Third Strike Campaign — The Digital Storytelling That Saved Lives

Three strikes and you’re out. Or rather: in prison. For life. That’s the basics of the American Three Strikes Law, which allows the federal government to permanently banish non-violent drug offenders for low-level drug crimes. The Decarceration Collective wanted to change lives and laws with their Third Strike Campaign. The result? Six releases. And now the campaign is nominated for two Webby Awards.

“I wanted to be innovative. I wanted to reinvent the wheel. The more I researched, I realised the wheel was flat.” Chicago-based lawyer and omnipresent badass, MiAngel Cody set out to create a secret weapon against her opposing councillors: An emotional approach that let her outshine the prosecutors in court.

Her secret weapon was a digital campaign based on storytelling. The Third Strike Campaign gives the word to the inmates and the chance to tell their side of the story. The site presents the story in words and sound.

“It’s a truly incomprehensible reality to convey from our position in Denmark, where things are so different that.”

An Incomprehensible Reality

Currently, many people are in prison for life based on three minor drug-related offences. One of which is Albert Reed, who was convicted three times for selling or possessing crack and cocaine. That resulted in a life sentence. But the campaign led to the reopening of his case. Today, he’s a free man.

“It’s a truly incomprehensible reality to convey from our position in Denmark, where things are so different that. Hearing the stories and making them come alive digitally has been a true honour. And we’re proud to be part of this movement,” says Mikkel Noe Westh, CEO of Granyon in Copenhagen.

The Impact of Storytelling

MiAngel Cody wanted to try out something new — a new angle to her work as a lawyer — to humanize the heartbeats locked behind America’s prison walls. That’s why the personal stories in the prisoner’s own words are at the centre of the campaign site.

“It’s beyond the point of debate that the law in itself and the way it’s applied is unreasonable. People needed stories, a name and face to the unfairness, not just a concept,” MiAngel Cody says on why she went with this approach.

“It had real impact. The campaign isn’t just storytelling. It impacted judges in their decision, and today six out of 14 people are no longer going to die in prison!” she says.

“Today six out of 14 people are no longer going to die in prison!”

Two Nominations at the Webby Awards

The campaign grew powerful in its first couple of months, during which Kim Kardashian joined the fight along with Pusha T., whose single together with ms. Lauren Hill “Coming Home” was released as part of the Third Strike Campaign.

Now, the campaign site is nominated for two Webby Awards — in the categories “Best Homepage” and “Activism”. You can vote for the sites until 7 May 2020.

Best Homepage: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2020/websites/features-design/best-homepage

Activism: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2020/websites/general-websites/activism

Visit the campaign site here to hear the prisoner’s own stories.

Six Documentaries at this year’s CPH:DOX, we can’t wait to see.

Being a digital agency with 100% online-based offerings and services, nothing much has changed in the Granyon office. Beside the actual office, as all of us are working from home. But it’s weird times, indeed, so we do our best to make the time as pleasant as possible.

Luckily, our great friends and client at CPH:DOX managed to avoid cancellation of their yearly documentary festival. Instead, they re-organised and turned the festival into an online universe. Safe to say, we couldn’t be more proud to part of this transition. And also, we’re excited that now we still get to see what’s new in Danish and international documentaries.

But the universal challenge with streaming services: What to watch, lives on. So we’ve gathered, the six documentaries we are looking forward to in the Granyon team. You can check out the full programme here, — but be quick, each film is limited to a 1000 tickets.

A Colombian Family

“I travelled through Central America for half a year and got to experience the consequences of Escobar and the likes of him on first hand. Since then that part of history has stayed with me. The Escobar time may be over, but the FARC in Columbia is still a part of many people’s life and fate.”

— Mikkel Noe Westh, CEO and brand strategist

CPH:DOX writes:

When a peace agreement between the FARC rebel movement and the Colombian government looks like it will put an end to half a century of conflicts, 30-year-old Yira visits her mother in Colombia after spending 10 years in exile in Cuba. Read more.

Gifts of Chance — a film about Jørgen Leth

“A poet, a filmmaker, and a bike cycling reporter. Jørgen Leth to me is one of the most fascinating Danish people alive. Jørgen Leth has this thing — he is able to bring events in the past, into our present, maybe even our future. He makes them timeless and makes his audience feel like time completely stops.”

— Jesper Fagerlund, Co-founder and Creative Director

CPH:DOX writes:

Alongside his popular and already highly impressive opus as a poet, musician, diplomat, sports commentator and bon vivant, the incomparable Jørgen Leth is also behind some of the most innovative contributions to Danish film art. In this brand new portrait, we look back at his life through his films of the past 50 years. Read more.

Acasa, My Home

“Having lived in Bulgaria for a while with my boyfriend, who worked with members of the Roma community, I became aware of their very unique lifestyle and was told stories of how they struggled to adapt when the government forcibly moved them into social housing. I am very interested to hear the story of a similar situation in Romania.“

— Lea Thagaard Thomsen, Graphic Designer

CPH:DOX writes:

The Enache family lives in the wilderness on the fringes of Bucharest. A piece of nature with lakes, hundreds of species of animals and rare plants. But when the authorities with great fanfare and during a visit of Prince Charles decided to make the area a protected nature reserve, the Enache family is thrown out and rehoused in the city — a reality they do not know at all. Read more.

iHuman

“This documentary is about the biggest humankind has ever invented. Possibly even bigger than ourselves.”

— Tore Bentsen, Digital Designer

CPH:DOX writes:

One of the greatest game-changers of our times is artificial intelligence. A technology that — according to tech optimists — can improve global society, find solutions to famine and curb climate change. But which in the wrong hands can lead to a surveillance society of unprecedented proportions, where George Orwell’s ‘1984’ is no longer science fiction. Read more.

Oeconomia

“Having studied literature at the university, I’ve been living in an abstract world of poetry for most of my life. But in the past years, I’ve become very interested in how money works — and not least, how much power money has in the way our world is organised — is something that I find increasingly interesting, however deeply disturbing. And it’s something that has become even more important to discuss and be aware off in these days.”

— Camilla Zuleger, Head of Content

CPH:DOX writes:

Inequality is growing. The crises of the banks are paid for by customers. Money is rising to the top, but the planet’s resources are being depleted. But why things are like this is another matter, and if you listen to the people who think that the economy is completely incomprehensible, then ‘Oeconomia’ is just the ticket — and on top of it all, it’s quite funny! Read more.

The Fight for Greenland

“Greenland is the world’s largest island and one that many countries are interested in. Still, we find a population that feels overlooked in the Danish Realm. The documentary is interesting because it shows how a minority creates resistance when they feel neglected. And I reckon that we could see parallels to other minorities living in Denmark…”

— Setareh Niknam Tavin, Content Coordinator

CPH:DOX writes:

A film about the new Greenland. We follow four youths, who each in their own way want change for their country. The rapper Josef becomes well-known when he releases the song Tupilak, which questions the relationship with Denmark. Together with his girlfriend Paninnguaq, they get facial tattoos and become the new power couple, who in spite of a childhood with alcohol abuse and absent parents have broken the vicious circle. Read more.

Service, quality, customer experience all mean everything for a hotel. But, as our study shows, there is a great disconnect between the online and offline experience of almost any hotel. Hotels should up their online user experience, and consider every step in the journey of potential customers.

The customer journey of booking hotels
When booking a hotel for leisure or business purpose, the decision journey often includes Google searches; comparing hotels on services as Tripadvisor or Hotels.com; looking up Airbnb or HomeAway for alternatives or asking followers and friends on social media for advice. This happens all the time on big, medium and small screens. At home, at work and on the go.

The one touchpoint of the journey hotels should be able to control
An important and frequent step of this journey is a visit to the hotel website. This is the first touchpoint where hotels own the channel. It is the equivalent of the hotel lobby: impressions, wayfinding, welcoming messages, personnel. (In good hotels) everything is designed with an intent to provide a good experience. The same should be the case online as it is the first and maybe only chance to tell a convincing story of promised value. It might even be here the customer makes the final decision to purchase the dream of a nice stay at this hotel.

First impressions last, but not for long

Convincing the customer and making them book requires several efforts. Design, photography, messages, words, interaction design, social media presence and other efforts to provide a sense of trust and brand feeling. Once this is in place, the customer goes ahead and books. Right there on the hotel site. The price is the same so why shouldn’t she?

For the hotel it also pays off. When the customer books directly on their site it has two apparent benefits: 1. you don’t have to share the profit (up to 25%)* with booking sites or external partners. 2. you get to design the experience for the user all the way, including the opportunity to sell loyalty membership or benefit packages, that could add additional profit and enhance the customer experience.

So booking should work the best possible. But this is actually where the chain almost always breaks.

The missing formular for hotels online

We are truly fascinated by how great hotels build strategies, architecture, organizations, systems and culture to create that special service and customer experience during a guest stay. We actually expected to find great examples of coherent user experiences across platforms offline and online, but when we tested it, we were quickly surprised.

We had a team of experience designers perform an expert review of the top 30 best ranking Copenhagen hotels — according to Tripadvisor — looking at the following: Responsive/mobile functionality and UX;Overall graphic communication; First impressions / welcome feeling;UX in the booking flow; Voice and tone and Social media integration.

Based on this review we identified some often neglected issues of concern with huge potential for improvement.

How bad is it? Our main findings.

Overall Experience

The verdict
Far too often the hotel website does not appear as an overall integrated experience. There might be pretty pictures, nice typography and the visuals might be appealing but there are several serious broken links, that ruin the experience. Often the navigation is complex or the feature to book a room confusing. Pictures are often professional but irrelevant boring shots of a neat room, that seems too polished to be true. Animations and transitions are often included for the sake of the effect, adding no value for the user.

Possible actions
A strong experience requires smart interaction design, beautiful aesthetics and functionality that create immediate value. Add to this user flows, that are purposely designed to convince users by communicating the benefit and unique value of this particular hotel. If any elements fail during the users journey on the website, chances are the customer will drop out.

Start solving this by performing user tests with interviews and review every touch point possible of the website including before and after a visit. Map out any customer touch points, be clear about the KPI’s of the site. Highlight areas with identified pains, prioritize your content and adjust accordingly.

Work in prototypes, not static glossy Photoshop layouts: This will allow everyone on board to see, try, test and discuss the solution early in the process, so the next time you know what experience you are actually providing.

The Mobile Experience

The verdict
Most hotels we looked at had a mobile version of the website, but often this version was in a really poor state when it comes to design and overall experience. We had serious trouble with booking procedures, as basic usability issues were not in place. This is pushing customers to book through partner sites, and the hotel looses the connection to the customer.

Possible actions
Mobile use of the internet and online services has recently surpassed the desktop computer (http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/8/9480779/google-search-mobile-vs-desktop-2015). These days mobile solutions have to match the standards of solutions for larger screens in terms of experience. There is even an added potential for integrating mobile-specific elements such as easy social media integration and geolocation-based features. If the hotel can’t meet this requirement for technical or financial reasons, at least be open about it: communicate around it and be sure to provide great experiences on all other touch points.

Booking experience

The verdict
The main issue here is the frequent use of rather poor out-of-the-box booking solutions. In most cases a clear and visible call to action for booking was presented on the pages, but only with date fields and no data about availability or the like. A user could start here, but were then led to either a plugin or a new website window with a formula in new design. The experience breaks from what the customer just saw on the hotel’s website and the user is left insecure: who receives my Mastercard info? Also when no rooms are available, you are left with a message to start over. Nobody to call, no alternatives from the hotel. This is where most leave for Booking.com (= leaving the hotel lobby, frustrated) and hotel revenues are reduced or even lost.

Possible actions
This really should be simple. We have a number of rooms, a calendar and prices vary accordingly. Hotels should require that the service solution they team up with, is flexible or will work with customer experience teams to fit the solution to the hotel for an appropriate customer experience. This experience is the hotels chance to really provide a great experience for the customer, take the full profit, upsell products and even have users become fans. On partner sites, this opportunity is lost.

Integrated Media

The verdict
All of the subjects of our survey presented apparently professional pictures of the hotel and surroundings, the rooms and other hotel facilities. Too often though, the pictures were presented as small sized illustrations and all of them were within the same genre of “boring hotel pictures” of empty rooms, lobbies, restaurants and lounge areas.

Possible actions
Inspired by contemporary lifestyle magazines we suggest adding a touch of action, social atmosphere or aesthetically appealing images pleasing the senses. Have the stories come to life with videos, 360 degree views of the hotel, a tour, or other content that tell stories about the great experience. Keep the feeling and the dream you show alive, all the way through the booking process.

Keeping customers in the lobby

There are hotels out there, that have appealing solutions, but just ignore the fact that you cant just book (purchase) easily. It feels like hotels are giving up. Look at themayor.dk. A beautiful (and probably expensive) intro movie, nice pages and neat design. But the packages provided can’t be purchased, you have to call. And if you book, you are taken to Best Western general booking website, with the message of no availability and a completely different old school user interface. Same goes for Fellah-hotel.com: you see some fine storytelling and get an authentic impression of everyday life at the hotel. But try to book and you are left with a huge Excel-looking sheet of possibilities. It is bad experience in that most important moment, when I had my Mastercard in hand. Back to booking.com!

Conclusion

Great customer experience is the mix of several ingredients and the result of a team effort. It is not only about fancy animations, cool pictures and expensive videos as much as it is about empathy and logic: knowing and providing whatever the user needs to see and do along their journey to becoming your customer. No more and no less than that. Fix the broken points, so the next customer, that walks into the lobby, will happily stay.

Call Room Service!

Granyon is all about great experiences. We plan, conceptualize, design, prototype and execute great digital experiences. In short all that is needed to build great experiences and enhance the profitability of online. Please contact Granyons Mikkel Noe Westh on mnw@granyon.com or call at +45 60 52 29 62 It is the beginning of many great experiences.

***

About the review.

We analysed the following hotels, all located in Copenhagen, Denmark:

Savoy Hotel, D’angleterre, Nimb Hotel, Absalon Hotel, Andersen Boutique Hotel, Hotel Bethel, Avenue Hotel, Copenhagen Marriott Hotel, Babette, Guldsmeden, Copenhagen Island Hotel, Hotel Alexandra, Hotel Kong Arthur + Ibsens hotel, BEST WESTERN Hotel Hebron, Scandic Palace Hotel, BEST WESTERN Hotel city, Wakeup Copenhagen, Charlottehaven, Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, Bertrams Guldsmeden, Adina Apartment Hotel, Ocean Hotel & Konference, Bella Sky Copenhagen, Stay Copenhagen, First Hotel Copenhagen, Hotel Rye, Copenhagen Admiral Hotel, Tivoli Hotel, Skt Petri Hotel, Comfort Hotel

And we then scored them on a scale of 1–10 qualitatively on Welcomming feeling, Responsive / Mobile, Overall Visual Impression, Social integration, Bookingflow and Voice and tone. The top scorers were Skt. Petri Hotel, Avenue hotel and Copenhagen Marriott Hotel who all came in on average 6.9/10. Every single hotel had mayor user experience flaws though.

Need to see the full review?

For details on the full expert review, and ideas on how to tackle the challenges, please contact Mikkel from Granyon. He will gladly tell you more. mnw@granyon.com or +45 60 52 29 62.

Moving through Copenhagen the other day I noticed something we all do, but maybe rarely think about: we scroll and scroll and scroll through feeds. Often with one hand, which means with our thumb. And not only that. We are kind of manic while we do it:

1. Quickly scroll down, to the next post.
2. Break with thumb:
3. Look at post for 0.0451 seconds. (absolutely not data we have from any reliable valid source, but test for yourself)
4. Decide whether post is interesting or deserves some interaction (to like or not)
5. Reactivate thumb to scroll to next post.
6. If Brain = too fast to decide about the irrelevance of a post: scroll back up, and restart at 3.

Smartphone Thumb Anyone?

This goes on and on and we all have to agree by now that we have become people of the screen. Whether that is a good or bad thing is not for this article to discuss. But the thing is: Scrolling with your thumb hurts. After a while, you can get some serious pain all the way from your nail to the head. Texting is not helping this, but neither is scrolling.

Touch n’ Hold to the Rescue

We gave it 5 mins thought, and it did not take long to come up with a simple idea, that could be implemented easily in the touch-sensitive home button of the iPhone 5 and 6, or in the software of apps like Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.

We propose to have a spot where you can just hold your thumb and the page would scroll. Tap once to jump to the top of next post could be interesting on Facebook and Instagram. Double-tap to jump to the previous post. So instead of moving your thumb up and down the screen, you just hold it ever so softly. Lift it if you want to stop, press lightly if you just want to jump forward.

Pressure or Movement-Sensitive

On iPhone 6 this could be pressure-sensitive, so you decide whether you scroll fast or slow. On other phones, you could just have an invisible joystick-kind of feature, so if you hold it scrolls, and if you then move your thumb downwards, it scrolls faster. Full power to the user without the sore thumb. Apps could also leave the bottom out of the screen and just have the home button act like your scroll button: you touch and hold to scroll. Tap to jump. Press to close the app.

We are positive this could save the society millions in wasted hours at the doctors with people complaining about smartphone thumbs. National happiness would increase. Users would hug and kiss more. It is user experience that makes a difference :)

Jesper
Granyon.com

Creative agency services are often measured by the hour. Clients need to know how much a creative effort will cost them, and budgets are created to cast a light on the creative process (=a dangerous dark sea of uncertainty to many). It is hard to measure, yet we try again and again based on two parameters: The number of hours and the cost per hour.

One problem is that creatives often are asked to come up with innovative solutions. Innovation implies creating something new (that has not been seen before). Businesses ask for this to stand out, or maybe just to solve an old problem in a better way than before, or — at the very least — better than the competition.

Enter the classic question: How do you measure or estimate something that has not yet been invented? You use your experience and your sense of what this particular client really wants — what you think they will settle for or what they aim for. Based on this, a simple guestimate is presented. Because that is what it is.

The second problem is the team. You might encounter someone young, fast, and full of ideas. Or you get a team of senior level, experienced creatives, with loads of baggage from troublesome projects in the past, who therefore ask too many questions. Who do you prefer? And why does one cost more than the other? Why does one need twice as much time as the other? Will the price or more hours guarantee me a better solution? Our answer: No, they won't.

It doesn’t make sense to purchase creative projects by the hour. Most agencies will always estimate their efforts, so the final price matches an imagined or real positioning in the market (i.e. ‘Are we cheaper or more expensive than other comparable agencies?’). Or they will be matching a requested price range from the client because they want the job. So it is calculated to fit and only serves as a mirage to convince everybody that people know what they are doing.

So what are you, as the client, to do?

1. Focus on the results of the project.
   Value is something all agencies know you might request and therefore, will tell you they provide. But insist on not discussing hours. Instead, take the lead as the buyer of these products.
2. Be clear about budgets and timelines
   Tell your agency what budget you expect to have and the deadline you would like to meet. Also, explain the outcomes you wish to see, and then ask for a short description of how the agency suggests solving this within the limits.
3. Be realistic
   It may be hard to measure, but good ideas do take time. And so does making these ideas come alive. As they say: quality, time, and money only go well in pairs, not in a trio.

So allow the agency to come up with descriptions of a solution. Let them spot the potential and the best solution for you. Allow reusing parts of old solutions where it makes sense. Let them put together teams so it matches the current flow in the agency. Let them look at problem-solving within the constraints, instead of guessing the constraints in estimates. Let your agency think smart, and come with smart solutions.

All this is easier when you are in for a long-lasting and close relationship with the agency. When you reach a point of real trust, that you both gain over time, not by the hour.

By Jesper Fagerlund,
Granyon.com

The tools for prototyping are becoming better and better. New solutions arise every other day and they each come with their own set of features. Browser-based tools like WebFlow allow you to design in HTML and Javascript code, without actually writing it. Others like Macaw (or Scarlet) — that recently became part of the InVision brand — have focused on a stand-alone app. The premise is the same: What you see is what you get (which is not true for the relationship between Photoshop/Sketch to finished front-end code). Either way it, still has a learning curve and requires some understanding of what is going on behind the WYSIWYG interface.

With the right hacker-mentality it’s possible, and to be an interaction designer today, you have to get your hands dirty. BUT: Prototyping comes in a million different flavours, and how you choose to combine your dessert depends on the project at hand. Let’s look at five examples, and what the tasty delicious combo could be:

1. The Award-Hunter.
Websites that require a high level of graphic detail or high level of technical experiment to wow the audience. Could be launching a film, a game, or a high-profile product like a new car or a state of the art portfolio. The aim is to get recognized, awarded, and profiled.

This would require detailed art direction, storyboarding, planning, sketching… The art director is king (backed by a team of loyal servants). Usability does not matter. Experience does. Can it go viral? The target is a show-off, to egos, colleagues, award show judges and — if you’re lucky — they also actually do something good for the client involved. The prototype could be a storyboard on paper, high fidelity sketches, designs, animations, rough movie sequences that convey the idea, before production kicks in. It’s a team effort, just like creating a great movie is. It might go viral and become a success, but it will also quickly be forgotten, because we are used to seeing so much great stuff. That makes the competition really tough.

2. The Webshop.
Persuade and convert. A lot of complexity is often going on for the UX team . Branding, flows for browsing, placement of persuasion data like comparables, pricing, discounts, delivery, and more.

This is where data gurus and SEO sharks will tell you it’s their way or no way. If the product converts, everybody is happy and you can’t argue with profit. Also: Everybody is shopping on their mobile these days, right?

Prototyping, therefore, makes good sense: Build something fast, and then rebuild it in X number of variations to test them all and see which one is more appealing. That way, you actually develop two or three variations that go live, to A/B test and again measure conversion. Prototyping here never ends, as a commercial corporation in its nature will always have an interest in selling more, and the development in technology, design, and with the competition is ongoing. You have to keep optimizing, adjust, and adjust every detail, both on desktop and mobile to stay competitive.

3. The Public Service.
Keeping the public happy, and the expensive phones quiet. Involves a broad audience, old and young that all need logical flows, where the designers have to put down their egos and let the UX-team do what they do best.

It requires a special team that enjoys the nerdiness of finding the exact right word (“is home really saying what we are trying to convey here?“). Prototyping starts early — long before any design. So maybe you paper prototype or use tools like Axure to get everybody’s opinion in the public organization. Get opinions again and again, before you move on to build or develop anything. Starting development to early, could easily end up wasting the entire budget for that organization.

4. Business and Corporate.
A very varied section indeed. But for the sake of this article, let’s focus on the part where the big corporations need to report to stakeholders about financials. So the dot.com of the business, not the commercial part.

Nothing is allowed to fail here. It’s the share price, the reputation, the branding and much more that is at stake. Both visuals, UX, UI, IA, and all the other abbreviations matter here. The process, therefore, often involves several stages, and a large team of specialists working closely together to succeed. You might have simple early-stage prototyping like Axure, then more high fidelity versions like Webflow, combined with actual flat design mock-ups to convince the right people, and towards the end also prototypes in actual frontend coded environments but before the heavy backend.

With failure not being an option, everybody has to play it safe and trust each other’s expertise. Often, projects end up in compromises between organization departments, management profiles, IT security guys, and a stench of UX if, and when, the budget allows.

5. The Web App.
Complex solutions, created to solve complex real-life (business) problems. Health care apps, travel search engines, chat or email apps, and more. Serves as a tool, more than a platform for information or entertainment.

This again requires a certain skillset from the team. Being able to perform tasks, easily, repeatedly, and fast so they meet business criteria, of course, needs testing from the end-users. At the same time, the integrations to systems out of the web app environment, like flight booking, or inventory management are traditionally the most expensive part of any project, which is why it pays to be very sure what you are doing, before you ask the development team to go ahead.

The prototyping effort here depends on the team. Paper prototyping can work, as long as things are well thought through. But also high fidelity tools such as WebFlow can create pages that look and behave similarly to the expected final product. That allows for repeated tests long before the expensive part of the project kicks in.

X. Bonus: The Design Agency.
Oh don’t get us started. Simplicity? All-in show-off? Impress clients, or the buddies from design school? Can be categorized in any of the above depending on the target of the agency. And is a case of ‘You can’t not communicate’, meaning: If you keep it simple you make a statement, and if you make it complex you make a statement.

Of course this is where we should take our own medicine. Prototype ideas according to our wishes, brand, and personalities onboard: Test it with our CLIENTS, not our competition, who we know from school or previous jobs, and see if our website fulfils our business purpose.

Happy prototyping!

/Jesper