The User Experience of email subscriptions + Putting content ahead of design

Speakers AJ Justo and Bethany Joy join us for this month's meetup to talk content! As always, there'll be plenty of beer, soft drinks and pizza!

---------Agenda---------

18:00 - Arrive, pizza, beers and networking

18:30 - The user experience of email subscriptions - AJ Justo

18:45 - Why your new website is doomed unless you put content ahead of design - Bethany Joy

19:30 - Close

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Talk 1 - The user experience of email subscriptions - AJ Justo

Email is part of every digital product and service in one way or another. We all receive commercial emails on a daily basis. It is fair to say that email affects the digital experience of billions of people every day. Yet, as UX professionals, we often don't get a chance of looking at how it affects users and how it fits with the broader journeys. In this talk, I'm going to tell you about my own journey of exploration of the strengths and weaknesses of email subscriptions, how they affect the experience of users and what we can do to improve them.

About AJ:

Throughout AJ's career he's had the opportunity to work with more than 200 businesses to help them build effective and engaging digital products and services. AJ is especially passionate about the power of ideation and surfacing knowledge that comes with Design Thinking and UCD. He love's facilitating and participating in workshops and founded and co-organise the Design Thinking Oxford events to help disseminate the benefits of it. When AJ's not working, he is either reading or walking along Oxfordshire's beautiful countryside paths with his two daughters.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajjusto/

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Talk 2 - Why your new website is doomed unless you put content ahead of design - Bethany Joy

In this digital age, a company website is one of the main places potential customers will go to find out more about what a business is like and what they offer. So it’s no surprise that lots of companies spend a good amount of time and money on those websites.

What is surprising is the number of times this time and money gets wasted because companies don’t approach the creation of their new website in the best way, meaning that their websites aren’t as successful as they could be. Far too many businesses prioritise design and development over content – in other words, they care more about what their site looks like and how it works than they do about what it says.

In this talk, freelance writer and content creator Bethany Joy will be arguing that when it comes to a web project, content should be the first thing we think about. In fact she goes so far as to say that if we make a start on designing and building a site before we’ve developed all our content then our website will be doomed to fail!

So whether you’re intrigued by this radical approach or just want to argue with her, come along to hear Bethany unpack her ideas for a content-first approach to website creation.

About Bethany:

A brand voice crafter and wordsmith extraordinaire, Beth helps passionate people with big ideas find the words they need to get got! She began her working life in charity communications just over a decade ago, before moving on to comms and brand consultancy and then copywriting for a creative agency. Beth now puts bread (and bacon, always bacon) on the table by helping organisations find a writing style and voice that truly shows the passion and personality of their business, as well as creating gettable and irresistible copy for their websites, campaigns, blogs, and marketing materials. You can check her out at www.bethanyjoy.org

---------Venue---------

The Workshed - It's a 5 minute walk from Swindon train station, or if you're driving, the closest car park is on Bristol Street.

---------Sponsors---------

Bravedog (www.bravedog.co.uk) will be kindly providing the venue for this event.

And thank you to C4S-Search (http://c4s-search.co.uk) for funding the beer, soft drinks and nibbles!