Why we need more user-centred design training options
Quietly, in the background, over the last months, I’ve been creating short, beginners’ lessons in user-centred design. This is not the place to tout those, but I would like to use this platform to explain the need for easy, quick, written in clear language, “user-friendly” user-centred design training.
User-centred design, its techniques, principles and processes, and terminology is a whole new world for beginners, with a language of its own.
But the large majority of organisations don’t have user-centred design training for everyone built in. So non-design professionals who are curious or need to learn about user-centred design generally want, and need, something that can be fitted into spare time in their schedule – a cancelled meeting, a lunch break, an early start.
“Can you give the team a quick summary?”
Knowledge around user-centred design is readily available online already. But there are some problems with it. Too much, too long, too expensive, too “Gov”.
Googling is overwhelming
Self-teach internet searches can be hazardous. How reliable is the source, is it so jargon-stuffed a learner can’t comprehend anything, where can you find just the basics? Google overwhelm is real. And user-centred design professionals are often as unaware of their depth of knowledge – and the learning barrier of our discipline’s own specialist terms – as they are passionate about their subject.
Too long, didn’t read
I would often send clients a curated list of links, including the excellent Readability Guidelines. I would recommend paid and free courses, like the essential, 16 hours over 4 weeks GDS FutureLearn Introduction to Content Design. I’d tell them about meet ups and talks.
However, their availability to absorb a new subject area was limited by workload pressures and often all they had capacity for was a 20 minute PowerPoint presentation, or explanation of a specific area, like pair writing, content patterns, information architecture or multi-disciplinary teams on a quick Zoom chat on segment of a Design team meeting.
What you don’t know that you don’t know, you don’t know that you need to know
How do you explain to someone who thought information architecture skills could be taught through a short presentation that you should start with user needs? How do you illuminate an eager team, without discouraging them, on the fact that content design is vast and intricate, and learning about it will require more than 1 hour of their time?
The problem was, the people want-it-yesterday level curious about content design and user-centred design, tended not to be in content or design roles themselves, and didn’t have any comprehension of how much goes into design work. They just wanted a quick download of 10 key points. Sometimes on the spot, as the concepts of needing to think and plan, never mind research unique needs, scope and sculpt, were alien to them: a live demo of the very workplace culture issues that Agile, user-centred design sets out to rectify.
My answer: a matrix of modules
At my last charity client, a major national organisation with at the time only 1 content designer, I started compiling short, modular, informational Google docs.
These Google docs were interlinked, so that people could learn about the topic they were aware they needed to understand more on, for example writing for web, and through onward links uncover other areas, like language research for SEO, usability and inclusivity. They were destined for the client’s intranet or MS Teams site, where they would be served up under their own branding.
Little or no user-centred design culture
Often content designers find themselves fresh in a new job or contract, ready to use their skills and “do content design” but find no-one knows what it involves – crucially no-one understands the infrastructure needed, like budget, and stakeholder time, for: user research, pair writing, content crits, show and tells, retros and more.
It’s well known among design professionals that user-centred design is a team sport. But so few organisations know how to play it.
And it’s well documented that when CEOs, stakeholders, subject experts and managers understand and advocate for user-centred design and Agile, it’s much easier for user-centred designers to do their jobs, ideally working in multi-disciplinary teams with user and stakeholder involvement through the design process.
That’s for Gov
Unfortunately the GDS user-centred design resources, their FutureLearn content design course and the GOV.UK A to Z of style are too often seen as “too government-y” and sadly, and fairly irritatingly, felt not relevant or appropriate by many commercial, charity or higher ed clients. Despite my highly recommending them, with strong reference to their proven usability-based approach to style.
Explaining that Government Digital Service outputs are a publicly funded digital resource for everyone to make use of made no difference either. And it’s not just me, other content strategists have reported the same experience.
Do you do training on X?
For the last few years I’ve tweeted, and written articles, about user-centred design and content. A steady trickle of LinkedIn messages, emails and Twitter DMs started up, asking if I could give a training session on disparate, very specific areas of content design or user-centred design.
So, all this led me to think, what we need are some lessons in the basics, that are short enough and affordable enough not to put anyone off. In clear language and focused on 1 topic at at a time. Essentially, address all the blockers to learning about user-centred design and adapt your training to clear them.
Modular
Make your training modular. Even if it is also part of a series, a curated, clear language building block enables learners to upskill, refresh or fill in any gaps in their user-centred design knowledge. And it’s surmountable. It’s something people can try out, and, if done well, get an appetite for learning more.
For example, a learner might start with an introduction to user-centred design, and go on to an introduction to content design, then look at how content designers fit into a multi-disciplinary team. Or someone might straight up want specifics on, for example, user journey mapping, or content findability.
Affordable
Make your courses as affordable as possible. We don’t all have the privilege of disposable income, and even though professional development is an investment, it’s one that not everyone can afford. Not everyone will have an employer paying for their training either: many of us are freelance, self-employed, on zero hour contracts, or unemployed.
(If you’re in a full-time role where creating training is part of your day job, then obviously make the training free!)
The other reason for low prices is to encourage people to try them out. And if they like it, to try out some more!
Format
Focus on 1 topic at a time, starting with an overview and drilling down into further need-to-know detail. Include real world examples.
If you include images that add meaning, give that meaning in the body text too. If you include make sure it’s captioned, and provide a transcript.
Audience
To increase broader understanding of user-centred design within organisations, create your training for a broad potential audience of learners, for example:
- career changers and progressors
- students
- design roles without specialist content design and readability knowledge
- non-design roles
- team leaders, managers, delivery managers, product owners
- stakeholders, CEOs and other budgeting decision makers
- anyone curious about user-centred design or content design
Quality
It, probably, goes without saying that you should have many years of professional user-centred design experience before you create training materials. Clear language skills are essential too, as are respected user-centred design source material and references. If you quote someone credit them, if you quote something, provide a reference. If you paraphrase, acknowledge the original text.
Work in progress
As mentioned at the start I am part-way through creating a series of user-centred design online lessons, at really tiny prices. To support this effort or find out more about my user-centred design bitesize lessons cause please consider buying me a coffee.
And if you know of any tech for good grants I could apply to for funding continuing to create these affordable, inclusive, easily-accessible lessons, do please let me know.
