What’s the best way to do that? Integrating design thinking into your content creation. This article will deep dive into the world of design thinking and discuss how it can work together with your content marketing strategy to drive success.<\/p>\n
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What is Design Thinking?<\/h2>\n
While the ubiquity of the term “design thinking” seems to be enjoying a recent surge in popularity, according to author Jo Szczepanska<\/a>, \u201cBeing in the news\u2026 doesn\u2019t make design thinking anything new. Unlike the radical outcomes it promises, design thinking as an approach has been slowly evolving since the 1960s.\u201d<\/p>\n Szczepanska\u2019s\u00a0Design Thinking Timeline<\/a>\u00a0takes readers on a fascinating journey of significant milestones in the movement, from Design Science in 50s-60s America, to the impact of Scandinavian cooperative design from the 60s-80s, to a third resurgence that happened between 1990-2005.<\/p>\n It was during this time that the\u00a0design consultancy IDEO<\/a>\u00a0was formed and, according to Szczepanska\u2019s research, gave the concept of design thinking a \u201cfoothold in the business world.\u201d<\/p>\n From Szczepanska\u2019s article: \u201cOver the past fifty-plus years, design thinking\u2026 has appropriated many of the best tools and techniques from creative fields, social and computer sciences.\u201d<\/p>\n Although there are many definitions of design thinking, for the sake of this article, we’ll be concentrating on one:<\/p>\n \u201cDesign thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems, and create innovative solutions to prototype and test. Involving five phases \u2014 Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test \u2014 it is most useful to tackle problems that are ill-defined or unknown.\u201d –\u00a0Interaction Design Foundation<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As far as how it’s different from other processes, we’ll let Harvard Business School<\/a> explain:<\/p>\n Design thinking is different from other innovation and ideation processes in that it\u2019s solution-based and user-centric rather than problem-based. This means it focuses on the\u00a0solution\u00a0<\/em>to a problem instead of the problem itself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Interaction Design Foundation summarizes\u00a0the five phases of the design-thinking process<\/a> (or framework) based on the Stanford d.school’s description of the process:<\/p>\n As you consider these stages, the Interaction Design Foundation reminds us, \u201cThese stages are different modes which contribute to the entire design project, rather than sequential steps. Your goal throughout is to gain the deepest understanding of the users and what their ideal solution\/product would be.\u201d<\/p>\n Now that we\u2019ve walked through a very brief history of design thinking \u2014 and we\u2019ve bandied about the names of organizations like IDEO and Stanford\u2019s d.school<\/a> to help define and give context to the term \u2014 you may be wondering whether design research is the same as design thinking.<\/p>\n In two words: not exactly. But close.<\/p>\n In the first edition of their book, \u2018A Designer\u2019s Research Manual<\/a>\u2019, authors Jennifer and Ken Visocky O\u2019Grady introduce \u201cthe concept of research-driven design\u2026 and what tools today\u2019s designers are using to inform and ensure the success of their creative projects,\u201d and \u201chow research-driven design can help define an audience, support a concept, advocate for an aesthetic or measure the effectiveness of a campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n As we shift our focus to content, let\u2019s agree that design thinking is a framework \u2014 an approach to design \u2014 and that design research is a methodology (or collection of methods) that supports design thinking.<\/p>\n To take it a step further, IDEO introduced the Design Kit<\/a>, a set of tools to facilitate creative approaches to problem-solving using Human-Centered Design.<\/p>\n At the center of the toolkit is the \u2018Field Guide to Human-Centered Design,\u2019 described as a \u201cstep-by-step guide that will get you solving problems like a designer,\u201d as well as the Design Kit travel pack, a deck of cards described as \u201cbite-sized design tools to spark creativity and collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether you call it design research or human-centered design, what these methodologies have in common is the placement of the consumer (user, customer, end-user) at the center of the design process.<\/p>\n Chances are, if you are a practicing content strategist, somewhere along the way in your career, you\u2019ve come across \u2018Content Strategy for the Web<\/a>\u2019 (2nd Edition) by Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach.<\/p>\n Halvorson\u2019s book \u2014 and her definition of content strategy \u2014 has been credited with establishing the practice as essential to agencies and enterprises.<\/p>\n In the third chapter of the book is a simple but impactful illustration called \u201cThe Quad,\u201d described as \u201c\u2026an image that displays the critical components of content strategy,\u201d or how content strategy works.<\/p>\n Created over a decade ago, The Quad also addresses:<\/p>\n Of course, as the discipline of content strategy has evolved and expanded to include content design and related disciplines, so too has The Quad.<\/p>\n The new quadrants include Editorial, Experience, Structure, and Process. For our purposes\u00a0\u2014\u00a0to show the intersection between design thinking and content strategy\u00a0\u2014\u00a0we\u2019ll focus on Editorial and Experience.<\/p>\n According to Halvorson:<\/p>\n Editorial strategy answers the following questions:<\/p>\n Experience design answers the following questions (among many others):<\/p>\n Editorial considerations draw parallels to the first two phases of design thinking:<\/p>\n The third phase, Ideate, sits nicely between editorial and experience design, where you take what you know about your mission, audience, voice, tone, and brand standards and use that knowledge to move into experience design, and the last two phases of design thinking:<\/p>\n While it\u2019s great to know that there are parallels between design strategy and content creation, you may be wondering, \u201cHow do I get started?\u201d<\/p>\n Design strategy and content creation both have the same purpose: to create a product that meets the needs of users in the most creative and consumable way. So if \u201cagreeing to disagree\u201d doesn\u2019t cut it, then how do we make peace so we can make progress?<\/p>\n Perhaps an agreed-upon set of principles is a good place to start.<\/p>\n Establishing an agreed-upon set of principles from the start of a project can help foster a partnership. Starting with a common language \u2014 design thinking \u2014 can facilitate a collaborative process to avoid pitfalls as timelines progress.<\/p>\n There are principles of each discipline that overlap and others that are distinct. Here’s a guiding set of principles for user experience designers that should be a shared goal for both content and design:<\/p>\n From there, each discipline can \u2013 and should \u2013 dive deeper into principles that, while distinct from each other, ultimately share the goal of creating an end product that benefits the target audience.<\/p>\n So what does adopting a design thinking mindset, along with agreed-upon principles, look like in the real world? Here are two (very) high-level examples:<\/p>\n The problem<\/strong>: A website that fails to surface current and useful information where the \u201csolution\u201d has been to redesign the site visually, with little attention paid to the management of the content.<\/p>\n The design phases applied<\/strong>:<\/p>\n The solution<\/strong>: Adding a persistent search box that is clearly labeled and intuitive, with predictive text that saves the user time by suggesting search phrases, ultimately leading to increased engagement and reduced abandonment due to failed searches.<\/p>\n The problem<\/strong>: A brand\u2019s image, voice, and tone on digital channels are at odds with other levels of content, such as campaigns that fail to resonate with the target audience. There\u2019s a disconnect, and content and design need to work together to solve it.<\/p>\n The design phase(s) applied:<\/strong><\/p>\n The solution<\/strong>: Create and deliver a unified content marketing experience by using what resonates with your test group to inform a cohesive end product that consistently delivers value to your target audience.<\/p>\n You\u2019re seated at the project table with your design partners, with whom you\u2019ve co-authored shared principles for design and content (and have identified additional principles unique to each discipline).<\/p>\n You\u2019ve spoken to representative users or members of your target audience, and you have a clear understanding of the problems you need to solve or the experience you want to create.<\/p>\n So\u00a0now\u00a0<\/em>what?<\/p>\n Even when approached with the best of intentions and clarity of purpose, collaboration can sometimes be a bit awkward. Everyone is here and wants to have a good go at things, but no one quite knows where to start the conversation.<\/p>\n Here are some tangible tools of the trade that can help break the ice and get the conversation going:<\/p>\n Creating harmony between your content creation and design team can take some time. But once you achieve it, your smooth workflows can skyrocket productivity and maximize your content’s impact. But if that sounds like a lot of time and energy, you’re right. Luckily, you can also skip that step and just partner with a proven content agency that’s already done the legwork for you.<\/p>\n Discover our solutions<\/a> or talk to one of our specialists<\/a> today to see how we can ensure your design and content creation work together to drive your brand’s success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Learn how design thinking can help content creators, designers, and strategists ensure their contributions aren’t reduced to ‘just providing some copy.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":31697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[139,138,144],"ppma_author":[277],"class_list":["post-41792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-content-creation","tag-content-marketing-strategy","tag-design-ui-ux"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThinking by Design: A Definition<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nThe Design-Thinking Framework<\/h2>\n
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A Word (or a few) About Design Strategy Research<\/h2>\n
A Designer’s Manual<\/h3>\n
The Design Kit<\/h3>\n
A Design Strategy Framework Example<\/h2>\n
1. The Quad<\/h3>\n
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Design Strategy Principles in Your Content Creation<\/h2>\n
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How Design Strategy and Content Marketing Work Together<\/h2>\n
Mini case 1: Digital Discovery<\/h3>\n
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Mini case 2: Campaign Cohesion<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nTools of the Trade<\/h2>\n
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Next Steps in Your Design Strategy Journey<\/h2>\n