Clearly, I have been missing much since 2003 since I only heard about Movember this month. Movember began in 2003 by a bunch of inspired (and brilliant) Australians. Movember is an international movement to bring attention to men’s health issues, mainly prostate and other men’s cancers through individuals growing mustaches.

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A New York Times article recently revealed that Groupon employs over 400 writers and editors to produce the humorous sales pitches that move their discounted wares. Banter such as “Like the seedpod of the sacred lotus, golf courses are filled with holes and cause feelings of euphoria when chewed” is intended to capture the attention of online shoppers. In the crowded “deal-of-the-day” space, Groupon is betting that their heavy investment in the creation and craft of words, and their unique voice, will put them at the top of the heap.

Often, when we begin brainstorming a new online experience for web or mobile, the first things our clients talk about are functionality, architecture and design. Copy and voice are recognized as important aspects of the brand, but most people feel it can be slotted in later in the process, even after the site is completed. But the words we select and craft play as important a role in the function of a site as the backend code.

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Focus on narrow, specific tasks. It doesn’t take a survey to tell you that users are less focused when they are using browsers and apps on a smartphone. This means that you should focus your design on a small set of well-defined tasks. Don’t try to squeeze everything under the sun into a single app.

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Interactive experiences on mobile devices are no longer limited to simple information finding like phone number lookup or location finding. Users are taking advantage of a variety of interaction modes. Everything from social media to reading to collaboration to gaming to shopping to browsing are used regularly on a variety of mobile platforms.

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Our Director of Experience Design, Ryan Evans, will be speaking at an event sponsored by MITX titled “Cater to Your Customer: Adapting User Personas to Social Engagement” on November 10th in Cambridge. We hope you can join us! Here’s some additional information about the event:

A company engaged in social media is a dime a dozen in 2010, but how many of those companies are in sync with the hearts and minds of their customers? Learn how to delve deeper into the opportunities of social media by understanding how to target users based on their attitude, goals, and behaviors. Capturing your audience’s attention at an almost subconscious level to address their needs and interests will be a necessity to effectively and consistently engage with consumers through social media.

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Our clients often ask us why they should conduct usability testing with their website, mobile site or application. They say, “We’ve talked about the site endlessly and now it looks great! Why do we need to take the time to get more feedback before we launch?” Task-based usability testing is one of the best ways we have to understand how users will succeed and fail with an online experience. While we have a number of qualitative and quantitative tools that help us understand the mindset and behavior of site users, we can never be sure that the site will work for them until we recruit real users and sit them down in front of our work.

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The 2010 Inc. 5000: The Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs – via Inc.

New Kindle Leaves Rivals Farther Back – via The New York Times

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A Bike-Powered Mobile Coffee Shop Brews the Most Sustainable Cup in New York – via MSN’s GOOD Blog

E-Books Fly Beyond Mere Text – via New York Times

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A key question when developing social media strategy or a website is “Who do we target?”. “Who will be the most effective individuals to reach with our message?” Often these target audiences break down into two groups. Advocates for your organization, people who are invested in you and your offering, and the public, customers or end users – the ultimate recipients of your offering. A typical website design or social media strategy will try to reach these two groups in varying proportions.

But there is a third group, a group as important as either and one that can have a disproportionate effect on reaching end users. We call this group “Messengers.” Unlike your advocates, messengers are an audience that you don’t have direct contact with on a regular basis. They don’t follow your every word but they do share an affinity for your ideas, your topics and your issues. They might already be talking about your issues without mentioning your organization. Sometimes messengers talk about your topic on a regular basis, sometimes more sporadically as events or seasonality dictates.

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To celebrate the season of sharing, this year we’ve made a contribution to The Food Project in honor of all of our clients past and present. To see what this thoughtful organziation does for communities and youth, visit www.thefoodproject.org

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