If crits are a new idea in your organisation, it can take a while to get them to work.
If you have introverts in your team, you will need to help them. But stick with it: crits are a very efficient way of getting feedback from many different people all at the same time.
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I use crits to:
• establish or iterate
a style guide:
having the content
team around for
short periods can
move a style guide
on faster than a
set of meetings
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179
• build a team: invite
the designers
and developers,
so they can see
exactly what the
content people are
producing; over
time, designs will
be more relevant
• establish
or maintain
consistency
• spark ideas
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Why crits are
important
This is about a crit that proved its worth.
I started working for an organisation to set up a team working on digital transformation. Half the content team had worked with me before, so settled easily into crits. The others hadn’t experienced crits before and were not very happy. They felt it was demeaning and that their skills were being questioned. The designer on the team wanted to get on with the designs and the developer had a tool to develop.
I spent time with the staff explaining that skills were never in question. Crits were just a way we could work together, efficiently, on the product. We were a new team: we needed to learn and improve what we were doing. Long meetings are boring. Talking for short bursts in a crit was a much better way.
The designer and developer were sullen. Crits were for content – why did they have to come? I persuaded them to come anyway.
The first bit of content in the first crit showed why everyone needed to be there. It was a tiny piece of copy that would be used all over the site (about the price of phone calls to certain numbers). The designer needed to come up with a design element to handle that, so
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we weren’t just writing the same sentence 53 times across the site. It got quite complex; the developer said it would be much better to have an in-page calculator.
Within 20 minutes, all 3 disciplines (content designers, designers, developers) were talking about the best solution. In the end, the content was much better for it.
After that, there were no more arguments about attending crits.
People realised that if their discipline wasn’t represented, they might miss the chance to make the product better.
I learned that you can also use crits to bring others in the organisation with you. Inviting experts to a crit is the same as inviting them to a discovery session – you can get all their knowledge faster, so you can get to the end product faster.
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Subsidence
content crit
at Nice Green
Energy
The pair-writing exercise was a success, so now it’s time to put that content through a crit. It’s time to invite Sandra (the lawyer and senior decision-maker) and a new colleague called Nathan, who’s in charge of communications and branding, to join in. Nathan is going to get the comms backlash (if there is any) and Sandra has final sign-off.
The copy you created while pair writing was: Subsidence risk from fracking Residents are often worried there’s a risk of subsidence from fracking. The answer is no – there is no risk.
Nathan’s OK with this, but Sandra’s not happy.
She doesn’t want to open with a negative. Also, legally, she doesn’t feel you can say the risk doesn’t exist. It will open Nice Green Energy to criticism if it ever comes to light that there is an Case study
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instance of subsidence.
Sandra wants this instead:
Subsidence risk from fracking Some residents can be slightly worried there’s a risk of subsidence from fracking. At the moment, there is no evidence of a risk.
Here, you’ve changed the sentence to ‘some’
and ‘slightly worried’ but while this makes it less negative, it sounds like we are trying to make light of some people’s fears. You know from research that your audience likes myth-busters. You need to face the myth head-on and deal with it.
Subsidence risk from fracking Some residents can be worried there’s a risk of subsidence from fracking but there’s no evidence that’s true. Drilling happens deep underground and is only 6–9 inches in diameter, so disruption is kept to a minimum.
Sources of evidence:
● the Association of British Insurers released evidence in 2016 to say there is no risk.
● the respected academic George Respectworthy, who has 50 years’
experience in fracking, released a report:
‘Shale gas: why your house won’t collapse’
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Here, you are providing evidence instead of saying there isn’t any. You are showing your audience something, not telling them. By trusting humans to make up their own minds, you are respecting their intelligence. They won’t mind that and they are more likely to trust you.
Everyone likes that option. Sandra is able to sign it off on the spot. That means the copy can go straight into the content management system for proofreading and publishing.
Now you just need to track that content, iterate when necessary and have a well-earned cup of tea. Before you go and do it all again, on another piece of content.
Case study
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Top tips for crits
● there’s no set rule for how often you do crits; ad-just the frequency to suit your workload and the rhythm of the team
● doing a crit early in the process stops people getting too attached to their copy before it’s improved, and helps everyone be confident that they’re heading in the right direction
● you don’t have to wait until after pair writing – you can do a crit at any stage of the process
● take turns to be the note-taker
● crit is short for critique, not criticism. If content designers end up defending their work, the environment is wrong. Keep the crit focused on making the product better
● content designers don’t have to take all the suggestions given in a crit. There needs to be trust from senior management that the content design team know what they’re doing, and trust between content designers to do the right thing
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Finished pages
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Sarah Richards
One of our job stories was:
When I am concerned about the effect Nice Green Energy’s fracking will have on the planet I want to find out contact details So I can complain
Acceptance criterion:
This story is done when I know how I can complain to Nice Green Energy.
You can see we have put digital first.
We want people to use the digital channel as much as possible. By making email the top option, we are hoping to make that the easiest route for people.
Finished pages 189
Search
N G E
Get in touch
Home > Get in touch If you want to talk to us, we would love to hear from you.
Email
customerservice@BGE.com
We aim to get back to you within 5 working days.
Post
Nice Green Energy
Big Field One
Left of the Farm
Fieldsville
AB1 2DE
United Kingdom
We aim to get back
to you within 7 working days.
Telephone
0300 111 222 333
We’re open 9–5, Monday to Friday.
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Our second job story was:
When I find out Nice Green Energy’s fracking might happen near me
I want to find out exactly where and when So I can decide what I am going to do Acceptance criterion:
This story is done when I know where Nice Green Energy’s fracking will take place.
For this, we’re thinking a map with a timetable.
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Fracking
timetable
Home > News > Fracking timetable 2
1
3
4
Area
Date
1
Abbey Fields
September 2016
2
Brockenwocken
October 2017
3
Chippersville
November 2018
4
Devendslowe
December 2019
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Sarah Richards
Our third job story was:
When I find out fracking might happen near me I want to find out who is responsible So I can decide what I am
going to do next
Acceptance criterion:
This story is done when I know who is responsible for the proposed fracking near me.
We need a map pulling in all the other energy companies’ data so we can display it with ours, with as little work from us as possible. The development and design teams need to put it on their list of things to do.
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Fracking
near me
Home > News > Fracking near me 2
1
3
A
4
C
B
D
Area
Date
Other fracking nearby
1
Abbey Fields
September 2016
2
Brockenwocken
October 2017
MuckyGen www.muckygen.com 3
Chippersville
November 2018
4
Devendslowe
December 2019
OOOGEN www.ooogen.com
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Sarah Richards
Lastly, we have:
When I want to find out what the government is saying about fracking
I want to see all the latest, relevant information easily and quickly So I know what the legal and political position is
You can see you have included:
● your audience’s vocabulary (so they can find what they’re looking for)
● your audience’s mental models (so you can send them to other relevant, interesting content)
● techniques to help your audience read, understand, remember and act on your content
You are awesome and you’re making the internet more useful and enjoyable.
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Government
and fracking
Home > News > Government and fracking We always comply with all of the government’s shale oil and gas industry standards in our fracking operations.
Reports delivered to government 16 / 05 / 2014
Nice Green Energy’s submission to the Frackworthy report: UK-wide consultation on fracking
Nice Green Energy’s response to the 30 / 07 / 2015
white paper: fracking in clean cities Nice Green Energy’s annual report 18 / 09 / 2015
For all government information on fracking please see the government’s: shale oil gas and fracking information on the GOV.UK website.
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Caring for content
When you publish content, it is there forever. You might delete it, but that won’t stop others screen-grabbing it and keeping it. That won’t stop the Internet Archive (www.archive.org) taking digital copies. However, most organisations have a ‘publish and forget about it’
mindset – yours shouldn’t.
You need to look after your content. Before you publish anything, you should know:
● what success is for that content
● when you are going to archive it
● when you are going to review it So, for each piece of content you can agree, with stakeholders, the life cycle of this content.
Example:
Title: Government and fracking Success: 10% increase every 6 months. (21.02.2017, minimum was 2,500 unique visits a month). If under this, we review.
Review: [content person’s name] and [relevant expert’s name] to review twice a year on [insert dates]
Archive: This content will be archived on [insert date]
or after review assessment.
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Success
You and your organisation needs to decide what success is. It could be traffic or number of sign-ups to your newsletter or use of links. It’s different for all content for different organisations.
If you are setting these values for the first time, you can take a benchmark of what you have now (traffic, engagement, etc.) and either have that as a minimum or add a percentage to aim for.
Review
Always add names here. Make sure everyone in the process knows the content is their responsibility.
Archive
I always recommend having an archive (aka delete) date set when content is created. It focuses the mind of all involved in the creation process that you can’t just publish and leave it.
Content has a lifespan. Don’t let it fail and die and potentially embarrass you. Content needs to be cared for.
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Content design
200
Sarah Richards
the end
is
Content design 201
not
the end
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Content design isn’t
just a technique,
it’s a way of thinking.
Content design 203
You’ll question
everything, gather
data and make
informed decisions.
You’ll put your
audience first.
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So having done your
research, designed
your content and
put it online – that’s
the end, isn’t it?
Of course not. Go
and start all over
again with another
piece of content.
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And remember, if your content now isn’t perfect because you had to compromise with a stakeholder, you are still further ahead than you were. One step at a time. Because of you, the internet is getting better.
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Sarah Richards
This book was
written to help
you get started.
Your first steps may
still feel daunting,
and implementing
content design in
your organisation
may still be difficult.
I’ve been there, I
know what it’s like.
Content design 207
persistent, be
flexible, be bold.
Be confident that over
time, content design
will prove itself as a
valuable tool for you,
your team, and for the
whole organisation.
Content design will
help you achieve the
most important goal:
putting users first.
Get involved Courses:
contentdesign.london
Blog:
contentdesign.london/blog
Twitter:
@escmum
The content designer’s checklist
is this content in the audience’s vocabulary yes
no
then get outta here
is in the best format for the audience?
yes
no
time to rethink, buddy
what the audience actually needs from us?
yes
no
why are you even here?
designed with data?
yes
no
you are dead to me
publish it!
I am a
content
designer
And I am:
• awesome
• working for my
audience
• loving my data
(not in a weird way)
• creating an amazing
experience for
my audience
• silently correcting your grammar
The content
designer’s checklist
is this content in the audience’s vocabulary yes
no
then get outta here
is in the best format for the audience?
yes
no
time to rethink, buddy
what the audience actually needs from us?
yes
no
why are you even here?
designed with data?
yes
no
you are dead to me
publish it!
I am a
content
designer
And I am:
• awesome
• working for my
audience
• loving my data
(not in a weird way)
• creating an amazing
experience for
my audience
• silently correcting your grammar
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Further reading,
references,
attributions
Forward
Content Strategy for the web www.contentstrategy.com
The science of reading
pp32. Psychology of reading
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9eJ4AgAAQBA-J&printsec=frontcover