realistic tasks.

Always keep your ego in a drawer
ego
Successful communication
means creating content
in which your site visitors can
 find what they need,
 understand what they find,
and
 act appropriately
on that understanding
− in the time and effort that
they want to spend on it.You succeed only
when your site visitors succeed.

Thank you!
More questions?
Write to me:
ginny@redish.net
@GinnyRedish
Ginny Redish
Janice (Ginny) Redish, Ph.D.
Bethesda, Maryland
www.redish.net

Ginny Redish - Writing for the small screen

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Mais procurados

Mais procurados (16)

Semelhante a Ginny Redish - Writing for the small screen

Semelhante a Ginny Redish - Writing for the small screen (20)

Mais de Plain Talk 2015

Mais de Plain Talk 2015 (20)

Último

Último (20)

Ginny Redish - Writing for the small screen

Notas do Editor