The Elephant and the Dassie: A Tale of Evolution and Kinship

The Elephant and the Dassie a tale of evolution and kinship

Kerry-Anne Gilowey

@kerry_anne

UX Craft Conference Cape Town 4 October 2014

PROLOGUE:

The family photo album

www.worldwildwebb.tumblr.com

MADAGASCAR

ANTANANARIVO

SOUTHAFRICA

PRETORIA

LESOTHO

MASERU SWAZILAND

MBABANE

MAPUTO

MOZAMBIQUE

BOTSWANA

GABORONE

NAMIBIA

WINDHOEK

ANGOLA

LUANDA

DEMOCRATICREPUBLIC

OF THE CONGO

KINSHASA

ZAMBIA

LUSAKA

TANZANIADAR ES SALAAM

UGANDA

KAMPALA

NAIROBI

BUJUMBURA

KENYA

BURUNDI

KIGALI

RWANDA

MALAWI

LILONGWE

ZIMBABWE

HARARE

KHARTOUM

ASMARA

SOMALIA

MOGADISHU

ETHIOPIA

ADDISABABA

DJIBOUTI

DJIBOUTI

BAMAKONIAMEY

N’DJAMENA

CENTRALAFRICAN REPUBLIC

BANGUI

NIGERIA

ABUJA

BENIN

PORTO-NOVO

TOGO

LOMÉACCRA

GHANA

BURKINAFASO

OUAGADOUGOU

SENEGAL

DAKARTHE GAMBIA

BANJUL

GUINEA-BISSAU

SIERRA LEONEFREETOWN

MONROVIA

LIBERIACÔTE

D'IVOIRE

YAMOUSSOUKRO CAMEROON

YAOUNDÉ

EQUATORIALGUINEA

MALABO

GABONLIBREVILLE REP.

OF THE CONGO

BRAZZAVILLE

CONAKRY

BISSAU GUINEA

SOUTHSUDAN

JUBA

The family tree

Image credit: www.onezoom.org

Why are they related?

Image credit: www.uncyclopedia.wikia.com

That’s evolution,

baby!

Pearl Jam, Do the Evolution

CHAPTER 1:

Crossing disciplines

Hi! Hello!

I am anIndependent Content Strategy

Consultant

Studied E

nglish, L

inguistics

,

Human

-Com

puter I

ntera

ction,

Inform

ation Sys

tem

s

Copywrit

ing, mostl

y prin

t

Web w

riting, s

ome b

asic

IA

Content s

trate

gy, fir

st as

an ag

ency

owner then so

lo

Confab Lo

ndon, IA Sum

mit,

Dare

Confere

nce, M

idwest

UX

Content S

trate

gy Foru

m 20

12

CS Forum

Frankfu

rt, C

S Summ

it,

MIM

A Summ

it, Confab

HE

Our work is a strange beast

...a strange, fuzzy beast.

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/splityarn/

Work used to BE SIMPLER.

It was TANGIBLE.

It had CLEAR EDGES.

There was less SCOPE CREEP.

BUTCHERBAKER

CANDLESTICK-MAKER

How about us?

Content Strategist

Information Architect

User Researcher

UX Designer

Experience Designer

Interaction Designer

UX Strategist

UI DeveloperProduct Manager

UX Analyst

Visual Designer

UI Designer

Web Designer

Web Developer

Front-End Developer

UI EngineerUX Architect

Product Designer

Usability Practitioner

Information Designer

Content Architect

Digital Strategist

Usability Analyst

Web Analyst

Content Strategist

Information Architect

User Researcher

UX Designer

Experience Designer

Interaction Designer

UX Strategist

UI DeveloperProduct Manager

UX Analyst

Visual Designer

UI Designer

Web Designer

Web Developer

Front-End Developer

UI EngineerUX Architect

Product Designer

Usability Practitioner

Information Designer

Content Architect

Digital Strategist

Usability Analyst

Web Analyst

The digital irony

dig-i-tal (adj.)/ˈdijitl/

(of signals or data) expressed as series of the digits 0 and 1

Digital characteristics

Discrete UnambiguousOn or off

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/alltheaces/

an-a-log (adj.)/ˈanlˌôg/

relating to or using signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity

Analog characteristics

Continuous AmorphousSpectrum

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/angelocesare

Which sounds more like digital design and UX work?

Discrete UnambiguousOn or off

Continuous AmorphousSpectrum

The advent of digital has produced fuzziness and overlap.

Image credits: www.flickr.com/photos/nirak/ and www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/

Disciplines now overlap in surprising ways, thanks to

digital evolution.

The Pandora Music Genome Project

CHAPTER 2:

Team dynamics

Product Manager

Content Strategist

SEO Specialist

UI Designer

Project Manager

Community Manager

Technical Architect

Usability Specialist

Interaction Designer

Web Developer

Information Architect

Design Director

Business Analyst

User Researcher

Front-end Developer

Web Editor

CopywriterOUR

TEAM

Technical Writer

SEO Specialist

UI Designer

Community Manager

Interaction Designer

Web Developer

OUR TEAM

Product Manager

UI Designer

Interaction Designer

User Researcher

Front-end Developer

OUR TEAM

UI Designer

Project Manager

Technical Architect

Usability Specialist Information

Architect

Business Analyst

OUR TEAM

Technical Writer

Product Manager

Content Strategist

Technical Architect

Interaction Designer

Design Director

Business Analyst

User Researcher

Front-end Developer

CopywriterOUR

TEAM

YOU ARE

HERE

YOU ARE

HERE

YOU ARE

HERE

YOU ARE

HERE

YOU ARE

HERE

YOU ARE

HERE

YOU ARE

HERE

YOU ARE

HERE

You might also needto fill more roles.

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/h4ck/

BROADER knowledge=

GREATER team understanding

Lenses > Roles

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/box-brownie-brian/

Your lens affects

what you notice,

and how you see

the world.

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/box-brownie-brian/

Processed with Kazunori Asada’s simulator

Processed with Kazunori Asada’s simulator

“... a content strategist’s heart...”

We can use each other’s tools

Customer journey maps for discovering content gaps

User interview techniques for creating better content

Care more about one another’s work.

CHAPTER 3:

Disintegrating silos

Vertical edges are dissolving

Diagram byRichard Ingram@richardjingram

Diagram byRichard Ingram@richardjingram

Content used to belong exclusively to the Marketing

department.

(Copywriting, like movies, used to be even worse.)

CONTENT

Marketing copy Forms Interface copy

Intranet content

Terms of

serviceCall centre

scripts

But let’s move out a few paces.

This is not your grandfather’s website.

Point of saleOutdoor club

Legal contract

Customer care platform

Financial management

portal

Advice column

Travel agency

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/padday/

It’s no longer about the structure of your organisation.

It’s about your customer’s cross-channel journey.

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/padday/

Silos are becoming permeable

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/astrid/

Design team Stakeholders

!

Collaborators

☺

Say NO to the Big Reveal.

Sara Wachter-BoettcherContent Strategy Consultant

Editor in Chief at A List Apart

CHAPTER 4:

The local community

Sharing our toys

We need more of that, right here.

community of practice (noun)

a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly

–Etienne Wenger

ATTENDSHARESPEAK

But there’s more!

Grab coffee with another [insert your job role here]

Grab coffee with a [insert different job role here]

Chat with other UX people on SkypeStart a Slack group to discuss workGet a small dinner group together to chat about a niche topicOrganise a weekend away to talk shop

CHAPTER 5:

UXers without borders

Yes, we live in a faraway land.

One bajillion miles

Cuh-razy far

Uncountable distances

But... you know...

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/jmt/

Let’s not isolate ourselves.

There’s no reason for usto lag behind anymore.

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/qcom/

Culture is not bound by geography.

Responsive design

Accessibility

Mobile UX

Agile methodologyBusiness constraints

User research

Web form designTask analysis

Prototyping

Books, magazine sites, blogs, slide decks,

Twitter feeds

Read widely!

Reading listReading list

UX Boothwww.uxbooth.com

Smashing Magazinewww.smashingmagazine.com

New Thinkingwww.gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking

Rosenfeld Blogswww.rosenfeldmedia.com/blogs

The Pastry Boxwww.the-pastry-box-project.net

A List Apartwww.alistapart.com

Responsive Web Designwww.responsivewebdesign.com/podcast

User Interface Engineeringwww.uie.com/brainsparks

Web Standards Sherpawww.webstandardssherpa.com

Luke Wroblewski’s Writingswww.lukew.com/ff

@cennydd

@jmspool

@monteiro

@karenmcgrane

@Abby_the_IA

@cwodtke

@beep

@halvorson

@jcolman

@lukew

@seriouspony

@zeldman

Travel!

December 2009

April 2010

A few conference ideasIA Summitwww.iasummit.org

Webstockwww.webstock.org.nz

User Interface 19www.ui19.uie.com

Web Directionswww.webdirections.org

An Event Apartwww.aneventapart.com

Midwest UXwww.midwestux.com

Smashing Conferencewww.smashingconf.com

Confabwww.confabevents.com

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/bagogames/

Find your people.

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/bagogames/

EPILOGUE:

We’re all elephants and dassies

The evolution of our work and environment has produced new

relationships.

ACROSS VERTICALS

BETWEEN DISCIPLINES

ACROSS BORDERS

WITHIN TEAMS

IN OUR LOCAL

COMMUNITY

Relationships

Embrace them

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/vidyo/

This thing only goes if we collaborate.

Erika HallCo-founder of Mule Design

Author of “Just Enough Research”

The end product isn’t great content; it’s a great THING.

Erika HallCo-founder of Mule Design

Author of “Just Enough Research”

Thanks for listening!

Kerry-Anne Giloweykerryanne@augustsun.co.za

http://augustsun.co.zahttp://about.me/kerryanne

@kerry_anne