Product Content Strategy and Content Design Course

Three different courses depending on your learning goals—for content strategists, content designers, UX Writers, content-driven UX designers, and for the content and design practitioners who want to apply content and design learnings in the product and system thinking.

DirectionsStandards. Meaning.

In addition to the foundational how and why of content strategy or content design, the program is an extension to our learnings at work to widen our sphere of impact for a product-success-centric approach. (See example assignment in the course.)

Audience centric.

How the course works

You can make the best use of the course if you participate actively, question me, and be proactive in discussions. In the Standards course, you get a chance to select the type of product you want to work on as part of the assignment.

  • Live calls—slides, Slack, and access to Miro
  • One continuous library—I will add relevant references for each topic or subject to this library
  • Special guests in some classes
  • Course assignment just as we work on the real products in the world (see example 1 and example 2, these open in a Google drive document)

Only 4 seats in a group.

The course goals

The goal is to develop and channelize our learnings via an action plan so that we can apply these to see how a product works and scales. After completing the program, you can apply your learnings in the real work.

“To manage and overcome emotions like guilt that can prevent us from learning and achieving, we need to treat ourselves the same way we would the person we love most in the world.” writes Dennis Tirch. (source, Farnam Street blog)

Shaping a few repeatable patterns as habits

The course participants say

“I really enjoyed learning about content design and how to apply it to my daily work. This was a really informative and well-structured program. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a jump into the world of content design.”

Eiken Nurcelli, content strategist (see their LinkedIn)

“Because I knew nothing about content design, I chose the class in order to learn how content design and content strategy fit together and which impact good or bad design can have for the users experience. The class was well-structured with theoretical parts and real life examples. Vinish Garg was eager to teach us as much as possible relevant and valuable know how.”

Linda Schwarz, PR Manager and content strategist (see their LinkedIn)

You can apply

You can apply if you are curious to learn and apply your learnings in how we design products, how we design the message, the content practices, and how we can commit to raising our own standards in our work regardless of our title or role.

If you have questions, write to me at vinishjg (at) gmail (dot) com and we can discuss.

Curiosity.

Three courses

  • Directions: For beginners
  • Standards: For those with 2-4 years of experience in content
  • Meaning: For those with 6+ years of experience in content

Help yourself. It starts in April 2024

Directions

  • What is content design and how it helps the product teams
  • Steps, phases, and deliverables’ overview; why these are important for design and product
  • Working with design, product, and other teams, how to establish the practice
  • Content design, content strategy, content marketing, and UX writing
  • Set up small wins and get started with content design
  • Two live calls, 90 min each
  • One follow up group call of 30 minutes within 30 days of the end of course
  • Price: USD 250

Standards

  • Why we are talking about design or content? Why should an organization care for content and design, collectively?
  • Understanding content and design in the context of UX, products, and business design, real life examples of design failure and content failure and how content design could save them
  • What is content strategy, its relation and mappings with other functions and teams, how content design can coexist with content strategy, content marketing, UX writing, product marketing, and brand positioning.
  • Defining content design for scale—establishing the practice that aligns and grows with product vision for product metrics
  • Interface—working with design for user stories, JTBD, designing interactions with words, alignment for org goals
  • Continuous discovery for customer journey, customer moments and customer intent for the customer success criteria
  • Content principles, content systems, and design systems
  • Five live calls, 90 minutes each
  • One follow up group call of 60 minutes within 30 days of the end of course
  • Price: USD 550

Meaning

An overview of all topics in Standards

PLUS 

  • What makes an organisation? The people, the vision, the incentives, and how the dynamics when the product grows
  • Early stage functional alignment—clarity for shared goals and shared vision, systems-alignment for org growth—overview of product metrics
  • Operational cadence in product teams—the role of content
  • Our operating principles and frameworks, leadership trade-offs, how product content takes the org vision forward for  system thinking
  • Content strategy and content design mapped with product onboarding, retention
  • Adjacent learning: Cost of delay, decision models, transition to design and product leadership roles
  • Four live calls, 90 min each
  • Price: USD 450
  • Calls on Tuesday or Friday as we shall agree
  • Slack and Miro for all discussions
  • Access to recordings of all the calls, and of Miro and Slack, for 30 days after the course is over
  • A digital swag you can use in your profile
  • A course assignment where you work as if working on a real life product

Registration opens on 02 April 2024.

Learning for the Meaning

As individuals, you can prepare yourself by separating the work rewards from the rewards of learning. Our learnings add strength to our belief system and to our decisions framework.

We need to find ways to fight our blind spots

Questions? Write to me at vinishjg (at) gmail (dot) com.

“With time, we obviously gain knowledge, wisdom, and more data points to inform our power of intuition. We build confidence and networks, but we’re also creating blind spots.”

You—”I am fixing the directions in customer journey.”

They—”Thank you.”

You—”The revised form is good, we have just got it tested. It has the right message, we followed the design style guide, and the content strategist has reviewed it.”

They—”Perfect. So, it should work now.”

You—”I could do it because of Meaning.”

They—”I know, that is why we got your course sponsored. We all gained. Cheers.”

A dialogue between a content designer and their manager

Product content strategy

Product content strategy is the product-centric content strategy in an organization across the teams and functions for discovery and research, content plan for product and design strategy, content-driven design, product architecture, and measuring its role in the product metrics.

This product content strategy course brings more clarity and focus in how we plan content or design for products. The goal is not to hand over a content strategy certificate that helps your resume, we are talking about a serious product content strategy practice.

“Product content strategy is like the choreographer or the gatekeeper that oversees the function in the world of content, not only across product teams, but also making sure that voice, tone, messaging, the actual asset of the content as a product is in harmony with what’s happening over marketing, what’s happening over in support, what’s happening with technical content management, etc.” says Kristina Halvorson (source).

In a lot of ways, content strategy means operationalizing everything in content design, UX writing, product marketing, and brand positioning.

 

Product-centric content strategy for its role in product metrics

Content design

Content design is a series of steps, processes, and activities that bring a content-centric perspective to planning the organization’s content via discovery, and designing the content-driven products that are a fine balance between user-centricity and organization goals. This tweet by Content Design London is a good reference to what is content design. 

This content design course is prepared to advance your understanding of how content makes products better. You will not get a content design certificate; your work in this course becomes your content design portfolio.

“Content design is answering a user need in the best way for the user to consume it. Content design is a way of thinking. It’s about using data and evidence to give the audience what they need, at the time they need it and in a way they expect.” Sarah Winters.

You cannot separate content from design

UX writing

UX Writing is planning and writing content that users see on the interface for their actions, interactions, and decisions. The UX content falls somewhere in the middle of the customer journey.

There are many UX Writing certifications that help you build your UX Writing portfolio. Our goal is much beyond the certificates and portfolio—you get a chance to get into UX Writing as a serious product content strategy contributor.

UX Writing is the content on product interface and these words define and establish the brand’s relationship with the customers.

Words on the interface that inspire confidence, trust, actions, and decisions.

We use Miro and Slack

Miro

The Miro board where Vinish Garg hosts their product content strategy, content design, and UX Writing course.

We co-design is in Miro.

In the course, you can work on a small assignment (see example 1 and example 2, these open in a Google drive document).

Slack

Vinish Garg is running a focused group on Slack for UX, design, content strategy, content design, UX writing, product management, and products in general.

We find and share directions in Slack.

Your Meaning

Our work is defined by how much meaning it adds to anyone who interacts with our work. If this course excites you as an organization or as independent contributor to sponsor its footprints, write to me at vinishjg (at) gmail (dot) com. 

Together.

Questions? Write to me at vinishjg (at) gmail (dot) com.

Standards. Gains. Directions. Folks and friends. Our working models and operating principles. We have everything to gain, for the Meaning.

If you are not sure, think again.

Think about it.