#they’re withholding the funny formula from us

[inetmrktng75247]

3 Content Strategy Lessons from Seattle Interactive Conference

3 Content Strategy Lessons from Seattle Interactive Conference

Recently, the team from Portent attended the latest installment of Seattle Interactive Conference, a fantastic digital conference just down the block from our shiny new home office. Thousands of attendees flocked to downtown Seattle and listened to dozens of speakers share their insights about the digital marketing landscape. (Portent’s own Tim Mehta spoke at SIC about friction in UX and how it affects a user’s journey.) As with any conference, some talks were riveting and others just missed the mark. I attended 11 talks during the two-day event. Here are three content strategy insights I took away from those SIC discussions.

Emphasize Data Transparency (Multiple Speakers)

In a GDPR world, we are the product for many global companies, like Facebook, Twitter and Google. Old news to digital marketers, but still very much worth repeating. Knowing what data these companies collect about us and how it’s used is of monumental importance. Look at the Cambridge Analytica scandal as an example of how data gets abused when users are kept in the dark or mislead.

Nathan Kinch, the author of “Designing for Trust: The Data Transparency Playbook,” says data transparency is crucial because user trust is at an all-time low. His solution is for brands to tell users exactly how they intend to access and process their data. This includes discussing who else (external companies, partners, etc.) has access to the data and what benefits users gain from this data exchange.

Among companies that do provide this transparency, many of them don’t present the information in a user-friendly fashion.

Ask yourself this question: Is any “average user” going to scroll through 15 pages of legalese that they can barely understand, let alone use in an actionable way? I highly doubt it.

Data transparency must be easy-to-digest information that involves users from the get-go. Not just checkboxes and an “I Agree” button.

So what does that interactive process look like?

If users create a new account with your brand, hold their hand and guide them through visual and interactive steps that discuss exactly what happens to their data. If at all possible, give users the option to opt out of data collection entirely. If you do give users this option, provide a caveat that teaches them what services and benefits they’re going to forfeit for withholding the data exchange. An important reminder for this step, teach your users in plain language what they’re giving up but don’t guilt-trip or shame them into giving data access.

This interactive process builds trust and allows users to create a positive connection with the brand. The opt-in, opt-out method allows users to become partners instead of just a data piggy-bank.

Unlike a bad navigation or slow website, data collection is not an in-your-face UX concern for many users. But unlike aesthetic UX snafus, if a brand misuses, loses or abuses data, users lose trust in the brand as a whole. Ultimately, user experience is all about trust, communication and ease-of-use. And data transparency is among the most important pieces of that puzzle.

Congratulate Your Users (Multiple Speakers)

Receiving a high-five feels good, right? It’s a celebration that you did a great job or achieved some task worthy of congratulations. But when is the last time a website or app gave you a high-five for visiting, making a purchase or being a returning customer?

Unfortunately, you probably don’t get to experience high-five moments online very often. A high-five moment in UX, also known as a “delighter,” occurs whenever you provide users with a fun, congratulatory experience for completing a given task.

For example, MailChimp uses a literal high-five GIF after users send off a survey. The GIF is cute, funny, and makes the experience more fun overall.

Ultimately, high-five moments provide users with a more human experience and allows them to feel more connected to a brand, product or website.

If high-five moments are so beneficial for a user’s psyche, why don’t more websites use the tactic?

The simple answer is that properly executing a high-five moment is really damn hard. And there is no “look at their elbow” cheat in UX.

As UX Planet writes, the MailChimp high-five GIF works as a delighter because the underlying MailChimp product does a great job of fulfilling user needs. MailChimp has fine-tuned its service so it’s useful and easy to use.

The totality of product functionality and the service’s UX is what makes-or-breaks a delighter.

“In order for your delighter to have a positive effect, you must first meet or exceed the user’s basic expectations,” the UX Planet article states. “Otherwise that moment will likely add a layer of cheese on top of the original disappointment.”

There are countless examples of cheesy delighters, but one high-five moment gone horribly wrong stands atop the garbage heap: Clippy, your “favorite” helper from Microsoft Word. Clippy is obtrusive and annoying when it congratulates you for writing in a Word document. Instead of providing a helpful service or making you feel accomplished, Clippy creates aggravation and diminishes Microsoft Word as a whole.

Too often, designers and UX’ers alike focus on ensuring designs are aesthetic and practical. We forget that users love delightful experiences, too (just don’t go overboard and create something like Clippy). So the next time you’re designing or evaluating an experience, ask yourself three questions:

Does this product/experience/website/etc. meet my users’ basic expectations?

Do I think the product/etc. can be innovated or improved enough to provide a performance payoff?

What change to the product/etc. can make the intended innovation more delightful for users? The answer becomes your “delighter.”

If numbers 1 and 2 are a “yes,” then consider how to incorporate number 3 into your design or recommendations. After all, who doesn’t enjoy a well-earned high-five?

Use Authentic, Emotional Stories to Inspire Action – Paul Norris

Storytelling is humankind’s natural form of communication. Stories teach us morality, entertain us, and even help our societies evolve. They’re also crucial components in any marketing strategy because an excellent, authentic story compels users to satisfy whatever emotions or desires the story inspires.

So how to do you create a compelling story? The best place to start to place a modern twist on Aristotle’s classic storytelling framework.

At SIC, Paul Norris spoke about emotional storytelling in UX. Below is his modern twist on Aristotle’s formula.

Vision: Present your users with a scenario. Help them imagine how life is in the world.

Problem: Teach your users about what’s wrong in the world you’ve presented.

Inspiration: Show users how the problem has changed the world in this story, and give them a glimpse of hope for how these villainous circumstances can be repaired.

Involvement: Present users with the solution you hinted about earlier.

Fascination: Allude to (or show) how the world has changed or can change now that users are involved and adopting the solution.

During the presentation, Norris used this framework to explain a recent Airbnb advertisement.

As you can see, within 30 seconds the video tells a compelling story that successfully follows this formula.

Importantly, viewers are left with one defining message: travel keeps the world moving forward and you should participate. With a posteriori knowledge of Airbnb, the argument that Airbnb helps people travel is unstated but readily apparent, too.

This type of storytelling is powerful because it empowers users to see the story as aspirational and shows how they can have a positive effect in the world by getting involved and traveling.

This formula works because it triggers three distinct responses in users:

Inherent Response: an immediate feeling that influences your instinctual perceptions about a scenario.

Reflective Response: how you believe this scenario affects your life or the lives of people you care about.

Behavioral Response: the actions you take based on the outcome of your reflective response.

Tapping into these three responses helps guide users toward a specific behavior. It’s a stellar method to use while developing your user journey map.

If you missed SIC this year but you’d like a taste of what it was like to be in the room for a standing-room only presentation, you can watch Portent’s own Tim Mehta give his full talk on finding and fixing friction in user experience here.

The post 3 Content Strategy Lessons from Seattle Interactive Conference appeared first on Portent.

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[kusunogatari-a]

[ Relent ] [ @masterofwar ] [ Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Izuna, Fubuki, Suigin Ryū ] [ Blood mention ] [ Verse: At The Beginning ]

“You really should -”

“It's fine.”

Izuna gives a curt sigh, walking the path beside his brother. “If not now, then what's the point?”

“It's nothing she needs to bother with.”

“Onīsama, you're wounded. She's a healer. That's why you brought all of this about in the first place! You really think she won't notice?”

“It doesn't matter if she notices.”

The younger Uchiha stares at Madara with a furrowed brow, trying to puzzle out his stubbornness. “...you're avoiding her.”

No reply.

“Why? You've gotten what you wanted! Why not make use of it? Don't tell me you're regretting this, after all the effort you put in.”

“That's not it.”

“Then what?”

“I simply...do not wish to bother her with something so trivial.”

“Funny, usually you'll bother anyone about anything if it suits your mood, no matter how trivial,” Izuna counters. “If I didn't know better, I'd guess she makes you nervous.”

Dark eyes slide to their corners, giving Izuna a silent, warning glance.

“...why on earth...?”

“It is clear she resents me. I asserted power over her – no sane person would be happy with such a turn of events. I wouldn't.”

“You're also the first victim of your pride.”

“Izuna...”

“While it's clear Ryū-san has her share of self-held dignity, I don't think that interferes with her work. At the very least, she's a healer first and foremost – she would want to help you, regardless of anything else. As for your fears of resentment...maybe it's a matter of making it up to her.”

Before Madara can protest, Izuna lengthens his strides, carrying himself up through the squadron as they make their way through the valley spine.

“...brat,” the clan head mutters, hardly any weight to his tone.

Still settled in a temporary encampment, the Uchiha retreat back to the canvas of their tents, yards from the village proper. Though he has his own among them, Madara rarely uses it, spending his time examining as much of his new surroundings as possible...but avoiding the manor at the valley's tail. Despite the weight of their arrangement, he avoids her like the plague for reasons he'll never voice aloud...one of which Izuna has deduced. Surely she feels nothing but detestation for her conqueror, and he may as well ease her of his visage as much as he can help.

And though it was his intention (granted, it began as Izuna's suggestion), the agreement still leaves him...disquieted. He refuses to call it nerves – nothing makes him nervous. It's simply...not what he imagined having at such an age, or under such circumstances. So, for the time being, few would be able to guess the arrangement at all, given how little the pair see of one another.

Lost in his brooding thoughts, Madara eventually glances up as a streak of white blooms in the corner of his gaze. To his irritation, there's a clench of his chest at the assumption of white waves...but they're only feathers.

Alighting upon a branch, Fubuki gives a greeting clack of her beak. “Ryū-sama wishes to see you, Uchiha-sama.”

“What for?”

“An assessment of your wounds.”

Blinking, Madara looks askance from the summon to see his brother pointedly ignoring him.

“...you may tell her there's no need. I'm fine.”

“She was rather insistent, and...predicted your refusal. I was told to make her own intentions rather clear: if you do not come to her, she will come to you.”

“Must she meddle in every little thing?” the Uchiha growls, working at the straps of his gear.

“It is her occupation, Uchiha-sama – as such, she takes issues such as these quite seriously.” Shifting, Fubuki admits, “...she is...stubborn on the subject.”

“Fine,” he snaps, relinquishing his armor with a clatter. Venting his unease through temper, he adds, “Tell her I'll be there shortly.”

Withholding any reply, Fubuki gives a dip of her head before retreating.

Walking past his brother, Madara mutters, “You'll be answering for this in a spar later.”

“Whatever you say.”

Following the well-worn path, the clan head sets his jaw, stride full of purpose and drawing nervous gazes. Ignoring them, he soon finds himself at the manor door, taking a brief moment before entering.

“Almost done...”

Pausing, Madara's gaze is drawn to her voice, spotting her preoccupied by someone else: a boy of no more than six or seven. Clearly biting his lip against tears, he turns to give the man an anxious glance.

Sparing a hand, Ryū turns him back toward her by the cheek. “Pay him no mind.”

The gesture almost sparks his mood again, but he swallows it down, not wanting to interrupt. Instead, he leans against a corner, arms folded to watch.

In the dim belly of the manor, the white of her chakra is clear, seeping into a wound along the child's forearm. Minutes pass in silence, save for the boy's sniffling. And eventually, the gap in the skin disappears.

“There...now, do be more careful with those tools. They have their uses, but they're still sharp.” Ryū gives the boy a warm smile.

“Yes ma'am.”

“Go on, then.”

Skirting Madara nervously, the boy bolts through the door as Ryū straightens.

“...your turn.”

“There's nothing to fuss over.”

“I can smell the blood from here.” Her tone is soft, but not without a firmness that allows for no refusal. “We'll waste far less time if you set your pride aside for the moment and let me work.”

“We'd save more letting time tend it.”

“And risk unnecessary infection? That would take even more time.” Arms loosely cross beneath her bust, expression blank. “I'd rather save myself the work.”

Jaw tensing, it takes him a moment to respond. “...very well.”

“Bare the wounds.”

After a pause, Madara stands and removes his top, half-revealing a wound along his side. Several smaller breaks in the skin litter his chest.

Looking to the largest, Ryū carefully pulls at the waistband of his trousers, showing its trail down his hip. “...cause?”

“Mokuton.”

Silvers flicker to his face. “Hashirama...?”

“Hn.”

Replacing her gaze, she orders, “Sit. I need to clean it – there's debris in the muscle.”

Gingerly taking a seat, Madara favors his injured side, watching her work. Picking through herbs, she quickly filters them into water, boiling it with a spark of chakra. Every motion is done without hesitation, obviously made habit from years of practice.

Drawing the substance to the palm of her hand, she takes a knee at his side, guiding the formula into the tissue and drawing out traces of the Senju's technique.

Beyond a tensing of his jaw, Madara gives no reaction.

Once the water is soiled with blood and slivers, Ryū discards it into a nearby bucket before beginning to weave the wound closed.

“...you've been avoiding me.”

Though he gives no outward sign, the Uchiha mentally curses. “I've had no need of you.”

“And yet even when you did, you resisted. Which means it's not that simple.”

Another clench of his jaw. Damn her. “...I assumed...it would be easier this way.”

“There were other ways you could have gone about this. I'm assuming you chose this path out of some kind of civility. But if all avenues are not what you wanted...why bother? Why not choose one that would have led to less of...this?”

“I wished to avoid force.”

“I was still left mostly choiceless. Kinder in some ways, harsher in others.” Giving him a glance, she lets that settle for a moment. “...I'm not angry.”

Silence.

“...nor am I abhorrent. Uchiha-sama, I am not so caught up in myself that I cannot accept the circumstances. As of yet, I have no reason to dislike you. As...one-sided as this agreement may be, I still have yet to come to harm. Nor have my people. That, in the end, is all I truly care for amid the changes. So long as you keep your word, I am not ill at ease.” A pause. “...nor should you be.”

Still no reply.

Slightly, she softens. “...I want this to work. If I am to be at your side as you've willed it...then I will do my best to fill that role as expected. It may yet come to pass that we find ourselves...incompatible, to a point. But an agreement is still an agreement. Such things have been done solely out of duty before. But until I have absolute certainty...I will still give it an honest try.”

Dark brows raise ever so slightly. That was...unexpected. “...you have quite the open mind.”

“...I have my reasons to be.” When he offers no response, she goes on. “...little can be said to sully the name of a man who cries so openly as his brother dies in his arms.” Silvers lift again, managing to catch obsidian orbs. “I told you...I read people well. There was little left hidden in your heart that day. I still have hope that what I saw within it can yet find peace with what I hide within my own.”

With the wound stabilized, she brings a hand to his chest, making quick work of a mark amid aged scars, and then another, watching the skin rise and fall with his breath.

“...arrangements do not always have to be met with presumed disdain. I will not make the mistake of making my own assumptions regarding the man you are. I will let you prove your own impressions. That said...I will be watching.” One by one, she makes her way up the plane of his torso, until a palm cups a scrape along his jaw. Watching her work, Ryū eventually meets his eyes, her own flickering between them before she withdraws.

“...what I've done so far needs to stabilize. I'll wrap it to keep it clean. You will return this evening, and we will finish.”

Watching her retreat, Madara unabashedly continues as she returns, gesturing for him to stand. Reaching around and around his frame, she ignores his gaze until it's finished. “No bending, no twisting, no lifting. Not until I complete the structure, and the tissue is given time to adjust. If you tear the new muscle fibers, I will be...annoyed. We'll then have to start all over.”

“Yes, ma'am,�� he replies lowly with a hint of flat humor, echoing the boy.

The corner of her lips twitch. “Then you're free to go for about...eight hours.”

“Understood.”

“And try not to avoid me this time...?”

Mood far flung from its beginnings, he manages a subtle smirk. We'll see how open-minded she is, then. A hand takes chin for a moment. “I think we've reached an...understanding.”

Expression momentarily shifted, Ryū manages a nod. “...good.”

He holds her just a little too long before releasing his hold, lingering for another moment before taking his leave, moving to take up his cloak.

“Leave it.”

A glance over his shoulder.

“It's bloodstained – I'll wash it.”

Something akin to surprise tinges his gaze for a moment. “...very well.”

Once back amidst the camp, Madara seeks his brother. “You're off the hook until morning.”

“Doctor's orders?”

“Hn.”

Tilting his head, Izuna dares to note, “...you seem...not quite so dour.”

“My mood has been tempered for the time being.”

Izuna's brow raises. “...oh really? I suppose it would be too much for me to ask for some admittance that my interference was for the better...?”

Madara gives his brother a cool look, lips ever so slightly upturned. “...I suppose I can relent.”

      ...oops I did more xD

      I am very quickly becoming too attached to this AU. I like the shift in dynamic compared to the threads we’ve had, so...I’ll indulge myself, haha~

     Izuna is best peacekeeper. Also best wingman x’’D

     The tension is TANGIBLE and I love it. Just...gahhhhhhhh.

     ...anyway, that’s all for now. But I’m sure there will be more soon :3c

[recentnews18-blog]

New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/the-sisters-brothers-shows-how-the-west-was-weird/

'The Sisters Brothers' shows how the West was weird

They’re not the heroes. They’re not even the villains — the Sisters Brothers aren’t important enough in the scheme of things for that.

Charlie and Eli Sisters are hired killers — the kind of notorious gunslingers that the townsfolk nervously whisper about in the Western movie, who ride into town in the third act to confront the hero.

It’s an unusual perspective from which to look at the Western mythos, but Jacques Audiard’s “The Sisters Brothers” is an unusual movie, based on an equally unusual book by Patrick deWitt. Brutal and tender, funny and bleak, it’s neither faithful to the Old West tradition nor a comic send-up of it. The closest thing I can compare it to tonally is Jim Jarmusch’s existential Western “Dead Man.”

If anyone enters the theater expecting a good old-fashioned shoot-‘em-up, the first scene of “The Sisters Brothers” will disabuse them of that. It’s a gunfight, but one conducted in total darkness. All we see is the flashes of gunfire and the sounds of bodies hitting the ground.

The only men left standing are Eli Sisters (John C. Reilly) and his younger brother Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix). They work in 1851 Oregon for the Commodore (Rutger Hauer), a villainous tycoon who sends the siblings on murderous missions, claiming that the targets have stolen or cheated him in some way. The brothers are pretty sure that the Commodore’s claims of being “victimized” are a lie, and there’s something about a rich man insisting he’s the real victim that rings awfully true in America right now.

The brothers are tasked with finding Hermann Kermit Will (Riz Ahmed) a clever chemist who has apparently developed a formula that causes gold to glow iridescently, making it very easy to find when panning in the river. The Commodore, claiming Will stole the formula from him, has already sent a scout named John Warm (Jake Gyllenhaal) to find Will, and the Sisters are supposed to torture and kill Will to get the formula back.

Charlie, a cheerful alcoholic psychopath, has no problem with this mission. Charlie has become the spitting image of their father, an abusive drunk, and violence is their inheritance. “His blood is our gift, Eli,” he tells his brother. “It’s why we’re good at what we do.” Phoenix is utterly convincing as a man for whom violence has become second nature.

Eli is as nonchalant about killing as his brother, but he’s developing a soft side. In one scene, he spends his pay on a strange new contraption called a toothbrush, and delights in the minty taste in his mouth. Reilly makes him a strange, befuddled figure, questioning the morality of a life that his younger brother takes for granted. At night sleeping on the trail, he cuddles with a soft shawl in his backpack, which he says is a totem from a schoolmarm who he left back home. She probably doesn’t exist.

In other words, these gunslingers have a lot of emotional baggage in their saddlebags that they’re not dealing with. Ahead of them on the trail, Warm finds Will and befriends him, at first as a ruse, but then sincerely.

What’s striking about all four men is how profoundly lonely they are, how much vulnerability lurks beneath their dusty, rugged exteriors. “The Sisters Brothers” is a bloodbath at times, but the wound that really stings is a thoughtless remark exchanged between brothers, or two new friends.

When the brothers catch up with Will and Warm, all four men have changed from what they were when they started out. Where “The Sisters Brothers” goes is hard to predict, as Audiard constantly plays with what we think we’ll get out of a Western — namely, violence. He withholds the catharsis of a shootout when we’re expecting it, and then shocks us with bloodshed when our guard is down.

Like an unfamiliar horse, the gait of “The Sisters Brothers” takes a little while to get used to, shifting between extreme violence and gentle character comedy. But it makes for a memorable ride.

Source: https://madison.com/ct/entertainment/movies/the-sisters-brothers-shows-how-the-west-was-weird/article_374412e9-85d8-508a-a6ae-54e14c2bb434.html