The Need for Science-Based Content Design

It's pretty much universally accepted that understanding your audience is a critical part of developing effective content. Organizations and their content designers invest heavily in conducting audience analyses, drafting empathy maps, writing user stories, and testing user responses. However, nearly all approaches neglect one of the most universal and fundamental elements of understanding your audience. That is how human beings – all human beings – perceive and process information on an anatomical and neurological level. Our eyes and brains' very structure determines and influences how we engage with and interpret content. By understanding the science of human perception, we can make content-related decisions that effectively direct our user's attention, reinforce information-seeking behavior, and facilitate comprehension. We can produce content that helps users succeed by conveying information that is easy to find, read, understand, use, and remember. Takeaways: ● Regardless of the subject area, industry, or demographics, all human beings perceive and process information based on our bodies' anatomical and neurological structures. ● Understanding how we perceive and process information empowers us to make evidence-based decisions that help our users be successful. ● Science-based content design provides practical, concrete guidelines for making specific decisions about the language and presentation of effective instructional content. This webinar is brought to you by The Content Wrangler and sponsored by MadCap Software.