Good content strategy work will have a big impact on your project's success. But not everyone gets to work with a dedicated content-y person – designers are often stuck making content decisions on their own. But hey man, it's gonna be okay. There's lots that you can borrow from the world of content strategy to get what you need to make better design decisions. In this presentation, you'll learn how content strategy directly impacts your visual designs, and some tools and techniques to make your work better informed and more efficient.

1. Content strategy
for designers
Brought to you by Alaine Mackenzie
on January 14, 2014

2. Hey that’s me
Content strategist @yellowpencilweb
Occasional Twitter user @alainemack

3. Today you’ll learn

4. How to steal from content strategy
to make your designs better and
your projects more successful

5. You’ll also learn
what is content strategy
what happens without it
how do I fix it

6. What is content strategy?

7. “…the practice of planning
content creation, delivery,
and governance.”
Kristina Halvorson,
“The Discipline of Content Strategy”,
A List Apart, 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wparsons/3502120483/

8. Okay but why do I care

9. Without content strategy
You’re just guessing

10. Without content strategy
You don’t know your priorities

11. Without content strategy
You don’t (really) know the brand

12. Halp, halp!

13. Your content arsenal
Content audit
Voice and tone guide
Content models
Governance plan

14. Content audit
Find the complexity
Find the meaning
Find the suck

15. Voice and tone guide
Expand on the brand
Resolve the gaps

16. Fun but not childish
Clever but not silly
Confident but not cocky
Smart but not stodgy
Cool but not alienating
!
!
Kate Kiefer Lee, content strategist at MailChimp: voiceandtone.com
uxmag.com/articles/the-elements-of-a-style-guide

17. Content models
Define the elements
Define their relationships
Eliminate ambiguity

19. Governance plan
Prevent future heartbreak

20. Who will request, create, edit, approve, publish,
and maintain this stuff?
!
What resources will you need?
!
How much effort will it take?

21. Your content arsenal
Content audit
Voice and tone guide
Content models
Governance plan

22. In sum
Don’t design impaired
Be an undercover content ninja
You can do it

23. Thanks for comin’
alaine@yellowpencil.com
@alainemack