Words as material

Nicole Fenton

What's the number one thing that sabotages projects for you?

silos
miss communication
client not communicating needs
unclear expectations
lack of clarity
lack of communication
self
team
product
public

Wtiters are the fastest designers in the world.
— Matt Jones, Interaction 15

There is a gap between writers and designers

Language is a system

see words as blocks you can work with

we need to make messes
— Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

More people, more problems

no product vision
different expectations
oversimplifying the problem
design doesn't sell itself

1. no product vision

Tiny content framework

https://gist.github.com/nicoleslaw/2155621

Tiny Content Framework is @nicoleslaw’s elegant kit for clarifying project/product goals and vision. Awesome. #uxlx https://t.co/pcd4wfl3xW
— Josh Clark (@bigmediumjosh) June 4, 2015

write a press release / write a letter to someone you know

2. different expectations

“Hell is other people”
— jean paul sartre

Talking with @nicoleslaw, and this came up: “Hell is other people’s undocumented assumptions.”
— Frank Chimero (@frank_chimero) March 6, 2015

“Trust the weirdness of the process” – @nicoleslaw #uxlx
— Abby Covert (@Abby_the_IA) June 4, 2015

“Questions are my biggest strategic tool.” – @nicoleslaw #uxlx
— dps (@davidpetersimon) June 4, 2015

Tools

– multiple question questionnaires

Mad Libs

Chroma is a {noun} that lets you {verb} with {object}

fake interface / prototype

3. oversimplifying the problem

Just is a dangerous word.

Don't polarize the problem.