SHUNNING WEB SUBURBIA

Rebekah Cancino //CS Forum 2012

@rebekahcancinoimg source: http://www.edb.utexas.edu/faculty/salinas/students/student_sites/Fall2007/John_David/images/levittownbig.jpg

Hi my name is Rebekah Cancino, I'm a communication strategist at Forty, an experience design firm in Phoenix, Arizona. Let’s talk about something that is very important for us to consider while we're working to make our content structured and ready to go anywhere.

img source: http://www.phxre.com/willo-historical-homes-for-sale.php

These are homes from a neighborhood in downtown Phoenix, (That little white duplex in the bottom corner is actually where I live) in a historic district called Willo, built during the 1930s and 40s. What I love about my neighborhood is that it’s so vibrant and full of character.

And they all look just the same...

But most neighborhoods in Phoenix don't look like that, in fact they look a lot more like this. A sea of monochromatic sameness and I think this is a bit sad and depressing. How did we go from neighborhoods like Willo, that are so full of character, to cookie cutter communities like this?

Oh, babies!Photo cred: Alfred Eisenstaedt

Look into the history of suburbia and you’ll trace it back to babies, basically. More specifically the post World War II baby boom when all the soldiers were returning home, getting married, and starting families with lots and lots of kids.

Processes for building were unsustainable

This put a lot of stress on our cities, especially ones that were already overcrowded. The processes for building homes at the time were suddenly unsustainable and we could not keep up with the influx of new housing demand.

photo credit: WOLYNSKI

A system of building with interchangeable parts and modular structures

img source: http://levittownbeyond.com/myPictures/1958Rancher.jpg

So along came a man named Bill Levitt, who would later become known as the father of modern suburbia. During the war, he had perfected a process of building mass amounts of military housing using uniform and interchangeable parts.

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modularstructurednimbleinterchangeable

UTILITARIAN SYSTEMS OF CONSTRUCTION

After the war, he became convinced that utilitarian systems of construction were the answer to the housing crisis, because the methods were modular, structured, nimble and allowed for very fast production of homes built on land right outside the city.

“I want to build a town to be proud of.”

- Bill Levitt

img source: http://cdn.dipity.com/uploads/events/87d21e5781626805627e89cd023c419c_1M.png

Mr. Levitt wasn’t a bad fellow, he really had the best intentions. He wanted to provide affordable, modern, comfortable housing for war veterans and their families, AND build something he could be proud of. We can relate to that.

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rapidly changing demandsneed for flexibility and speedstructured system solution

WE’VE GOT A LOT IN COMMON

There are a lot of connections with the start of suburbia and where we are now with content. We're facing similar challenges, in a different context, and we are changing our workflows to adapt to those challenges.

img source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_virginia/2898490777/in/photostream/

img source: https://si0.twimg.com/profile_banners/11855482/1348146182/web

In seeing the similarities with between this two seemingly disparate situations, there is actually an opportunity here for us to learn from their mistakes.

sterileblandmonotonousboring

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IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY

modularstructurednimbleinterchangeable

The mistake I'm talking about is that of allowing a system for doing something, completely strip away the personality of the thing the system is designed to serve in the first place. It really doesn't have to be that way, but it could be, if we're not careful.

modularstructurednimbleinterchangeable

vibrantfreshdiverserich

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WE CAN DO BETTER

I think we can do better. And we have to, because people don't fall in love with a business or organization, they fall in love with a personality. Structured content, done the right way can give us content that's fluid and ready to go anywhere but also full of life and lovable.

See the similarities?

But it’s not automagicalimg source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trialsanderrors/3117920975/

But that's not going to happen all on its own. We need to be careful not to get so granular and clinical in our approach that we inadvertently create our very own sprawling web suburbia.

plan work togethergive equal prioritythink like an art director

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(No, seriously.)

As we're bringing in our focus and starting from the smallest canvas out, it's important for us to it's important for us to build in ways to keep our content alive and our brand messages intact.

We need smart planning and strong workflowsimg source: http://levittownbeyond.com/myPictures/1958Rancher.jpg

One of the first things we can do is plan and intentionally allow time and processes in our workflows that ensure our content stays distinct and wonderful.

“But if our content authors aren’t supported in this [structured] process, it will be a hard battle for us to implement in our organisations.

Let’s work together to sell the new magic.”

- Sally Bagshaw

We'll also need to work together really closely: content strategists, IAs, developers, designers and most importantly content authors. As Sally Bagshaw said at ConFab earlier this year, if our authors aren't supported and on board then we'll really have problems.

science artwonder

Just as only focusing on the voice, tone and message of our content, has failed us. Focusing solely on structure and organization, will fail us too. We need to maintain equal balance in our priorities, or we’ll end up with a bunch of adaptable content that doesn’t inspire or motivate us at all.

“Metadata is the new art direction.”- Ethan Resnick

img source: http://therarebulldog.org.s47293.gridserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/eethapnl.jpg

Finally, I think we all could could benefit from thinking more like an art director. There's been a lot of talk about this quote by Ethan Resnick, Metadata is the new art direction. We love that, because we know that we need rule based instructions to impart human decision making into automatic processes.

Brings clarity and definitionEnhances meaningEvokes the right emotionMakes you memorable/lovable

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From Dan Mall’s A List Apart article, Art Direction and Design

Art direction

But let's make sure to consider all that art direction really encompasses: it elevates meaning, evokes the right emotion, and helps makes our content memorable and amazing.

Let’s talk, preferably with cocktails.

@rebekahcancino

So far, we’ve made awesome progress with adaptive content, but we've only scratched the surface, and it's never too early to start safeguarding against the suburbs.