Anita #MaskUp  😷 #WashYourHands!  🙌🏼 Cheng

LOLOL @ContentDesignLN wanted to be a female James Bond when she joined the British civil service for #contentdesign. (Don't we all....) Unfortunately not so cool, lots of hierarchy and unconscious biases to fight against! Info only started with office websites. #GCMasterclass

Govt websites often "blast publish" their info, which doesn't answer *any* questions people have! "What you don't publish is as important as what you publish." Publishing everything "for transparency" can do more harm than good! @ContentDesignLN #contentdesign #GCMasterclass

In the old way, govt website writers only write for 10% of their job, if that. Then legal rewrites it and nobody can't change it afterwards. Nobody asks questions anymore, it's just learned helplessness all the way down. @ContentDesignLN #contentdesign #GCMasterclass

When @GDSTeam first came to be, there were MANY discussions about whether govt should "teach" people about their programs. But they started with user needs, and now vast majority of users get results they want the 1st time. @ContentDesignLN #contentdesign #GCMasterclass

Domain experts can be bad at communicating their expertise! @ContentDesignLN came up with the new job title (mine! ) "content designer" to convey that communicating services was an expertise in itself, and not just copyediting or "wordsmithing". #ContentDesign #GCMasterclass

.@ContentDesignLN defines content strategist and copywriter as setting strategy and writing under constraints, respectively. But #ContentDesign is not limited to words - it "answers a user need the best way for the user to consume it." I explain it's VERY IA heavy. #GCMasterclass

(#ContentDesign therefore was a natural progression for me. I'm very into IA and also very into empowering people to get what they need! )

#ContentDesign means seeing the entire system at once, and paying attention to how people communicate on different channels. For ex, @ContentDesignLN noticed that LinkedIn posts were more statements and less emotional than other channels. #GCMasterclass

#ContentDesign means doing discovery first to figure out where the pain points are. (Journey maps galore!) Pain points can be something seemingly innocuous like misinformation. @ContentDesignLN #GCMasterclass

#ContentDesign means figuring out what language people use. Go to public forums - "they're little worlds of language!" But be aware that it's a little weird to be doing research on people that way... @ContentDesignLN #GCMasterclass

Discovery for #ContentDesign can take you 5-6 weeks, but it will give you language, mental models, user needs, priority list, and content plan for up to a year. A lot less talking and a lot more doing! @ContentDesignLN #GCMasterclass

Be aware of the differences between user needs and wants. People might want to get rid of current debt, but what they need is to stay out of debt! User stories help clarify real needs, because they identify a real-life achievement. @ContentDesignLN #ContentDesign #GCMasterclass

(Seriously, nobody goes to a government website to learn about a program. @persishowe and I have found that this belief is often the biggest initial blocker getting people onto #ContentDesign. Get stakeholders thinking about IRL user achievements! #GCMasterclass )

When doing #ContentDesign, have acceptance criteria, format, performance indicators, and (controversially) an archive date. @ContentDesignLN #GCMasterclass

#ContentDesign can make or break your content. In UK govt, "NIN" is not Nine Inch Nails, it's "National Insurance Number" but nobody knew this. That entire service failed in user testing because of that. @ContentDesignLN #GCMasterclass

In #ContentDesign it's ok to use lots of whitespace! It's not about what reads right to us, but what reads right to users. Leave them room to think. (Especially in government, it's complex!) @ContentDesignLN #GCMasterclass

.@ContentDesignLN points out something I learned from @persishowe (and what we practice on @sfgov) - avoid negative contractions because it's harder to read. For this work, clarity is far more important than tone. #ContentDesign #GCMasterclass

#ContentDesign is using layout, punctuation, and sentence length to help users with their tasks. It's not dumping information onto a page and calling it a day. (Me and my fight against FAQs..) @ContentDesignLN #GCMasterclass

To get at user needs and mental models, use Google search trends and clustermapping your pages. "Let the data have the conversation for you." @ContentDesignLN #ContentDesign #GCMasterclass

#ContentDesign can be hard to talk about at first with your stakeholders. You're an alien to them, because you don't live in their world obsessing over their program. Use journey maps and user needs to combat this. @ContentDesignLN #GCMasterclass

"Crit early, crit often!" Get your stakeholders into the #ContentDesign process. (I love to overdo this - right now I have a form that's already been reviewed 2x but the related rule hasn't been legislated yet! ) @ContentDesignLN #GCMasterclass

"Remember: show, don't tell." If you say you're trustworthy, people are gonna wonder why you felt the need to mention that! @ContentDesignLN #ContentDesign #GCMasterclass

Get involved in #ContentDesign - @ContentDesignLN has a readability guidelines project! https://readabilityguidelines.myxwiki.org