1. Taxonomy as the Foundation
for a Successful Digital Asset
Management System:
Who Gives A DAM?
2. The Digital Disorganization Dilemma
Your boss wants an image from last year for a newsletter, but
nobody knows where it is. You spend a week tracking down a
flash drive, only to find out that the images are now in a folder
on the share drive called “Miscellaneous Images”. You don’t
know if you’re allowed to use the photos. Your deadline is fast
approaching, so you end up buying a stock photo. After you
publish the newsletter you find out someone already bought
that same stock photo and it’s in the share drive, named
IMG_001.TIF.
3. What is DAM?
Digital Asset Management is the creation, management
and distribution of digital content. A DAM system is a
central location for storing, sharing and accessing digital
content and the metadata that describes it.
It is more than a shared drive
or folder!
4. Why do I need DAM?
Enterprise central truth
Discover and repurpose corporate content
Maintain brand across all channels
Manage content rights
Track versions
Reduce duplicate content creation efforts
Globally accessible web-portal
5. What problems does DAM solve?
An individual cannot find an image
An old logo version is used in a creative
A user does not know if they have permission to use an
image
Teams are purchasing an image without knowing it’s
already in-house
Individuals use a logo or image incorrectly
Someone needs to find content off-hours
6. Taxonomy in DAM
Taxonomy and metadata is the foundation to a
successful DAM. It allows users from different
teams to find and discovery content in various
ways. It improves the search and retrieval
experience.
7. Taxonomy in DAM
Without a taxonomy, a DAM is just a shared drive. It’s a big
bucket of unrelated content.
A taxonomy organizes assets unique to the users and the
corporation’s hierarchy and search preferences.
Every DAM has a unique taxonomy based upon the users
and content. There is no standard schema.
8. How Do I Design a DAM Taxonomy?
Identify core user groups
Analyze their search behavior for commonalities
Define main “buckets” to organize content in a way
all users can understand
Replicate current folder names and filenames as a
starting point
9. Example: Quick Service
Restaurant
Users of this QSR DAM may
need to find content based upon
the meal or type of food.
This DAM is designed to allow
users to browse to Meal >
Dessert > Cookies, for example.
A DAM also uses keywords or
tags. This environment has
multiple taxonomies, for Asset
Type, Food Type, and Dietary
Considerations. Designing the
structure based upon user
needs creates unique
environments.
10. Example: Consumer Packaged
Goods
This CPG environment has its own taxonomy for brands and beverage types. In
this example, part of the taxonomy is displayed as a sidebar. The selected
taxonomy nodes display at the top and can be removed or refined to alter search
results.
11. Example: Music & Entertainment
Users in this example
need to find content
based upon music
genres and moods.
After the taxonomy is
defined and built,
assets are uploaded
and the metadata
populated. It creates
a non-linear browse
and search
capabilities, offering
multiple search paths
to the same results.
12. How do I build a DAM taxonomy?
Create a new metaproperty by giving it a name and label. Define the type, z-
index (display order), and parameters.
13. How do I build a DAM taxonomy?
Add sub-properties, or values
Now the user will be presented with the option to enter a
Temperature of an asset, either Hot or Cold.
