5 Simple Ways to Improve Content
with User-centered Design
As creators, our egos sometimes get in the way.
And it’s no surprise. Content designers and UX writers have come a long way. Our humble titles of “writer” or “copywriter” have been enriched with "UX," "strategy," and now, "design." But we can't let it get to our heads. Our UX solutions may be brilliant, but ultimately they aren’t about us. Our best work is a result of working with and for the user.
It takes confidence and humility to maintain focus on understanding and empathizing with the user. By doing this, we practice user-centered design and we can make better products that make more people (including ourselves) happy.
User-centered Design (UCD)
Think of user-centered design as a belief system with a core belief that we optimize products around how users can, want, or need to use the product, rather than expecting users to adapt their behavior to accommodate our product.
The real juju of UCD is that it’s core principles align with the phases of design thinking:
And it’s no surprise. Content designers and UX writers have come a long way. Our humble titles of “writer” or “copywriter” have been enriched with "UX," "strategy," and now, "design." But we can't let it get to our heads. Our UX solutions may be brilliant, but ultimately they aren’t about us. Our best work is a result of working with and for the user.
It takes confidence and humility to maintain focus on understanding and empathizing with the user. By doing this, we practice user-centered design and we can make better products that make more people (including ourselves) happy.
User-centered Design (UCD)
Think of user-centered design as a belief system with a core belief that we optimize products around how users can, want, or need to use the product, rather than expecting users to adapt their behavior to accommodate our product.
The real juju of UCD is that it’s core principles align with the phases of design thinking:
Understanding focuses on the users, how they use our product, what they use it for, and the conditions in which they use it.
Needs (aka "requirements") captures the user goals or business requirements that must be met for the product to be successful.
Solutions drives at iterating versions of the solution to test.
Evaluation is user testing or “usability testing”to ensure the solutions resonate for real users.
5 Ways to Apply User-Centered Design to Content Design
Content designers can apply UCD by stridently focusing on the user during the design process. Here are 5 simple ways to apply UCD principles in your work to make your content resonate, engage, and speak to the user…. and give you a leg-up as the person in the room with the most knowledge of the user.
1. User Interviews & Observational Research
To build things users love, we need to understand them, talk to them and watch them use our products. Research and data form a base, but the real juice comes from talking to the users and asking them questions, such as:
Needs (aka "requirements") captures the user goals or business requirements that must be met for the product to be successful.
Solutions drives at iterating versions of the solution to test.
Evaluation is user testing or “usability testing”to ensure the solutions resonate for real users.
5 Ways to Apply User-Centered Design to Content Design
Content designers can apply UCD by stridently focusing on the user during the design process. Here are 5 simple ways to apply UCD principles in your work to make your content resonate, engage, and speak to the user…. and give you a leg-up as the person in the room with the most knowledge of the user.
1. User Interviews & Observational Research
To build things users love, we need to understand them, talk to them and watch them use our products. Research and data form a base, but the real juice comes from talking to the users and asking them questions, such as:
- What is your goal in using the product?
- What other ways have you accomplished this goal?
- Where are you when you interact with the product?
- What tasks do you need to accomplish?
- What obstacles do you face?
- What would you love to see in the new version?
Courtesy UX Planet
Speak to and observe your users with your product and the answers reveal themselves. And don’t settle for only observing in the early stage. Employ user interviews and observational research throughout the course of the design and build cycle.
2. User Personas
Who are our users?
Ask this question in a room of 10 or more and you will reveal assumptions, mystery and sometimes even conflict. Do we all need to agree? Absolutely. Can some be more important to our business than others? 100%. Can we talk about them all in the same way. No way!
What do we know about them?
Sometimes when we think we’re talking about users we’re really talking about demographics and markets. We focus on statistics and groups rather than facts about people. “Our users are young professionals, 24-38 with 1.3 kids, combined household income…
Can you picture that? I can’t.
There’s lots to know about people. They’re varied and complex. Simplify it by focusing on what’s relevant to the content.
Once you have a grasp of the user through research and interviews, personify the user in a persona—a fictionalized representation of the users of your products. Personas are a foundational element for the entire project—key decisions, reviews, and especially in disagreements (e.g. does this decision help Larson, the photographer, meet her goals)?
Pro tip: start building a common vocabulary for different audiences and types of users.
2. User Personas
Who are our users?
Ask this question in a room of 10 or more and you will reveal assumptions, mystery and sometimes even conflict. Do we all need to agree? Absolutely. Can some be more important to our business than others? 100%. Can we talk about them all in the same way. No way!
What do we know about them?
Sometimes when we think we’re talking about users we’re really talking about demographics and markets. We focus on statistics and groups rather than facts about people. “Our users are young professionals, 24-38 with 1.3 kids, combined household income…
Can you picture that? I can’t.
There’s lots to know about people. They’re varied and complex. Simplify it by focusing on what’s relevant to the content.
- Identity: The things that make them who they are. Beliefs and principles core to their identities.
- Mindset: What they think and how they feel. Are they excited or apprehensive about this task? What’s their technical or topic literacy?
- Needs: What drives them. What are their motivations and goals? What are their pain points? What questions do they need answered?
- Behaviors: What they do. What leads them to your site? What paths do they follow? What habits and patterns do they take to get here?
Once you have a grasp of the user through research and interviews, personify the user in a persona—a fictionalized representation of the users of your products. Personas are a foundational element for the entire project—key decisions, reviews, and especially in disagreements (e.g. does this decision help Larson, the photographer, meet her goals)?
Pro tip: start building a common vocabulary for different audiences and types of users.
User Persona
(Courtesy UX Planet)
3. User Flows
With research and a persona, you are primed to put another UCD technique into practice – user flows. A user flow outlines the logical steps required for a user to accomplish a task, and how that relates to the product or interaction.
The concept we call “flow” in UX design was coined by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He defined flow as a focused mental state where the user is fully immersed in the task they aim to accomplish. User flows help designers understand and anticipate cognitive patterns of users in order to create products that enable a flow state.
A user flow captures a user’s path through a product, mapping every step the user takes—from entry point to final interaction.
Each user touch point is a node on the flow chart. Nodes are characterized by shape, and each shape indicates a particular process. A rectangle indicates a task or action, like “Log in” or “Purchase.” A diamond means a decision is being made and is therefore followed by “Yes” and “No” arrows.
With research and a persona, you are primed to put another UCD technique into practice – user flows. A user flow outlines the logical steps required for a user to accomplish a task, and how that relates to the product or interaction.
The concept we call “flow” in UX design was coined by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He defined flow as a focused mental state where the user is fully immersed in the task they aim to accomplish. User flows help designers understand and anticipate cognitive patterns of users in order to create products that enable a flow state.
A user flow captures a user’s path through a product, mapping every step the user takes—from entry point to final interaction.
Each user touch point is a node on the flow chart. Nodes are characterized by shape, and each shape indicates a particular process. A rectangle indicates a task or action, like “Log in” or “Purchase.” A diamond means a decision is being made and is therefore followed by “Yes” and “No” arrows.
User Flow
4. Empathy Map
Another way to apply UCD principles in the content design process is by developing an empathy map to add depth and context to your personas. Empathy maps visualize user attitudes and behaviors. They help teams develop a shared understanding and empathy for their users and often reveal holes in existing user data.
The Says quadrant contains actual quotes from the user from an interview or usability study.
Thinks is about what the user is thinking during the experience. What matters to the user? Says and Thinks, are close. Pay attention to what users think, but may not say out loud.
The Does quadrant focuses on actions the user takes to answer what the user does with the product.
The Feels quadrant is the user’s emotional state, often represented as an adjective plus a short sentence for context. Ask yourself: what excites/worries the user? How does the product or experience make them feel?
Another way to apply UCD principles in the content design process is by developing an empathy map to add depth and context to your personas. Empathy maps visualize user attitudes and behaviors. They help teams develop a shared understanding and empathy for their users and often reveal holes in existing user data.
The Says quadrant contains actual quotes from the user from an interview or usability study.
- “This feels really difficult.” Thinks is about what the user is thinking during the experience. What matters to the user? Says and Thinks, are close. Pay attention to what users think, but may not say out loud.
Thinks is about what the user is thinking during the experience. What matters to the user? Says and Thinks, are close. Pay attention to what users think, but may not say out loud.
- “Am I dumb for not understanding this?”
The Does quadrant focuses on actions the user takes to answer what the user does with the product.
- Refreshes page several times. / Shops around to compare prices.
The Feels quadrant is the user’s emotional state, often represented as an adjective plus a short sentence for context. Ask yourself: what excites/worries the user? How does the product or experience make them feel?
- Impatient: pages load too slowly.
Empathy Map
(Courtesy Nielsen Norman Group)
5. User Testing
The final technique CD can apply to ring the nectar from user-centered design is user testing. As the project iterates, so too should the testing cycles. Test throughout the process. It’s not about us, remember? Resist the temptation (that I’ve been guilty of) to get the requirements, craft in solitude, then announce the “solution.” User-centered design encourages a test/iterate/test cycle to derive the right solution for the user.
User testing comes in many flavors to meet the taste, budget and timelines of a project. On the higher end there’s in-person testing in the user’s environment. When time or funds are tight UserTesting.com offers many options.
Pro tip: to get the best results, make sure: 1) testers are representative of actual users, 2) the test focuses on completing clear tasks + scenarios, 3) data is recorded, distilled and acted on.
The final technique CD can apply to ring the nectar from user-centered design is user testing. As the project iterates, so too should the testing cycles. Test throughout the process. It’s not about us, remember? Resist the temptation (that I’ve been guilty of) to get the requirements, craft in solitude, then announce the “solution.” User-centered design encourages a test/iterate/test cycle to derive the right solution for the user.
User testing comes in many flavors to meet the taste, budget and timelines of a project. On the higher end there’s in-person testing in the user’s environment. When time or funds are tight UserTesting.com offers many options.
Pro tip: to get the best results, make sure: 1) testers are representative of actual users, 2) the test focuses on completing clear tasks + scenarios, 3) data is recorded, distilled and acted on.
Live User Testing
(Courtesy TestingTime.com)
Now You're Ready to Leverage User-centered Design
By applying these techniques and believing in user-centered design, we earn the “design” in our titles…and make better products and happier users, which makes us happy too.
By applying these techniques and believing in user-centered design, we earn the “design” in our titles…and make better products and happier users, which makes us happy too.
Resources:
Geoffrey O’Brian
Geoffrey is a Content Designer and creative leader who uses content design to champion user needs and help businesses create user-driven content.