At Google, I joined the Material Design team to create a scalable content strategy, templates, and case studies on Material.io. This would help designers and developers create usable apps by viewing great examples of Material Design. As a result, I created a new content strategy direction based in qualitative and quantitative research.
Overview
Role
UX Writer Intern
Duration
3 months
Tools
Figma, Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets, Google Forms
Skills
Research, coding interview, interview analysis, content strategy, UX writing, defending design decisions, drafting recommendations
The project
My project was to create a really engaging new format for the Material case studies. The existing case studies were long, dense, including fictional products as perfect use cases for Material Design. I created a case study format that was short, based on research, real-world products that were Google and non-Google related.
The goal
My job was to revamp and systematize a format for all future case studies, support it with an audit and content strategy, and put it into practice by writing a case study.
The team
Material Design Team
UX Writer (Me)
Content Strategist (Manager)
UX Writer
UX Researcher
UX Designers
UX Engineer
By the Numbers
Due to the NDA, I will be sharing my process and potential impact. I cannot share most of the research and outcomes.
Problem—
Research revealed that people like to learn about Material Design by viewing it in action. However, Material case studies are difficult to find, lack real-world examples, fictional, are time-consuming to read, and difficult to reproduce—create and publish.
Strategy—
I conducted an audit, initiated a collaboration with a lead UX Researcher to conduct a large-scale survey, created an initial proposal with a refined content strategy, wrote a template, and a case study. All of these deliverables were shared and incorporated feedback from the Material team.
Strategic Process
I started the preliminary research process by looking a the big picture. This included examining:
company goals
prior research about user goals and pain points
team insights about learning Material design
Survey 1 (External Insights)
I collaborated with a Google UX Researcher to launch a large-scale survey on Material.io. I crafted the open survey question:
What types of case studies and examples of Material Design would be helpful to you?
As a result, 250+ users responded. I examined these responses on Excel to aggregate most desired categories. I coded the data to draft recommendations to share with the Material Design team via an initial proposal. This fed into a content strategy and a scalable template for all future case studies. I wrote a case study in queue to be published on the Material Blog.
Survey 2 (Internal Insights)
Google designers and developers are a significant target user group for Material Design. Previously, I interviewed 15+ designers and developers during the discovery phase. To validate research findings, I launched a second survey that targeted internal Google employees. In a company newsletter, I asked Googlers:
The Material Design team is thinking of adding more case studies and examples to Material.io—and we want your input.
What types of Material case studies or examples would be most helpful to you?
What format do you prefer for case studies or examples?
Is there anything else you would like the Material team to know?
As a result, I fed these findings into the audit.
UX Research
Audit—
My thought process was to cast a wide net to look at existing case study content and examples from outside of Material Design to highlight what works, what didn’t, and opportunities. These included:
Material case studies
internal Google case studies
case studies in other design systems (Polaris, IBM, etc).
Looking at about 20 case studies, I evaluated them based on word count, visual/interactive assets, and layout.
Findings—
One example of the findings was an Inconsistent content strategy for word count for Google case studies. This discrepancy also included a break away from the industry standard of presenting case studies created by other design systems (ex: Ant, Microsoft Fluent, Shopify Polaris, IBM Carbon).
Takeaways—
The industry standard appears to be 100-300 words per case study
There doesn't appear to be a consistent content strategy among Google case studies
Users want real-world examples
Recommendations—
Make the case studies scannable
Include real-world examples
Move case studies to the blog
Initial proposal & Content strategy—
After sharing content recommendations with the Material team, I
Drafted new case study goals
Proposed three potential directions for the new case study format, socialized it to a feedback cycle to finalize the option.
To illustrate three distinct options, I provided: a brief summary, target audience, use case, new format, pros and cons chart, and an example headline for each option
Content strategy recommendations—
Focus all future case study topics on common design-focused problems and how they are resolved with Material Design.
Mapping the tone
By plugging them into a user journey map to observe the change in tone, there was a balance struck between a friendly, conversational tone, and a concise tone so that it meets people in their workflow.
Fine-tuning Google’s voice to support the new Material case studies.
Template & Case study draft—
Drafted, edited, and submitted a case study scheduled for the Material blog launch at the end of 2020.
For the template, I thrived in ambiguity when drafting a template as the Material blog format was not finalized. During the drafting phase, I fine-tuned the tone and voice for the new case study home on the Material blog. While the Material tone and voice is authoritative and educational, the tone and voice for the upcoming Material blog is conversational and accessible.
Stakeholder buy-in & feedback cycle—
To get stakeholder buy-in, I had to craft a compelling story so that my team could believe it, and see it in practice. I a/b tested three different options with the (1) content team, (2) cross-functional team. For each option, I ensured it was short and scannable, including a concept, rationale, use case/user story, pros, cons, and an example. I shared these drafts with the team via Google Docs to jumpstart a feedback cycle and stakeholder buy-in.
A snippet of the scalable template shared with the Material Design Org.
Link to Material blog case studies!
Old vs. New
During user research validated by user surveys and multiple user interviews, I diagnosed problems in the the Material Studies. As a result of the new content strategy that was implemented, the Material Blog highlights real-world products that teach user group learners about Material Design with great, practical examples, not fictional ones.
Writing a case study
When I drafted a case study, I dived into the product to become an authority on Material Design. Armed with these learnings, I researched several Google and non-Google products to reverse engineer how they resolved designed problems with Material Design. I wrote a case study featuring these products and shared it with the Material organization and central accessibility and localizations teams. As a result, they can be used as an example for all future case study blog posts.