Content design for internal communicators
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A ClearBox webinar by Wedge Black. How to bring content design practices to your internal communications and content.
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Content design for internal communicators
- 1. Webinar Content design for internal communicators
- 2. We will try to answer some questions during the webinar (use the Q&A panel), and a few more at the end. We will email you the recording within 24 hours (so you won’t miss it!). You can listen via your computer or by dialling the phone number in the email you received today. Any problems, use the chat panel. Housekeeping
- 3. Wedge and ClearBox ClearBox Consulting is a specialist independent consultancy that believes in making the workplace a better and more productive experience.We understand technology, but we approach it from the people side first. clearbox.co.uk | @ClearBox Wedge is an intranet consultant after many years as an intranet manager, with an interest in internal communications. Wedge Black Intranet Consultant @Wedge
- 4. Topics Content and content design intro Discovering needs Defining and meeting needs Start with skeletons Actually writing! Crits
- 5. Humble hopes The content design approach complements your comms skills, adding an awareness of context, user interface, and user experience to your skillset.
- 6. Content and content design intro
- 7. What content design is about An evidence-based approach to creating content to give the audience what they need in a way they expect and can use. Content design is a movement, an approach, a grouping of practices, and becoming a discipline. While layout is important, content design is not merely about placing text on a page.
- 8. Sarah Richards and GDS Government websites, and many government intranets, have moved to a content design approach under Government Digital Service (GDS) guidance. Sarah Richards, formally of GDS, has written the book on content design: contentdesign.london/book/
- 9. “I hate the word ‘content’…” Yes, ‘content’ c0uld be almost anything Reminds us to consider alternatives to text, alternative channels and media Young people literally refer to ‘content creation’ for their social network channels – the word is endemic and accepted Sure, if you need text, say “I need 3 to 5 paragraphs” but if planning an intranet / web page with multiple elements (text, graphics, photos, video, audio, animation, interaction etc.) then ‘content’ is a fine word.
- 10. Additional skills and practices Comms people already have tactics to consider how messages land, engagement levels, and listening for responses Content design is even more ‘user centred’ than good, solid employee comms Content design adds several additional practices around up-front planning and reviews to ensure content performs as needed Content design is becoming a discipline (a set of practices, a recognisable approach), that can be promulgated rolled out across your primary comms / publishing team and guide your extended teams and department publishers.
- 11. Ugh Content design practices can avoid things like this! https://twitter.com/LZats/status/1214212604811460608 / https://d.pr/ZxiEgC
- 13. Smash assumptions with research “I want them to know…” “I think people will need…” “Obviously, everyone’s number one priority will be…” Most assumptions need testing; some need smashing.
- 14. Research methods The crux of content design, is that evidence comes first. No creation without research. 1. desk research 2. usability research 3. expert research 4. user research 5. discussion on specifics.
- 15. ‘Must know’ We need to discover what people ‘must know’ to satisfy their needs. Research will help you split the ‘must know’ away from the ‘nice to know’. Specifically, user stories and job stories will define the ‘must know’ items, and the good ol’ inverted pyramid will help you consider context and ‘nice to know’.
- 16. A discovery day It’s often about having an open, fluid discussion in a big room with all the right people. Invite anyone who can directly input and who might block your progress later. But this workshop is a fairly-heavy commitment and so won’t be your tactic for every reference article.
- 17. Satisfactory results After discussions, you’ll likely have and an understanding of: • the audiences • the various levels of existing knowledge • people’s needs • the problem to be solved / the job to be done • subject-matter experts’ guidance • what the organisation / stakeholder thinks is needed • what the organisation / stakeholder really needs • when to publish • where to publish • channel use (notify, promote, and share). You’ve done good research when you know the problem and are ready to write user stories and job stories.
- 18. Tools Research •Discover needs User stories •Define audience needs Job stories •Define need Story acceptance •Agree shape of solution Skeleton •Bullet points Skeleton review •Agree substance Content draft •Solid first draft •Pair writing? Crit •Does the content meet the needs of the audience? You can still be a good content designer even if you change when you review your stories, and even if you change when you do a crit. Be adaptable and focus on what works. Discovery day •Everyone in the room
- 20. User stories Do not start drafting! First, write the user story: As a [colleague in a role / dept] I want to [know or do something] so I can [achieve a goal].
- 21. User story examples As a [colleague in a role / dept] I want to [know or do something] so I can [achieve a goal]. As a new starter I want to know if I’m eligible for a car park space so I can apply if I am. As a colleague who drives to work every day I want to know where to park now and next month so I can park easily and get to work on time. As a middle-manager I want to know security details in advance of my team so I can brief my team appropriately.
- 22. Job stories, job-to-be-done Second, write the job story: When [specific situation] I want to [know or do something] so I can [achieve a goal]. A job story is for a specific task for a specific audience, so just as you may need several user stories, you may need several job stories.
- 23. Job story examples When [specific situation] I want to [know or do something] so I can [achieve a goal]. When approaching the office in my car I want to know which carpark to head for, and how to get in so I can park without additional help and get to work on time. When people hear there will be a new car park I want to know if / how the security arrangements changes so I can brief my team head with all parking details.
- 24. Job stories Come back to your job story (often and) after you’ve drafted your bullet-point skeleton and your first draft. If your content meets and satisfies the job story, you can say it’s reached its acceptance criteria.
- 25. Acceptance criteria Assuming we’re to write an article or a reference page, we need to meet the acceptance criteria of the job story and meet the needs in the user story. “This job story is accepted when I know how to XXXX and complete the XXXXX task directly online with no offline assistance.”
- 26. Discovery reduces review pain The traditional review cycle is a vicious circle without agreed process or shared objectives. Defining actual needs means we already know what the article must cover.Writers can write to the need, and reviewers ensure we keep the audiences in mind, rather than debating punctuation.
- 27. Tools Research •Discover needs User stories •Define audience needs Job stories •Define need Story acceptance •Agree shape of solution Skeleton •Bullet points Skeleton review •Agree substance Content draft •Solid first draft •Pair writing? Crit •Does the content meet the needs of the audience? You can still be a good content designer even if you change when you review your stories, and even if you change when you do a crit. Be adaptable and focus on what works. Discovery day •Everyone in the room
- 29. Bullet-point skeleton Rely on your research results and your job stories and keep your user stories in mind. 1. Lay out bullet points to cover everything 2. Rework the list to order it from ‘must know’ to ‘nice to know’ / context 3. Consider breaking the list up with sub-headings to chunk the list 4. Sure, draft a title but don’t set your heart on it.
- 30. Bullet-point skeleton (1) • New carpark to open (date) • Old carpark available until (date) • Location • Entry system • Restrictions • No changes to parking privileges • Parking space entitlement criteria • How to request a parking space • Request a parking space [action] • Contact Job story When approaching the office location in my car I want to know where the carpark is and how to get in for free so I can park my car without needing additional help.
- 31. Bullet-point skeleton (2) • New carpark to open (date) • Location • Entry system • Restrictions • Old carpark available until (date) • How to request a parking space • No changes to parking privileges • Parking space entitlement criteria • Request a parking space [action] • Contact Job story When approaching the office location in my car I want to know where the carpark is and how to get in for free so I can park my car without needing additional help. User story As a colleague who drives to work every day I want to know how to get into the carpark so I can park easily park and get to work on time.
- 32. Bullet-point skeleton (3) Title: New carpark • New carpark to open (date) • Location and directions • Entry system • Restrictions Sub-head: Old carpark • Old carpark available until (date) Sub-head: No changes to parking privileges • No changes to parking privileges Sub-head: Request a new parking space • N.B. No need if you already have an allocation! • How to request a parking space • Parking space entitlement criteria • Request a parking space [action] • Contact Job story When approaching the office location in my car I want to know where the carpark is and how to get in for free so I can park my car without needing additional help. User story As a colleague who drives to work every day I want to know how to get into the carpark so I can park easily park and get to work on time.
- 33. Skeletal approval Circulate the job story and skeleton around your project teammates, subject-matter experts, and stakeholders. Explain that the bullet-points demonstrate what the article will express. Explain that the bullet points should meet the needs expressed in the job story. Ask for input and approval to proceed.
- 34. Tools Research •Discover needs User stories •Define audience needs Job stories •Define need Story acceptance •Agree shape of solution Skeleton •Bullet points Skeleton review •Agree substance Content draft •Solid first draft •Pair writing? Crit •Does the content meet the needs of the audience? You can still be a good content designer even if you change when you review your stories, and even if you change when you do a crit. Be adaptable and focus on what works. Discovery day •Everyone in the room
- 36. Write for your audience, not for your boss. Write to meet the expectations expressed in the user stories, for your several different audiences. This is not about grammars; this is about your house style guide, and a tone and vocabulary suitable for the topics and the audiences. Tone and style
- 37. Good comms 'Good’ does not mean ‘good grammar’. Write in the vocabulary of the audience. Not quite like Patrick here! But still, Mr. Martin is not offended by the voice or grammar, as the tone is fine.
- 38. Drafting Once colleagues and stakeholders agree with the job stories and skeletons, writing becomes simply about meeting the expectations appropriately. Now’s the time to bring your comms chops!
- 39. Tools Research •Discover needs User stories •Define audience needs Job stories •Define need Story acceptance •Agree shape of solution Skeleton •Bullet points Skeleton review •Agree substance Content draft •Solid first draft •Pair writing? Crit •Does the content meet the needs of the audience? You can still be a good content designer even if you change when you review your stories, and even if you change when you do a crit. Be adaptable and focus on what works. Discovery day •Everyone in the room
- 40. Reviews Crits
- 41. Crits Content designers call formal content reviews ‘crits’. It’s critique not criticism.
- 42. Crits Respect that everyone did their best work possible considering the time and resources allotted. Focus specifically on the content, and only the content in front of you; not the process, not the creator. Constructive. Decisions don’t have to be defended. Suggestions don’t have to be taken on board.
- 43. Substance and style Separate the substance from the style. I suggest reviewers should focus on the substance. ■ Respect subject-matter experts for their subject-matter expertise. ■ Respect content designers for their understanding of the audiences. ■ Respect writers for their understanding of grammars and tone.
- 44. WordVs. published page You may want content approved inWord… People experience content in context. People will have a different experience in Word than in your intranet / digital workplace. Consider in-situ draft reviews, or at least be prepared for a re-review after publishing.
- 45. Review Help reviewers understand the job stories, the user stories, and the acceptance criteria. Stick to the house style guide, and use the appropriate tone for the topic. Steer reviewers away from expressing personal preferences around grammar! Be open to terminology changes and notes about anything you’ve missed from subject-matter experts.
- 46. Tools Research •Discover needs User stories •Define audience needs Job stories •Define need Story acceptance •Agree shape of solution Skeleton •Bullet points Skeleton review •Agree substance Content draft •Solid first draft •Pair writing? Crit •Does the content meet the needs of the audience? You can still be a good content designer even if you change when you review your stories, and even if you change when you do a crit. Be adaptable and focus on what works. Discovery day •Everyone in the room
- 47. Final thoughts
- 48. A good turn of phrase Content design is about meeting a defined need. Some content design experts might optimise, simplify, and hone text to such an extent that it loses flavour. But content design does not dictate that communications must be anodyne!
- 49. Maintenance Everyone loves creation; few love maintenance. Whatever you create has a lifecycle. Plan for it. Create less content; ensure it’s valuable with need discovery, and then analytics.
- 50. Maintenance Ideally, there will be the right amount of content to support colleagues as they need, considering the resources allotted. In reality, some departments consider digital content to be cheap, and so create and publish too much. When content amount exceeds resources, you get content debt.
- 51. Be the internal content hero Content designers are frequently employed to optimise websites. ■ Optimising dense sites (e.g. government) to better serve people, or ■ Optimising commercial websites to better explain services and products (and increase sales) in a crowded market.
- 52. Get it right (relevant, appropriate) Match the message to the audience to the channel. Or as content designers say: 1. In the audience’s vocabulary 2. In the best format for the audience 3. Providing what the audience needs from us 4. Designed with data / research results.
- 53. Books Communicating the User Experience Richard Caddick and Steve Cable Designing for the Digital Age Kim Goodwin Successful Employee Communications Sue Dewhurst and Liam Fitzpatrick Graphic Design Rules Sean Adams et al. Designing Connected Content Mike Atherton and Carrie Hane Content Design Sarah Richards
- 54. Terms and practices • Discovery day • User stories • Job stories • Acceptance criteria • Skeleton • Crits
- 55. Q&A
- 56. SharePoint intranets in-a-box 10% off ContentDesign clearbox.co.uk 30+ intranet products reviewed 600+ pages Immediate download Our expert assessments of products that transform SharePoint into a useful and useable intranet.
- 57. Connect ClearBox Consulting clearbox.co.uk @ClearBox hello@clearbox.co.uk +44 (0) 1224 458746 Treliske House, Queens Park Road, Chester, CH4 7AD, UK Wedge clearbox.co.uk/about-us @Wedge Wedge@clearbox.co.uk All images used here are copyright permitted / free-to- use from Unsplash.com
Editor's Notes
- Hello hello, my names’ Wedge, it really is, and as a previous intranet manager for national and regional companies, I sat within the internal communications team and now as an intranet consultant I retain my interest in comms and content. ClearBox does a lot of digital workplace strategy and we help organisations consider the best tools and channels for their needs. We have fantastic insights into the tools and technologies out there, but we always approach things from the business and people side.
- I’m going to introduce you to several content design techniques, and the topics revolve around needs, drafting content, and something called crits!
- If your role includes internal communications, knowledge management, or publishing, then you’ll likely already care about people’s needs. I mean to only introduce the Content Design approach in the hope that you’ll do your own research and upskilling.
- It’s about evidence, it’s about discovering and defining needs and meeting those needs through the presentation of content. It’s content as the interface. It’s about up-front planning and writing stuff to meet a need. It may be about readability and layout, but it’s not just about that.
- From around 2010 to 2014, Sarah Richards and her team were working within the Government Digital Service and brought together the techniques, no doubt from User Experience Design and such practices to create Content Design practices. Gov UK websites are very well known for clear, concise, readable reference pages. Sarah literally wrote the book on Content Design so you can check that out.
- I get it, y’hate the word ‘content’. But with the potential for rich digital experiences within our workplaces it’s a fine reminder that we could be talking about animations, videos, and graphics, even audio. The word has been accepted across society – those youngsters planning their next Instagram story talk about ‘content creation’. The word is endemic and accepted. But sure, if you mean text, say text, no problem.
- You are already an adept communicator, Content Design brings additional techniques for you to use and helps you be even more user centred, person focused than you past engagement comms. I’m going to introduce you to a set of techniques today and it may be that you can pick the most useful and bring them to your communications processes and teammates. So this is a little about business change and process change, and making your approach to comms and publishing bang up-to-date.
- Because we want to avoid this. I mean, take a look and try to work out where you might want to go. I mean, someone wrote this, someone laid this out, someone approved this and someone executed it. This is not user-focused content!
- So it all starts with understanding needs – finding out what’s missing and what people need. Your stakeholder might start with “I want them to know…” and then you reply with “But I think people will need…” and then as a team you all say “Obviously, everyone’s number one priority will be…” And these are all assumptions and that’s fine, you’re an expert in your role, but all assumptions need testing and some need smashing.
- So, how do you find out what’s missing for people? This is not about surveying 20% of your colleagues for every reference page. This is about doing the minimum research to be able to start with evidence rather than only assumptions. It’s about conversations with: those with the need the subject-matter experts Stakeholders. 1 - what already exists internally and what other organisations do (best practice resources). Clearbox design.London 2 – what UX research has already been done? Gap analysis? 3 – talk to the Subject-matter experts – not just the policy setters, but the administrators and the process owners and the support workers / customer service people. 4 – shadowing during task completion, witness town halls. 5 – specific discussions led by yourself.
- This is all about discovering what people ‘must know’ in order to get their work done versus the ‘nice to know’ stuff. So yes, when it comes to laying out your comms we’ll rely on the good ol’ journalistic tool of the inverted pyramid, but I’m going to give you new tools to help you define the must know information, specifically user stories and job stories.
- A discovery day is common enough in website work and big projects. It’s about bringing everyone together, like a project kick off day, but for content. It’s for your writers, publishers, subject-matter experts - it’s for your stakeholders and teammates – but also those senior reviewers who might block your content in the future by adding too many new ideas. A discovery day gets everyone aligned around the principles, objectives, and processes. I know you won’t do it for every reference page or news story, but it could be a great start if you’re revamping your knowledge management or a specific section of your intranet.
- As I’ve said, research isn’t about exhaustive quantitative studies. This is about doing enough research so you’re certain you’re going to create the right content for the right people. You’ve done good research when you know the problem and are ready to write user stories and job stories.
- So, just to show you, here’s a slide I’ll refer to frequently to keep us on track. We’ve just mentioned discovery days and now we’re going to look at user stories.
- So onw it’s time to define those discovered needs.
- Those of you into User Experience may recognise this. A user story is a three-part sentence that expresses what someone needs from us in order to achieve their goal. User stories, and you will need lots because you do not have ‘one audience’, help you keep the readers’ background and goals in mind, helping you write useful content in the appropriate language.
- A job story, again, is a three-part sentence but it’s specific to the task. It’s triggered by the situation – when the need arises. I’ve used the phrase ‘job to be done’ too as that’s another popular and useful framework for user experience that I think you should find out more about. I’m sure you get handed briefs either in written form or verbally. Hand back user and job stories!
- You will need to come back to your job story frequently as you plan and draft your content. The job story needs to be so specific and well-written that your stakeholders go ”oh yeah, that’s right, that’s exactly what we need to deal with”. So your job story is well written when you all agree it meets the acceptance criteria.
- Your acceptance criteria might be obvious or worth debating with a colleague. Write decent criteria to speed up acceptance and to ensure content is written to the defined need. Large content operations projects would require all the job stories to be accepted and approved before any further work is done.
- This may seem like a lot of work but it’s just about planning what you’re going to write instead of starting a first draft. This discovery and defining reduces review pain by ensuring writers and reviewers have a shared understanding. Writers simply write to meet the need and reviewers don’t derail the process with ‘one more thing’ novel ideas.
- What we’ve done, is research the need and then define the need with user stories and job stories, and we’ve verified the job story by stating the acceptance criteria.
- OK, so this isn’t a codified content design technique but rather something I’ve developed over the years with my stakeholders. I’m sure you do something similar.
- If you get 30 bullet points, something’s gone wrong; that isn’t a page anyone going to quickly reference. But you decide if 5 bullets or a dozen is appropriate.
- Flowing well from the must knows at the top to the nice to knows at the bottom. Your ordering might be different to mine, but the point is we’re following a process and relying on our expertise of course.
- Notice in yellow I’ve made some further amends because the sub-headings help me reflect. Sub-headings are really important even on a short article. They help the eye jump around the page, and of course people only read what they need. So they want to go straight to the best bits for them.
- I think it’s great to have a job story to define the problem and a skeleton to demonstrate the substance of your proposed article. It sets expectations and they’re easy to review and improve.
- I’ve just got three slides about writing as I’m only focusing on content design techniques in this webinar. I’m not gonna tell you how to write good comms!
- We must write in the vocabulary of the audience, and in the tone suitable for the topic. Your style stays the same, but your language adapts to the audience, and your tone adapts to the topic. If we do all this, our reviewers won’t surprise us with out-there demands and ideas about word-play, but of course we should be open to suggestions around terminology, keeping in mind the audiences and user stories.
- I’m not here to tell you what good comms looks like – all I’ll say is that’s not about specifying what good writing is. Take a look at how Patrick has addressed his professor – he’s not used the appropriate style for his audience, yet Mr. Martin is not offended or confused because the topic and tone are fine. See, it’s not about good grammar, it’s about effective communication.
- Because the job stories and skeleton are so clear, evryone knows what’s coming. No surprises, so the review cycle should be less painful with fewer ‘maybe we need’ late ideas.
- Whenever seems right; maybe asap, maybe when you’ve got loads of pieces drafted.
- Any review can be emotional. I find that some review cycles become vicious circles, endlessly flailing about as everyone adds more and more to the article. Crits have rules. Crits are about seeing if the content satisfies the job stories – if the content reaches the agreed acceptance criteria. Sure, suggestions can be taken on board but they don’t have to be! If someone says “I think we need a paragraph about the pension pot here” you can listen and note, but you don’t have to add it unless it fits the job story. You might be clever and add a hyperlink to pensions, but you don’t have to cram more content into your article for no reason. Crits may seem serious, but they’re great for building a team, getting people involved, and showing you care. Maybe run a ‘crit’ on a small piece of content first, to show everyone how things go.
- Your reviewer has approved the skeleton bullet points. They know the substance. They may now have additional points to make and maybe that’s OK. But the style isn’t their remit. You absolutely do want help with vocabulary, but you do not want help with the tone or with punctuation. Unless you’re ghost writing or creating something that actually represents a person or department, you’re in control of style and tone. Obviously you must be humble enough to listen to others’ input, but your concern is communicating to the defined audiences (user stories) in a way that they will appreciate. This is your comms chops. This is your style guide. This is about readability, comprehension, and impact.
- Here’s something I’ve learnt. I used to insist to reviewers and content owners that ‘the text was the text’ and I would make them review drafts in Word. This is especially useful in Office 365 / SharePoint because everyone can access and comment upon the same document – with no version control mess caused by emailing attachments around. But people used to remark “Oh, it just reads differently now that’s it published…” and they were sad. And they were right. I have now learnt that context matters. The article reads and feels different in Word than when published. I used to ignore this as ‘just people’s feelings’ but now I realise that feelings really matter. We don’t absorb information as a mere intellectual pursuit, we are a driven to learn what’s relevant to us by our emotional needs. My best work is done when I can publish drafts in-situ for a final review. If your intranet has a draft facility, fantastic, but if not, maybe it’s OK to to do some final tweaking soon after publishing. Maybe that’s OK.
- Reviewers, whether subject-matter experts or stakeholders / owners need to understand that they are reviewing the content against the acceptance criteria. They are not here to give you new ideas! The acceptance criteria are around meeting the needs expressed in the job stories, for the audiences described in the user stories. So you may want to provide the job stories and user stories along with the content, and a note about ‘acceptance criteria’. Assuming you stick to the house style guide and have the tone right for the topic, you may want to steer the reviewers away from expressing their personal preferences about vocabulary and punctuation. But be wide open to subject-matter experts about terminology and things you’ve missed.
- Don’t be boring!
- Just touching on content strategy here.
- If you’re serious about content operations, rather than only timely communications, you’ll consider lifecycle carefully. If you've done your job story, you'll avoid publishing unintelligible urgent announcements. Content debt is the time and resources needed to deal with that content in the future. You might believe that your content is valuable today, but it’s likely your content has a half-life, so it will either need deleting or improving in the future.
- Content designers are all over web design! That’s where the money is. With these content design techniques, you can be the internal content hero. I ask you to join me as an intranet content designer.
- If I’ve inspired you to learn more, here are the books I’ve been reading regarding UX, typography, readability and accessibility.
- Revise the practices I’ve described and consider the techniques you’ll bring to your next big content project, or your next reference page.
- ClearBox is a digital workplace consultancy but we’re also famous for our reports – our most-up-to-date report will help you pull together your shortlist of vendors if you’re considering replacing your intranet, and of course there’s a discount code for you.
- Thanks to Sam Marshall for looking after us today, and thanks for your questions and participation. Bye.