UX, CX, and Content Design
‘My professional practice is all delving into complexity so users don’t have to’
At its core, UX, CX, and Content Design is about making the complex simple. It’s a principle James has lived by in his work as a journalist, and it’s served him well.
But what is UX and CX?
Good question.
CX (or Customer Experience) is all about sketching out a customer’s context and journey, while UX (or User Experience) is all about delving into one particular touchpoint to make it the best it can be.
CX seeks to measure the substantive effect of a series of interactions between value provider (such as a company) and user (such as a customer), whereas UX seeks to understand the efficacy of a particular touchpoint in allowing the user to do what they need to do.
Here’s a very complicated diagram I whipped up to illustrate the point.
But what about Content Design?
Content Design is all about designing content so that it best serves the needs of the users going through that content.
It’s a broad discipline encompassing things like UX Writing, IA design, taxonomy, and Website Design among other things. As an ex-journalist, I latch most onto UX Writing as it’s all about harnessing the power of copy to help a user do what they need to do.
Don’t just take my word for it!
If you don’t want to delve into portfolio pieces, here’s a link to all the certification which says I’m pretty danged good at what I do.
UX Design-related certification
CX-related certification
Consumer Neuroscience and Neuromarketing from Copenhagen Business School
Design Thinking Ultimate Guide from IxDF (top 10%)
Service Design: Designing for Integrated Services from IxDF (top 10%)
Content Design-related certification
Portfolio
You can find a selection of non-business-sensitive case studies below, but as we all know, you can’t talk about the really cool stuff…
Navigation analysis
One of the key content design tasks a UX writer can contribute to is making sure the Information Architecture is set up to allow users to complete their tasks.
But it’s not just words, but data which paint the story on how to do this effectively.
Below is a case study on how he did just that for a stakeholder who had concerns that people were leaving their site without the information they needed. The wrinkle was that the site had mixed audiences — so how do you make sure it works for everybody?
Got a question about this?
Harnessing behavioural science to influence behaviours
Behavioural science can seem a bit wishy-washy sometimes (despite the 50-odd years of academic work behind it), but applied in a vigorous and structured way they can help influence users to undertake key actions (such as completing a purchase).
You can find a case study below about a time that James used Behavioural Science insights and CX methods to create pilots which helped uplift conversion.
Want to understand more?
App design - Google Design Certificate
As part of UX certification with Google, James delved into the world of visual design in Figma and Adobe XD to create an app for people who want to order from food trucks non-verbally, and a microdonation site for community projects.
The point here isn’t the design, it’s the thinking and the research behind the design. It’s also a demonstration that James can whip up prototypes on Figma, XD, and any other design tools you can shake a stick at.
Here are case studies including links to hi-fi and low-fi designs:
Want to know more?
Tweaking an interstitial screen
As a UX writer, I have teensie-tiny tasks each day to tweak pages for clarity. Here’s an example of that.
Want to ask James about making an interlude an opportunity?
Want to get in touch?