When writing the LinkedIn post, I started going on a UX bandwagon which I decided to leave for another time…that’s now. It’s insanity really, how we follow the same process in developing websites. I must be careful in what I say here, as it’s the business we’re in, but I can honestly say things need to change and we (HeathWallace) can potentially be that change.
Traditionally, the UX process thinks about a business OUT point of view. How ever you do it, you start with what the business has and then try to connect with consumers, assuming they will come to your website. What you then develop is framework, a series of templates which you then fill with content. It’s only at the end of this process that you really worry about the words. I don’t think that’s how people are consuming things any more. Most people are deep linking to content i.e. via twitter, Google etc. and finding their way to a page of content, not the home page. I’m trying to think of the last time I went to a home page of a website!
This ultimately changes the role websites play, it has evolved. It’s more dynamic and can be a repository of content. In my experience we skim the internet for information then deep dive to find what we want. I Googled HSBC recently and I can see Google prioritises most visited and up-to-date pages, what I’m exposed to is a portal of content and this becomes a self-fulfilling experience. It’s more acute now as people are more informed in what they want to do and what they want to buy. I think it’s crazy how we create all these websites for nobody to visit or read, it’s like the definition of insanity, still doing it even if we know it’s wrong and expecting a different result.
And it’s a vicious circle, for example, does a start-up really need a website or rather, fragments of content? Fragments which talk about the business concept in snackable and shareable pieces of content, which point people to something that needs to exist, to either close the sale or provide more information. Instead of putting all your efforts into creating a website, you rather put your efforts into the content and think from the content back and how it all pieces together.
The industry (everyone in it from clients to agencies etc.) who is set up to deliver, understand this is the issue but are loathe to implement it. It’s a heretical point of view I know, as you then have to go unpick everything that we’re doing, and all our clients have to do the same. If I’m honest, it means we have to change how we do things, which is possible as I work with some of the most talented minds in the industry. So watch this space…
Davenport Face 