UX Sheffield: The (M)admen of the 50s were the first User Experience designers

WELCOME TO UX SHEFFIELD

Wednesday 28th January 2015

User Experience consultantat Bunnyfoot

@itsjamiewales

FACT: Once saved a very lost Elvis Costello from missing a gig in Sheffield.

He’s also a James Blunt fan…

JAMIE [email protected]

Senior Interaction Designerat Bunnyfoot

@jwingy

FACT: Once lost a small child for 2 hours in a show cave when working asa tour guide

JONNY [email protected]

“A bi-monthly event where we invite

speakers to come and talk about their experiences in UX research and design

projects”

ABOUT UX SHEFFIELD

6.15pm : Get a drink and take a seat!

6.45pm : Jon Dodd – The (m)admen of the 50s were the

first user experience designers…

7.30pm : Open mic

8pm: Drinks in the main bar

EVENING SCHEDULE

Tonight 's sponsor

WANT TO HELP?

WERE THE FIRST UX DESIGNERS

THE (M)ADMEN OF THE 50S

28th Jan 2015

Jon Dodd

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INTRODUCTIONS: ME

Dr Jon Dodd

Escaped academic: Dphil. ‘visual and computational

neuroscience’

Co-founder, Bunnyfoot 1999

Overall lead for UCD, customer experience, training

Project director, lead consultant, consultant and designer on wide

variety of software, web and communication projects e.g. Virgin,

Dyson, Microsoft, Prudential bank, Tesco, Royal Bank of Scotland,

UK Met Office, IsBank, Boden, M&S, Cotswold Outdoors…

Recently took part in the clipper round the world yacht race

Frustrated author

DR JON DODDCEO and Co-Founder

Bunnyfoot

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INTRODUCTIONS: YOU?

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WHY THE (M)ADMEN OF THE 50’S (& 60’S)?

I discovered them many years ago working

for the advertising industry

Interested in ‘universal principles’ since

starting Bunnyfoot 15 years ago

Now more than ever, advertising and

product design (the experience) merging

UX EARLY INSPIRATIONS?

THE ORIGINAL (M)ADMAN

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THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF SELLING THE AGA COOKER (1935)

“ the perfect AGA salesman combines the tenacity of the bulldog with

the manners of the spaniel – if you have any charm ooze it”

An embodiment of his ‘Magic Lantern’ a slide deck everyone starting at

O&M had to watch slide and film presentations

Those not enthusiastically in agreement were ‘invited to leave’

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Let’s hear a bit from the man himself

“You know it to the dollar”

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11 principles on ‘How to build great campaigns’

How much of this is relevant now? Think briefly after each

LETS TAKE A QUICK LOOK AT

PART OF THE MAGIC LANTERN

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#1

WHAT YOU SAY IS MORE

IMPORTANT THAN HOW YOU

SAY IT

“Molly my dear, I

would have bought

that new brand of

toilet soap – if only

they hadn’t set the

body copy in ten

point Garamond”

Mythical 50s housewife

“When I write an ad I don’t want you to tell me it’s

‘creative’, I want you to find it so persuasive that

you buy the product – or buy it more often”

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#1

WHAT YOU SAY IS MORE

IMPORTANT THAN HOW YOU

SAY ITContent rather than form

Informed by research – NEVER rely on guesswork

Used a lot of split testing to establish the core promise

What you provide (info, service, capability) is more

important than how you provide it. Go for tangible

value, real utility, and great content + use research!

The first conversion rate optimiser? (with Dr Gallop)

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#2

UNLESS YOUR CAMPAIGN IS

BUILD AROUND A GREAT IDEA,

IT WILL FLOPDetermined to blaze new trails (=effort)

…it isn’t every client who can recognise a truly great

idea when they see it

Usability nowadays is a basic requirement

Standard copycat approach is likely lacking (see #11)

Focus on real function and need (see #1)

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#3

GIVE THE FACTSThe consumer isn’t a moron – she’s your wife – do not

insult her intelligence with a mere slogan and a few

vapid adjectives. She wants all the information you can

give her

Competing brands often alike – pre-empt the truth…

“we must take

a look at that

damn clock”

Rolls-Royce engineer

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#3

GIVE THE FACTSThe consumer isn’t a moron – she’s your wife – do not

insult her intelligence with a mere slogan and a few

vapid adjectives. She wants all the information you can

give her

Competing brands often alike – pre-empt the truth…

Give them the facts – do not patronise – do not hide detail

Customer benefit (info and experience) is key (see #1)

‘Native advertising’, ‘Content marketing’

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#4

YOU CANNOT BORE PEOPLE

INTO BUYINGMassive competition for attention (1500 ads/day in 1963)

Ear splitting barrage - your voice must be unique

# 1 again

Craft and attention to detail matter

Focus and deep understanding

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#5

BE WELL MANNERED, BUT

DON’T CLOWNEasier to sell with a friendly handshake (rather than rude)

People don’t buy from clowns

Charm

Charm (friendly), matched tone of voice (mirror)

Little details (copy, motion, imagery)

Don’t let frippery get in the way of function (see #1)

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#6

MAKE YOUR ADVERTISING

CONTEMPORARYDifficult for a 51 year old to tune into young married

couples just starting out

Most of our copywriters are young…

Be up to date

Optimise and iterate

Ongoing improvements

Be lean(er) and more responsive to change

Avoid you own assumptions you are not the customer

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#7

COMMITTEES CAN CRITICISE

ADVERTISEMENTS, BUT THEY

CANNOT CREATE THEMBest when written by a single solitary person

…not look like minutes of a committee meeting

Lean and agile focus on small teams

Avoid HiPPO effect through evidence based design

Avoid committees, and dilution, focus through UCD

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#8

IF YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO

WRITE A GOOD ADVERTISEMENT,

REPEAT IT UNTIL IT STOPS PULLING

Don’t discard just because sponsors get sick of seeing

them

You are not advertising to a standing army

Don’t add features for the sake of it

Keep constant (maybe improve) what people love

Consistency is a basic tenet of interaction

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#9

NEVER WRITE AN ADVERTISEMENT

WHICH YOU WOULDN’T WANT YOUR

OWN FAMILY TO READ

If you tell lies about a product you will be found out

Truthfulness for long term +ve customer experience

Especially today you will be found out

Own and respond to any deficiencies

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#10

THE IMAGE AND THE BRANDEvery advertisement should be thought of as a

contribution to the complex symbol that is the brand

image

Cannot be all things to all people

Sustain over a period of years

UX is a long term aim and not a snapshot

Consistency of brand (positioning is key)

Focus on primary not all things to all people

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#11

DON’T BE A COPY CATNobody has ever built a brand by copying someone

else’s advertising

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but it is the

mark of an inferior person

Tempting to use existing components, libraries etc.

Focus on the core user problem, ideate the problem

Start on paper – don’t risk dogma through electronic copying

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OGILVY ON RESEARCH

…he was BIG into research

…but often dumfounded by how crap it was

He earned his stripes working with Dr Gallup’s ‘audience

research institute’ before he set up his own agency

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“Do your

homework”

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“Consumers

don’t think how

they feel. They

don’t say what

they think and

they don’t do

what they say”

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“A blind pig

can sometimes

find truffles,

but it helps to

know they are

found in oak

forests”

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9 THINGS HE DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT ‘CONTEMPORARY’ RESEARCH

1. Take too long to answer a few simple questions: “they

are natural slowpokes”

2. Cannot agree on methodology

3. Are too interested in sociology and economics, not

advertising [Note for UX now this might be …are too

interested in traffic not behaviour]

4. Have little or no system for retrieving research which

has already been conducted [tactical not strategic]

5. Are too faddish; some techniques are useful, but still go

out of fashion [probably the opposite now: focus gp]

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9 THINGS HE DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT ‘CONTEMPORARY’ RESEARCH

6. Use graphs that are incomprehensible to laymen

[shudder at piecharts now!]

7. Refuse to undertake projects which they consider

imperfect, even when the project would produce

actionable results. Quoting Winston Churchill;

“PERFECTIONISM is spelled PARALYSIS”

8. Lack initiative i.e. only do what they are asked for

9. Use pretentious jargon [ethnography? Contextual

inquiry?]

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NOT JUST OVERALL PRINCIPLES –

HE WAS INTO DETAIL TOOOn layout for print

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WITHOUT SOPHISTICATED EYETRACKING: OGILVY OBSERVED:

People scan and skim first and read second

and they only read IF their scan turns up

something worthwhile

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SO DIRECTED:

“Readers look first at the illustration, then at

the headline, then at the copy.

So put these elements in that order:

illustration at the top, headline under the

illustration, copy under the headline.

If you put the headline above the illustration,

you are asking people to scan in an order

which does not fit their habit”

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LAYOUT RULES: CORE COMPONENTS IN THIS ORDER

The picture, which should have

“story appeal” + caption

The headline, which should tie into

the “story appeal” of the picture

The body copy, which must be

placed in the right relationship to

both the picture and the headline

as to anticipate the reader’s visual

preferences and enhance

readability.

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ON HEADLINES:

1. The headline is the ticket on the meat – use it to flag down your prospects:

If you are selling a remedy for bladder weakness use ‘BLADDER WEAKNESS’

in the headline

If you are selling to mothers use ‘MOTHERS’ in the headline

Don’t use anything to exclude audiences (e.g. slant towards female if

selling to both man and women)

2. Every headline should appeal to the reader’s self interest

It should promise a benefit e.g. How women over 35 can look younger…

3. Always try to inject news

The two most powerful words are FREE and NEW – you can seldom use free

but almost always use new – if you try hard enough

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ON HEADLINES:

4. Use these words (don’t turn your nose up a cliché if it works):

How to, Suddenly, Now, Announcing, Introducing, It’s here, Just arrived,

Important development, Improvement, Amazing, Sensational, Remarkable,

Revolutionary, Startling, Miracle, Magic, Offer, Quick, Easy, Wanted,

Challenge, Advice to, The truth about, Compare, Bargain, Hurry, Last

chance

Strengthen with emotion: Darling, Love, Fear, Proud, Friend & Baby

5. Always include the brand name in the headline

5 times as many people read the headline as the body copy

6. Include your selling promise – this requires long headlines

Headlines of 10 or more words sell more (found through research)

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ON HEADLINES:

7. End your headline with a lure to read on

Arouse their curiosity

Make more likely to read body copy

8. Tricky headlines – puns, literary allusions and other obscurities are a SIN

It must telegraph what you want to say

Don’t play games with the reader

9. Avoid blind headlines

Make sure they mean something when read out of context

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IMPLICATIONS?

HEADLINES -> UX?Substitute headlines for calls to action?

Display and search advertising

Email subjects

Landing pages

Instructional text

Create flow

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ON COPY: ALSO SEVERAL OTHER (M)ADMEN

Claude Hopkins

Raymond Rubicam

George Cecil

James Webb Young

John Caples

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ON BODY COPY:

1. Get straight to the point

Avoid analogies e.g. ‘just as xxxx, so too yyyy (they don’t work)

2. Avoid superlatives, generalisations and platitudes

Be specific and factual

Be enthusiastic, friendly, memorable – don’t be a bore

Tell the truth but tell it fascinatingly

Length depends on product

Do not be afraid of long copy

Cited: readership dropped off up to 50 words then not again until 500

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A STORY TOLD BY VICTOR SCHWAB (FAMOUS COPYWRITER)

George Dyer (copywriter) arguing with client (Max Hart) about long

copy:

Dyer: I’ll bet you $10 I can write a newspaper page full of solid type

and you will read every word of it

Hart: scoffed

Dyer: I don’t even have to write it, I’ll only tell you the headline:

This page is all about Max Hart

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ON BODY COPY:

3. Always include testimonials

Increases believability

Outsells the puffery of an anonymous copywriter

Celebrities work well if honestly written

4. Give useful advice

Rather than dealing entirely with product

5. Keep it simple

Fine writing/purple prose is a disadvantage

6. Avoid bombast

When a company boasts about its integrity or a woman about her virtue –

avoid the former and cultivate the latter

7. Write in colloquial (everyday) language

Natural language

“I once used OBSOLETE in a headline only

to discover 43% of housewives had no idea

what it meant”

“In another headline, I used the word

INEFFABLE only to discover that I didn’t

know what it meant myself”

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ON BODY COPY:

8. Resist the temptation to write the kind of copy that wins awards

Most of the campaigns that win awards don’t sell

9. Resist the temptation to entertain

Give the facts and sell

“If it doesn’t sell it isn’t creative”

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AND HE GETS EVEN MORE SPECIFIC… ON LONG COPY…

1. A display subhead of 2 or 3 lines above the copy will heighten your reader’s

appetite for the feast to come

2. Start body copy with a large initial letter = 13% more readership

3. Keep opening paragraph down to a maximum of 11 words

4. Insert first Crosshead after 2 or 3 inches – pepper throughout

Make some of them interrogarative to excite curiosity for the following copy

5. Use columns 40 characters wide

6. 9pt is absolute minimum character size [in print]

7. Serif type is easier to read than sans-serif [in print]

8. Do not square up paragraphs – the widows increase readership – except at

the end of columns where it invites them to quit

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AND HE GETS EVEN MORE SPECIFIC… ON LONG COPY…

9. Break up monotony of long copy by setting key paragraphs in bold

10. Insert illustrations from time to time

11. Help readers into your paragraphs with arrows, bullets, margin marks…

12. Number large numbers of unrelated facts

13. NEVER set copy in reverse – it’s harder to read

14. If you use leading between paragraphs you increase readership by 12%

15. Use lower case – not all caps

16. Use a single type face in titles/headlines etc.

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ON ILLUSTRATIONS / PICTURES …

1. The subject is more important than the technique

You don’t have to be a genius to click the shutter

2. Arouse curiosity – use story appeal

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ON ILLUSTRATIONS / PICTURES …

3. Photographs sell more than drawings

Photo = reality, drawing = fantasy – which is less believable

4. Before and after photos fascinate people

5. …so does a challenge ‘which one has….’

6. If in doubt which picture to use split test

KLM photograph: aircraft or destination? (destination 2x as effective!)

7. People are generally interested in people they can relate to (m:m, f;f)

In dream research there is a 1.7 ratio towards the same sex of characters

Don’t choose models yourself you probably have different taste

8. Use baby photos to attract women

9. Don’t show enlarged close-up of faces – they repel readers

10. Focus on one person – crowd scenes don’t pull

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ON ILLUSTRATIONS / PICTURES …

11. Test layouts where they will appear [in context]

12. Avoid stereotyped pictures like grinning housewife pointing at fridge

13. Don’t make ads look like ads – if they look like editorial 50% more people will

read

14. People read captions more than copy – always have a caption (make it a

mini ad)

15. Never deface a picture by putting a headline over it

16. If the layout contains a coupon put it top and centre

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I COULD GO ON… HE DOESAnd it’s all worth reading:

Posters, TV, miracles of research, selling food, foreign

travel, direct mail, business to business…

…as well as advice on running a business, rising to the

top, being a good client, getting clients, life in general…

“ask what their commission

is, and if it is the normal 15%

add 1% to make it 16% - it

will double their profit, the

1% won’t kill you and you

will get better service”

On being a good client

/finding a good agency

“We don’t make

love until we are

married”

On showing

speculative creative

campaigns

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ON A GENERAL APPROACH TO LIFE

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CONCLUSION

Read the classics

Don’t reinvent the wheel (or think you are)

…but update and question… and avoid the

sexism!

Perform scrupulous research

Pay your agency more than they ask for

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YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

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