How much do you know about comic books? What can comic books teach us about user experience design? Join us as we learn more about the comic book industry and what it can teach us about good (and bad) user experiences. We’ll look at how the comic book industry has changed over the years by deconstructing the evolution of the comic book cover, how the art of telling stories through juxtaposed images and words has changed over the years, as well as some of the user experience failures of the industry from the 90’s until now. Along the way, we’ll discuss some lessons learned from the comic book industry. In the end, you’ll walk away knowing some cool things about the comic book medium. Heck, you might just end up reading a few! ;)

1. by Jeff Whitfield
The User Experience
of Comic Books

12. I LOVE COMIC BOOKS!

14. My Collection
80+ small comic boxes
5 shelf units
Over 8900 comics and
trades
$42,000 est. value

15. Alexander
Whitfield
Inheritor of the Whitfield
comic book collection

16. The User Experience
of Comic Books

17. Everything I Learned
About UX I Learned
From Comics

18. See What I
Mean
How To Use Comics to
Communicate Ideas
!
by Kevin Cheng

19. Have you ever read a comic book
and thought, “Wow! What
a great user experience!”?

20. What We’ll Talk
About
What is a comic book?
Some UX lessons
Insight on my design philosophy
Learn more about the comic medium

21. What is a Comic Book?

22. Terry Moore
When you put words and
pictures together and allow
them each to do what they
do best, you get something
that is more powerful than
just words and pictures
alone.*
*paraphrased

23. Understanding
Comics
by Scott McCloud

25. LESSON:
!
Avoid Unnecessary
Jargon

26. Comic Book
AJAX
Web 2.0
HTML5
Graceful
Degradation
Progressive
Enhancement
SaaS

27. Graphic Novel
Real language terminology means better
communication as to what it is

28. A Contract with
God
by Will Eisner
1978
!
First use of the term
“graphic novel”

29. Marvel Graphic
Novel
by Jim Starlin
1982
!
Widespread use of the
term “graphic novel”

30. How do you explain
the longevity of the
comic book?

31. The Birth of
the Superhero
The Golden Age

32. Early Comics
1930’s
!
Reprints of comic strips

33. Superman
By Jerry Siegal and Joe
Shuster
!
June 1938

34. Batman
By Bob Kane
!
May 1939

35. World War II
Boost in comic book sales

36. Captain
America
By Joe Simon and
Jack “the King” Kirby
!
March 1941

37. Ingrained in
Pop Culture

38. Stan “The Man” Lee
and
Jack “The King” Kirby

39. The Marvel Age
of Comics
The Silver Age

40. Fantastic Four
by Stan “The Man” Lee and
Jack “The King” Kirby
!
November 1961

41. The Incredible
Hulk
by Stan “The Man” Lee and
Jack “The King” Kirby
!
May 1962

42. Thor
by Stan “The Man” Lee and
Jack “The King” Kirby
!
August 1962

43. Spider-Man
by Stan “The Man” Lee and
Steve Ditko
!
August/September
1962

44. Iron Man
by Stan “The Man” Lee and
Jack “The King” Kirby
!
March 1963

45. The X-Men
by Stan “The Man” Lee and
Jack “The King” Kirby
!
September 1963

46. LESSON:
!
Understand
the Medium

47. Evolution of the
Comic Book Cover

48. Overcrowded
Newsstands

49. Amazing
Spider-Man #1
By Stan “The Man” Lee
and Steve Ditko
!
March 1963

51. Added character
avatar to corner!

78. Nearly 30 years
later, they finally
get it right!

79. LESSON:
!
Adapt To Change

80. Evolution of Storytelling

81. Psychedelic
60’s
Pop Art
Roy Lichtenstein
Andy Warhol
More sophisticated
audience

82. Old-School
Rules
Creators limited to 30 years
of drawing within simple
boxes
!
* Ex. Amazing
Spider-man #60

83. Jim Steranko
Comic Book Writer/Artist
!
Famous for his work on
“Nick Fury, Agent of
S.H.I.E.L.D.”
in the 1960’s
!
The “Jimi Hendrix
of Comics”

84. Strange Tales
#166
March 1968
!
The “Maze” page

90. Nick Fury,
Agent of
S.H.I.E.L.D #1
June 1968
“Who is Scorpio?”
!
Opening sequence with
3 silent pages

94. G.I. Joe #21
March 1984
“Silent Interlude”

99. LESSON:
!
Challenge Perceptions

100. Batman: The
Dark Knight
Returns
by Frank Miller
with Klaus Janson and Lynn
Varley
!
March 1986

106. WHICH ONE WOULD YOU BUY?

107. Other Books
that challenged people’s perceptions
on what the comic book medium can do.

108. Watchmen
by Alan Moore and Dave
Gibbons
!
1986—1987

110. The Sandman
by Neil Gaiman
!
1989—1996

114. LESSON:
!
Keep It Simple

115. Sin City
by Frank Miller
!
1991—1999

121. LESSON:
Content Strategy

122. The Comic Book
Crossover Event

123. Crisis on
Infinite Earths
by Marv Wolfman and
George Perez
1985—1986
!
Effort to fix
continuity issues

124. Secret Wars
by Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck,
and Bob Layton
1984—1985
!
Effected nearly every
Marvel character

125. 52
DC Comics
2006—2007
!
52 issues, published weekly
for one year
!
Aftermath of
Infinite Crisis

126. Marvel has movies planned
through 2028

147. LESSON:
Avoid Eye Candy

148. Failures of the Industry:
The 1990’s

149. X-Men #1
by Chris Claremont
and Jim Lee
October 1991
!
Best-selling comic
book of all time!
!
Sold over 8 million
copies

153. WAS IT THAT GOOD
OF A COMIC?
OR….WAS IT JUST
GOOD MARKETING?

154. OR….WAS IT JUST
GOOD MARKETING?

155. Birth of the
Speculator Market

156. Superman #75
January 1993
!
The Death of Superman

158. Superman #75
Collector’s Edition
!
Caused marketing frenzy

160. Over-saturated Market
Emphasis on the “next big thing”
!
Too many special covers
!
Too many issue #1’s

176. None of this focuses on
what’s the most
important part of the
comic book user
experience…

177. TELLING THE
FRICKIN’ STORY!!

178. BIGGEST LESSON:
!
Know Your Audience

179. Eric Stephenson
Publisher, Image Comics

180. “The biggest problem with comic
books is that even now, even after all
the amazing progress we’ve made as
an industry over the last 20 years,
the vast majority of people have no
idea whatsoever about how much the
comics medium has to offer.”
- Eric Stephenson
2014 ComicsPRO Annual
Membership Meeting

181. Question:
!
How do you get people
to buy comic books?

182. Answer:
!
By introducing potential
new readers to the world
of comic books.

183. FINAL LESSON:
!
Expand Your Horizons

184. History
!
Maus
by Art Spiegelman

186. Humor
!
Axe Cop
by Malachai Nicolle and
Ethan Nicolle

188. Fantasy
!
Bone
by Jeff Smith

190. Fantasy
!
The Unwritten
by Mike Carey and Peter
Gross

194. Drama
!
Strangers in
Paradise
by Terry Moore

202. Crime
!
Thief of Thieves
by Robert Kirkman
and Nick Spencer

205. Horror
!
The Walking
Dead
by Robert Kirkman

208. Science Fiction
!
Alex + Ada
by Jonathan Luna and
Sarah Vaughn

211. Summary
Avoid Unnecessary
Jargon
Understand the
Medium
Adapt To Change
Challenge
Perceptions
Keep It Simple
Content Strategy
Avoid Eye Candy
Know Your Audience
Expand Your
Horizons

212. Go read some comics!
!
Share your experience
with others!

213. http://thejeffwhitfield.com
@jeffwhitfield
jeff@soulcraftgroup.com