The Fourth Wall Content Podcast

Dr. Lisa Matthews, senior content designer at Nexus Digital, discusses the importance of accessibility in digital design and the audience that should be focused on when considering accessibility. Lisa talks about the business case for investing in accessibility, shares practical advice and examples on how to get started, and offers an insight into her role as an Accessibility Ambassador.

Rich Prowse is a content leader with many years experience in the higher ed sector. In this chat he  talks about the challenges faced by universities, and those faced by content professionals working across large organisations. Rich shares advice and examples about involving stakeholders in design processes, and operating in a resource-constrained environment. Plus there’s an emphasis throughout on the importance of putting students at the centre of the design process and tailoring experiences to meet their needs.

Erin Schroeder and the Lullabot team worked with 80 local government agencies in the state of Iowa on content strategy, replatforming and taking a more user-centred approach to content. In this episode Erin talks through the tools and processes for the project including content matrices, audits, style guides, open office hours and workshops. Erin shares how they engaged stakeholders and worked with the agencies to redesign and restructure their sites, each with their own priorities, capabilities and needs. There are great insights into how the team considered the author experience – moving all 80 agencies to Drupal 10 – and the importance they placed on accessibility and structure for constituent-facing content.

Nia Campbell talks about the challenges as the only Welsh speaker on content projects and emphasises the need to advocate for translation experts to be involved in the process earlier. Nia also shares her own experiences and advice for creating user-centered Welsh language content. In her conversation with Robert Mills, they touch on what challenges of a traditional approach to translating content, conducting bilingual sessions for user testing and feedback and how it feels to become the user of the content you have previously designed.

Lauren Pope chats to Rob about a project working with a content team that had lots to do. Lauren talks through how she helped them understand where to get started with unruly content and offers practical advice for prioritising content, learning when and how to say no, and moving from being reactive to proactive. Throughout the episode Lauren also shares common content problems, tips for engaging stakeholders and building relationships and walks us through the model of control, influence and concern, including how it can be applied to content work.

Iain Broome is a content designer and plain English expert. He talks to Rob Mills about a project where writing accurate and helpful content in clear language, and testing the content, was necessary to build trust with the audience. Iain shares clear language principles, outlines the process for content creation and testing prototypes during the project and offers examples and advice for using considerate language when writing about difficult situations and scenarios.

Jane McFadyen has co-created a cross government collaboration to raise awareness of dyscalculia. In this conversation, Jane explains what dyscalculia is and how it affects people’s lives. Jane shares facts and figures about dyscalculia and low numeracy. There’s also plenty of practical advice and examples for why services and organisations should present numbers clearly and tips for improving how numbers can be presented more inclusively.

Christine Cawthorne is an experienced content strategist, mentor and trainer. She has trained thousands of people at GOV.UK and talks about training people to write for a UN Agency’s new intranet. Christine shares her approach of doing a training needs analysis, tailoring training to suit varying levels of experience, delivering training and measuring the impact and outcomes of training. This episode has plenty of real life examples and practical advice.

Designing content for people affected by the cost of living crisis in the UK isn’t easy. There are lots of individual and different user needs and considerations. Citizens Advice took a collaborative and user-focused approach to their content to help people with their cost of living challenges. Emily Ray, senior content designer, and Mia Harris, a user researcher from Citizens Advice, share their process for creating content that needs to help such a broad audience, plus how they prioritise content, test content with users and work iteratively across the organisation.

Helen Lawson is a lead content designer for Co-op Funeralcare and an expert in writing clear content about death and bereavement. Helen talks about the four principles for how they write at Co-op Funeralcare, plus thoughts on using euphemisms, active listening, onboarding and aligning a team around shared values, and doing research and testing content with people experiencing grief.

Lauren Tormey uses her vast editorial, CMS and UX skills to support the creation and maintenance of more effective, human-centred content. Leading a team of content designers, Lauren shares her experiences on the Fourth Wall Content Podcast of collaborating with subject experts, engaging stakeholders in new ways of working, and all while ensuring visa application content for students is accessible, inclusive and usable.