Too often in our enthusiasm to get the look and feel of a web application or website right, we forget that content makes up one of the primary deliverable. Content planning (what, why) and delivery (How, When, Where) is an important part of design.
At present, I am working on a number of portals with the aim of creating a consistent, seamless experience for users as they travel between portals. Now, each of these portals have a different look and feel, its own Information Architecture and are even built on different technologies. One of the main issue here is that in addition to the design, the “type of content” too, is not consistent. While Portal A is a repository of documents and templates, Portal B provides a number of reports and metrics on performance of products and services and Portal C acts more as a online training tool and a help desk.
Consider Portal A to be a document management system, Portal B a dashboard, similar to Google Analytics or the likes and Portal C similar to an Online Training and help desk website where users can enroll or choose trainings, get assessed and get a report on their progress or log IT related queries. Certainly, the purpose of each of these portals are unique and different from one another, and users accessing these portals expect information to be displayed to suit their needs. However, this is not the case with these portals.
Great wireframes need great content
I had the (mis?)fortune of looking at the wireframe that was initially developed for the above mentioned portals. Unfortunately, these portals were built from the ground up using a single design template as the foundation. Herein, lies the problem. Wireframes provide a good visual aid to what the final design may look like and are excellent for creating mock-ups of form, functionality and content. However, while structure, layout and design consistency is key, it is important to note that wireframes fail if the dummy or sample content is not representative of the actual data. Using “Lorem Ipsum…” text as content adds little value to your wireframe design. To address this issue, wireframes need to include sample content that is indicative of the “actual” data or information to be used. While this approach gives an idea of what the final site would look like, it also provides an opportunity to review the right content that is offered to your target audience.
One of the key take-away working on this project was the importance of getting stakeholders to sign-off on the content during the wireframe stage itself. Though it may seem difficult and content may not be 100% ready, it is important to convey to stakeholders what and how content would be presented on the website. This is specially true if you are working on multilingual websites or web applications.
User centered content
Similar to user centered design, it pays to provide content centered content targeted to meet your user needs. While segmentation works well, and most marketers do a good job in segmenting their target audience, this segmentation is based on user demographics and user profile instead of user needs.
A good example for user centered content would be University websites that have more than one target audience. In this case the primary audience could be categorised into:
- Existing Students – Need to access reports, assignments, performance, join clubs etc.
- Prospective Students – Need to find information on relevant courses, fees, facilities etc.
- Alumni – Need for networking opportunities, jobs, workshops and events, etc.
- Staff – Need to administer courses, student assignments, student performance etc
Each of these target audience accesses content to meet their specific needs. Segmentation based on demographics or user profiles does little due to the overlap in roles. A Female, in her mid 20s, earning XXXX could be a staff or an existing student. Then again a particular staff could also be a prospective or existing student looking to further their education.
In this scenario, content targeted to meet specific user needs would give better results as apposed to segmentation based on demographic or user profiles.
Content influences design
In the above example, while the over all structure and layout would be consistent, content would change based on the target audience. This content would influence how, when and where information is provided to your users. From collapsible panels, to widgets, from pdf files to streaming videos, from blogs to tweeter feeds, the options to present information is limitless. And depending on your content – the what and why, you chose the medium – the how, when and where, thus influencing the design and the user experience.
Tags: Content Strategy, Search Engine Optimisation, usability, user experience design, Wireframe Design