Following our two-part post on what content designers do in discovery, Kaitlin D'Avella covers what content designers do in the next stage of a project: alpha.
What the alpha phase is
Alpha is the second phase of the service delivery process. It’s the phase where you try out different solutions to the problems you uncovered in discovery.
During the alpha phase, you will:
- test your riskiest assumptions
- explore new approaches
- build prototypes based on your ideas
What the focus is
Rather than testing things that are a given, in alpha you will explore areas of your service that are uncertain. You should start with whichever assumptions are the riskiest. These are things that could hinder the user from completing actions in the service.
For example, take a service that requires users to enter a UK-based phone number. It’s a risky assumption that every user of the service has a phone number based in the UK. This team will need to understand more about their users and technical requirements.
What a content designer does in alpha
As a content designer, you’ll play a huge role in determining what to test in alpha. You’ll act as an advocate for user needs, analysing evidence to distinguish what’s true about your service and what’s assumed. You might run riskiest assumption testing (RAT), which helps surface uncertainty about your service, users or delivery plan.
Content designers also take a closer look at the language of the service. This could be testing how users interact with the service based on the words that describe different actions.
For example, you’ll research which labels and calls to action work best for your users. You’ll also help name features of the service from the start, helping the team and stakeholders speak the same language. This avoids miscommunication internally and confusion for users.
How content designers collaborate
Alpha phase is when design thinking really shines. Content designers play an important part in scoping and refining the needs of the service, along with prototyping and iterating designs.
As a content designer, you’ll work with your team to:
- collaborate with policy and use evidence-based user research to determine what information the user needs from the service
- design journeys that meet user needs and business requirements
- identify and work through design challenges as they arise
- work with business analysts and policymakers to determine what information the service needs from the user
- help gather or identify success metrics needed to monitor the service
- include accessible design techniques to ensure the service doesn’t exclude any users
Specific tasks content designers will do
Alpha phase is a busy time filled with prototyping and testing. A few tasks you’ll own include to:
- create a question protocol – this helps limit the data you ask a user for
- start a style guide for specialist language – this ensures consistency across the service
- design content for different prototyping techniques – this helps determine which content type best meets user needs
- apply Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) guidelines – this ensures your service is accessible
- host content crits – this helps create consistency across government services
Content designers also take a close look at user language during the alpha phase. You’ll:
- test different content with users
- untangle jargon and acronyms
- make content compliant with regulatory and policy requirements
- identify and test accessibility challenges
Tips for working through alpha
Expect to learn a lot about your service and your users during alpha phase. You’ll likely end up with a very different view of how the service should work – and that’s a good thing. Here are a few lessons I learned during my last alpha phase.
1. Don’t aim for perfection
Alpha isn’t the time for high-fidelity prototyping. Instead, keep things lean. My team started with pen-and-paper sketches and Word documents. We put these in front of users as a sounding board to understand their needs. This helped us get clearer feedback from subject matter experts, and stopped them from latching on to designs that we might not move forward with. We only started using the GOV.UK Prototyping Kit once we had a higher level of confidence about the direction of our service.
2. Show the thing
Alpha comes with a lot of uncertainty – so it’s important to work out in the open. Host show and tells for your policymakers and subject matter experts. Show them your work-in-progress. You’ll get clearer feedback and move faster. It’s important to keep a record of this feedback and what changes you made afterward. Documenting each iteration will help you trace design decisions.
3. Keep accessibility at the forefront
As designers, we should always be thinking about how to make our services accessible. Although you’ll run accessibility testing in beta phase, it’s important to work with guidelines in mind during alpha too. For example, do not design a component that will not work for a screen reader, or use language that could exclude some users – even if you’re just trying it out for a test.
4. It’s ok to stop the work
Your team might decide during alpha phase that it’s not worth it to progress to beta. That’s ok! Part of alpha is understanding the constraints and limits to your service. It’s a good use of time and resources to come to this decision. In fact, testing things out and pivoting is the whole point of alpha.
Finishing alpha phase
Alpha phase is meant to last about 8 to 10 weeks – but often takes much longer. Towards the end, you’ll have a service assessment hosted by peers and leaders to review your progress. This is an opportunity to show how you tested your assumptions and everything you learned about your service and users.
As a content designer, you’ll play a supporting role in preparing the team for assessment. This could include:
- refining prototypes and supporting your design colleagues
- supporting the wider team to tell the story of your service so far
- updating presentations and documentation
It’s a good idea to share information with the assessors ahead of time. This allows more space for valuable discussion during the assessment and can give you some helpful recommendations from a design perspective. This might include assessment pre-meetings and sharing the prototype or presentation.
You might be expected to talk at your service assessment, but you shouldn’t write a script or over-prepare. Your assessment planning is a good chance to reflect and review the decisions you made throughout alpha. And with any luck, you’ll have made sure the content in your service is in the best possible position to move on to the beta phase.
Kaitlin is a senior content designer in the trade department at Defra. She works on a service related to animal welfare.
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