Jen Hofer
Interaction Design & Content Strategy
I'm a big fan of being thoughtful, asking questions, and going beyond button labels. I'm the one who says things like, "How might we show our users that we care... without telling them?" and "Wouldn't it be nice if our customers enjoyed using our product?" and "Sure, but how do you know?"
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My UX career has been roughly 25% UX Writing and 75% Content Strategy. Despite that distinction, 100% of it has been Interaction Design. With every word I choose, with every lorem I replace, I help design an interaction.
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The work I highlight here shows how I think, what I can do, and what I love. If you'd like to chat about details, please contact me.
UX Content Strategy
Just a few examples of my product strategy work. I seriously love talking about this stuff, so if you'd like to see more, please just reach out.
Google Brand Voice Workshop
Problem: Brand confusion and inconsistent UI. A relatively new Google product (Local Services) had grown quickly without a cohesive, intentional approach to personality or voice, leading to what felt like a home-grown experience.
Solution: I proposed and ran a cross-functional workshop to help identify who the product was (core values) and how it should sound. Very fun and impactful.
Content Strategy Maturity Model
Problem: Google has many tools, standards, and frameworks to make user-friendly, high-quality, excellent products. But these are standalone resources, making it hard for a Content Strategist to be strategic. I suspect this isn’t uncommon among large companies.
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Solution: I developed this UX Content Strategy Maturity Model to help look at a product holistically without creating a whole new set of frameworks. The goal is to prioritize and track a product’s progress along a continuum.
Content Principles
Problem: Google People Operations (Human Resources) was launching a whole new system for a fundamental employee process. With many stakeholders and various teams contributing, we needed a cohesive approach to content.
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Solution: Based on research, I developed a set of Content Principles specifically designed for this particular product experience, then shared them with the product design team.
In-Product Copy
This is where you can see how important it is to think beyond the style guide. I also love this stuff.
Please Don't Label Everything
Problem: Google People Operations (Human Resources) was launching a whole new system for a fundamental employee process (same project mentioned above). User testing taught us that some proposed new terminology was confusing... a real flowstopper.
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Solution: Just because you can label something doesn't mean you should. I recommended they use the copy in the UI to conversationally ask the user a question, rather than require the user to learn, choose, and remember the new terms in an already new process and tool. Designers, PM, and Business approved.
It's Okay to Remove Content
Opportunity: A Content Designer asked me to review the 1-line message at the top of this modal in a product used internally by Spectrum customer service agents.
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Solution: Our goal was to help agents manage each call as quickly as possible. I recommended removing the line altogether, as well as consolidating the list of call reasons with just an indicator showing the current one. The product team agreed with and adopted my recommendation.
Product Design
And now for something completely different...
Vivace, My Wine Tasting App
Opportunity: I attended the General Assembly User Experience Design certification program in January-March 2018. The program was based completely on creating a product of your choosing. Mine was Vivace, a wine tasting app.
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Solution: I'm happy to chat about this with you, but the best way to see it is to view this video of the prototype I developed. If anyone wants to build this, please do. I'll be your first download.