Thinking Beyond Existing Content - Content Choreography In RWD - Responsive Web Design, Part 1 (2015)

Responsive Web Design, Part 1 (2015)

Content Choreography In RWD

Thinking Beyond Existing Content

Let’s step back from modeling for a minute. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you’re working on a site project because somewhere, someone is unhappy with something. Maybe the site isn’t converting casual browsers into buyers, or your organization is launching an initiative and can’t figure out how to integrate the new content, or you’ve been hearing from users that they’re having a hard time finding the information they need on your site. It’s rare for an RWD project to come from a place where everything is perfect except for the small-screen experience.

At the beginning of the project, I always have meetings and discussions with a bunch of stakeholders, and start to get a sense of — or explicit directions about — the kinds of improvements people want to see on the site. I have to cast my memory back, review my notes, and start to look at the existing content with an eye for identifying gaps.

DATA-DRIVEN GAPS

The gaps may be purely data-driven: if I heard from the customer service team that a lot of people call asking for the dimensions of our products, then the new version of the site should display those dimensions. If the company wants to show a more human side to their work, the new site could integrate testimonials or client stories.

I worked with a grant-funded organization that wanted to make it clear to their funders how the grants had a direct impact in the community. But there was no connection between their day-to-day program content and the foundations listed on their funding partners page. In identifying that gap, we were able to create an explicit content relationship on the new site to tie the funders and their work more closely together.

Adding the funder relationship to the content model was a small structural change that had a big impact on the way the organization presented its work
Adding the funder relationship to the content model was a small structural change that had a big impact on the way the organization presented its work.

FEATURE-DRIVEN GAPS

New site features often carry their own content needs, and it’s important to identify them as early as possible. As I’m sketching out wireframes or user stories to plan the development schedule, I look for the kinds of content that the new features make use of, and see if that information is already represented in our content models.

For example, the stakeholders want the new site’s event calendar to display the instructor’s biography on every corporate training entry. I can add “Instructor Biography” as a new content type in our model, piggybacking on the fields and structure of the “Executive Biography” content. But the current site doesn’t have instructor biographies, so who is going to write those? Will we hire copywriters, or ask people to write their own? If the listings need to include a headshot image, will a photographer be hired to take professional photos?

Sometimes the answers are simple: “We already wrote those biographies for the annual report!”; and sometimes they affect my work directly: “We don’t have budget for a photographer, so design the bios without them.” If you’re a designer or developer, it’s probably not your responsibility to figure out the answers to these questions about content gaps. But it is part of your job to raise the issues and get the team talking about how to address these content deficits long before launch day.