6 content design principles that apply to puppy training
Okay, to state the obvious: dogs are not people. People are — generally speaking — more intelligent, less furry, better at conversation, and can engage in much more complex behaviors (including using sophisticated enterprise software, which is what I help design for IBM). Also, few people I know have a penchant for falling asleep on top of my smelly old trainers. However, I do think there are some principles that apply to both content design and dog training, and as I’m doing plenty of both right now, I thought it would be fun to share some reflections here.
#1 Look to learn from the broader community
Whether you’re new to a particular domain or have been doing it for years, there’s always more to learn or aspects of your craft that you can further develop. This is why meeting up with other practitioners — whether in person or online — is a must.
Content design: While some people assume the job is “just” writing UI copy, content design is actually a really broad discipline, covering research, strategy, SEO, voice and tone, terminology, chatbots, governance, usage metrics, user testing, and more besides. I have a great deal of experience in some of these aspects but not all of them. This is why I’m so grateful that I get to work with and learn from so many fantastic and talented colleagues at IBM. For example, our company-wide Content Design Guild provides regular opportunities to hear other practitioners share their expertise. And, of course, there’s a wealth of great information available online. I continue to learn from reading content books (see here for some good recommendations), articles, and newsletters (such as this, this, and this), and from listening to podcasts (such as this one) and attending conferences (such as this and this).
Puppy training: I grew up with a dog, so I had some experience prior to getting Tiffin, but she’s the first dog I’ve owned as an adult. In the weeks leading up to collecting Tiffin, my wife and I read some puppy training books, watched lots of YouTube training clips, and quizzed all our dog-owning friends on various aspects of dog ownership. Then, as soon as Tiffin had had her vaccinations and was allowed out and about, I booked into a series of weekly puppy training classes. Not only were these fun times for both of us, but I was able to learn new tips from the dog trainer running the classes and from talking with the other owners.
One simple example: originally, I’d simply issue a command (for example, “Sit”) then reward Tiffin when she sat, but the trainer taught me to also reinforce the command verbally by saying “good sit!” (or “good heel!”, etc.) as soon as the dog has correctly done what you’ve asked her to. A simple thing, but well worth doing to reinforce exactly what behavior the dog is being rewarded for. Attending puppy classes taught me several such tips.
#2 Get your terminology right
The precise words we use have a huge impact on the success or otherwise of our efforts at communication. Whether writing for a product UI or trying to train a young pup, our goal should be to be as clear and concise as possible. No one (person or dog) wants to read (or hear) more words than necessary. Similarly, no one wants to deal with longer, more complicated words if shorter, simpler ones will do. And it definitely doesn’t help anyone (or any dog) if we use multiple words to refer to what is essentially the same thing. The terminology you use really can make or break an experience.
Content design: Always check your copy and eliminate complicated words and phrases in favor of short, simple ones. Don’t write “utilize” when “use” would do. Don’t say “in order to” when you could just say “to”. And if your product refers to an entity as a “widget” in one place, don’t call it a “gizmo” or “thingamabob” elsewhere. Being consistent with the terms you use makes things much clearer for everyone. Sounds obvious, but unless you pay regular attention to this, inconsistencies will almost inevitably creep in.
Puppy training: Aim for one-word commands. I started with “lie down” and “in your bed” but learned that “down” and “bed” were all that were needed. Of course, dogs don’t actually understand language like humans do; they merely learn to associate a specific word (sound) with a specific thing, so you can safely ditch the adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, etc. Another example: when we first got her, I caught myself saying things like, “It’s time for your breakfast, Tiffin” But I then realized I could simply say, “Tiffin, dinner” (with the word “dinner” being used to represent any meal) — and that the shorter version was easier for her to understand.
#3 Remember that words are always part of a broader context
We don’t experience words in a vacuum. Whether talking to someone face-to-face or scanning a billboard advertisement or reading text on a website, words are always part of a bigger picture. Finding the best possible words requires us to think intentionally about the scenario in which they’ll appear, who is likely to read (or hear) them, and what that person (or dog) most needs to know at that point in time.
Content design: Never write the copy independently of the rest of the UI design. Really, do not do this. You need to understand who the intended audience is, what their current goal is, and what the task flow in the UI will be. In addition to any text you write, many other design factors — including content hierarchy, navigation structure, and use of color, icons, illustrations, spacing, etc. — all contribute to how a user interprets a UI. This is why following a mature design system (such as Carbon) along with a restricted set of standard UI control labels is so helpful.
Puppy training: Again, especially as dogs don’t actually understand human language, regardless of what command words you use, other factors such as your tone of voice, body language, hand gestures, and what else is going on around the dog will all affect how she interprets what you say. That’s why, where it makes sense, we pair a hand gesture with a command.
It’s also worth noting that several of the common dog commands only make sense in certain situations. For example, the command “paw” only really makes sense when we’ve first asked Tiffin to sit and the “bed” command only makes sense to her when there is something obviously bed-like for her to lie down on nearby. Using the right words in the right context is what leads to success.
#4 Be consistent to ease cognitive load
When we face new situations, our brains must do a lot of mental processing to interpret the scenario and work out how best to respond. The good news is that our brains are good at recognizing patterns and when we encounter situations that are consistent with what we’ve experienced before, our brains make use of our past experiences. This allows us to respond quickly without needing to consciously think through all the details about what we need to do. In short, consistency reduces cognitive load.
Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know. (Jakob’s Law of UX)
Content design: If you’re designing content for a website or product UI, there are many existing UI patterns that users already know and expect. For example, the sign-up and log-in options are typically available in the website header and the company contact details and social media links can be found in the footer. Links take users to another page or place in the UI, while buttons perform an action. And when the user does have a choice to make, the dominant UX pattern is to present two button options: one being a positive, verb-led action (“Save”, “Publish”, “Delete”, etc.) and the other being a “Cancel” option. Similarly, if clicking on a menu item results in a modal dialog opening with further options, the menu item label has an ellipsis to indicate this (“Print…”, “Save As…”, etc.). By following such conventions, most users will immediately know how to interact with your website or product UI. That is, it will feel intuitive to them because they’ve experienced the same design patterns countless times before.
Puppy training: Dogs, like people, learn best when they experience teaching that is both consistent and repeated. Before we even collected Tiffin, we sat down as a family and decided on our house rules (in our case, no dog upstairs or on the sofas and no jumping up or mouthing us). We also all agreed to use the same set of command words and hand gestures (see later image for details). Similarly, we decided from the start that we’d never give Tiffin titbits of our food directly from the table but would only ever give her food in her dog bowl outside the back door. As a result, Tiffin doesn’t pester us when we’re eating dinner because us feeding her directly from the table is inconsistent with her known experience of receiving food.
#5 Teach positive behavior (not just what not to do)
As a good content designer or dog owner, a big part of your role is to help another understand how best to act in each scenario. And it’s much more helpful if you clearly guide the user (or dog) towards a successful outcome than it is to simply leave them to it and only interject when they get something wrong.
Content design: IBM specializes in sophisticated, robust, and scalable enterprise software. These are powerful tools that are often highly configurable to best fit individual customers’ specific scenarios. But as Peter Parker has taught us, with great power comes great responsibility. One of the challenges as a content designer working on such products is to keep UI copy brief and action-focused so that users can quickly complete their goals, while also ensuring that we provide guidance so that users understand the likely consequences of configuration options they choose.
Puppy training: When you get a young puppy, it’s very likely to display a range of behaviors that are perhaps quite natural to it as a dog, but which you as a human may find undesirable, such as chewing your furniture, straining on its lead, and jumping up when it meets anyone. If all you do is constantly shout “No!” or “Bad dog!” you might convey your displeasure, but you’re not helping her to learn what appropriate behavior is. So instead of only highlighting the negative behaviors, you need to proactively teach the positive ones. For example: give your pup her favorite chew toy whenever she wants to gnaw on something and invest time in practicing both walking to heel and getting the pup to sit when she’s being greeted by a person. (We’re still working on this one…)
#6 Test everything and iterate accordingly
One principle that I’ve found to be helpful in so much of life is to treat everything as a prototype. That is, not to view things as final and set in stone, but to think of them more as individual attempts that we can test, learn from, and iterate on if necessary. In reality, we’re unlikely to get things exactly right first time around, but that’s okay — as long as we keep learning and gradually refining what we do.
Content design: I’ll not write much here as I’ve written elsewhere (for example, here and here) about how important it is to design in collaboration, to share your work early and often, and to actively invite others to provide you with feedback. It may well go against your natural tendency or what you find comfortable but resist the urge to wait until you think you’ve finished some work before sharing it. Feedback is a gift and it allows us to iterate and refine our work so that we can deliver the very best experiences for our users.
Puppy training: We’re still in the relatively early days with Tiffin. Just like a baby, week by week she grows and changes (this week she’s started digging holes in our garden…) so we’re constantly having to learn and adapt too. We’ve made good progress in several areas, but not so much in others. But when something doesn’t seem to be working, instead of either giving up or digging in our metaphorical heels, we re-think our approach, try something different, and gradually refine things over time. In this sense, puppy training is just as much about human training.
Finally, remember to have fun! Life is short; enjoy the process. And don’t let the fear of failure stop you from trying at all. Whether you’re writing UI copy or teaching your puppy her next trick, set yourself a modest, clear, and achievable goal and take the next necessary step. And if on a given day it’s just not working, take a break and come back to it afresh later.
If you enjoyed this, you may be interested in some of my other articles:
Tom Waterton is a Content Design Lead at IBM, based in the UK. The above article is personal and does not necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies, or opinions.
