purposes, personas, conversations -- practical techniques for everything you create
DESCRIPTION
Everything we write is part of a conversation. What we write for work (and for helping people use products at home) serves a purpose. To have successful conversations (in email, web sites, apps, and more), we must understand what we are trying to achieve (our purposes), who we are conversing with (personas), and what they want and need to know (their conversations). When we think of our writing through purposes, personas, conversations, we can often succeed by letting go of many words.TRANSCRIPT
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Purposes, Personas, Conversations – Practical techniques for everything you create Janice (Ginny) Redish Redish & Associates, Inc. Bethesda, MD USA www.redish.net @GinnyRedish
Photos © iStockphoto.com, unless I give another source
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 2
Everything you write serves a purpose
When you write this What do you want to happen? A proposal for funding Instructions for installing an app
Online help for a task
An email to your boss asking to go to the STC Summit
A web page about using ladders safely
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 3
How do we achieve our purposes?
Flickr cc photo by Polandeze
Everything we write is part of a conversation.
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 4
Everything we write is for other people
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 5
What do we have to know about those people?
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 6
For most of what we write, the other person starts the conversation
You start the conversation
Flickr cc photo by Bradleyolin
He starts the conversation
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 7
Jenna enjoying red wine at a friend's house.
Next moment after this picture – Oops!
Thanks to Caroline Jarrett for finding the example for me.
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 10
Removing Red Wine Stains Vanish Oxi Action Powder removes wine stains easily. Important: Follow the package directions. Do not use on wool, silk, or leather. Do not use on wood, metals, or other finished or coated surfaces. Instructions 1. Dissolve 1 scoop of Vanish Oxi Action Powder
in 4 litres of warm water. (warm = max. 40o) 2. Soak the stained item.
• Colored item – soak max. 1 hour • White item – soak max. 6 hours
3. Wash as usual, adding 1 scoop of Vanish to the wash.
How I might revise the Vanish Oxi content
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 11
plan organize write evaluate
Flickr cc photo by Polandeze
"Purposes, personas, conversations" helps you
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 12
plan organize write evaluate
"Purposes, personas, conversations" helps you
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 13
Plan at every level
Why? (Purposes)
Who? (Personas)
What? (Conversations)
A very brief creative brief for every piece of copy
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 14
Aligned with business goals and content strategy Measurable Specific Focused on your customers
Why? Purposes
$ $ $
$ $ $
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 15
Be specific
http://www. manageyourwriting.com/
Kenneth W. Davis
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 16
Focus on what you want people to do because you wrote this content
to sell lots of shoes
people to buy the shoes we sell to tell people how to get their driver's license
people to get their driver's license successfully without frustration and without calling with questions
We want
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 17
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 18
Who? Personas
Who they are
Adjectives and phrases to describe Abilities Aptitudes Attitudes
Even assumptive personas can help you focus on the people your copy is for.
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 19
What? Conversations
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 20
How I might revise Make an Appointment
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http://www.uwmedicine.org/ Patient-Care/Our-Services/ Pages/Make-An-Appointment.aspx
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 22
"Purposes, personas, conversations" helps you
plan
organize write evaluate
Don't hog the conversation. Take turns.
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 23
Cut to the essential message – and put it first
2011
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 24
2013
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 25
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 26
"Bite, snack, meal" from Leslie O'Flahavan, www.ewriteonline.com.
Bite
Snack
Meal
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 29
Break up text with parallel, useful headings
www.gov.uk
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 30
www.ebags.com
Hear the conversation as you design and write
I like that bag, but I wonder
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 31
Approved fumigation with methyl bromide at normal atmospheric pressure, in accordance with the following procedure, upon arrival at the port of entry, is hereby prescribed as a condition of importation for shipments of yams from foreign countries.
How would you say this in a conversation?
Flickr cc photo by Seattle Municipal Archives
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 32
Think "conversation" even from sentence to sentence
If you are importing yams, [someone] must fumigate them when they arrive at the port of entry.
To fumigate yams, [that person] must use this procedure:
To do x, If x, Do x before After you do x, .
new
context = given, known
then
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 33
Talk to (and with) your customers
In the presentation, this slide had a visual with two versions of the lead-in to a form:
a noun-based description, followed by a call to action
a conversational phrase as if the site visitor were speaking
The conversational phrase generated many more leads and sales.
https://whichtestwon.com/archives/19429 with permission to show but not to distribute
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 34
Give your customers a voice
In the presentation, this slide had a visual with two versions of a call-to-action button. One button used "my." The other used "your."
"My" generated many more clicks.
https://whichtestwon.com/archives/20134 with permission to show but not to distribute
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 35
Let go of the words – but, sometimes, add words the conversation needs
www.virb.com Example from Josh Porter http://bokardo.com
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 36
Content = Conversation helps you
plan organize write
evaluate
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 37
Walk your personas through their conversations Do usability testing!
Even before that: "channel" your personas as they bring their conversations to your content.
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 38
conversation is the contribution of professional technical communicators
Asynchronous
Issuance of a TOP command results in a line zero condition.
To go to the beginning of your file, type TOP and press Enter.
An example of how technical communicators changed manuals in the early days of the personal computer:
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Redish & Associates, Inc.
© 2013, Janice (Ginny) Redish Purposes, Personas, Conversations Slide 39
Thank you! More questions? Write to me: [email protected]
Morgan Kaufmann / Elsevier 2nd edition, 2012
@GinnyRedish
Ginny Redish
Ginny Redish www.redish.net