Why Content Is Critical to IxD and Persuasive Design

Today on Radio Johnny Kristina Mausser talks with Colleen Jones who shares her insights into how considering content will make your designs more effective—and easier to create.

Quotes

People are not interested in a mortgage per se – they are interested in getting a house! Thinking about the needs people have and articulating what a financial services company offers in terms of those needs…really is a big shift, an important and positive shift, but that [shift] really can’t happen without the content.

I realized that the crux of the problem with persuasive design is the lack of awareness and ability to address content concerns – focusing on form instead of substance. On the content side I see challenges or problems with focusing exclusively on words…instead of thinking through more compelling ways to package the content.

The people we do this work for don’t really care whether it’s called Content Strategy, or Interaction Design, or User Experience Design or something else. What they care about is getting websites and interactive experiences that solve their problems and help them reach their business goals.

Summary

Colleen Jones discusses how a more complete understanding of content strategy can benefit Interaction Designers including how content creates an engaging experience for users, allowing for a more persuasive and influential end state in all designs.

Colleen also shares her own experiences in the development of both applications and websites that benefited from a thorough thought process about the purpose of each and how organizations can benefit from a strong content strategy in advance of any development process.

Show Notes

* The Flu Shot Finder application
* The Behavior Wizard by Psychologist B.J. Fogg
* The Case for Content Strategy—Motown Style via A List Apart.
* Rhetoric: The Art of Influence
* The Art and Science of Influential Web Content: What Rhetoric Really Is

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