3. Director of User
• User Research
• Brand Positioning
• Content Strategy & Big IA
• Page-Level IA
• Unlicensed Therapy
4. User Research
User Persona
Overstressed Mom "I wish I knew why my friend's son reads
so much better than mine."
Theresa
Working Mother
Personal Background Demographics Tech Comforts Needs
Theresa works part-time, lives in public Age: 26 PC: Med • More time
housing with her three young sons, and Education: High School Web: High • Reliable source of quality activities for her kids
attends night school, where she's pursuing an Gear: Windows Vista & Phone: High • Entertaining, low-commitment parenting resources
associates degree in social work. DSL.
Web-enabled Habits
She's wired at work, at school, and at home, camera phone. • Uses SMS/MMS constantly
but is relatively unaware of the vastness of XBOX, Wii, etc. • Avoids mobile web due to high plan costs
online offerings other than shopping and • Online via computer multiple times daily
gaming sites. • Uses computer for information retrieval and shopping
• Downloads games, prints activities sheets
• Joins social sites, visits once, lets die
• Uses television as ambient presence
Goals and Motivations Scenarios Features
Wants to find some activity or game • Uses search engine. • Doesn't filter results or attempt multiple searches.
5. Brand Positioning
American Military
Liberty
Distinctive
Walden Grand Canyon Ashford Westwood Everest The Pack
Kaplan Phoenix DeVry Argosy Strayer Commodity
6. Content Strategy & Big IA
“Organizing information takes
priority over creating it.”
Saul Wurman
12. Page-Level IA
Contact Us
Logo RJ Lee Group
Industrial Forensics Systems Reliability
Laboratory Services Litigation Services Industries Expertise About Us
Services Services
Persuasive summary headline/tagline
Emotional appeal (regarding reassurance, confidence, safety, etc) supported by rational points (RJLG superior human
judgment, endorsed by government & other trusted sources, complex world demands better thinking, etc) of distinction.
(visual + rhetorical)
23. “Career Path” LOL
Grad
Nerd School Painting
School Art Professor
School
24. “Career Path” LOL
Grad
Nerd School Painting
School Art Professor
School
Design
Professor
25. “Career Path” LOL
Grad
Nerd School Painting
School Art Professor
School
Design
Professor
User
Interface
Designer
26. “Career Path” LOL
Grad
Nerd School Painting
School Art Professor
School
Design
Professor
Information
Architect
User
Interface
Designer
27. “Career Path” LOL
Grad
Nerd School Painting
School Art Professor
School
Design
Professor
Information
Architect
Director of User User
Experience Interface
Designer
29. 1. Do What You Love
Success & happiness can’t
help but collide. You will
always do better at what you
love than at what you don’t
love.
30. 2. Play Nice
Every system, every game,
every reality has rules.
Whether written or unwritten,
learn the rules and follow
them.
31. 3. Listen Like It Matters
Most people are bad listeners.
Become a good one and you’ll
be a rare asset in any
environment.
32. 4. Think Fearlessly
Critical analysis is demanding
and makes you vulnerable to
judgment.
Nothing ventured, nothing
gained.
33. 5. Stay Curious
Keep your creative spirit alive.
You never know where the
next opportunity will come
from.
34. 6. Embrace Loss
Grunt work, glory, misery,
elation, praise, failure,
success, and transitions - they
all pass with time.
Be passionate; not attached.
35. 7. Keep Your Powder Dry
“The best way to defeat your
enemy is to make him your
friend.”
Sun Tzu
You’re going into more than a workplace or field or even an economy.\nYou’re going into a world that’s significantly different than the world than either of our parents went into.\n
You’re going into more than a workplace or field or even an economy.\nYou’re going into a world that’s significantly different than the world than either of our parents went into.\n
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So here’s what you had, roughly.\nmain .edu and a bunch of hidden microsites\n
So here’s what you had, roughly.\nmain .edu and a bunch of hidden microsites\n
First pass was to remove outdated and/or duplicate content.\n\nThis isn’t machete work, it’s surgery: meticulously strategic, line-by-line,\nbalancing myriad stakeholder needs and priorities.\n\nOften, parts of pages are salvageable; sometimes, whole pages go.\n
Second pass was to identify remaining content according to its thematic relevance to the user - “what part of the story does this content support?”\nWhat happens to the protagonist -not the narrator- in search of a goal. If it’s not that, it’s not advancing the story.\n
Third pass is to cluster those pages thematically into what you could consider inventories for chapters in a book.\n\nOrphan pages have all been accounted for in our Content Stategy packet. Get a copy from Liz.\n
Resulting site map = narrative framework for the prospect story to take place\n\nTook page count from ~2500 to ~500\n
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Don’t fear judgment. Do your best, and give 100% of it. Be fully present. Trust.\n
Curiosity trumps certainty every time.\n
Better to bend like the reed than break like the oak.\n
The importance of networking and maintaining good relationships.\n