content strategy + ux go together like pb & j

Content + UX

Go Together Like PB&J

Krista SiniscarcoAssoc. Dir, UX StrategyBEAM Interactive@KristaSinis

Caroline RobertsContent StrategistiFactory@pepperypen

mu//enM U L L E N L O W E G R O U

PJanuary 2014 - March 2015

How our relationship began...

We were working in parallel

Content Strategy

UserExperience

and discovered there was a lot of overlap.

Content Strategy

UserExperience

So, we started working as a team.

Content + UX

Case Studies

Medicine + the MilitaryU.S. Department of Defense

Challenge: ● Design an informational site to help recruit medical

doctors into the Military.● Bring together content scattered across multiple

sources into one place.● Present all aspects of military life without favoring

any specific branch or type of enlistment.

Primary & Secondary Research156 Web Pages Explored 36 Government Documents 24 Market Segments 14 Interviews 11 Government PowerPoints 5 Competitors Evaluated 4 Survey Results 2 Podcasts

= 252 Sources

Primary & Secondary Research156 Web Pages Explored 36 Government Documents 24 Market Segments 14 Interviews 11 Government PowerPoints 5 Competitors Evaluated 4 Survey Results 2 Podcasts

1,931 Unique Facts/Perspectives Discovered 815 Unique Facts Used on Site 79 Acronyms Encountered 6 Personas

Weeks Taken to Research: ~ 15 weeks, or 3 months and 17 days

Gap Analysis

Flow Chart

Archetypes

Site Map

Writing & Wireframing

http://medicineandthemilitary.com/

Killing JesusNational Geographic Channel

Challenge: ● Design a digital storytelling experience to

complement the television event.● Create engaging and informative content

for both a secular and religious audience. ● Tell the story in a new way, and make is

beautiful and responsive.

Secondary Research

Top-down Content StrategyChapter

|Crown

|Character Perspective

|Scene

|Moment

|Supporting Content

Top-down Content StrategyChapter

|Crown

|Character Perspective

|Scene

|Moment

|Supporting Content

8 Chapters

3 Crowns (thorns, headdress, laurels)

16 Perspectives

24 Scenes

77 Moments

97 Pieces of Supporting Content

Story Mapping

Content Mapping

Writing & Wireframing

http://killingjesus.nationalgeographic.com

What we learned along the way...• Content Strategy + UX = Art + Copy

• Working with UX automatically emphasizes audience when creating content

• Less lorem ipsum when wireframing - we know what we’re working with

• Helps to focus the design process

• Cross-training between Content Strategy + UX

• Easier to provide evidence for decisions

• Reduced surprises during production phase

Thank you.

Caroline Roberts @pepperypenKrista Siniscarco @KristaSinishttp://medicineandthemilitary.com/http://killingjesus.nationalgeographic.com/

Bios

Caroline RobertsContent StrategistiFactory

@pepperypenLinkedInWebsite

Caroline Roberts just started as a content strategist at iFactory. She was a senior content manager at Mullen Lowe Boston, where she works on such brands as the Department of Defense, Ernst & Young, the National Geographic Channel and PepsiCo. Before joining an ad agency, Caroline worked for Fidelity Investments, and she managed the Careers & Money and Technology channels for the how-to website Life123.com. In a past life, she supervised writers and content managers for a video search service in San Francisco, where she also indexed and managed content for AOL, the NFL and PBS. Since she enjoys organizing content and finding patterns, she never met a spreadsheet she didn’t like.

Krista SiniscarcoAssoc. Dir, UX StrategyBEAM Interactive

@KristaSinisLinkedInWebsite

Krista is the Associate Director, UX Strategy at BEAM Interactive. Krista’s focus on research and strategy, combined with her background in user experience design, allows her to bridge the strategy and design practices at BEAM. She has worked on brands such as American Greetings, Department of Defense, National Geographic Channel and Fidelity Investments. Before making the transition to an agency, Krista worked for several years in higher education as an educational technologist specializing in instructional design, visual design and media literacy. She combines her background in teaching and learning with design research, design thinking, service design and strategy to advocate for the user and design user-centric digital experiences.