Bummer! This is just a preview. You need to be signed in with a Basic account to view the entire video.
Start a free Basic trial
to watch this video
If everyone is our user, we can say that every piece of information is content.
-
0:00
So, we realize now that everyone that helps us to create a great user experience
-
0:05
for those that interact with our products, services,
-
0:07
and our company, is a user of ours.
-
0:10
And, we know that understanding users,
-
0:13
understanding content, and putting those things
-
0:15
into context is what being a user experience designer is all about.
-
0:20
What I'd like to point out to you now is, if everyone is our user, then we
-
0:24
can say that every piece of information, that
-
0:26
is everything that we use in solution, is content.
-
0:31
We touched on this a bit before, but to further describe to you
-
0:34
by what I mean by the content, I extend to you this idea.
-
0:38
Yes, every single thing that you use, in the
-
0:41
solution you design can and should be considered content.
-
0:45
Of course, once we start to dive into the
-
0:47
details, into the think small realm and we are
-
0:50
working with CMs and all that jazz, we have
-
0:53
to strictly define content as the system tells us.
-
0:57
However, keep in mind that as a UX
-
0:59
professional, you need to think big to think small.
-
1:02
Therefore, although many people think of understanding
-
1:05
content as simply understanding what articles, videos,
-
1:08
polls or images a site or application or other product needs to be finished.
-
1:13
We UX's need to expand this line of thought to everything imaginable.
-
1:17
For, if we don't, we limit our ability to think about a truly holistic solution.
-
1:23
What do I mean?
-
1:25
Think of it this way, you are a
-
1:26
UX professional and you've just been brought onto a
-
1:29
project whose goal is to figure out what the
-
1:31
company site does 18 to 24 months from now.
-
1:35
By the way, this was a real project I was on once.
-
1:38
Being a UX professional, you think to yourself okay, in order to do
-
1:42
this I need to understand who the site users will be at the time.
-
1:47
I also need to understand what content will be available, and
-
1:50
then figure out how to put those things into the right context.
-
1:54
You interview and figure out the users, and then you begin your content inquiry.
-
1:58
However, you are only thinking about content in
-
2:01
the traditional digital terms, articles, video, and text.
-
2:05
At the end of the project, you bring
-
2:07
forth a solution that includes delivering PDF auto insurance
-
2:11
statements to a user's new company inbox, and
-
2:14
shortly after, you are looking for a new job.
-
2:18
Okay, here's another way it could happen.
-
2:20
You are a UX professional and you've been just brought onto a project whose goal
-
2:24
is to figure out what the company site does, 18 to 24 months from now.
-
2:28
Being a UX professional, you think yourself, okay, in order
-
2:32
to do this, I need to understand who the sites users
-
2:34
will be at the time, and I also need to understand
-
2:36
the content available and put those things into the right context.
-
2:40
You interview and figure out the users, and then you begin you content
-
2:44
inquiry but this time, you expand your notion of what content could be.
-
2:48
You think about the idea of the auto insurance
-
2:51
summary HTML page, being equivalent to an insurance PDF statement.
-
2:55
They have all the same information, after all.
-
2:58
You realize that the company is more than just auto insurance, and
-
3:01
that users want to see all of their accounts in one place.
-
3:04
Thus, the idea of the account as content comes up.
-
3:08
People also want to see external, non-company accounts in one place.
-
3:13
And they wanna see if their partner or spouse has accessed their account.
-
3:17
Thus the idea of another user as a piece of content forums.
-
3:21
Having this open mind about what content could be and is, you are able to
-
3:25
create a solution that involves an account
-
3:27
dashboard with accounts, potential accounts, advice and more.
-
3:32
That is flexible, based on device as well as business need.
-
3:36
At this point, you are grossly rewarded for your efforts.
-
3:40
I realize how conceptual and semantic this part of the course is.
-
3:44
However, as airy as it may seem, having the perspective that everyone is
-
3:47
a user and that everything is content is what will propel your UX work.
-
3:52
Beyond the interface, beyond the web, beyond
-
3:54
the digital to a place where you see
-
3:56
the world as a system of users interacting
-
3:59
with all different content in many different contexts.
-
4:02
You will be, in essence, a UX Yoda, and there
-
4:05
will be no problem out there, that you can't solve.
You need to sign up for Treehouse in order to download course files.
Sign up