My presentation on how to turn business needs to user needs including using user/job stories, journey mapping and crits. People and things you might find useful: GOV.UK research blog: https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk Follow: Christopher Trudeau @proftrudeau He is the plain-language advocate, & law professor I was talking about. Academic research: http://contentdesign.london/data/academic-research-as-data/ Dumbing down inc: Christophe Trudeau studied legal text and found that ‘…41% of respondents got ‘annoyed’ when they read complicated terms’ … and ‘….”0.5% said they’re “impressed: http://contentdesign.london/reading/dumbing-down/ Value mapping:https://www.slideshare.net/SarahRichards2/

1. Type your point in here
contentdesign.london

2. Business needs
vs
user needs

3. Business publishing
vs
user needs

4. Content Design Centre

5. Business publishing
is often push
User needs are
*always* pull

6. You are rubbish.
Your team is rubbish.
Your job is pointless.

7. You are rubbish.
Your team is rubbish.
Your job is pointless.
And your dog is ugly

8. “Useless content” is different to
content that’s too long or badly
written.
Useless means not set to a need.

9. Set main goals
together

10. You might want to say:
what is the point of this?

11. Questions to ask:
Who is this for (primarily)?
What do you want them to
do with this info?
What is ‘success’?

12. “My audience
is everybody.”

13. No, it’s not.

14. Question to ask:
Where is this going to
fit in the user journey?

15. pic of google micro
moments

16. Content only works
if it’s where your audience is
when they want it

18. There’s nothing
like ‘proper’
research

24. Answers:
Who is this for (primarily): concerned citizens
What do you want them to do with this info:
Understand actions they can take which will help
calm
Success is: 3000RT, 3xBBC stories

25. Look into your envelopes

27. Run a user journey for your
content
• one audience
• one yellow post-it per
decision point (on- and
offline)

28. user stories

29. Type your point in here
As a…
I want to…
So that…

30. As a [person in a particular role]
I want to [perform an action or
find something out]
So that [I can achieve my goal
of…]

31. As a householder living near a
proposed fracking site
I want to know what effect fracking
has on nearby households
So that I can make a decision
about moving home

32. Job stories

33. When…
I want to…
So I can…

34. When [there’s a particular
situation]
I want to [perform an action or
find something out]
So I can [achieve my goal of…]

35. When I find out there is going to
be a fracking site near me
I want to find out if it is true
So I can decide what I am going
to do.

36. When I hear a news story about
the conflict in Syria
I want to find out how it started
and what is going on
So I can feel informed

37. Spot the user need

38. purple.com

39. Content Design Centre

41. When I want to buy a smart
watch to help me achieve my
fitness goals
I want to find out what will work
with my phone
So I can get one that works with
my existing tech

42. When I want to buy a smart
watch to help me achieve my
fitness goals
I want to find out what the
battery life is
So I can get one that I don’t have
to keep charging

43. When I want to buy a smart
watch to help me achieve my
fitness goals
I want to find out what the
features are
So I can get the right one
x

44. GOV.UK

45. When I am about to go on holiday
I want to know the safety
features of standing on a balcony
So I can stay safe

46. Said no-one ever
When I am about to go on holiday
I want to know the safety
features of standing on a balcony
So I can stay safe

47. When I am about to go on holiday
I want to know the local laws
So I can stay out of jail

48. When I am about to go on holiday
I want to know what my
insurance covers
So I can buy additional cover if I
need to

49. Write user/job stories
for your content

50. As a…
I want to…
So I can…
When…
I want to…
So I can…

51. Type your point in here
Content Design Centre

52. endless.horse

53. Conversations
with data

56. @escmum

57. “I think”
is replaced with:
“research shows…”
“data shows our users
want…”

58. Type your point in here
Reading
psychology

59. Type your point in hereIMG_4789

60. Type your point in here
Your memory works on:
• motivation
• length of time in
working memory
• meaning

61. Type your point in here
Context is important
Coat vs cove
Cat > dog
Cat > soap

62. Type your point in here
It was a really sunny Saturday.
Sam was having a great time on
the beach. It took ages to find the
pump and her friends were
already in the water. Sam couldn’t
believe how long it was taking to
inflate the large carrot. She
needed an ice cream badly.

63. Type your point in here
Function words
Prepositions
Conjunctions
Articles
Pronouns
Content
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives

64. Type your point in here
Words are easily skipped if they
are easy to process. This
happens when they are:
• short
• high frequency
• and/or predictable

65. Type your point in here
“Eye movements are affected by
the need to make a grammatical
and legitimate metrical
structure.”

66. FIGHT TIME

67. You are distilling their
expertise to 11 words
and a phone number

68. Remember:
• Be specific
• Can't say “I think”
• Use your journey

69. Rules of
the crit

70. Rule 1: Everyone did the best job possible
with the information they had at the time
Rule 2: Talk about the product only, not the
person who created the content
Rule 3: Constructive criticism only: ‘That’s
crap’ is unhelpful and unacceptable
Rule 4: No one has to defend a decision

72. Measure that you have
fulfilled the need

73. Successful pull from push
1. Find common goals
2. Show the whole story
3. Write to a user need
4. Evidence
5. Crit

74. Show, don’t tell

75. www.contentdesign.
london/book
Questions?

76. 1.contentdesign.london/content-
design/user-stories-and-job-
stories/
2.contentdesign.london/content-
strategy/example-content-strategy
3.gov.uk/info/child-benefit