Let's be frank: If UX designers had their way, the only words you'd ever see on the web are lorem ipsum. And yet, words—from interfaces to microcopy to long narratives—are integral to the
usability and delight of any web product. Based on his years of UX experience and love of good content, Dylan will talk about ways to bring the two sides together to make better things on the web.
2. Required Bona Fides
18 years working on the web
Stops at:
• University of Washington
• Apptio
• EnergySavvy
• HP
Founded Hêtre in 2017 to help
organizations with user
experience strategy
@dylanw #lavaconDylan Wilbanks
31. @dylanw #lavaconDylan Wilbanks
Life of a Designer
• Focus on users
• Fight for good design
• But:
• Engineering wants to ship
• Sales wants to sell
• Etc. etc. etc.
• “Just make it pretty!”
• Burn out
• Drink coffee
• Repeat The Designer.
74. Communication is everything
•Make connections and build bridges
•Understand how they think and talk and work
•Educate them on how you think and talk and
work
•Create a common vernacular for your work
•Always assume good intentions
@dylanw #lavaconDylan Wilbanks
78. Team up.
•Identify commonalities in goals, KPIs, OKRs
•Find the user pain and collaborate on solutions
•Build a business case for a unified design +
content strategy
•Always, always be proactive
@dylanw #lavaconDylan Wilbanks
83. @dylanw #lavaconDylan Wilbanks
User Goal Design Content Video E-Mail
(who’s
our user?)
(what are we
trying to help
them
accomplish?)
(how the
design will
do to help
the user
succeed)
(how the
content team
will help the
user succeed)
(how the
video team
will do to
help the
user
succeed)
(how the e-
mail
cadence will
help the
user
succeed)
84. @dylanw #lavaconDylan Wilbanks
User Goal Design Content Video E-Mail
New
Customer
Understand
our new
offerings
Clearly
show the
three
options
Short, clear
explanations
of the
offerings
Three
videos, 30
secs apiece,
explaining
each of the
offerings
Use Content
with a focus
on calls to
action to
the site and
the videos
86. The crucial questions
1. Who is the user (human with the problem?)
2. What’s the user’s goal? (What does success look
like?)
3. What’s the problem?
4. How does the solution solve the problem for the
user?
5. How will we know it worked?
@dylanw #lavaconDylan Wilbanks
89. Demonstrate the value.
•Controlled terminology/vocabulary
•Refactor the design workflow to engage
content and docs in early, then show results
•Close the feedback loop with analytics that
cuts across design and content
•Show an optimistic way of working together
@dylanw #lavaconDylan Wilbanks